UTV PROJECT: XTC POWER PRODUCTS 2019 HONDA TALON TURBO

First to fast By the staff of Dirt Wheels

A Silber Turbo and Agency Power intercooler and exhaust make a huge difference when you mash the throttle. The Talon is faster, quicker and more responsive despite the larger tires.

Chris Leaming is a facilitator. He and his father Rob are partners in Gilbert, Arizona-based XTC Power Products. They moved there to grow their company that specializes in UTV electronic parts, such as street-legal turn-signal kits, and switch and wiring solutions. Rob and Chris have owned and built a large number of machines over the years. Despite not owning many Hondas lately, Leaming describes himself as a “Honda guy.” Among his current machines are a scratch-built, 450-horsepower, not-a-Polaris RZR-based, Suburu-engined monster and a race Polaris RZR, but when Honda introduced the Talon 1000R, Chris had to have one.

Buying one was the easy part, but in addition to being a fan, he is a business owner. XTC needs to stay up on the latest machines, and all of his mod machines are also calling cards for the company. Once he had his Talon, he determined that its build needed to be finished in time for the Sand Sports Super Show, and that didn’t leave a lot of time.

Even with 15-inch Walker Evans wheels and 32-inch Milestar Patagonia tires, the XTC Talon can handle technical terrain. The tires, which are 4 inches larger than stock, should be a handicap but are not.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Honda is working with Jackson Racing on a turbo kit, but upon researching it, he found that availability was months past when he needed his build completed. Instead of letting others do the R&D on a turbo, he worked with Silber Turbos, Agency Power and Dynojet to make sure that his Talon Turbo had all the thrills that he is accustomed to. Silber came up with the turbo system, Agency Power had an intercooler and an exhaust system. Leaming and crew installed the mix of products and relied on Dynojet to make sure the correct amount of fuel arrived when it was needed. Apparently, Chris was impressed with the work from Dynojet. In his notes he listed the cost of the Dynojet tuning as “priceless.”

XTC Power Products makes wiring solutions to cleanly install electrical accessories. It was no surprise that the Talon has such a clean dash area to mount the switches and radio.

LOOKING GOOD

Even if this Talon wasn’t destined to be a calling card that represents his company, we doubt that Rob and Chris would have allowed the look to remain stock. This car is driven—and driven hard—only in dirt and sand. That doesn’t matter. We get the idea that the Leamings don’t settle for ordinary, pedestrian or slovenly vehicles. Wolf Designs started by giving the car a coat of eye-searing red paint, and then it topped the car with an awesome but clean and classy wrap.

Establishing the whole profile of the car—and adding safety—is a quality roll cage constructed with drawn-over-mandrel seamless steel tubing. Each tube is precision-fitted and TIG-welded. Titan Fabrication makes the cage, but they are sold only through XTC.

Agency Power came up with the compact intercooler installed in the front of the cargo bed. It also welded up a fancy and potent exhaust to complement the turbo.

That wasn’t enough, though, and a set of sweet Walker Evans 15-inch beadlock wheels and Milestar Patagonia 32-inch tires literally elevated the rolling stock. A stock Talon has 15-inch rims but with 28-inch tires.

We know this Talon is fast, but it is highly unlikely that it requires the downforce from that sweet-looking NRG Innovations carbon fiber wing! Joining the wing in making a visual statement are the cage-mounted speakers for the Rockford Fosgate stereo system and a variety of KC HiLiTES LED lights on the cage and the front bumper. Naturally, while the wing is for style and visual punch, the stereo and lights serve a definite purpose.

Those Milestar Patagonia tires look and work great on trails. Check out how heavy-duty those tie-rods from Assault are! You can just see the interesting exhaust tips and the Arizona plate!

INSIDE JOB

Following the theme of parts that look cool but also work are Simpson seats and harnesses in colors that complement the car. The seats are joined by a dash packed full of—no surprise—XTC Power Products switches and panels. XTC specializes in wiring solutions that allow you to add electrical components without having to chop into the wiring harness. XTC has wiring solutions that match up with stock wiring loom plugs. In this case the new switches handle power for the stereo, the XTC street-legal lighting kit with turn signals, the Rugged Radios car-to-car radio and passenger-topassenger intercom, as well as a Rugged Radios clean air system that mates to a Simpson carbon fiber air helmet. Finally, one of the switches controls the KFI winch mounted behind the front bumper. All of the installation and switches look like they could have come from the factory.

Up front are a KFI winch and some very racy-looking KC HiLiGHTS LED lights. The lights give the front end an interesting and classic look that we like.

THE LITTLE THINGS

There are a lot of detail items that make a big difference in the look, comfort, safety and longevity of a build. A lot of the details here come from Assault and Axia Alloys. In the com-fort column there’s the Assault steering wheel and mounting hub. In the convenience and safety area are the Axia mirrors and fire extinguisher kit. Labeled as safety and longevity are the Assault tie-rods and radius rods. Both types of rods are heavy-duty, but they also look great.

