Hang on for one helleva ride!
Destination, BUB SPEED TRIALS, 2012.
My 97-inch Dyna Glide is up and running and now we are totally focused on a world class, red hat, 5-Ball racing endeavor. This chance of a lifetime was dropped in my lap. I’m a lucky mofo, I have the chrome-out opportunity to build a true state of the art Bonneville racer capable of charging hard after two records, the 3000 (Engine) -A (Altered)-MPS (Modified Partial Streamliner)-PBG (Pushrod Blown Gas), 3000-A-MPS-PBG and the 3000-A-MPS-PBF (Pushrod Blown Fuel).
I’m fortunate to hang with some of the best in the business. I found myself with a team capable of building a one-off Hayabusa based chassis coupled to the salt with today’s finest suspension components. Race Tech will professionally align, set-up and tune the 5-Ball Raycer’s suspension. We are also using state-of-the-art Turbo-charged Twin Cam technology. The final critical element comes with tried, trued, and extensively tested Susuki aerodynamics. If you’ve been reading the Bikernet news each week you’ve seen the teasers. Now, let’s build it.
We kicked this project off with Randy Torgeson aka: “the King of Cubes”, who was building big twins and big bore cylinders for Harley-Davidson engines for three decades. He started his performance engine career as an apprentice with Doc Dytch and later, Shorty Axtell, the legendary pioneers in big bore cylinders technology. These were valuable years, learning all the critical skills in machining and assembling engines for bikes destined to break records at drag strips as well as the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Master Engine builder, Randy Torgeson of Hyperformance was hand picked for our build. When I’m rollin’ on the long road one of my mandatory stops is always Hyperformance in Pleasant Hill, Iowa. Randy always finds time for a quick lunch, tacos with an ice tea, and on occasion he affords me a bed and a shower, while my hot rod is resting on its kick stand secure in the machine shop sanctuary.
Randy ordered a set of black wrinkle powder coated cases from S&S Cycle, Part #31-081, 4 1/8-inch bore, 1999-06, Twin cam style. Here are the distinct advantages over your basic stock cases: much stronger in every aspect; extra large (thick walls), and quiet. The thicker cam chest allows cam lift up to .675 without modifying (no grinding). Timken style sprocket shaft bearings are a great addition. The cases are clearanced for a 5-inch stroke flywheel assemblies.
6/29/12 Friday morning
Just talked with Randy Torgeson this morning about the engine specifics in our 124-inch Twin Cam build. Will go into greater detail later in the report. Here are a few of the bare bones: R&R Cycle Stage Five Billet Heads, Comp Cams and Pushrods, R&R Cycle lifters, the inside scoop Dan Thayer Oil Pump and more.
The new heavy duty cases, designed for the performance, spent some time soaking in the shop spa with a hot soapy bath (just like at home on a Friday night, might last longer?). After the scrub down the freshly drilled and bored passages were wire brushed and blown dry. For engine longevity, building an operating-room-clean engine is the name of the game. All measurements were double checked, seeing is believing? Checked out perfect.
4 5/8-inch stroke: The premium rods are wrapped around a hefty 1 ½-inch crank pin. The flywheel assembly, CP Pistons (9.5-1) compression were shipped to R&R Cycle for precision balancing and alignment. Seeking the extra edge that might make the difference between haulin’ ass or not haulin’ ass. R&R cycle and Randy at Hyperformance teamed up to build my last 124- inch, twin cam engine. It rolled over 70,000 vibration free happy miles. When the base is solid, the rest of the nuclear power house is a piece of cake.
The new parts fit like a glove, after assembly they turned like they were on a thin layer of hot drawn butter, perfect. Just exactly like new, only butter.
* With the 4 1/8-inch bore we’ll need S&S piston oiling jets, for cooling the skirts. Don’t forget to check for fitment and piston clearance (may need to notch the piston).
For the cam chest we’re using a D.T. 2000 billet, 3-stage oil pump and support plate. The designer of the three-stage pump is Dan Thayer, out of New York. This is what Dan says on his web site, “I have motorcycles running in my blood, all my uncles had them (both sides of the family) and so did my father. I started with a Montgomery and Wards 5hp mini bike when I was about 8 years old, my parents let me buy it because it did not run, and they figured that it was a safe bet that I would not get it running. I had it running that night, and then they said that I couldn’t ride it because it was getting dark and it had no light. I hooked a light, that I robbed off the tractor. I found a way to make it work and still have the motorcycle passion in my blood today. I find a way to make things work that others are betting won’t.”
The billet three-stage oil pump uses three sets of feed gears.
1. Pressure side
2. Scavenge cam chest
3. Scavenge flywheel
Oil creates drag on rotating parts, and ya might not get there first. So to take advantage of today’s top notch technology and advice from those blazing the trail, we now have the best. Less drag is good in all aspects, inside the engine and aerodynamically.
