Touring on a turbo busa?

jermzfree

Registered
Getting real close to being mine :sasmokin: Stupid excited! but getting the gitters about touring her. I am going on vacation end of april. Im heading to Moab (From Colorado) and then from Moab with plans to visit California, then back. Lots of miles! Is this a bad idea? Is this going to hurt the turbo or engine? BTW thanks to all you regulars and everyone else giving me advice through out the build process, much appreciated!

2002
Turbo: RCC stage 1 6lb spring
Gauges: boost, fuel pressure, af, oil pressure.
Built motor:
-mtc pistons (10.5-1)
-oil pump gear
-valves and head freshened up.

Water injection

399.jpg
 
10:1 will make some good power with more boost.

Anyways, it's a great idea, and you should do it provided that the bike is set up correctly. Shoot, I remeber maybe about 5 years ago, it was deemed risky to ride a turbo bike far just for fear of a break down somewhere. I've gotten many long trouble free miles out of my turbo bike.

The number one issue with reliability/streetability is heat, and that's usually when people get stuck. First of all definitly add a second fan in case you get stuck in traffic. You may even want to gut the thermostat as that helps increase the volume of water being pumped due to less restriction.

Second, is the fuel pump. Taking the pump out of the tank, where it's cooled by fuel will get you stuck real quick on a hot day. Make sure you insulate the fuel pump, regulator, filter and lines to avoid vapor locking. The next best option is to get the pump off the back of the trans all together, and move it to the back, underneath the sub frame. Vapor locking a turbo bike is probably the most common problem.

Three, is header bolts. If you don't have some sort of nordlock, locking washers, or stage 8 locking fasteners get them. Header bolts tend to losen over time, but many many miles in sort periods of time will speed that up.

Lastly I would suggest you have the turbo oil return fitting welded to the pan, as well as the fuel fitting coming off the sump of the fuel tank. Most of the time oil fittings stay put and don't leak if installed correctly. But it can happen, and has to me on a long trip. If your slowly losing oil, it could cause engine damage if the oil gets low enough. Also say worst case scenereo the fitting comes out, it will dump the oil right in front of your back tire and could cause a wreck.

I find the fuel sump fittings to be more of the issue do to the tank being lifted for maintinance. But the same issues could happen. A slow leak could cause you to run out of fuel faster and leave you stranded. If very leaky it could even run the risk of fire, although I think that would be a vary rare, extreme case. But somthing to think about none the less.

But these are things I strongly suggest you do. It's because of my experience with these problems that any turbo busa I build for costumers, these are things that are always done.
 
The number one issue with reliability/streetability is heat, and that's usually when people get stuck. First of all definitly add a second fan in case you get stuck in traffic.
for sure! I actually run a spal fan on mine and it cranks but it does draw quite a bit of power and when your in slow traffic and not reving high my battery doesnt charge for chit. it certainly does not like low rpms with that fan cranking.

it happened to me last year when I got stuck in some traffic on a 95 degree day. couldnt get around anyone to get air to the radiator to kool it off.

fortunately I was on a hill and was able to jumpstart it after it cooled back down about 20 minutes later.
 
Yeah it's not until after you get stuck somewhere where the things I listed seem like a good idea.

I don't feel like its good advice to say "just ride it." Your dealing with somthing that's modified far beyond its intended used/function. I've said it a million times before, it's the small details that make the diffrence between a turn key, ride anywhere-reliable street bike, and one that's gonna give you issues, and leave you stranded.

Bare minimum I'd suggest an extra fan, and relocate the fuel pump. But those are the "big money" mods out of my list. To do the rest of the stuff only takes a little more money but mostly time.
 
I put a 2nd gen radiator on mine bc they come with two fans installed the muzzy fan blades in both. Then hooked them up so they come on by themselves or i flip a switch and they come on(if i hit traffic i turn them on right away)and i gutted the thermo and use engine ice and never have to worry about over heating now
 
10:1 will make some good power with more boost.

Anyways, it's a great idea, and you should do it provided that the bike is set up correctly. Shoot, I remeber maybe about 5 years ago, it was deemed risky to ride a turbo bike far just for fear of a break down somewhere. I've gotten many long trouble free miles out of my turbo bike.

The number one issue with reliability/streetability is heat, and that's usually when people get stuck. First of all definitly add a second fan in case you get stuck in traffic. You may even want to gut the thermostat as that helps increase the volume of water being pumped due to less restriction.

