Honda Acty TN500 engine upgrade...maybe

[Agent 1]

Hi all, at last i have found my new toy, literaly a toy it is, its a 1984 Honda Acty pick up, you will see when i get some pics up what i mean. After driving the thing around for a few days i think i already want a few more BHP, either from the standard engine or a engine swap, but it will need to be a small, in size engine as it is only a 2 cylinder as is.

Its a bit over my head about modign engines but was wondering if its possible to add a turbo to such a small engine, this is my first thought. If not then an engine swap will be on the cards i think, i have come with the idea of using the original drive shafts and fitting an engine from a front wheel drive car and getting the drive shafts from that engineered to the original drive shafts. Save on making new mounts for the rear leaves as it is rear engined.

will get pics up asap

[powerstroke]

the later actys had the 3 cylinder engine not sure, but maybe the same as the beat .....

[Simon says]

As long as you don't let it run low on oil(they use some so beware)the engine is bomb proof and I mean that in every way I cant see why a bit of forced induction would go amiss as it's only a low compression motor anyway so some untapped potential methinks also the Acty as nice big valves and plenty of cam too as you have the revamped unit with the electronic ignition did plenty of engine /gearbox outs on these when I worked for London's 1st Honda dealer many years ago hated them at the time though as they was always treated like st by workman in there heyday see some of the most spectacular engine failures though due to lack of oil though usually conrod's searching for freedom related

[Agent 1]

Here it is





So if i went with a turbo what would i need to do?

[Mr2Mike]

Agent 1 said:

So if i went with a turbo what would i need to do?

Mainly you'd need to not crash it if you enjoy having legs and feet...

From the technical aspect you'd need to source a suitable turbo for the engine, make an exhaust manifold with a suitable flange to mount the turbo on, and make a downpipe to connect the turbine outlet to the rest of the exhaust system. Then you'd need to plumb in oil and coolant lines for the turbo, plumb the induction system up, including the intercooler if you are using one. Assuming you are going for fuel injection then you'd need to either modify the existing manifold for injectors or fabricate your own, install the wiring loom, ECU and sensors. The get it running and get it mapped.

According to Wikipedia, the EH engine is essentially one half of the Goldwing GL1000 flat four engine...don't suppose there's enough room to wedge that in?

[davepoth]

Think big. If you don't need the pickup bed, I'm sure an LS9 would fit.

Motorbike engines are a fairly standard swap as it turns out.

I recall these have front drums though, so you might want to look at that first...

[Agent 1]

Well by the sounds of tha tmate fitting a turbo sounds and lot more hassle than fitting a bigger engine. That i could do fairly easy.
I am looking into fitting disc brakes to the front,i onlywant around 60 - 80 hp.

[Agent 1]

MMmmm motorbike engines are a good idea, but now i have thought about it, i would like to keep the standard engine in, mainly as it would defeat the object of me getting this pick up, which was to keep running costs down, the insurance alone is only £90 so if i add a bigger engine it wil mess all that up, now i have a another though, how about if i fitted another carb to it, what extra, if any power would i gain from this, along with better air filter, may be a K&N.

[Mr2Mike]

Agent 1 said:

MMmmm motorbike engines are a good idea, but now i have thought about it, i would like to keep the standard engine in, mainly as it would defeat the object of me getting this pick up, which was to keep running costs down, the insurance alone is only £90 so if i add a bigger engine it wil mess all that up,.

Tuning the existing engine, especially adding a turbo, will hike up the premium significantly. In fact I doubt there would be any difference to an engine swap, the insurance company will be interested in the power increase over standard.

You may be able to extract a little more power by adding twin carbs, but unless the standard one is hugely restrictive it won't be much.

It might be worth investigating what, if any, GL1000 parts are compatible. The GL1000 produced 80bhp, yet the 500cc unit in the Acty produces only 28bhp. It might be possible to use the cams or possibly even a complete head from the Goldwing.

[Simon says]

Mr2Mike said:

Agent 1 said:

MMmmm motorbike engines are a good idea, but now i have thought about it, i would like to keep the standard engine in, mainly as it would defeat the object of me getting this pick up, which was to keep running costs down, the insurance alone is only £90 so if i add a bigger engine it wil mess all that up,.

Tuning the existing engine, especially adding a turbo, will hike up the premium significantly. In fact I doubt there would be any difference to an engine swap, the insurance company will be interested in the power increase over standard.

You may be able to extract a little more power by adding twin carbs, but unless the standard one is hugely restrictive it won't be much.

