Modified turbos and then some....new cycle project

 So I finally finished a little turbo rebuilding and mod video that I had been kind of working on from time to time over the past three months or so.

So as to the TURBO SV650: when the oil pump basically jammed on me, it broke the oil gear in the process and like a dumb ass, I drove it up the hill to my home. (the oil pump gears, which are three clover type rotors, lost tolerance just in wear, thus just jammed up from losing said tolerance. It broke the Teflon gear in two pieces. I replaced it with the steal one but realized I am better off with the Teflon one, as should this occur again, more damage to other components like the drive gear to the oil pump would have been damage not to mention gobs of steal grindings in the oil reservoir.) In the process I did a little damage to the journal bearings, or so it seems and probably put more wear on the rings as well.  Now I get ridiculous blow by even though there is no smoke on the exhaust and
compression is pretty decent. So I'm only guessing/ making a hypothesis that it's the excessive clearance in the journal bearing and possibly rings. I'll know for certain once I've taken it apart. The engine alone now has well over 136,000 miles. I don't know exactly anymore since the original speedometer got destroyed in the accident back in September of last year.

Now I'm deciding to either: Put an SV1000 engine in my poor little SV650 with EFI computer and all, or build an SV650 engine I have under my bench and leave it alone. But the SV650 now has a salvage title from the accident so it's just mine with no intention of ever selling it. So I'm thinking Hot Rod the hell out of it. Build a Turbo SV650 with a good title for selling.  I now have a TLS1000 that will get a turbo next spring or late winter that's also a driver now.   
We'll see how it all transpires!

Super Mod Turbo

So something a little different with the usual turbo modifications is that I realized the limitations where what after market compressor wheel was available for a specific wheel when there are so many that are used in other makes and models. Not to mention the cost of say an HE1 Holset wheel can be used in the larger TD04 housings. Certain Schwitzer wheels that are a bit larger and extended fit in some of the Garrett housings even sometimes fitting the shaft id. This of course not without some if not a decent amount of modifications to the backing plate, sleeving the shaft, and modifying the compressor housing in a few ways to make all the tolerances just right. Yes, in certain models like the above Garrett, I modify the housing as well to avoid choking. You can read more at this link.
The video on the right is a test on my Turbo SV650s where we finally got some numbers 109.50 HP and 63ftlbs of torque from a stock engine.
As to the Super Mod turbo's, some of the other improvements of course comes from the bushing material alloy that C39800 or 700 that has a higher heat tolerance with some self lubrication properties to the alloy making it ideal. Also in the way in which we machine the bushings alow for better flow especially guys and gals running thicker racing oils.
I have two blogs on turbos so here is the other one. At that sight you can get pricing on general turbo rebuilding services and some of the do's and don'ts that are common when putting a system together. This side business has become much more and a bit of fun at that.

TURBO SV650

For kit information and our other Turbo application services please visit this link. The bike is currently being taken apart and a will be utilizing a same model bike with lower miles. I will be adding the ARP bolts and adding the stator where I cut down material to reduce over 2lbs of weight. This helps take some of the rotational mass off the end of the crank which is sometimes an issue when adding more power to these bikes. Again, with this one shown on the left, I left it in absolute stock configuration pushing often 8psig to have had no problems what so ever to over 12,000 miles.
Update 10-25-2013: Well the Turbo SV is no more for awhile. I plowed it into a 21year old girl who crossed four lanes of traffic to make an illegal left turn. Total front end damage, the front wheel broke in three places and jammed what was left of the wheel up into the front cylinder. I have four fractures in my pelvis with some shoulder damage and broken finger was all. It could have been way worse particularly if I didn't have a helmet on. It saved my face for sure and possibly my life my head went through the girls driver door glass. I had adhesion's on my face but worse sever bruising in the crotch from hitting the tank. The almost worse were the man parts got hurt to say the least. However, hoping to buy another of the same year and re-install the system on that one. I had some other goodies to add on anyway with one more fail safe I wanted to apply.
Update 7-27-2013:  So I now have over 11k miles on the build and it has been working very well. Not much to say on that other than I finished two more videos that I have posted below.
Yea, a little crazy I know. Especially if you know SV650's.  No one in America, that I can find, has built one. A handful of SV1000's and a few TLS's but no 650,s. Mainly the reason, "why not" is due to the Crank being a bit weak with more pressure.UPDATE 2-7-13:  I've put about 200 miles on it and have been fine tuning for the past few weeks. Oil to the turbo is now from the engine using the electric pump to push back to crank case. Will be installing lighter stator and anti-detonate tank here soon.
 On this project I decided to take an engineering approach to this by doing some homework about the history, materials and look at overall rotational weight. So I'm getting rid of some of the rotating mass by replacing the Stator all together with thermal electrics and a design of my own on the stator itself much lighter. Also I'm limiting boost to 7psig for now. It takes just about 3psig (at the gauge) to make up for altitude bringing it closer to Sea Level 14.7 performance. You can read more about the build here:    http://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164067
So far, at this writing, I need to paint more pieces and mostly finish electrical connections. All the fuel lines and plumbing are in. This being my personal bike, I need it to be reliable. So I'm trying to think of all the things that need to be perfect to be so. The oiling system for the turbo is on it's own independent circuit. This helping to keep out debris, primarily clutch particulates, out of the center housing bearing. I have since driven it and changing out some things on the turbo. Had to repair it due to a pump switch failier, big bummer.

