Two wheels good.

[DodgeRover]

I only thought of the GPZ as I see one about regularly up here.

Mick Flynns motorcycle breakers in Sheffield used to have one on display in their window, from memory it belonged to a mate of his but hadn't run for years, they didn't want to start it in case it went bang.

[Jerzy Woking]

An old acquaintance of mine used to have three bikes he used in rotation to commute into London on. An Enfield Bullet fitted with a Briggs and Stratton diesel engine, a lightly ported and big bore Velosolex, and a turbo'd Suzuki Bandit 1200.

And yes he was. Completely.

[Eddie Honda]

I only thought of the GPZ as my motorcycle knowledge doesn't go back that far.

FTFY

[xtriple]

I had a GPZ 750 turbo and a same-age 1100 at the same time. On the very odd occasion, the turbo ran, it was okay and handled better than the 1100 which was so long it needed a class 1 licence to ride the fucker.

Many years ago I spannered for a cunt called Pete Tong who had a drag bike called the Orient Express. His recovery bike was a GS 1000 with a fuck-off turbo wacked on which he sold to another mate of mine when Spongy got a GSX1100 with a turbo on it. He did ride on the road but couldn't manage any corners left or right but on a motorway he was mustard!

Any-hoo, a mate of mine called Ferret bought the GS (and later the GSX 'cos twat that never learned!) and it was the most hideously evil thing to ride ever made. Totally bog standard apart from the turbo which was way too big for a bike and the lag was measured with a calendar. Best of all, the lag happened BOTH WAYS! Open the throttle with a fair number of revs on and wait...

Wait... oh it's going slower!

Wait, something is happening...

No, false alarm... then, OH DEAR GOD SAVE ME!!!!!!!!!! Absolute arm ripping wheel lofting (rear wheel spinning at the same time) BOOST!

Panic and slam the throttle shut, and... wait, we've still got boost!

Fuck that car's getting close... fucking close... best pass it but I can't steer the cunt with the front wheel in the air, the back behaving like a greased pig and my arsehole is puckered up so tight it's got a death grip on the seat so can't even bale out!

Finally after what seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my life, with a gentle pfffft boost disappeared and steering returned. After another quarter of an hour, two fags and a lot of shaking, my starfish relaxed enough to let go of the seat and I got back on my wobbly one R (Z1-R) with the greatest relief and thanks for the sublime slowness of a standard 1000 cc engine (1015 if being a pedantic cunt as we all are on here!).

Of course, it blew up. Ferret only knew one way to ride and his wrist action had been honed by many, many years of reading the lingerie section of the Grattons catalogue so it was full twist everywhere. One day, he cleaned and tyre wall blacked and buffed to a shine everything. But he cleaned and tyre walled black the treads as well and a roundabout, much boost (dialed in about half a mile back while still upright) resulted in it spitting him off in grand style and then laying on its side screaming its tits off.

Engine was toast...

Rebuilt by some famous turbo engine tuner place up country which actually made it rideable and reliable (ish) but then it was boring so he flogged it and bought the GSX which was... even worse!

[Jerzy Woking]

Happy days of street bikes being fitted with turbos, then run up the drag strips to amazing elapsed times. The bikes run by Bill Hunter and Steve Burns come to mind

[paulplom]

Can anyone tell me what I"m meant to check here? It all seems clean.

[DodgeRover]

Have you got a compressor? Blow the float bowl out and through all the jets, take the pin out that holds the plastic float in and make sure that the needle valve is clean and clear.
Without a compressor blast through them with some carb cleaner, take them out before cleaning if you can, if they are clean you should be able to see daylight through them (just a pin prick in the case of the idle jet)

[paulplom]

They seem clear. I'll get some carb cleaner on the way home. There was only a small dribble of petrol came out of the bowl. Certainly not full.

[DodgeRover]

Bowl should be full, either the float needle is sticking, the supply pipe has collapsed (maybe an E10 victim) or the tap isn't working properly - check the vacuum pipe(s) that go to it and see if it is flowing ok

[Hooli]

Can you turn the tap on/suck on the vacuum pipe to check petrol is flowing freely through the tap? No point sodding about with the carb for hours if the fuel isn't getting there due to a blockage earlier in the system.