Hi guys

I'm pretty mechanically minded and am considering piecing together a turbo setup for my 12R. I have no problems doing the clutch, swingarm, turbo/manifold/exhaust, that's all fairly elementary.

My questions involve the intake, fuel system and EFI modifications.

Will a stock motor hold up to a basic turbo setup (only looking for 220hp at the tyre)?
Can I get away without an intercooler, by running a thicker head gasket or decompression plate?
What's the done thing as far as fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, injectors and any other fuel mods?
Is a PC3 up to the task of managing the fuelling?
Are there any other considerations or difficulties associated with such a conversion?

Stock fuel pump is only rated for 210-220rwhp depending on what model year you have. If you're pushing more than 200rwhp you'll want to upgrade to a Walbro unit.

Muzzys sells a pump for the 00-01 models, it's a Walbro GSS347 I believe... but don't quote me on that. It's good for well over 450hp supposedly. Injector size shouldn't be a problem so long as you've got a fuel pressure regulator to keep your injector duty cycle down.

If you've got a 02-05 model... you can get the same pump, but the holding bracket will require some modification. I'm running a Walbro GSS242 pump on my 03 12R. It's rated up to 350hp (my bike makes roughly 230-240rwhp on the juice) so it suits me just fine.


The main problem with turbocharging the ZX-12R is the leaky airbox/frame and lack of space for a large turbo. You'll need to relocate your oil filter to fit the turbo, I believe Muzzy sells the relocation hardware.

I remember speaking with Barry Henson of Velocity Racing at the local Hooters in regards to developing their first Turbo system for the ZX-12R. Everytime they increased the boost, they'd find another leak somewhere.

I think you'll be "OK" at lower boost levels, but prepare for some grey hairs if you ever decide to run in excess of 15lb's.


You may want to shoot Velocity Racing an email, maybe they can give you some pointers along the way.


Good luck.

Oh, I almost forgot!

upgrading the clutch to a lock-up and sending out the transmission for a race undercut is a MUST!

The stock 12R clutch and tranny suck and WILL give you problems sooner than later with the power you'll be putting down.

Thanks for all that.

Mine is an 01/2006 model, had it at the drags last night and ran 10.1@143mph. I'd like to get my technique down and scrape into the 9's before I go putting in any more power or doing the lowering/extending thing. As far as I'm concerned if you're not a good enough rider to get into the 9's on a fairly standard bike, then you're just using money to compensate for a lack of skill!

So for a modest setup the factory injectors are fine but I'll need to upgrade the fuel pump which is all fairly easy. That combined with an adjustable pressure reg should see me out of trouble fuel-wise.

Really the only questions I'm left with are plumbing, internals and tuning-wise.

1. Does a PC3 have the flexibility to cope with a modest turbo setup safely? I don't have any real experience with them but assume they piggyback the standard ECU and allow adjustment of fuel by +/- a certain percentage at a given RPM point.

2. How about ignition... is timing locked, vacuum advanced, mechanically advanced, electronically controlled? Can the PC3 adjust this?

3. Intake-wise, what is done there... do you just pressurise the airbox, or remove it? Is it a part of the frame, or is it a separate item?

4. Engine internals... with a good tune are the standard internals up to 240-250rwhp? What is my best option there? I'd prefer to get away with an untouched engine, save for a decompression plate or thicker head gasket to drop compression. My bike is low mileage (17,000km... about 12,000mi) so don't want to pull it down unnecessarily as I'm on a budget.

talk to Seb at NLR :D
http://www.nlrsystems.com/cindex.htm
his electronics are the shit :wink:

ignition is controlled by the ecu
for basic stuff, the pc3r and pc3usb with ignition modual can adjust timing as well as fuel maps. check out the guides on the powercommander site
the airbox is part of the frame. it must be sealed off and then you pressurize it. Doug Ray from spencer cycles has the ultimate way to do this for a full out race bike
a baseplate spacer or thick headgasket isnt really the best way to go to lower compression. it increases quench height. the best option is a set of JE turbo pistons. stock bore, just swap them in. that way you dont need to retime yor cams with adjustable sprockets(must do that when you change to thicker or thinner gaskets)however, 240-250 would probly be fine on a stock motor if its tuned right and not used for long durations
send the trans to R&D Motorsports in Fla

to all that. Very good advice on the turbo pistons too!