BIKE ENGINED E30

[yamaha1]

haha

[jkarran]

pre facelift 318 M10 carbed car is 995KG with Engine. Strip it out and seam weld the whole thing you may get it down to 500kgs

If those figures are right 900kg (un-caged) should be pretty easy then without touching the glass or wheels. Getting it under 800Kg would be a serious mission and would cost £Â£Ã‚£Ã‚£.

That'd give you about 170bhp/ton with an R1, not bad and pretty similar to a 540i. Not bad but it probably wont be much faster on the road than a good 325i.

jk

[Alburglar]

Here's my mini:


The main thing is to get the diff mounted in a cradle like this so that chain tension can be easily adjusted. The bearings that hold it in place are known as 'cushion blocks' and are made for machinery applications so are readily available cheaply. I've had sprockets bolted to an escort turbo rear diff and a standard sierra viscous diff and both have no problems. I'm now on a racing gripper diff.



I know of lots of cars up to 800kilos, like saxos, that work great with a bike engine but don't know of anything approaching a ton.

[dlatch]

is that the Zcars conversion?

seen a yellow one running at a trackday and went really well u could hear the chain noise compared to a prop shaft bike engined kitcar that was running, plus the owner said the chain lube spraying everywhere was a pain in the ass but apart from that he had no probs with the setup.
he was playing with gearing first few sessions was changing sprocket in no time.

[Alburglar]

Yep. zcars. To stop oil flying everwhere you have to use dry lube or a scott oiler and of course a chain guard!

[dlatch]

lol well to be fair it was his first outing and a shake down run think it was one of the first kits done was a few years back now.

now get off the computer and finish yours
would love one myself........ hmm or a reliant kitten but then i am a little odd

[jaistanley]

I like the idea of a Hilman Pimp with some spaceframe trickery and a bike engine. No reverse might P me off though... LOL.

A chap at where I used to work was building a Z cars Mini with a honda VTECH 2 litre in it.. All good fun I'd say!

I'd like to see an E30 with one of those V8's made from bike engines but thats too much money for a lowly E30!

[Morat]

pre facelift 318 M10 carbed car is 995KG with Engine. Strip it out and seam weld the whole thing you may get it down to 500kgs

If those figures are right 900kg (un-caged) should be pretty easy then without touching the glass or wheels. Getting it under 800Kg would be a serious mission and would cost £Â£Ã‚£Ã‚£.

That'd give you about 170bhp/ton with an R1, not bad and pretty similar to a 540i. Not bad but it probably wont be much faster on the road than a good 325i.

jk

I'd be tempted at this point to just go out, buy a 540i and strip that, the interior on that thing must weigh a load more than an E30's and if you're really serious you can buy a bolt on supercharger kit to take it over 400bhp on stock internals. That engine is a total monster, 6 speed manual box, 17" wheels from the factory and enough chassis to be pretty confident of walking away from most shunts.

Heresy on the e30 zone perhaps but if you've driven one you'll know that its begging for a thrashing.

[scotty86d]

That is quite heroic-reference to the mk2 escort

[jkarran]

Heresy on the e30 zone perhaps but if you've driven one you'll know that its begging for a thrashing.

Apart from the battleship sized fuel bill I'd have to agree
jk

[Gibson]

why bother? there are about 20 engines better suited to the size and wieght of the E30... that could be done twice as easily and half as cheaply, with better results. alot more potential and better noise!

i think a Wankel rotary engine would be pretty good in one, one of the RX-7 turbo ones of course...

[Theseeker]

I'm not being funny but there's no substitute for torque. If you're vehicle weighs 200kgs you can get away with an engine that makes 100lb/ft or torque at 10000 RPM. Even in a 500kg vehicle you need to serious gear the final drive down and sacrifice a lot of top end to make it even remotely entertaining. Minis, Kit cars and stripped out hatchbacks with carbon panels are about all it's worth doing it to, with a big f**ker of a chassis like an E30 you'd have to have about 7 turbos and a flywheel made of granite, the torque just isn't there. BMW didn't put straight sixes in there for nothing and if they'd have been based in a country where petrol was cheaper than water they'd have had V8s. There's no replacement for displacement mate.

If you're after getting technical with something, fabricated two hayabusas 4-pots into a V8 working around the same crank - or a flat 8, then put it in a mid weight, mid engined car.

Hello everyone by the way!

I have a friend who, every time I tell him I want to V8 a mk3 Cortina comes up with "oh just put a bike engine in it," without having any grasp of physics or the amount of dolla you'd have to pour into making a piddly bike engine pull a big meaty chassis. Rant over.

I was in an R1 powered Mini the other week actually and it was a right laugh. But two of us could lift the back of it.

[Gibson]

the seeker has a damn good point? want an engineering exercise? then get an alloy blocked V8 and try and work out how to fit twin turbos in the space of an E30 engine bay..... results would be much better!

[jaistanley]

For the same money a turbocharged bike engine'd E30 would cost you could easily get an LS1 in there.... THAT would be a quick car!

[suzie650]

Just forget making a V8 out of two bike engines. Look at the Powertec RPA engine. Sounds great, goes ok, but not reliable at all. Last year at the euro race in Spa, 3 went pop in one race, and none due to driver errors. For the amount of money required, a turbocharged bike engine gives you more power for much less money and more reliability. - the turbo sr3 is just as quick as an sr8. And lighter.

[kabeer]

how about a m20b25 powered motorbike

think vise versa......

[Alburglar]

plus the busa v8's cost about 30k they need rebuilding every 6k miles or so I believe.

but the LS1 has definately got my vote, a friend of mine bought a brand new motor from the states and got it shipped ove in a crate and it still only cost him about 2grand! It lives in an opel manta now with a jag rear axle. supercharged (another 2grand) your looking at 800bhp!

[miniblob]

Went out on track in one of the first zcars minis - wow!!!! Awesome machine!!!!! I will have one, one day!!!! Very nearly did the conversion on my mini van, but then i bought the 850csi and that took all my money!!! Now all my money is going in the 3 series and the mini is being done cheap so will just be a 1275 - but there will be a bike engine, or two in there one day!!!!!

As for bike engined e30 - I reckon twin engine conversion would be worth it!! I'm sure you could get the weight down quite a lot.
Sounds like a challenge to me!!!!

If i ever get that mini finished, i'm gonna stick another e30 on the drive and try and make the lightest e30 track car ever!!! I have some ideas!!!!!

[kevo]

if you want a strong reliable engine producing 240bhp in standard guise that revs to 9000rpm and is suited to a car then look no further than a honda s2000 engine.
Kev

[eta]

The GM small blocks rule. There is a reason why they have been producing them in one form or another for over 50 years! Its lighter than an M30 to if you take into account transmission weight, also its compact.