Anyone here own a bike powered kit car?

G_D said:
Sequential box is fantastic but then dont forget you are going to be using a clutch designed to be operated by hand with your foot.
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You won't use the clutch when going up the box. Only on the way down.

Bike engines are much more highly strung than car engines. They need their oil changing more frequently and their throttle bodies synching regularly.
A bike engined kit car will me more work to keep in a nice state of tune than a car engined one IMO.
However, I think a bike engine will give more of a racer feel with the screaming revs.
 
chaparral said:
Add to that....I think you be changing gear every two seconds with a motorbike engine gearbox fitted....

R1 does about 104mph in first gear..then the rest are very close together (6 gears)
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Yeah and if we then add to that again with torque and power curves. Might be worth looking at a few. The graph of a car general isn't as steep and then tails of more slowly. The graph for a bike engine will show a curve that just climbs and climbs much more steeply to a peak and then stops instantly. Basically (in case that wasn't very helpful) a car engine has a much wider more useful operating range where as the bike has a much smaller one where you really need to rev the **** off it. That will be fun at the start but will become tiresome.
 
Guy local to us owns one, he built it up with a Hayabusa engine in it, its now Turbo'd. His brother also has an R1 powered one :)
 
could always look at the busa' motor which is around 190 horsies for 1.3l

to get the most out of an R1 engine means reving the hell out of it, they are designed for peak power at high revs to get the most out of all them little cc's

or you can go completly mad and get a RocketIII motor in there :p 2.3l inline 3 or the new V-Max V4 engine kicking out around 200bhp. (i really doubt you'll be able to find any of these)
 
Skeeter said:
This isnt an impending purchase. I just really really want a small fast kit car within a few years, and always liked Caterhams. But your looking at atleast £15k for a nice one, whereas MK Indys with Fireblade or R1 engines are less than half the price, rarer, just as fast and sound so much nicer!

Im also not that engineering minded. Id buy a prebuilt rather than build my own. Is being a bit of a noob when it comes to building cars/bikes going to put me at a disadvantage?
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Looked at Westfields?
In the *unofficial* se7en hierarchy they're above MK Indys and just a bit below Caterham, but a good bit cheaper as you're not paying for the 'heritage'.

For around 8k you can get a good megablade, or a 200hp 2.0VX.
One thing to note is that lots of the Bike Engined cars fail the sound test at Combe (remembering that they test BEC's at 3/4max revs) :(
 
Dunno why but ive never liked the look of Westfields as much, but yes, they are cheaper for same performance than a Caterham. As far as car engines go they are dam good. I just really like the absolute minimalist-ness of the MK Indy, Frame, panels, wheels, engine, seats, go! :)

Id also forgot about the sound test... a stock Ariel Atom fails the Coombe sound test and the exhausts dont fit those muffler things they have. Seen as Coombe is my closest track Id want to be able to get out there!
 
Skeeter said:
Lol, its all so confusing!
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BEC vs CEC is a religious war in kit car forums, with each side pointing out the various merits of their chosen motive power.

The truth is that both have advantages and disadvantages. If you are going to be doing a fair bit of track time, and either there are tracks close by or you can tow the kit rather than drive it, then I'd go for a BEC every time. If it's going to be a Sunday toy for reasonably short trips, BEC is also great. If you are planning on driving any major distances (e.g. annual pilgrimage to Le Mans etc.), or will regularly have a passenger then CEC looks more inviting.
 
My mates had two bike engined MK's, first was ZX-9 powered, second one had an R1 lump...both great fun and quick considering the motors were standard. Cheaper than building a decent car lump up for sure...
:)
 
jon.bda said:
My mates had two bike engined MK's, first was ZX-9 powered, second one had an R1 lump...both great fun and quick considering the motors were standard. Cheaper than building a decent car lump up for sure...
:)
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Building maybe, but in terms of buying second hand a pinto lumped one seems to be in the 5-6k range, whereas the bike lumps push more like 7k, maybe more.

Im assuming then, its kinda obvious, a BEC is like a Bike, and a CEC is like a car. BEC for blasts, track, short trips, but will be tiresome, loud and uncomfortable on any sort of long trip. CEC will lose out to BEC in acceleration with its H gearbox, and wont scream like a BEC, but will allow for more relaxed cruses.

Seen as ive got a while yet, ill try and blag drives in both types before making any firm decisions.
 
Skeeter said:
Id also forgot about the sound test... a stock Ariel Atom fails the Combe sound test and the exhausts dont fit those muffler things they have. Seen as Combe is my closest track Id want to be able to get out there!
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Yea Combe's pretty strict, our Westfield needed a Simpson complete custom manifold and silencer, and a friend had to do the same on his Ultima.

Where you from? As you could try coming to a local-meet of some of the various se7en clubs and blag a ride or two!
 
Are all the bike engined cars generally inline 4's?

Could you fit a V-twin (more 'car like' in its power delivery)?

Also sound far better! :cool:
 
Westyfield2 said:
Yea Combe's pretty strict, our Westfield needed a Simpson complete custom manifold and silencer, and a friend had to do the same on his Ultima.

Where you from? As you could try coming to a local-meet of some of the various se7en clubs and blag a ride or two!
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I live in Wiltshire, Westbury area if you know it. Id love to go to some meets, get looking round. Where would be a good place to find out about meets etc?
 
Batf1nk said:
Are all the bike engined cars generally inline 4's?

Could you fit a V-twin (more 'car like' in its power delivery)?

Also sound far better! :cool:
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One of the guys on RR has a Reliant Kitten with a TL1000 (?) lump - 125bhp plus a 75bhp shot of nitrous. Separate exhaust for each cylinder so it spits flames on upchanges too ;)

He's just about to fit a second engine...400bhp and 550Kg.

He runs an MOT garage in Stoke...

*n
 
penski said:
One of the guys on RR has a Reliant Kitten with a TL1000 (?) lump - 125bhp plus a 75bhp shot of nitrous. Separate exhaust for each cylinder so it spits flames on upchanges too ;)

He's just about to fit a second engine...400bhp and 550Kg.

He runs an MOT garage in Stoke during the day... And runs border patrol in Hell at night...

*n
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Fixed
 
penski said:
One of the guys on RR has a Reliant Kitten with a TL1000 (?) lump - 125bhp plus a 75bhp shot of nitrous. Separate exhaust for each cylinder so it spits flames on upchanges too ;)

He's just about to fit a second engine...400bhp and 550Kg.

He runs an MOT garage in Stoke...

*n
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Bet that sounds awesome!! Always fancied a TL1000R.

Used to have a GSXR 600 SRAD with Art can which sounded ok. Nothing compared to my mates Ducati 916 with Apokrovic (?) cans though. That thing sounded like thunder. You could literally feel it thumping away in your chest!
 
I do! My self designed mid bike engine car, 160 horses weighing only 300kilos. Yet to be SVA'd but scary fast on a test drive! GSXR1100 powerplant

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Brilliant stuff cloudy! Do you have anymore links to your design/build?

How much work do you think you'll need for the SVA - I was reading Kit Car magazine and I'm pretty worried about that radius checker they have for searching for 'sharp' edges - will you be putting bodywork on yours?
 
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