RB Racing Harley Turbos

RB Racing V-Rod Intercooled Turbos

M8 Turbos Twin Cam Turbos Evolution Turbos Shovelhead Turbos

Note: We only do these by appointment at RB Racing. Takes time. Prepaid. Expensive. No Motor work.

We were contracted to make a V-Rod Turbo...The customer returned at a later date and rode our 126" Turbo Road Glide.It so scared the shit out him when he hit 3rd gear on a freeway on-ramp that he pulled over and parked the Glide.

He decided right then against the turbo after we made it. There are multiple models of this short-lived bike...So they are only done here at RB Racing.

Numerous people have called, mostly sharp shooters, asking us to justify our existence on this planet. We don't play those games.. We tell everyone the same thing... "Only done here. Prepaid for what we ask. Must be scheduled...And finally we do not sell DIY parts"

V-Rod Turbos...2014 pictured

Note: These are high compression 11.5:1 motors. Compression must be reduced.

Right side view RB Racing V-Rod Turbo. BoostMaster Billet wastegate (rider adjustable). 2 1/2" Chromed exhaust. 360 hp turbocharger.

We sort of left V-Rods alone as we are always busy and new projects take an awful lot of time and resources if you want to do things right. More than a decade after Willie G and Porsche came up with a 60 degree street bike and after the failed water buffalo road race VR1000 we decided to turbo the V-Rods. Time, money, resources. Left side view showing ram air 360 hp intercooler. Horn and clock switch get relocated. No need to cut any coolant lines.

The VR1000 came to the show heavier than the competition and with less power. This is not a formula for success. The V-Rods are sort of the same way. They are high RPM 4 valve engines that are pretty quick but not real fast...and they are a bitch to work on or hop-up... Harley's answer to the metric crowd. There is no end to the hop-up route on the big twins, but nowhere to go on the V-Rods.

Harley's answer to the slow and heavy formula was to crank out a factory drag bike, the V-Rod Destroyer, that had about 165 hp and ran 9 second quarter miles. We'd go to the races working on our friend Carl Pelletier's Top Fuel Harley and gaggles of these would show up..mostly Dealer owned. A few times some V-Rod Turbos by two other manufacturers would show up and run in the 11's. That was pretty embarrassing. There really isn't any point in showing up with a turbo if you can't outrun a normally aspirated V-Rod Destroyer. A 165 hp turbo that only makes boost high in the rpm range with a small turbo has no chance against the Destroyer. Tuck your tail between your legs and go hide.

RB Racing V-Rod Turbo: RB Racing uses 360 hp turbos, not 160 hp turbos. Our turbos move a lot of air at low pressure ratios and are rider adjustable. You want to be able to cruise at high speed, not be under boost, but go into boost instantly when you roll on the throttle. You can adjust the boost from the handlebars while you are driving...5 to 25 psi. No muffler goes inside your legs.

V-Rods are sort of annoying at speed as a fast cruise has the motor spinning along at 5000 rpm like a Japanese sport bike. We recommend regearing the bike with a chain drive and gearing it taller and use the turbo's torque to keep the cruising rpms down and the mileage up.

These are strange bikes. The bike is a narrow V-Twin but the bars and the pegs stick way out in the wind. We put on 360 hp worth of intercooler on the V-Rod but had to use ram air to keep the bike narrow. Dating back to 1985 with our work on BMW K100's we knew the intercooler could not block the radiator. If you do not drop the charge temperatures you simply cannot run higher boost levels.

Fixtures, R&D

After 35 years of turbocharging motorcycles we have come to some conclusions:

1. Unless it is really, really, fast don’t do it.
2. The fuel delivery system has to be engineered in advance.
3. Exhaust manifold design is critical for tuning, performance, and reliability.
4. Inlet manifolding and plenum design is just as critical as #3 above.
5. Large capacity charge cooling is mandatory.
6. Oil feed and scavenge must be planned before fabrication begins.
7. Parts must be so well designed that long term reliability is insured.
8. It takes many years and thousands of hours and endless testing to do 1-7 above.
9. Most people do not appreciate 1-8 above.

Details:

FAST: We only use turbos that flow large CFM at low pressure ratios. Nothing we do has the capacity less than 3x OEM Horsepower. The defunct V-Rod Destroyers made about 165 hp and ran 9 second quarter miles. We give you 300+ horsepower capability...that’s double what a Destroyer had.

Fuel System

FUEL: RB Racing V-Rod Turbo Inlet Sytem; V-Rods are Fuel limited even with larger Delphi injectors. 85% duty cycles with the OEM 4.81 gram injectors limit the bike to 130 hp. Taking the injectors to full static and limiting the boost you can get to 160 hp with lower B.S.F.Cs. No amount of Screaming Eagle Super Tuner (SEST) or TTS Master Tune software entries can cover the horsepower we generate.

RB Racing supplies Bosch Racing injectors system to cover boost horsepower from 130 to 360 horsepower. The plenum uses O-Ring seals on each throttle body and the Idle Air Control port is routed to the plenum, not left to the open air. The stock paper gasket was not designed for boost. A Blow off valve incorporated into the plenum prevents compressor surge. Your Delphi system is a 1 Bar system and realistically cannot be programmed for 2 to 3 Bar operation. We supply 2 or 3 Bar MAP sensors and special racing fuel pumps for 360 Hp applications. It is better to keep all the sophistication of the stock ecm.

EXHAUST: RB Racing’s V-Rod Turbo exhaust manifold has full 2” ceramic coated primary tubes, with a high velocity merge collector that is a piece of art. We do not do simplistic designs that have no tuning, with primary tubes that literally fire into each other. These are nothing better than “log” manifold. We keep it wrapped in plastic during the installation. It is ceramic coated. Tape on the frame minimizes scratches.

INLET SYSTEM: Inlet volume is defined as the swept volume from the turbo compressor discharge to the engine's inlet valves. RB Racing’s V-Rod inlet system has sufficient volume for the large bore pistons to breathe freely unlike cheap designs that actually “starve” the engine and stall the compressor due to inelasticity of the small plenum volume. RB Racing’s V-Rod inlet volume from the turbo discharge to connector tubing to the intercooler to the inlet plenum to the inlet valves is a multiple of the engine's volume...not one "coke can sized" plenum.

CHARGE COOLING: RB Racing employs a 360 hp rated V-Rod intercooler with ram air cooling, not an useless small intercooler turned sideways to the airstream simply acting as a heat sink, not as an intercooler. The intercooler is tucked in tight so as not to interfere with the rider. We keep it wrapped in plastic during the installation. It is polished and clear ceramic coated. With the cool air entering the plenum from the left side you do not have to cut radiator lines.

OIL SYSTEM: You do not have to alter or modify your engine's dip stick for a turbo drain. No drilling or taping required for feed or drain lines.

RELIABILITY: We routinely spent a year or more in development. Unless it qualifies as a daily driver we don’t do it. Unless you can go on trip with it we don’t do it.

ELECTRONICS: The stock Delphi controller is a very sophisticated engine controller that should be left in place and supplemented by our 2 and 3 Bar Map sensors and Bosch Racing Fuel Injectors for most street and high performance use. The same strategy we use on our big twin Evo and Twin Cam turbos. Stock injectors are horsepower limited. Changing the efi system to another ecu/ecm involves a number of drawbacks, the most important being is that you negate thousands of manhours of Delphi development. We keep it simple