various intake methods

[Bart]

* I'm sure there's a thread like this, but search yields nothing *

Just wondering about the different methods of intake enhancement, and how they apply to different types of engines, especially motorcycle (and mostly of course our Kats').

For clarity, what's the diff between things like turbo, superchargers, blowers etc.

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I have only pre-conceived notions to go on as far as the basics of how they work; which are:

Turbo: uses pressure from exhaust to run a fan, which in turn operates something to increase air pressure at the intake (turns another fan, or compressor)

Superchargers: uses a compressor, I guess powered off a belt connected to the engine

"Blower": a powerful fan, connected to the crankshaft

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Turbo seems to be the popular choice with bikes. I did see what I'm pretty sure was a blower on a bike in a used bike lot once but it was on a med-sized cruiser.

[loudnlow7484]

Turbo you have relatively correct. Flow from the exhaust spins a turbine wheel, which spins a shaft, which spins a compressor wheel. The turbo has to be spinning fast to build any boost.

Superchargers come in two varieties, 1- Positive Displacement, and 2- Centrifugal. Both are driven by the crankshaft

Positive displacement superchargers are like a compressor that moves a fixed volume of air, but is geared to move more air than the engine is capable of taking in. That forcing a larger volume of air in creates the pressure. Engines with positive displacement superchargers have more power even from low RPM because they don't require centrifugal force anywhere to create boost.

Centrifugal superchargers are just like a turbo, except that the shaft is driven by the crankshaft instead of by a turbine wheel in the exhaust. They have to have a gearing setup on them in order to turn the belt speed into high enough RPMs to generate boost from the compressor.

[Bart]

Thx Loudnlow - found a few good "animation diagrams" on yoo-toob

just wanted to give this thread a boost, surely there's got to be some input. Has anyone done anything along these lines to increase power in their Kat?

or have anything to say?

[Idrivetoys]

Also to elaborate superchargers are driven by the crank however via belt. not to insult someones intelligence but many don't understand that part

there is a few threads on here about turbo kats but supercharger is out of the question since there are no external moving components on our engine.

and on another side note, a blower is a form of supercharger

centrifugal looks like a turbo, roots type replaces part of or all of the intake manifold, for quick search a mustang typically uses a centrifugal where a corvette tpyically uses a roots.

[HemiKat]

for quick search a mustang typically uses a centrifugal where a corvette tpyically uses a roots.

Thats because its hard to put a roots blower on top of an engine when there is a distributor in the way. Though the newer Ford engines without a distributors use root type blowers.

Ive contiplated running a small supercharger on my bike by using a "double sprocket." Basically one side of the sprocket runs the rear wheel and the other runs the supercharger, but I think forced induction on a bike is pointless. As power hungry as I am, thats more work than the small benefit of power is worth.

[loudnlow7484]

The best supercharger setups I've seen on bikes run it off of the crank, essentially by extending a shaft from the crank out the side cover, with a seal and bearing in the cover. Pretty tricky setup, but about as slick as it gets IMO.

[Bart]

So basically if one wants to make the Katana faster, best to do the usual methods; upgrade exhaust, re-jet, maybe re-sprocket if you want more acceleration at the expense of top end.

Beyond that it's things like pulling the cams off a gsx-r, or putting in a whole new engine. And if you're still having tiny-pecker syndrome just get a 'busa and be done with it.

No need to create headaches trying to hack an induction onto an engine that's already high-compression?

[HemiKat]

And if you're still having tiny-pecker syndrome just get a 'busa and be done with it.

Ding ding ding, we have a winna!!

[scottynoface]

but I think forced induction on a bike is pointless. As power hungry as I am, thats more work than the small benefit of power is worth.

Pshhh....

Kirk's 636 is really nice...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjeIS9ILPUo"]YouTube - 1st Shakedown runs for the Turbo 636[/ame]

This guy's setup is pretty slick too...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbaTa0UM2BI"]YouTube - ZX9 Turbo 11psi Extended Swingarm[/ame]

[GSXFJim]

Here are 2 'roots' type unit installs..

Muzzy's zrx1200

http://www.sportrider.com/features/146_0502_kawasaki_zrx1200/index.html

'79 KZ1000

http://kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_joomgallery&func=detail&id=3781&Itemid=117

It can be done, but with our Kats, is the cost worth the benefit?.. adding weight to a hefty bike not to mention the time spent engineering it, testing and tuning it. The HP gained would have to be substatial to shift the HP-to-weight ratio. The trick-factor of having one would be cool.. and if $ was no object it would be a fun project to see what the dyno slip numbers would be.