Simpson Racing Products builds very comfortable seats, nice harnesses and a carbon fiber helmet equipped to take the fresh air from that Rugged Radios pumper hose.

HOW IT ROLLS

Those who have followed Dirt Wheels know that we love the control of the interesting Honda 4+-link rear suspension. We are not as enthused with the ride comfort, and Leaming agreed. He chose to ease the preload on the shocks and lowered the ride height of the machine. Between the suspension adjustment and the larger-diameter tires, the ride was vastly improved.

Never one to leave a project anywhere below the pinnacle of performance, XTC has added a long-travel kit and shocks since we drove and rode in the car. No doubt that is a welcome addition, but we were most pleased with the suspension we felt at the time.

XTC has made the Talon a real looker. The Wolf eye-searing red and classy graphics, sleek lights and that wild carbon fiber wing demand that you look as it rips by.

THE RIDE

Leaming’s Subaru Polaris rides tall and runs long, and especially compared to Leaming’s Talon “Type R.” One of the carbon fiber dash inserts features an authentic Honda Type R emblem. Like the Type R street car, the XTC Talon rides low and feels sporty, like a corner-carving street car would. And that is with the tall tires! Leaming claims that the Talon is a blast to drive, and it is extremely nimble compared to some of his other cars.

You would think that a car with a winch wouldn’t see much dune action when the monster power of the Subaru is on tap and ready to fly, but that is not the case. Leaming uses the car for trails and playing in the desert with those Milestar Patagonia tires mounted. He has a set of wheels with paddle tires for carving sand. With the 32-inch tires you might worry that the Talon is geared too tall, but with the added power output that is not the case. It pulls well in each gear and from gear to gear as a good turbo machine should. It sounds a little raw with a more wicked snarl than other turbo cars or even the Jackson Racing turbo kit.

We all know that a wing needs some extremely high speeds to be effective, and we doubt that a turbo makes the Talon fast enough to need it. It does look wild, though.
It has become almost a habit with XTC Power Products’ Chris Leaming to put together project cars that look fantastic and run like crazy. We think he has done it again.

CONCLUSION

So far the other unmodified parts of the car have held up to the added power and larger tires with no trouble at all. Clutch and transmission issues have not cropped up. Chris Leaming is a man who not only won’t take no for an answer, he won’t even stand for a delay. He wanted a trick Talon Turbo, he wanted it quickly, and he got what he was after.

This is the longer wheelbase of the two-seat Talons that Honda offers, yet the 32-inch tires make the car look smaller. It looks great and runs hard with plenty of interior comfort.

PARTS AND SUPPLIERS

AGENCY POWER: (480) 921-7422, www.agencypower.com

Large core intercooler $550

Stainless exhaust $1300

ASSAULT INDUSTRIES: (714) 799-6711, www.assaultind.com

Steering wheel $164.99

Steering wheel hub $64.99

Tie-rod kit $289.99

Radius rod kit $459.99

AXIA ALLOYS: (480) 216-6266, www.axiaalloys.com

Billet mirrors $149.95 ea.

Fire extinguisher $349.95

DYNOJET RESEARCH: (800) 992-4993, www.dynojet.com

Power commander $395

Auto-tune $259

Tuning Priceless

KC HILITES: (888) 689-5955, www.kchilites.com

Pro 6 LED lights $459.99

2” Cyclone rock lights $199

G34 LED lights $344.99

KFI PRODUCTS: (877) 346-2050, www.kfiproducts.com

Assualt 5k winch system $549

MILESTAR TIRES: www.milestartires.com

Patagonia 32” tires $220

NRG INNOVATIONS: (626) 369-2668, www.getnrg.com

Carbon fiber wing $460

ROCKFORD FOSGATE: (800) 669-9899, www.rockfordfosgate.com 

Stereo system $1650

RUGGED RADIOS: (888) 541-7223, www.ruggedradios.com

Car-to-car system $1626

Fresh air pumper $486

SILBER TURBOS: www.silberturbos.com

Turbo system $4000

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS: (800) 654-7223, www.simpsonraceproducts.com

Pro Sport seats $579.95 ea.

Harnesses $109.95 ea.

Carbon fiber air helmet $1129

WALKER EVANS RACING: (951) 784-7223, www.walkerevansracing.com

15” beadlock wheels $285 ea.

WOLF DESIGNS: (480) 888-0202, www.utvwrap.com

Clarity coat paint $1500

Custom wrap $700

XTC POWER PRODUCTS: (480) 558-8588, www.xtcpowerproducts.com

PCS-64-HT 6 switch plug & play 

   power control system $349.00

LED switches $19.95 ea.

ATS-Hon-S6 plug & play self-canceling turn signal system with horn/hazard $389

SP-5SWI-HT center switch plate $39.95

SP-3SW-HT 3 place switch plate $24.95

Hon-S6-stout power out  for chase bar $34.95

PCS-S2-KBUS keyed 35-amp  bus bar $59.95

Titan Fabrication custom  DOM TIG welded cage $2400 

(only available from XTC)

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