Harley Davidson Shovelhead builds with Superchargers

On my journey looking for a way to boost up my 1983 Shovelhead i found it hard to track all the right information on one website. Since I had to find all the information my self I decided to make my own website in order to help and inspire other bike builders. This way http://www.eriksbikeworld.com/ was born. On the site you can find pictures of bikes, project with detailed build info, TechTips and a lot of other stuff. Through this journey I found a supercharger for Shovelhead called MagnaCharger

This is a "bolt on" system that after 4-5 hours can increase the engine effect substantially.

Another one is the ProCharger which more or less is a belt driven turbo.

You can read more about this and other ways to tune you Harley on http://www.eriksbikeworld.com/

Parts arrived

The package from Dellorto arrived. Nothing smells like a new, freshly oiled carburetor in the afternoon....
...

For every part there is at least one interface and for a carburetor there is at least four. The next part of the project is to define the layout of the blow thru setup.  As a part of that a manifold that fits the carburetor in one end and the shovel heads in the other end is a good starting point. In addition I need to figure out if I need a fuel pump in order to overcome the pressure created by the turbo. I also need do design an inlet manifold to the 2 inlets of the carburetor as an interface towards the turbo. The fourth item on the list is to make a solution for the throttle cable. Isn't it great receiving one parts create the need for 4 more!

In adition the push rod cover kit arrived from Justified Defiance, also from Ebay.

For this build I have been so lucky that through heavy budget negotiations with the wife I have managed to order a new motorcycle table lift. This one the way from GASOLIN.NO:





Don't mind the bike - That will soon be replaced by a Harley!

As a result of the interface questions from yesterday the following is concluded:
The consequence of the blow through configuration is that the fuel supply to the carburetor need to be pressurized in order to compensate for the turbo pressure. In order to do so an electrical fuel pump is required. To secure that the fuel supply pressure is varying with the turbo pressure a pressure regulator will be placed between the fuel pump and the carburetor. The regulator is controlled by the turbo pressure more or less as the waste gate valve on the turbo. When the turbo pressure increases the fuel pressure increase accordingly. The fuel pump will all the time give a higher pressure (and flow) to the regulator than required and the excessive fuel will be returned to the fuel tank. I knew that I would be able to use the extra tank inlet some day!

I am still searching for an intake manifold but will make one if required. Imagine if I had a 3D-printer for metal available - See more under videos on http://www.eriksbikeworld.com/

This is designed for use on a miniature Ducati with a 49 cc engine and should give more than sufficient cooling to the turbo.
In addition I found a small 12V centrifugal pump on Ebay (Hong Kong). Lets hope the quality is good....







The idea is to connect the pump to a timer relee - When I stop the engine the cooling pump will continue to run for 3-5 minutes.
Lets hope it is room for all this on the bike - To be continuedI have also identified a small radiator for the water cooling for the turbo:

Turbo slection

Dark winter evenings in Norway often results in ideas for things to do in the workshop. This year the idea of fitting a turbo to a Shovelhead from 1983 started to materialize. I searched for turbo calculator on the Internet and found a couple good and hopefully reliable ones. Next was to understand the turbo maps in order to select the right turbo for my application.

The calculators and other advices resulted in the following assumptions:


Estimated boost pressure:     0,8 barg
Estimated air flow:                 11-13 lbs/minute
Estimated effect with turbo:   90-100 Hp

Turbo Map GARRETT GT1548

Based on the above turbo map a GARRETT 1548 was chosen and ordered... What a bummer..
1st learning never buy a turbo before you have decided whether to build a draw thru configuration or a blow thru. My initial plan was to build a draw thru configuration but this can not be done with any of the GT turbos from GARRETT. If you are planning for a build with draw thru configuration make sure that you buy a turbo with carbon seals. Newer turbos are made with piston seals which are not suitable for draw thru configuration.

Draw thru configuration:
This is most likely the easiest way to put a turbo on a bike with a carburetor but not the most efficient. Nearly all new turbos are made with piston seals as a default – some older models can be re-built to carbon seal. As I see it piston seals are regarded as an improvement towards the carbons seals as long as not used in a draw thru configuration. My conclusion is that a turbo with piston seals can NOT be used in a draw thru configuration. And Why? It is quite logic if I had thought about it before. When the throttle is open the condition for the turbo is the same for draw thru as blow thru. When you close the throttle the turbo continue to rotate in order to maintain the turbo pressure but the closed throttle does not let air in. The turbo then creates a vacuum on the compressor side which subsequently suck the oil out from the bearings ending in blown seals, bearings and turbo…
Blow thru configuration:
This appears to be more efficient due to 2 reasons. A mixture of petrol and air has a higher density than only air and the turbo have to work “harder” to maintain boost pressure. When the petrol air mixture goes through the turbo the air fuel gets “separated” which is not ideal for the efficiency. Still there is not a common stand to this by the turbo freaks on the web. The biggest challenge for this configuration is to get a carburetor to withstand the pressure and the jets to be fit for purpose. I have found few examples that standard carburetors can be rebuilt for a turbo engine.
I now have identified a Dellorto 40mm carburetor that is turbo sealed an suitable for boost up to 30 psi. If the supplier can convince me that they can deliver with the correct jets I will change to blow thru configuration.

Another item under lessons learned is that newer turbos is prepared for  water-cooling around the bearings in order to increase the lifetime. I have started to search for a small radiator and an electrical centrifugal pump in order to make a cooling system for the turbo bearings.

The following parts are now chosen:

GARRETT GT1548 turbo
S&S heads prepared for more valve lift
New cylinders
Wiseco forged pistons
Crane 1-0108 camshaft
Crane racing ignition module
Dellorto DHLA40 turbo sealed up to 30 PSIIn addition a small radiator and an electrical pump is bought in order to build a cooling system for the turbo.