Bike powered cars - Am I mad?

[airportparking]

Well this is something I have promised myself for sometime and drolled over many in the classfieds. I have never driven or owned one so any advice appreciated, or is it just a oneway ticket to a world of pain?

These two seem to be in my range and look/sound the business!

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3831259.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3820317.htm

[VR6 Turbo]

I haven't driven a 7 dirived bike engined car. but I had a Z cars mini with a GSXR 1000 lump. and in all honesty it was epic.

biblically fast and amazing fun. I even used it daily 3 times a week, it didnt even have reverse. but a 590kg you could push it with one leg.

the only time it let me down was when the fuel line popped of the fuel rail. 10mins with a torch and a leather man it was back on. and when I over clocked it and through a con rod. totally my fault though.





edit bits are pretty reasonable too, much more cost effective than my current car. bike parts are much more reasonably priced.
VR

Edited by VR6 Turbo on Friday 11th May 17:08

[Terminator X]

^^ My God, must have been mental?!

TX.

[Grey Ghost]

There are normally a few of these at the breakfast club meets I go to in Essex. I thought they were "normal" Caterhams but upon asking the bonnets were taken off and blade, Ninja and Hyabusha(sp?) engines were revealed.

The owners reckon they are reliable in the state of tune they has them and could easily take the whole engine out if any work other than routine servicing was needed.

One week I picked them up about 2 miles from the meet and tried to keep up.........not a chance and my 450 Chimaera runs well very indeed

[sparkyhx]

yellow one looks nicely done.

I would imagine both are pretty mental, I just don't know if I could live with having to scream everywhere. I would imagine low down torque isn't up to much so to get the best you would have to be revving the t*ts off it. Bit like an S2000 but even more so. I just don't know if I could live with having to scream everywhere.

The idea appeals, but I have niggling doubts personally.

Are the 'caterfields' chain driven or do they have some sort of prop going on.

Edited by sparkyhx on Friday 11th May 17:14

[Nedzilla]

I had a 220 bhp busa powered westfield for a couple of years.Great fun,insanely fast,cheap as chips to run and totally reliable....although this depends a lot on how will they have been put together.

Find a good one and you wont regret it!

PS. Ive heard the 'bird' engines suffer reliability problems.Blade and busa are the ones to go for.

[jackh707]

I'd go for the blackbird engine over the blade, more torque.

[Vitorio]

Looks absolutely mental, i love it! imagine telling people it's only got a 1.1 engine too..

I'd say, if you dont need this as a daily driver, and have the cash, go for it. At some point you just have to do the things you promise yourself, because there will be a point in time when getting a car like this just isnt an option anymore, and you'll be kicking yourself when you missed out on it.

[james_tigerwoods]

Would one work as a daily drive?

[Jon Ison]

jackh707 said:

I'd go for the blackbird engine over the blade, more torque.

Having been around bike engined cars since the late 80's I would recommend the opposite way around, bird engines don't like been turned NS and are the most fragile bike engine fitted to a 7, #3 big end shares an oil supply with the balacncer shaft and often exits left, dry sumping helps as does removing the balancer shaft and blocking the oil feed but given the choice out there then personally I would steer clear of the bird engine in a 7, in the back of a mini for example different story, oiling is much less of a problem.

Daily driver, as much as I love them not sure i could use one as a daily driver, the performance per ££ invested is insane though, insurance companies are slowly catching on, until recently I was paying under £100 fully comp for a busa engined 7.

Edited by Jon Ison on Friday 11th May 17:35

[airportparking]

Tha mini is epic! But out of my range as they go for £15-£20k +

The plan is to buy and use through the summer months and just put it away around sept/oct, i do a short commute so will be used daily for a while, silly question but how hard are they to drive with the bike gears etc?

[Mellow Matt]

I loved mine but gave in to the impracticalities of having it as my only car and sold it eventually!

