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►There's just one sensible thing to do with a
Kawasaki Z1-R TC II turbo—chain it to the floor of your garage and feed it a
little raw meat now and then. Little children and puppydogs will do nicely. When
the moon is full, you might want to exercise the turbo a little, but always on a
very short leash. It's not intended to mix in polite society. As any Lon Chaney
Jr. movie attests, average citizens break out pitchforks whenever they're
confronted with a werewolf. Just imagine their reaction to a 135-mph,
flame-belching, tire-smoking werewolf.
There's no mystery about the TC II's appeal. It's as direct and stomach-churning
as the warning prominently displayed on the first page of the owner's manual:
"This turbocharged motorcycle should be operated only by a skilled rider with
experience in the operation of large high-performance motorcycles. The
performance capacity of the Z1-R TC may exceed the control skills of most
motorcyclists." When the turbocharger boost kicks in, it feels like warp drive;
power swells without end until the valves float or the points quit. Riding the
turbo at speed is like climbing the stairway to horsepower heaven. This
motorcycle may be mean, it might have to be shackled in your garage most of the
time, but owning one is like having a never-ending booklet of E-tickets to a
Disneyland thrill ride.
Alan Masek recognizes how
persuasive a large herd of horsepower can be in the superbike marketplace. He
capitalized upon his knowledge last year when he established Turbo Cycle
Corporation (TCC) to market Kawasaki Z1-Rs modified with American Turbo Pak
turbocharger kits. In 1978, Masek's firm assembled the bikes and sold them to
selected Kawasaki dealers without warranty. He sold nearly 500 TCs. For 1979,
Masek has arranged for ATP to assemble the TCs directly. In addition, the turbo
has been reformulated to make it more cultivated for street use. Even so, the
Molly-designed paint job applied to our limited-edition test bike suggests that
Turbo Cycle is far from interested in selling low-profile Q-ships to boulevard
bounty hunters.
What Turbo Cycle describes as a
"Spyder" header pipe is the most apparent modification to the new turbozee. The
heat from the turbo quickly turns the chrome various shades of retro-rocket gold
and blue, just as before, but the longer header length creates more exhaust
velocity, resulting in more boost at a lower rpm than before. In addition, the
transition onto boost is supposed to be smoother. Another byproduct of the new
design is cleaner low-end performance and fewer exhaust leaks.
A solid-state electric fuel
pump trimmer than last year's feeds the 38mm Bendix pumper carburetor. Just as
before, there's a fine line between priming the engine with a few twists of the
throttle and simply loading it up. Sometimes, our turbozee coughed and rattled
into life after a few seconds. Other times we ended up pushing it up and down
the street trying to bump start it and wishing for a big hill. Needless to say,
the TC II can be just as cranky as any other normally-aspirated motorcycle tuned
to within an inch of its life.
Lubricating a high-strung,
superheated, turbocharged engine is critical, but under the turbo's
extraordinary acceleration, oil tends to slosh away from the pickups at the
front of the wet sump. To cure this problem, a swinging baffle (TCC calls it a
hinge) is installed in the oil pan, preventing the oil pickups from starving.
Another oiling modification—a restrictor on the oil sending block—insures more
precise metering of oil to the turbocharger.
The TC's appetite for oil every
several hundred miles—as well as Turbo Cycle's recommendation for an oil change
at least every 2000 miles—led to complaints last year about the turbocharger oil
return line. It was fitted directly to the oil filler cap. Tools were needed to
remove the fitting before the filler cap could be unscrewed. For 1979, the
turbocharger oil return line is incorporated into the kickstarter housing (the
kickstarter is deleted), leaving the oil filler cap accessible.
Other detail modifications to
the TC II include a small centerstand for service use (the Z1R's centerstand is
dismounted when the turbo kit is installed), a glycerine-filled boost gauge and
a new triangular K&N air filter. The easily circumvented anti-theft alarm of
last year's bike has been left out of the '79 package.
This Black Molly test bike
registered a maximum boost of six psi on its gauge. At levels less than eight
psi, Turbo Cycle expects the Kawasaki engine to provide faithful service.
Increasing the boost without substantial engine reworking increases the risk of
pieces jumping out of the motor, however. The TC owner's manual recommends that
you up your ante to include clutch springs, valve springs, 107 octane gasoline,
crankshaft welding, lowered compression and retarded timing if you're interested
in really putting your Z 1-R under pressure.
That our bike was set to six
psi tells you what Turbo Cycle thinks about appropriate boost levels, yet even
at a paltry six psi, the turbozee remains a beast on the street. Once it's urged
into life, the engine has to be revved for a full five minutes, barking rabidly
through a loud exhaust system, before it will idle. Considering the amount of
time required to clear the turbo's throat in the morning, you might consider
investing in a concrete bunker for your bike to minimize your neighbors'
complaints.
Until you get to your favorite playground, the turbo proves to be pretty
anti-social on the street as well. It stumbles and coughs like a Kawasaki in
full-race tune, lurching away from stoplights and nearly stalling, the
protruding exhaust pipe singeing the hair from your left leg. Fouled plugs constantly threaten to strangle the engine. And
while street-corner lollygaggers might be able to see you coming, fighting the
stiff throttle-return spring leaves you too whipped to wave a greeting.►
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Bike Tests 
