(Denny) Sapp & (Chuck) Salmen's "Touch Of Glass" J Gas Streamliner ... powered by an "experimental" 750cc Honda: @ the 1988 Bonneville Nationals @ the 1989 Bonneville Nationals (last year the car was run)
This one ran at Bonneville in 2007 The photo was taken at Bennie's Hog Shed in Waco in March. The car was originally built by Don Vesco
Heck, yeah, Flat Ernie! Street Chopper, not Hot Bike. Sometimes I forget how long I've been around this stuff! I still think that's one of the coolest.
Here is a few pics of one of the cars that I built and used to race in the dirt roundy, round. The car would do 125 mph in third gear on a 1/2 mile dirt track! It still has all 6 gears if you could keep the front wheels on the ground to control it, you might make it to fourth! I still have it, I have been trying to sell it, but thats ok because I run around the farm and orchard sometimes just to get my speed freak fix until I do. Motor is a 1250cc GSXR Monster as they call it on Alky. I have built a few of these cars, and man they are fun.
I like the V-twin special #283 as shown in post 10 of this thread by Model.A.Keith. The cool factor is wayyyy up there... even if it is not one of the fastest cars in this thread. Then again, 700 pounds or so of car like that driven by one of the 120+ cubic inch Harley derivative engines... not that much grass would grow under the wheels. On a mechanical note... cooling at a standstill might be a problem with air cooling and no cooling fan, even with the way that special has the cylinders exposed. Rather than covering the engine with ductwork, I'd try running E85 for fuel, with port fuel injection set to have the mixture real rich when idling. Piper106
Thought I'd toss up another pic of my car. Maybe this one will hang around. If anyone is wanting some help or ideas about a bike engined car, I'd be happy to help.
Not vintage but the first Honda cars sold here in the early 70s were cycle-engine powered. Sold for $1250 for the sedan and $1450 for the coupe. The Civics came from these after a couple years.
Wow, Small world i guess My next project is a 29 chevy 4 door. I raced with you a couple years ago in Madras and Salem. I built a modlite, then ended up selling both cars...
Lots of people are using the motorcycle and snowmobile engines due to cost and performance reasons. I suggest you check out www.gbcracing.com and www.UMDRA.com Good info & chassis pics.
That's what I think. Gotta be a hell of a motor. 1800cc. Gotta be something over a hundred hp. I think my old 1200 4 cyl has over a hundred hp.
Any of the newer 600cc from the sport bikes will easily make 100 HP. The Busa and a few other big motored sport bikes will make alot more. My 98 cbr 600 motors I raced in the car pictured earlier in this thread made over 100 at the wheels on a chassis dyno. With 12.5/1 JE pistons port work, racing intake cam, stock intake cam used on the exhaust side degreed @103 IN CL and 107 EX CL and dyna 2000 ingnition with 33 mikuni carbs on alky 3 HP per Cubic inch! and I think the motors wieghed about 130 pounds!
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula car series. These are essentially tube chassis formula cars powered by in-line four motorcycle engines. My daughter's fiance raced the University of Arizona's car for three years. It is a way for the engineering students to design and build race cars according to the rules. Its a great program link to the SAE site here: http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries Phil
Our 07 GSXR 1000 made 178 at the wheels with a piston and cam change. We upped the compression one more time after that but didn't get a chance to re-run the dyno numbers. It's not unusual to see over 200 at the crank with a built 1000. We raced ours all year and took it apart before the championship race, I put rings in it just because it was apart and stuck it back together. We shift it at over 12500 rpm every shift. These things are tough and sound so cool. I mean it's not a big V8 but they are neat.
congrats.... i recently competed in SAE BAJA INDIA 2011 & i know how it feels to drive ur own made car. now am looking forward to make another car running on motorcycle engine but before starting, have already faced some initial problems like how to install the reverse gear? could you please give me some advice on that & may be some other things also that i should keep in mind?? my email id is dblackhawk7@gmail.com
Good luckwith your project, but you do realize this thread is two years old, right. Hopefully the original posters will have it subscribed to. If you don't get a response soon, you might try pm's.
Just got a heads-up to this old post, still lots of good info here and on the cycle-car/three-wheeler thread. We have a Goldwing-powered Morgan-style three-wheeler in the late planning stages with mockup to commence soon. The engine and driveline are made to order for this application -- super-relaiable, torquey, really decent horsepower, good fuel economy potential, liquid cooled . . . And the rear drive, suspension, and brake are in a single bolt-int package. Ours is based on a 1200 four-cylinder boxer with the integral five-speed sequential-shift gearbox, and while it doesn't have a reverse gear, that's easily handled with a simple electric reverser that bears against the rear tire when operated. With horsepower in the 90-100 bhp range and a target weight of 1100 pounds it should be a satisfying performer. And it will be licensed as a motorcycle, using the title and registration from the donor bike. Mike
@av8, Some models of Goldwing have a reverse that engages and utilizes the bike's starter motor for about a 1mph reverse. Is this the setup you are using, or something else? If not, it is out there if you were of a mind to upgrade drivetrains. (One vague description...) http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100814132147AAU74YP
I believe the reverse feature is confined the six-cylinder Goldwings, and I'm not sure if they are all included. Thanks for the heads-up, however. Our scheme uses a small starter motor fitted with a hard-rubber roller and mounted on a hinged frame that's connected to a reverser lever. A pull on the lever activates the starter motor (through a microswitch) and moves the roller into contact with the rear tire -- kinda like having an on-board starter for a road-race or Bonneville bike. BTW, good to 'hear' from you; it's been a long time. Mike
did a google search on dwarf cars and came across a fellow named Ernie Adams, amazing work. http://www.dwarfcarpromotions.com/
With all the Busa powered stuff around, you'd think some smart guys would figure out the tranny deal, eh? Luckily, by some strange cooincidence I found this link today on a tip from another site. Busa in a Miata. When this tech gets worked out, I'm SURE I'll want one in a Model A modified. But it has to work thru conventional gear box or transaxle to please me, so reverse works like in a normal car. Gary Check this out. These guys are pretty clever. http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_arti.../1803/frankenmiata-dyno-secrets-revealed.aspx
I think this is the "car" you are referring to? Not the story I heard about it, tho... What do all these use for a differential? Not many small cars that are RWD anymore.