It might be worth investigating what, if any, GL1000 parts are compatible. The GL1000 produced 80bhp, yet the 500cc unit in the Acty produces only 28bhp. It might be possible to use the cams or possibly even a complete head from the Goldwing.

the earlier Goldwing motor is in effect 2 Acty motors anyway(hence the belt driven cams) if that was a guess Mr2Mike it was a bloody good one

[Agent 1]

Ok after thinking about this i have come to the conclusion it will be easyer and cheaper to fit a new engine, the hardest part will sorting the gear selector out. The engine i have been looking at is the pug 1.5D, now theres is not many of the late 90`s diesel left that are much good, but theres plenty of the HDI ones about, i have fitted a 1995 1.9TD to a suzuki sj in the past and it was a doddle to get going with the use of only 3 wires, but is the HDI engine different to wire up etc?


If i go with the pug diesel then i mite aswell go for the 1.9td come to think of it as they are not much differnt is dimensions which is the awkward bit as i dont have much room under the bed, the pug engine is 7 inch taller than the original, as it is so high i will have to do a rear end lift of some sort, more likely a suspension lift as its on leaves it wont be to hard.
I know i could go motor bike engine but thats a bigger task.
Still this aint all that easy si it.


EDIT

Just though, a classic mini engine should fit nicley, its has to be small.

Edited by Agent 1 on Sunday 7th August 15:49

[Mr2Mike]

Simon says said:

the earlier Goldwing motor is in effect 2 Acty motors anyway(hence the belt driven cams) if that was a guess Mr2Mike it was a bloody good one

Not a guess, I did a tiny bit of research first (see previous post!). I'm a bit cautious as there are plenty of engines that have been derived from larger or smaller ones e.g. straight 4 from V8s (or vice versa) but often enough changes are made to make any swapping parts either hard work or not possible. I'm have though someone must have investigated this option for the Acty however?

Agent 1 said:

i have fitted a 1995 1.9TD to a suzuki sj in the past and it was a doddle to get going with the use of only 3 wires, but is the HDI engine different to wire up etc?

The HDi is a common rail engine, so significantly more complex than the old 1.9TD. In fact it has so many sensors, wires and vacuum pipes that it's more complex than typical fuel injected petrol engines. The fact that it requires an ECU to run means there will likely be immobiliser issues to work around as well. The VAG 1.9PD engine is a little less complex, but still requires an ECU to run.

As a bit of a leftfield suggestion, how about the Honda ST1100 engine? It's a compact V4 engine which uses carbs and has shaft drive and produces about 110bhp.

[Agent 1]

It will be easyer to fit though with a FWD engine and drive shafts, the ST100 needs to have a diff and axle if i fitted one, but looks like a nice small powerfull engine. reason a mini engine will in nice setup wise. But i have been looing and the 998cc mini has just a few HP than this Acyt engine, so if i did use a mini i best to use the 1275cc, or even splash the cash and get a 1340cc.

[Agent 1]

Just to let you guys that helped out, i have decided to keep the stock engine, i have just been out and screwed the ares of it to see if it was what i thought it was making it go slow and not just the wee engine, and that was a crappy carb, full of ste i guess. My god what a pocket rocket it is now, i got 60mph easy, 0 - 40 within 100 yards aswell, oh happy days.

[syncro.]

Where did you get it from/where are they usually advertised for sale? And how much did you pay if you don't mind me asking?

I would absolutely love a turbocharged one of these!

[Agent 1]

You would be lucky to get one of these over here in the UK mate, i found it by chance on fleabay, i paid £255 for it, the pick ups are scarce unless you get a camper stype with demountable/fixed body, there has been about 5 on ebay in van stye and 1 pick up in the last 4 mon ths, but as said more often the camper style, there are a few on fleabay now but camper, go for around £1200.
With anything around 100bhp it would fly like a bloody rockets as they only weight around 700kg ,and they power slide with the 550cc engine never mind a bigger one.

Oh and i wanted to keep the engine os original because the insurance is only £91, but when fitting a bigger one you know what will happen, unless that donmt bother you you could try a bedford rascal or similar but the have front engines

Edited by Agent 1 on Tuesday 9th August 06:56

[Agent 1]

Here you go mate, would you believe it on flea bay now, jst come on

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1987-Honda-TN-Acty-Picku...

[SprintV8]

Only just seen this.

Drop the Honda lump out.
Drop in a Alfa 1500 Boxer engine complete with gearbox.

Uprate the front brakes and use the alfa one's on the rear.
And you have something like this.