Possible engine swap with.....a bike?

[Rainman]

After reading mikeyb's post concerning the Westfield Sportscar 1.8 and after meeting several bike owners at Mosport last year with outrageous amounts of power on tap I wonder whether swapping a bike engine into a car might become a more popular trend.

This is just off the top of my head so I really haven't considered all the logistics that would be associated with this idea. This forum would be a great place to discuss the idea. However, I can see several advantages of this approach if it is something that is technically and financially feasible.

First, the weight of a bike engine is considerably less than that of a car engine. A substantial savings in weight equates to better performance on the street.

Second, the size of the bike engine is smaller too. This allows the engine to be placed more optimally for weight distribution and centre of mass. It also allows more room for other engine compartment components like intercoolers and plumbing. In fact, it might be possible to install two engines in a single engine compartment.

With the smaller displacement, there should be some savings with respect to fuel consumption although this may be balanced by the decreased ability of the bike engine to generate low end tourque (I am assuming that for a car engine and a bike engine of similar HP, the car engine will have a larger tourque simply because of displacement...is this a correct assumption?).

Fourth, it is significantly cheaper to pick up a bike engine than it is a car engine so the cost of the swap might likewise be cheaper.

Again, this is all just speculation. I need the engineering and mechanic types to say whether this is possible. If so, this might be an interesting project to tackle some time.

Thoughts anyone?

R

 

[Crazee D]

Love this idea,
They did this at the stunt show at florida MGM studios.
They put a hayabusa engine in
Not sure if it was in the back.
They do Harley engines too.

 

[jred321]

good for a track car, not good for a day to day car. issues i can see are driving accessories, lack of power down low (considering people say a car lacks power down low if it doesn't have huge torque sub 3000rpm), and bike engines are usually more high strung because they're not expected to last as long mileage wise without being rebuilt. in a track car these are all non-issues as accessories are tossed, revs are kept high, and you don't drive it for 100k miles. i still would have to wonder, though, if it would be worth it for the time/effort involved. now that company in england that was building a v8 out of 2 hayabusa engines, that's cool stuff

 

[Fear]

Possible? Yes.


Practical? s***, no.


Unless the proposed transplant 'car' weighs in at bike or just over bike weight, you'll end up with pretty terrible performance.

 

[Rainman]

Possible? Yes.


Practical? s***, no.


Unless the proposed transplant 'car' weighs in at bike or just over bike weight, you'll end up with pretty terrible performance.

I'm not suggesting this swap and expecting it to get bike-like performance. I understand that the weight differential between the car and the bike is significantly large enough that the bike-like performance will likely be lost.

However, if you have a bike engine that can put out 150 hp without a turbo and has a redline of 12,000 RPM why couldn't you slap a turbo on it and stick it in a compact car for reasonable performance? Not bike-like performance mind you, but certainly more than what you might expect in a stock MSP. You would still get the aforementioned weight advantages which would improve handling performance.

Unless, of course, the torque is affected more significantly by the smaller displacement of the engine than is the hp. If torque is affected more greatly than is the hp, then your bottom-end performance would really be weak until you had the engine in a usable RPM range. A very small turbo might improve this though as it would likely spool very quickly.

This can't be that bad a prospect if a stock Hayabusa at 1.3L can put out 150 hp at 9500 RPM with redline of 11000, and 128 ft-lbs of torque at 7500 RPM. After all 150 hp is 150 hp whether it is made by a bike engine or a car engine. Even the torque is more than what many subcompacts are equipped with using a car engine. Last summer while at Mosport I spoke to a Hayabusa owner who had modded his bike a moderate amount. He was over 200 whp before he added in nitrous.

Obviously, there is something inherently unfavourable with the idea otherwise more people would be doing it. I'm just not sure what it is.

R

 

[jmarceth]

mazda protege 2003

hey does any one know where i can find i mazda protege 2003 grill the factory grill i need one if any one knows email at jmarceth@yahoo.com
or http://www.myspace.com/ref18

 

[Pretzellogic]

hey does any one know where i can find i mazda protege 2003 grill the factory grill i need one if any one knows email at jmarceth@yahoo.com
or http://www.myspace.com/ref18

You're lost, aren't you.

Try the "search" buttton. Please.

 

[pluto316]

Not going to happen on a FWD car, end of story.

 

[Leppy]

Why not? They do it to Mini's all the time, keeping them FWD. I could see the fun in putting it in a Mini, CRX, a 1st through 4th gen civic, or a race-gutted 1st gen Miata...

Something 'heavy' like a Protege or my car... I don't think it'll do much. Then again, it could be like sticking a rotary into a Pro... 1.3l high-revving engine.

I guess the point i'm trying to make is it'll be the same as any low-displacement, high-revving engine. You'll need a lightweight car to see any usable power and it'll scream once it's moving.

 

[ForceFed]

Leppy....Ignore Pluto...Hes really negative and likes to walk around with a stick up his ass...

I think In a light car it might be some serious fun...like a stripped A2 Golf maybe...That might be fun....Ot a miata would be cool as well.

 

[pluto316]

Leppy....Ignore Pluto...Hes really negative and likes to walk around with a stick up his ass...

I think In a light car it might be some serious fun...like a stripped A2 Golf maybe...That might be fun....Ot a miata would be cool as well.

Ok, then, tell me how you're going to make a bike transmission to a FWD setup?

 

[pluto316]

Let me just say that a bike motor transplanted into a RWD setup is within the realm of fabrication with the right know-how, but real (I think) last month's SCC why it's not happening in FWD form.

 

[Leppy]

The mini's are RWD converted, (contrary to my previous post, but I just researched) but they are also rear-engined... I could see it possible with some engineering.