Turbocharged 600cc Bike Engine

[Kezzieboy]

So, at uni I'm part of a project called formula student, in which this year we built this:

UBR17

Which did pretty well, given our budget (19th out of about 100 overall, 6th UK team), however it was a pretty 'safe' build, we didn't try anything particularly innovative.

For this reason, next year I want to strap a turbo to it. Now, there are other teams who have done so, with excellent results, but I want to do this properly. As such I have a couple questions/ideas for discussion. We run a Yamaha R6 engine, and competition rules require that we fit an inlet restrictor of 20mm. The turbo has to be placed after this restrictor as such: "B8.7.2 The restrictor must be placed upstream of the compressor but after the carburetor or throttle valve. Thus, the only sequence allowed is throttle, restrictor, compressor, engine."

1. Recommend me a turbo. Some teams have had success with a GT12 on a single cylinder engine, and Dublin run a turbo'd 4-cylinder, but only disclose that it's a Borg-Warner turbo, not the model, looks like this:



2. What about VNT? It could be an awesome project, and I'm fairly sure it has NEVER been done on a formula student car before. We may have 'acquired' what appears to be a GT15V, if there is such a thing. I will dig out exact part numbers when I can.


So, what do we think? Is it worth it, of will the restrictor make it pointless?

Discuss!

[bigcheez2k3]

A VNT could probably be rigged up with the ECU as I'm assuming the R6 is ECU controlled? Custom map of some sort with extra parameters?

[Kezzieboy]

Yeah, and on that point, we have a Maclaren racing ECU, so it could easily manage VNT control if we could work out how to do it

[Poodle]

Is this not a petrol race engine? Only reason to run vnt is for a super-wide powerband, which you shouldn't need on a race engine. Manufacturers don't use them on petrols because the exhaust gas temperatures are just too high, on a race engine that problem is only going to be worse. Have a google, quite a lot of information out there.

The restrictor won't make the turbo pointless, as obviously a turbo is going to be better at pulling the air through the restrictor than a nasp system.

[Kezzieboy]

It is, but it's all amateur drivers, so the focus previously has been driveability (another reason to turbo). We got some cams reground last year for lower lift and duration which gave less peak power, but a much nicer curve, for example.

We've seen EGTs of about 800C on the dyno, but that's holding it at high load & speed for long durations for mapping (oil temps were over 130C at this point).

[toseland]

i would still say go for a little more simplicity, and shy away from the VNT,

focus on a small turbo.. GT1544 or smaller would be a good place to start



Have a look at what turbo is fitted to a smart car, that is 600cc,

i have seen Turbo R6 engines fitted with the TD04L,. 13T.. if you can get one and map it properly this will hit peak at about 7200rpm or so..

[Seb_Ryan]

Dont forget bike engines WILL spool a turbo quicker than a car engine, we had a 989cc fireblade engine which was turbod to replace the n/a 919 in the westfield, thr bike drove when we bought it, and it was a tdo5 based turbo (but was something from a tuning company type of thing) and that would be on full chat by about 6k and drop off about 1100 it was absolutely savage.

Id say go for a gt17 or even gt18 to be honest, because lets be fair in a bike engine around a track very rare you will be below 6k, we used to never go below that anyway

[Kezzieboy]

We usually run between 8 and 12K around the track, it's got pneumatically actuated paddle shifters, so changes gear so quickly you should be able to keep the revs up. GT17/18 surely is complete overkill on a restricted R6?

We have enough budget to spend a couple hundred on a turbo, or if we find an 'ultimate' turbo for the application we can approach companies for sponsorship to get stuff either free or at least heavily discounted.

[toseland]

http://www.bigccracing.com/


speak with these guys.. explain the situation, see what they recommend

[Kezzieboy]

Excellent, cheers buddy!

[Kezzieboy]

Anyone able to identify this turbo?









Sorry the picture quality is pants, it's currently residing in a poorly lit basement at uni