Mine was a 954 'blade powered Stuart Taylor (7-alike), weighing about 500kg, and it was insanely fast - it could keep up with Atoms around Rockingham and was so much fun.

However, having no windscreen, no roof, no doors, no reverse, no fuel guage, small range and being a bit paranoid about leaving it parked up meant that I couldn't live with it as an only car (especially as I no longer live in the countryside).

Having said all that, it was only the impracticalities that were offputting - the performance, reliability and costs were all great. Cheap to insure, cheap to tax, cheap consumables, and as they weigh nothing pads, tyres etc last a fair while. If I had the space and money for another car I might get another!

The lack of torque didn't really matter - it was still crazy fast from low revs as it was so light.

They can suffer from oil starvation unless they have dry or baffled sumps though, so watch out for that.


ETA: they are dead easy to drive with the bike gears - mine had a flappy paddle mechanism linked to the shifter, so it was a bit mechanical, but as long as I remembered which paddle was up and which was down it was fine! It can be a bit tricky getting a bike 'box into neutral though, so a bit of shuffling might be required for that. Mine was so light though I could just put my hand out the side and push it along!

Also, with a bike box you can perform clutchless upshifts really easily and you can get up to very silly speeds very very quickly!

Edited by Mellow Matt on Friday 11th May 17:49

[airportparking]

Also, with a bike box you can perform clutchless upshifts really easily, so you can get up to very silly speeds very very quickly!



Now that sounds fun!

[GreigM]

airportparking said:

Also, with a bike box you can perform clutchless upshifts really easily, so you can get up to very silly speeds very very quickly!

I have a busa engined westfield - keep it purely for track use. You don't want to do clutchless upshifts unless there is a trickshifter/flatshifter installed - there's too much weight in the drivetrain otherwise and you will shred gearboxes.

On track it will live amongst the expensive track cars it terms of pace - I don't think you'll go much quicker for the same cost. I wouldn't want one as a daily driver though, as the noise/vibration isn't be pleasant. You have to remember that because of the differentials effect on gearing you would be working the engine at the equivalent of 150mph in order to do 70-80mph

[mr_fibuli]

I don't think "lack of torque" is really an issue - and I have the measly 893cc Blade engine in my Westy.

Yes it will chug and complain if you drop below 3000 revs, but there is a decent amount of shove between 6000 and 12000 revs, which means if you are feeling lazy you can just leave it in 3rd or 4th and still have fun - so it's not like a VTEC that only has a narrow 2000 rpm power band.

I definitely wouldn't use it as a daily driver though! BECs love B-roads and track days, but town driving, traffic or motorways are pretty painfull.

The gear box hates tootling round town and low rev upshifts, it feels really clunky. It much prefers full bore clutchless upshifts - apply slight pressure to the stick, and it pretty much grabs the next gear by itself as soon as you lift a fraction on the throttle.

On motorways the high revs soon get very monotonous. Mine does 6500 rpm at 70mph in 6th gear.

[Baryonyx]

I would love a bike engined Mini as a second car. As long as I could get a reverse gear installed too!

[RemaL]

Knowing many in the kit car scene who have built cars with bike engines. most never keep them too long once they have built them.

Cracking on track but for anything other than a quick weekend blast..... and Motorways are a no no

but just my opinion

[Jon Ison]

There is another downside to putting a bike engine in a car, they still try to pull wheelies.........

[sparkyhx]

RemaL said:

Knowing many in the kit car scene who have built cars with bike engines. most never keep them too long once they have built them.

Cracking on track but for anything other than a quick weekend blast..... and Motorways are a no no

but just my opinion

hmm I've often thought this was the case but with no evidence other than silly low milages. I wonder if the reality of ownership is less appealing than the idea.

still doesn't stop me thinking yeh everytime I see one.

[Another Fluffer]

Jon Ison said:

There is another downside to putting a bike engine in a car, they still try to pull wheelies.........

Awesome picture!