GB 350 Cafe Racer

This cool little guy came to me needing some work done to make things fit and change a few things. It needed the tank to be mounted, seat with a plate so it wont crack the fiberglass, change brake pedal, foot pegs, install stabilizer, make a license plate holder and add a tail light to it. A few other little things as well. The owner races these things like crazy. The tires are shredded on this thing!  So the picture on the right is a before shot.The owner messages these engines to get into the upper 40's in HP, obviously the HP to weight ratio is a big advantage. The harder mode was to change the rear hoop to fit lower and more linear. Once the seat upholstery is on it will help fill the gap nicely. It has a great profile. From here the owner will finish her up with more paint and tlc. I'll post a final when he sends a final pix. Looking forward to it's finished look!

I had forgotten about the project before this which was another 1977 Ducati 900ss.  So I'm including some of the shots of it here as well. This Ducati will go to Auction in January in Las Vegas. The owners of both the above Cafe and the Ducati about got my arm twisted to go to the Auction. It should be quite interesting! You can get a better look at these by clicking on the picture to get them enlarged.

71 Norton Commando Fastback

This little guy hasn't seen "running" in quite a number of years. After some multiple tinkering and still tinkering actually, it is running and pretty well. I have it up for sale actually. I've fallin more and more for the Cafe' style classics. As you see below with the Honda. There is most certainly a difference with the English bikes. Took me awhile to get used to the right hand shift and left brake. Like the riding style and to my slight amazement it was a good handling ride despite very old tires. It is a very spirited ride to say the least. Not bad for a 750 thumper. As true to the Norton heritage and genetics, problems arise at just about every other turn. The Lucas electric has long since already struck it's  dark hand onto the head lights which I did manage to figure out and fix. So far my fingers are crossed and there is still light. I hand machined the shifter lever assembly for a GP style shift pattern. I've gotten a bit more used to it so now it's not so bad. My buddy Collin Metz came out last Saturday and helped me do some filming. So here is what we came up with. Hope you like.

This is a classic English Bike To say the least. It's pretty fun to drive and keeps with the cafe' style no doubt!

1977 Ducati 900 Super Sport

So this old scoot was fun to paint. These Ducati's are one to be had for sure. Classic lines and styles of the Italian motorcycle architecture. I filmed and edited the video. I've known Craig, current owner, a few years now and he's quite an avid collector. He frequents the Mid America Auction particularly the one in Las Vegas every year in January. Notably one of the largest for the year of strictly Motorcycles of all years, makes and models. He ended up with two of these rather iconic and cool old Ducati's. The paint is Chroma Base DuPont with the colors best depicting and is as close to the original as can possibly be matched by a skilled paint mixing master. Not me actually. I layed down the paint but not after a butt load of sanding by Craig himself. Surface prep is 90% of the paint job in my book. Or damn close anyway. So here's the video that better depicts how well it came out.