S&S cylinders are manufactured with superior materials, much thicker castings than stock counter parts, providing more material to dissipate the heat from the hot rods engine.
CP Pistons, Part # 144259
CP built a reputation of high-end quality pistons, built to perform and out last; especially in powersports and sport compacts. They are recognized as a technological leader in piston design and development for all venues. Proudly made in USA.
Some 80 percent of the pistons and connecting rods they make are custom. Everyone wants the optimum performance and durability from their engine. Custom pistons and rods assure that you get all the unique performance advantages from your engine while being engineered to last.
For ultimate breathing I dug deep for a set of R&R Cycle stage-five heads, more air will get ya home. The team at R&R put in a few hours extra preparing the head to cylinder fit for an air tight seal under heavy boost provided by our Series 66 Aerocharger.
Air, it’s all about air, air in, air out, the more the better if you want to make serious horsepower and torque. The heads are CNC machined inside and out on the best machinery in the industry in Manchester, New Hampshire at the R&R facility.
The R&R Cycle heads flow 291 cfm (cubic feet per minute) at 28 inches. The Stage five heads use a 1.940 intake valve, with a 1.625 exhaust valve.
R&R heads are simply the best!
Keeping up with the Ronzellos is not for sissies! This family is nuclear powered! In a mere 5 years what began as a father-son hobby of souping up Jr.s’ Sporty, has evolved from Dynos in the garage and a machine shop in the basement, into a large, bustling business (R&R Cycle) with CNC milling stations cranking out 300+ cylinder heads a month!
Reggie Sr. is recognized by performance industry leaders as a top expert in engine performance theory specializing in port flow.
With hundreds of hours studying (and re-writing computer programs and code), plus hundreds of hours flow-bench testing, and over 3,000 dyno runs, Reggie knows his shit! Period!
Every R&R head he produces is CNC ported to meet the specific requirements for a particular application utilizing Reggie’s proprietary Cross Sectional Flow Analysis. So every R&R head has THE perfect match of port volume and shape to meet THE specific appetite of the engine it will feed. The result is unparalleled volumetric efficiency (MAJOR torque AND throttle response) equal an engine that pulls hard and loves to rev!
R&R heads are simply the best! One small but amazing benefit is that your bike with R&R heads and reasonably close jetting and timing, will require absolutely NO choke to start and idle smoothly when stone cold. During a recent visit with Reggie, I witnessed this demonstrated with several R&R equipped bikes. Amazing! Reggie explains that the reason that most engines require an overly rich mixture (choke on) is due to lousy port design/performance! Anyone who has ever struggled with firing up a cold-blooded bike can relate! So not only do you get more power out of your ride, but it will be less temperamental and easier to start! Very cool!
We torqued a set of R&R Cycle Stage IV Billet heads on top of the 124-inch Twin Cam prepared for our Series 66 Turbo application. Here’s the good stuff pertaining to our Series 66 Aerocharger. Set for the basic four pounds of boost the Turbo will flow about 301 cfm (cubic feet per minute), by adding more boost you flow more air, more air produces more horsepower and torque.
At MAXIMUM BOOST the Series 66 is capable of pushing up to 540 cfm. Features: Variable Vane Turbine. Ceramic Ball Bearing. Self Contained Lubrication. No Turbo-Lag (instant, predictable gratification). It weighs in at a light weight 15 lbs. Set at max boost, which is undoubtedly more than the cases might handle without exploding (might not), the engine may never see maximum boost under my watch. There’s not enough straight, smooth road available without a sudden stop of some kind lurking near by.
Turbochargers, by design, use the flow and expansion of exhaust gases to rotate a turbine wheel, which in turn spins a compressor wheel within the intake stream of the engine. This wheel creates boost by compressing the air and increasing the engine’s mass flow rate. This process however, is directly relative to how fast the turbine wheel is spun by the exhaust gasses passing by it. Boost can only be made once these wheels are spinning up to certain speeds and compression can occur. The delay before building boost is simply known as turbo lag.
VARIABLE AREA TURBINE NOZZLE
In 1976 a group of turbo-machinery engineers wanted to improve on the design of conventional turbochargers and eliminate turbo lag from the equation. The end result was the Aerocharger, a turbo that which utilizes exhaust gases in the most efficient way possible to build boost instantly. This was achieved through a Variable Area Turbine Nozzle (VATN) design for the turbine section.
VATN is a series of variable-vanes that optimize the flow area of the turbine by adapting to the exhaust gases. By doing this, the turbine wheel is able to operate at peak efficiency throughout a wide RPM range, something that has never been achieved before. This also eliminates the need for a wastegate, which conventional turbochargers rely upon to control boost. Instead, the vanes automatically adjust the flow area and backpressure to perfectly match the torque requirements of the compressor wheel to produce the desired boost.
