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Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:11 am

hey there,

am at the planning stages of building a manx style buggy with a hayabusa engine in it. Just wondered if any of you guys on here have done anything like this or know anywhere that specialises in this

thanks

kev

Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:28 am

here is a video of one on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXmH0JnH4_8

Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:40 am

Thats actually pretty cool. I saw one somewhere on the
web that had a v-twin Harley motor, but i can't remember
where it was. Good luck with the project. Make sure to
post lots of pictures.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:44 am

The Harley V Twin setup is pretty cool but the adapter kit was $2500+ IIRC...way too much to make the installation practical.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:38 am

If you google Hayabusa kitcar you get several hits from the UK on Lotus 7 type cars with Hayabusa engines.

http://www.megabusa-build.co.uk/

http://www.daxcars.co.uk/rush/reviews/rush_kitcars1.htm

They seem to be the only ones who specialize in it.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:01 am

Impressive sounding buggy in the video. My first question would be how do you get reverse?

Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:31 am

The Harley conversion that I saw turned sideways
and adapted right to the back of the vw transaxle.
I assume that all the gears would be the same.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:10 am

I'll have to watch the video again, but it sounded like the 'Busa Buggy had at least 4 gear changes. It'd certainly be cool to have a couple extra gears.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:34 am

kevinwilson wrote: hey there,

am at the planning stages of building a manx style buggy with a hayabusa engine in it. Just wondered if any of you guys on here have done anything like this or know anywhere that specialises in this

thanks

kev

The 150hp or so a Hayabusa puts out is real impressive in a 500lb motorcycle or even in an 800 lb single seat rail or Lotus 7, but in a 1200 lb glass bodied buggy, it would be an expensive, complicated, high reving/low torque and probably unreliable drive system.

If you want to build a buggy with a modern watercooled engine, check out this UK company that sells everything you need to connect a 4 or 6 cylinder 200hp+ Subaru engine to a VW van transaxle. It would be less expensive, simpler and more powerful. http://www.rjes.com/index.html

Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:37 pm

There's info online for a patent that someone applied for regarding an adaptor to mount a motorcycle engine to a VW T1 transaxle...

Used the bike gearbox for forward gears and left the VW box in one gear for his final drive ratio - could still use reverse on VW box. Basically. it appears that his patent idea was for a motor adaptor plate...

In the video, it appears that driver is using the bike gearbox for forward motion; doesn't necessarily mean that he is using a VW T1 'box also. I looked into the idea of using motorcycle power in my SR; still haven't excluded the idea - But I wouldn't be using the VW transaxle though...

bnc

Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:03 pm

A Busa comes with a 6 speed, close ratio gearbox, it sounds to me that they are using the VW gearbox, the gear spacing is too far apart. It sure looks to scoot. If you ask me that is alot of HP from a 75lb. engine.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:18 pm

Bike clutch, and to some extent, the bike gearbox, are the apparent weaklinks here - strength of the bike components when pushing around a 1200+lb buggy are the real question. Also, what I've read is that the liter-plus bullet bike engines are not known for their longevity, as they were designed more as a racing (read highly-stressed when pushed) engine...

Maybe an 1800 Goldwing engine is an option?

Still, I'd love to try a 'Busa motored SR, if the motor package didn't cost 1915cc money -

bnc

Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:30 pm

I recently traded in my Busa on a new Ducati... The Busa had 87,000 miles on it and they were not easy miles. As far as I'm concerned the Japanese inline 4 is a very reliable powerplant.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:42 pm

Mongo - I was waiting for a response on 'Busa reliability.... 12 minutes, a new record... :wink:

Great reliability when hammered pushing 400-500lb bike & 200+ lb rider; now let's add the 1200+ lb buggy into equation + 300-400 lbs of passengers & see how reliability curve looks...

That being said, I'd still like to try it!

bnc

Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:19 pm

I think there was a thread not too long ago with this subject. From what I've read, in general terms, a motorcycle engine just doesn't have the torque required to get a buggy or kit car off the line at any great speed. Once moving, however, the torque can give way to the horsepower, and that's when one can have some fun.
For a completely retarded take on a 'Busa engine, look at this guy's site: www.H1V8.com, which I think was also the source of a thread here. The engine was based on a 'Busa design, and stepped up. I've seen that motor in person, and can vouch for it's engineering, but again, it's base torque range is something like 120 ft/lbs at 3K rpm. Not exactly the sort of power you want to get something heavier than a bike moving quickly with.
And digit - I had considered a Goldwing engine for my car at one point as well, when a buddy of mine stopped with his brand new Goldwing - weighing in at a whopping 750+ pounds without the rider. The motor was rated somewhere around 220hp if memory serves (and it often doesn't), but something like that may easily be adapted for a lightweight car, since many Goldwings of this size get the trike adapters, and add another 2-300 pounds to the package.

R

Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:35 pm

I would bet the buggy in the video isn't running the Busa trans or clutch.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:48 pm

Here's a Fremont, CA(corrected- I have no idea why I thought he was British) webpage that's all about the various engines that have been swapped into a VW.

http://frost.bbboy.net/vwengineconversions

I think the 1600cc, 20 valve, 165hp Toyota 4AGE engine would be a real good buggy engine if you sorted out the smog and radiator. They're small and light, low mileage engines cost about $900 and Kennedy has adapters to put them straight on an 091 transaxle.

Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:57 pm

lostinbaja wrote: I would bet the buggy in the video isn't running the Busa trans or clutch.

Just listened to clip again - start at 5:30 mark in clip; you can hear him go through 6 gears on the Kawa 1100 engine in the buggy...

bnc

Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:57 pm

British? The guy that has that page is in California near Fremont, or used to be. Goes by the name of "Zenjoe": http://www.geocities.com/zenjoe/vw.html

Just pullin' your chain a little BL!

Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:36 pm

Here's the info -

Guy is using output shaft of bike engine tied into input shaft of Beetle gearbox - a poster on the forum below says he is using a simple coupling between the engine output shaft & the VW trans input shaft. Mate the two together with output/input shafts in straight line...

http://groups.msn.com/wwwbeachbuggyorguk/buggytech...5046161540

Twin stickshift setup, so that he can run the 6-speed bike trans at output shaft through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear of VW box, plus has option of reverse.

Just think - 24 forward gear & 6 reverse gear possibilities... :shock:

bnc