The difference a year can make....

As I mentioned earlier today to one of the other members here privately...I took my turbo out last night for a bit of after work attitude adjustment. A few trips up through the gears on 10 miles of intermittent straight-aways on that bike easily erases all the "cr*p" from a long day at work.

It's kind of funny because last December when I finally got around to picking the bike up (I had bought in a month earlier and wasn't very excited about it), I had planned on selling it after I made it nice again. I joined a different forum that specializes in turbos and began to learn about them. I own a factory supercharged car but really didn't know much about turbos in general or the 650turbo at all. A couple of the guys there and everyone here taught me a lot more then I could have absorbed reading a book. When I reassembled the bike and rebuilt the turbo and set the boost up near 20 lbs....it instantly moved into "one of my fav bikes" out of all of the bikes in my garage.

I had thought about cafe`ing the bike....not "restyling" it like so many "cafe`s" are but really cafe`ing it by stripping every single pound that I can but at the end of the day I'd just have an ugly, stripped down bike that was still overweight since I can't do anything about the shaft drive and electric start so leaving it stock appearing lets me at least ride a decent looking bike even if it is a pig. As time wore on, I began to like the way it looked more and more. Definitely old school, but kinda modern old school...like a Star Wars Fighter ship.

It hasn’t been a year without any pain. In August, I mysteriously lost boost. Then, before the low boost pressure was fully resolved, I had some gremlins move into the electrical system(read melted wiring). A couple weeks and a few dollars later both issues were resolved.

I learned after being advised to start it every other day or so, that it was VERY sound advice. The d**ned EPA forced the manufacturers to make these bikes so coldblooded that it really doesn’t like sitting more than a couple days or it will give me “the cold shoulder” when I go out to start it. It will instantly start on full choke, run 3 seconds, then die and take 4-5 more tries to relight it. If I start it every day though, it will start right up and run fine....go figure?

Nearly a year later it has moved from being one of my favorite bikes to one of my all time fav bikes which places it in some pretty nice company. The acceleration as the boost gauge swings past 15 psi is very similar to a large two stroke coming on the pipe. Although it weighs 100 pounds more than it should (according to me), I never thought I'd enjoy a four stroke, any four stroke as much as I enjoy this little bike.

It isn't the bike I ride on long trips out of state, I take my 1000cc Vstrom for those trips. Nor does it instantly draw a crowd where ever I park it as my H2's do, nor does it freely lift it's front wheel in the first 3 gears like my built up H1 does.....but what it does do is put a smile on my face every time I climb aboard it. It's like riding a Sidewinder missle.....it leaves the hardpoint slowly......then it just takes off!

What a difference a year makes.....last year it was destined for fleabay....now I wouldn't want to part with my turbopig.

jeff

 

nice one Jeff...!!

 

Great story Jeff! Hopefully Ron and I both have a similar experience.

 

This makes me want a turbo. There is one in this town i live in. Actually there are about 7 or 8 xj's in my small town of 5000. 2 belong to me, 2 belong to a friend of mine. The turbo unfortunatly doesn't belong to either of us, but the guy who owns it told me that if i needed parts i should ask him. Turbo is non compatible with my bike though

 

My 700 is the same, have to start it everyday. I think they get jealous.
Turbopig, Turbopig, does whatever a Turbopig does....... :lol:

 

Hey JeffK if you're ever out of town and need someone to start that turbo for you I'd take it for a spin!

 

I'm not sure if that post is encouraging or not. Does that mean it's going to take at least a year for me to get mine sorted? 8O

I did start cleaning the carbs.

 

Thanks guys...and Devo, I restored mine while off between Christmas and New Years last year, then took at apart again to rebuild the turbo in January. I calcuated the total hours to be around 100-110 start to finish.....and it ran fine till my electrical issues in Aug. When you are building your bike, pay special attention to the 8 or 10 prong multi-connector behind the battery. It collects the wires from the alternator, cpu and rectifier. It corrodes and once it's connections are fouled, it will get hot enough to melt it!! Trust me, take it apart and clean each connector and cover with dilectric grease to keep it sound.

You guys are going to love your bikes once you get them setup right. I like that "Spiderman" takoff.....reminds me of a homer simpson comic with homer on the ceiling with his "spiderpig"<LOL>

jeff

 

I'm not selfish, anytime you feel like riding down to my neck of the woods, you're welcome to take it out.....as long as you promise to come back!!

I'd ride it up your way but I get a little cramped on rides longer then 20 miles or so on it.

jeff