Eliminating the need for a wastgate means eliminating extra cost in your turbo system. A typical high-performance external wastegate is commonly priced anywhere from $250-$1000 depending on brand and size. Boost is controlled via various shims and spring designs within the vane controller. This also eliminates the need for a manual or electronic boost controller which can also get very costly. These are additional unnecessary components. The Aerocharger relies on no external components to perform.
Aerocharger: BEARING DESIGN & LUBRICATION
A unique self-contained oil system was also created for the Aerocharger which lubricates the ball bearings in a fine mist of oil. Since the oiling system is separate from the engine, a proper lubricant can be used for the precision ball bearings instead of using oil formulated for engines. This differs from conventional turbochargers that use a flooded bearing system which rely upon the engine’s lubrication system. By avoiding the use of a flooded design a virtually frictionless, self-contained bearing lubrication system was achieved.
Conventional turbochargers use a flooded journal or ball type bearing centered between the turbine and compressor housings. This bearing assembly is plumbed into the engines lubrication system where hot motor oil is constantly pumped through it. In many cases, particularly production turbocharged engines, this bearing assembly has separate cavities for the engine’s coolant to flow through to aid in cooling the bearing as well. Motor oil is not particularly designed for high-speed, ball-bearing aftermarket turbochargers, thus falling short of providing the most ideal lubrication conditions.
This type of lubrication system is also less than desirable when it comes to hot shutdowns. When a turbocharged engine has been run hard the oil and turbo reach extreme temperatures. Shutting the engine off during these conditions stops the flow of oil, which allows the oil to sit in the turbo and cook leading to bearing wear and premature turbo failure. A common remedy for this would be to allow the engine to idle for a period of time before shut down, or to apply a turbo timer, which does this automatically.
The proper solution for this issue is a turbocharger that does not fall victim to these circumstances. The bearing assembly within any Aerocharger is specifically designed to cater to these needs. With the Aerocharger the bearing assembly is located in the coolest location of the turbocharger: the compressor housing inlet. Fresh air is drawn in around the bearing, effectively drawing heat away from the bearing assembly at all times.
Lubrication of this bearing design is also far different from conventional turbochargers. A cavity is built into the front portion of the compressor housing. A specially formulated high-speed bearing oil resides within the cavity. This oil is transferred to the ceramic ball-bearings via a pair of wicks through which a mist of oil is drawn to lubricate the bearings. Due to the fact that only a light mist of oil is lubricating the bearings, as apposed to the bearings being flooded, the amount of drag on the bearings is significantly reduced.
Low rolling resistance coupled with a low-mass rotating assembly and VATN technology is why turbo-lag is virtually non-existent with the Aerocharger. This also eliminates the need for a turbo timer as the bearings are low drag and hot oil cannot cook the bearings like conventional turbos. Therefore hot shut-downs are not longer and issue and a turbo timer is another component you will not have a need to purchase. A further advantage of this self-contained lubrication system is the fact that the turbo is no longer reliant upon being lubricated by the engine itself. There are no high pressure or lines or seals to fail and reduced oil leakage into the engine for low particulate emissions. This also allows for more mounting options to be available for the turbo including both horizontal and vertical installations
This oil system has been proven not only over several decades of aftermarket installations, but also on military applications where units have logged over 35,000 hours at 83K RPM which is the equivalent of full boost for most applications. The combined results of both technologies allow for optimum reliability, vastly superior performance, and flexible installation. Most importantly boost is achieved virtually instantly.
Stand by for Chapter 10, headed your way soon.
My grip is packed, the Ranger full of petrol prepared for the trip North, destination Salem, Oregon. ETA Wednesday evening. Rick has suggested we tag team the punch list and complete the build. We’re down to the nitty-gritty, air plenum, fuel system, mount the seat and tail, mount the the 3/4 fairing, bolt on the front fender and a few more nickel dime items that eat up the time in a hurry.
Next report we will come from the road.
Haul Ass!
Ride for your Life!
-Ray c wheeler
Performance Editor
wheeler@bikernet.com
CP Pistons and Carrillo Rods are The Complete Connection.
www.cart.rrcycles.com
Bennett’s Performance
Branch O’Keefe
www.BranchOkeefe.com
Darkhorse Crank Works
www.darkhorsecrankworks.com
Fueling Parts
www.FuelingParts.com
R&R Cycle
www.cart.rrcycles.com
Custom Chrome
www.customchrome.com
Race Tech
www.racetech.com
Hardtailz
www.HardtailzHD.com
Hyperformance
www.Kingofcubes.com
Harley-Davidson
Thanks to all of the Craftsman and Companies many times over for sharing your professional advice and experiences mixed in with pinpoint suggestions throughout the build.
