Turbo or NA

I was digging through my giant pile of Z1 parts and found 2 brand spanking new 80mm turbo pistons.  That would be sweet but sadly its only 2 and to be right I will need to buy all four.     I've been weighing cost of turbo vs NA and here is what I have on my pros and cons list:

Turbo stuff needed
Turbo pistons set  about $500
Fuel injection setup build myself  $1200
oil system for the turbo $300.00
hoses clamps fittings etc $200

I already have a huge brand new turbo for it and a nice header to front mount it  might even have room for a inter cooler or something.    I also have some rayjay turbo stuff but I think I will stick with the one I can buy parts for or replace without NOS parts.

NA stuff needed
Rings and Teflon buttons $250
Carbs, Lectrons $1000 or fuel injection same as above $1200
Cams  $350

The potential power with the turbo is huge, after crunching some numbers were talking 500hp at 2 bar.
and you will be able to start it with a button on the handlebars.

The NA has obvious advantages as well but after crunching the numbers from the turbo, I'm not so interested in the NA setup.   Not to mention this 1327 cc ,13.5:1 piston setup wont let me start it with the on board starter, and I don't want to kick that much ass to get it going. Plus it will be prone to overheat with the big block.  The best thing about this setup is it would be easier to build. All that said, I"m not in any hurry.   My wife asked me why I was even pondering it, she said " just turbo it " .    If  I had 2 more turbo pistons sitting around I would have put them in already and moved on to thinking of fuel injection donor parts.

More red ladies # 28

Somewhere in France...

A few years back I sent  a frame tag out to Roland.  He does some amazing bright work in stainless  and his bikes and fabrications are top notch.   He recently returned to the Shop after being gone for some time due to being down on his luck a bit.  Check out his site here:
 http://outta-contol.blogspot.fr/
I am honored that you are flying a RAS moto badge.  Thanks my brother.

Z1 build progress

I dug out the head for the Z1 project and it is as awesome as I remember, chambers reshaped , bronze guides ported , polished, decked, titanium exhaust valves, stainless intake. I still have to spring it and I have some aluminum retainers and titanium keepers with some shim under buckets for it in my pile of old go fast junk.  Ive spent more time digging through the shop for parts than anything.   On a different note, I was looking at my pistons and I'm thinking of going turbo rather than the 13.5:1, not street able pistons.   I was really not feeling the turbo after the trouble with the Honda and the fact that I have a turbo bike but this is a different story, I'm planning on injecting this motor so it makes life a bit easier when it comes time to boost it.  It would be a waste of a kick ass lower end if I didn't give it the business. Plus 8:1 pistons with the turbo would be street able to a point and gives me a little room to play on the bike or ride to the races.

Labor day at Francesco's

Francesco is a great host, he packed us full of sausage,burgers, pasta and finger food and showed us his collection of vintage H-D goodness.  He is putting together a pretty sweet 80" flat head on a VL frame. The vintage paint on his tanks is awesome!   Thanks for your hospitality my Italian friend.