Second, is the fuel pump. Taking the pump out of the tank, where it's cooled by fuel will get you stuck real quick on a hot day. Make sure you insulate the fuel pump, regulator, filter and lines to avoid vapor locking. The next best option is to get the pump off the back of the trans all together, and move it to the back, underneath the sub frame. Vapor locking a turbo bike is probably the most common problem.

Three, is header bolts. If you don't have some sort of nordlock, locking washers, or stage 8 locking fasteners get them. Header bolts tend to losen over time, but many many miles in sort periods of time will speed that up.

Lastly I would suggest you have the turbo oil return fitting welded to the pan, as well as the fuel fitting coming off the sump of the fuel tank. Most of the time oil fittings stay put and don't leak if installed correctly. But it can happen, and has to me on a long trip. If your slowly losing oil, it could cause engine damage if the oil gets low enough. Also say worst case scenereo the fitting comes out, it will dump the oil right in front of your back tire and could cause a wreck.

I find the fuel sump fittings to be more of the issue do to the tank being lifted for maintinance. But the same issues could happen. A slow leak could cause you to run out of fuel faster and leave you stranded. If very leaky it could even run the risk of fire, although I think that would be a vary rare, extreme case. But somthing to think about none the less.

But these are things I strongly suggest you do. It's because of my experience with these problems that any turbo busa I build for costumers, these are things that are always done.

Awesome advice! These are really good things to know about. Definately going to insulate the fuel pump, and already have the second fan with manual switch. The oil and fuel fittings ill atleast be checking when I do my pretrip.
 
Sort of
the intank Bosch or Walbro are both capable of 300+ hp of fuel , but you have to redesign the mount system to remove the plastic filter and route the fuel from pump to a new tank outlet
then you can externally filter and regulate the fuel
I did one receintly on a zx14, they have very little room for an external pump , should have taken a pic when i hads it out, so a rough drawing will have to suffice
DSC_0524_zps38821214.jpg


pump is hose clamped to the old straps
the outlet is bolted to the top of the strap , slips over the pump outlet , has a washer internally to position the new outlet pipe and secure the seal
and a compression fitting at the tank exit
 
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With the muzzy fan blades u can deff tell a difference in the amount of air those things pull compared to the stock. Hmm maybe i can rig something up to show the difference seeing as i still have some spare fans. Let me work on that gives me an excuse to be in the garage all day drinking beers!!
 
After reading the post I was considering going through and redoing the oil pan fitting, checking the header bolts and possibly relocating the fuel pump...so far just the pan is reworked. Where is a good source for the locking header bolts? For jermzfree are you going to swap the header bolts?

IMG_2849.JPG
 
Sort of
the intank Bosch or Walbro are both capable of 300+ hp of fuel , but you have to redesign the mount system to remove the plastic filter and route the fuel from pump to a new tank outlet
then you can externally filter and regulate the fuel
I did one receintly on a zx14, they have very little room for an external pump , should have taken a pic when i hads it out, so a rough drawing will have to suffice
DSC_0524_zps38821214.jpg


pump is hose clamped to the old straps
the outlet is bolted to the top of the strap , slips over the pump outlet , has a washer internally to position the new outlet pipe and secure the seal
and a compression fitting at the tank exit


In tank pump would be awesome!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
After reading the post I was considering going through and redoing the oil pan fitting, checking the header bolts and possibly relocating the fuel pump...so far just the pan is reworked. Where is a good source for the locking header bolts? For jermzfree are you going to swap the header bolts?

I have 50 miles on the engine, running good! But header bolt on #4 has come loose twice. Luckly its the easy one to reach, but yes I would like to get some locking bolts. The bolts on 2 and 3 looks like a pain to reach!
 
How big is your water injection tank? Setting up a "purge" switch with an extra nozzle at the radiator might be beneficial just in case. Another thing to wire, but might be useful.

On a side note, got better pics of the water injection install? Looks like a shurflo pump?
 
How big is your water injection tank? Setting up a "purge" switch with an extra nozzle at the radiator might be beneficial just in case. Another thing to wire, but might be useful.

On a side note, got better pics of the water injection install? Looks like a shurflo pump?

Yep its a shurflo, works great! I have a 50 psi water pressure sensor attached, with a dash light that turns off when the nozzle gets pressure. Works every time. My tank is a camelpak reservour, maybe a first. It fits perfect and is easy to fill up! Here are some pics.

IMG_20130417_160458.jpg


IMG_20130417_160614.jpg
 
What fluid are you using in it? I had thoought about using something similar, but use my trunk, so there was no real place to keep it.
 
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