Or you can watch a high def vid here   http://vimeo.com/31922427

Honda in Blue, almost?

As work continues so do the ideas. When you have such a template to work with all sorts of thoughts poor into our head. The oil tank, in this case, was all Mikes ideas. He went to our local Surplus City and found a fire extinguisher and hence forth and now, oil tank. Since him calling the side, original, oil tank a "colostomy bag", that pretty much did it for me to get it the hell off there. Ok, there was some aesthetics in mind over that as well, but still. So far no paint in mind, or it might, or who knows what. That's the beauty of all these kinds of projects. Now were kicking around a turbo for the future. Since that's one of my specialties. I think we'll just get her running first drive it for awhile, maybe enjoy whatever the hell is left of summer and tackle that one later! Fortunatelly, we have great weather here and by god, we take advantage of it. It do get cold here as well. So this posting is just a bit of an update and how it's coming along. I think we have a good balance going with the fenders where the wiring will get cleaned up as well. Hasta for now. Be sure to click on the pix for mondo larger viewing.
Watch a short video of the build:
http://vimeo.com/33324909

Proto bike...almost

As with all things, it takes awhile. With this thing, it's taking forever! Now working on lots of electronics as you will notice on the video. Hoping July will see it running and on the road for the dog and pony show. Here's a link to my other blog discussing more in details about whats behind this and more.

Transformation

  Transformation continues for this old 1977 Honda 750 Four. Yes it was a putrid yellow and then we painted it a House of Colors Tribal Blue. It's build is somewhere earlier in this blog somewhere. Now it has a new owner who found that a Cafe Racer was more his liking. Mike, his actual name, (yea, sometimes ambiguity has it's place, but not this time) a long time motor head and extremely familiar with British cars, has a new hankerin for a "Rocker" mobile. A "Mod" is not his style, which if your not familiar with the term, well then "plug in man".  So now it's cuttin and grinding time and more thought going into it than I would ever thought imaginable. Unlike most of my past race car or street rod mod, this actually isn't a bunch different. Other than I'm liking the smaller dimensions! I've built so many big 4x4's this is a great change! The motor on this little dude is getting new slugs in larger barrels, some chamber work and some needed overhaul goodies. We're cleaning up the frame and it will be blue as well. We may add some flair to the already existing paint, but we'll see. It's all up to the Hefe' and a little collaboration from me. We keep coming up with new ideas as we go, I guess that's the norm anyway. Obviously lowered and having some typical Cafe expectations with maybe a hint of Bobber as well. Yea, I know I wasn't going to do this anymore and I have plenty to do...but damn it's a lot of fun.   ps: when you get down to the end of the blog click on "older posts" to see other projects. Also you can click on the photos to see rather large renderings!

Well, that's racing...

I decided since I'm not really doing much work in restorations at the time that I would make this blog a reference to a bit more of all the other "stuff" I'm doing. I won't bore the readers with the Math modeling I do for my inventions, but rather the more fun stuff. Although, math is fun for me. There is still much about motorcycles and go-fast autos which I'm still into. Mostly motorcycles these days. Like me on my 8th birthday and my first hmm, bike. Note the riding position. Still the same today, just a bit more cc's.
It's been a long year working away at building the prototypes. I can't leave well enough alone and keep changing things. But I feel better about where things are now with 7 devices and two I call systems. Nonetheless it's been an interesting year.

So aside from my faux pas of hitting a guard rail at 50 ft per second, which I've mostly recovered from, I have friends who have had similar incidents and "feel" my pain!
For those who have followed some of my projects, undoubtedly you will remember the 1970 Boss that Paul just finished getting together this summer. Well Paul has managed to take his prize possession and put in on it's top! Racing at Sandia Raceway last weekend has given him more work for the winter.  (pictures forthcoming). Here's a quick video link of Paul's Mustang shortly after getting it running.
Be sure to look under "previous posts" to the right for viewing all the past projects we've finished. Also you can click on the pictures for larger viewing. Actually upcoming projects will be Mike Veesarts Honda 750 Four Cafe Racer build. Currently I'm getting the motor ready for rebuilding. We'll be adding some ponies through some head porting for a little extra flow which should make it boogie pretty nicely. Looking forward to that.