Joe Poty Buggy Motorcycle Engine Swap

[chickenhawk0520]

Has anyone fabed a motorcycle engine in a buggy, or has info on whats needed?

[Letterman7]

Multiple threads in various forums on that. Bottom line, unless it's a completely stripped down buggy, most motorcycle engines don't develop enough torque to get you off the line.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279256&highlight=motorcycle+engine

[BL3Manx]

If you want a liquid cooled 1300cc Suzuki engine, the G13 can easily be had for a couple hundred bucks and Kennedy will do an adapter/flywheel to put it on a VW transaxle.

If you can find one the Swift GT had 100hp

[didget69]

But the Suzuki G13 isn't a motorcycle engine. 😀

bryan
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[BL3Manx]

[oprn]

I have not seen or done that but another issue to consider is cooling. Unless you use a water cooled engine an air cooled one would have over heating issues in the relatively dead air space behind a Buggy. It could be done and would be an interesting and unique car for sure.

At an ice race a few years back I did see a Fiat X19 with a Yamaha 1100 where the passenger would normally sit. The car was stripped to just a body shell, no floor, a solid tube rear axle chain driven from the motorcycle transmission. Running in the winter with no side windows and an open floor would no doubt cool just fine. It was driven very effectively by a grey haired fellow who was no slouch and was one of the fastest cars there. Pretty impressive coming out of the corners with 50 foot ice chip rooster tails too! Sounded like a bumble bee on roids...

Another 1100 Yamaha powered vehicle I saw a while back was at the tractor pulls here at Provost. He was running in the kid's Micro Mini 1600cc class and cleaning house at every meet. Until our neighbor pulled his Pontiac Astra engine out and got an RX7 engine to install!

You would think that torque would be king at tractor pulls but those two units proved otherwise!

[didget69]

https://youtu.be/NbVyE5ZGj9k

https://youtu.be/5VJyRjfAMtM

https://youtu.be/YCZuoP_VUck

The question is not 'can a motorcycle engine be installed Into a VW chassis?' It's been done on a few cars, but bike clutches weren't really designed to push 1,200 lb cars.


bryan
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[didget69]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279256&highlight=bike+engine

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wXmH0JnH4_8
Used bike transmission output shaft feeding into VW T1 transaxle. Twin shifter setup; Driver used VW trans as the splitter box differential & allowed reverse, then selected one gear in VW box depending on final ratio he desired. Shifted gears through bike 6-speed trans while driving.

bnc
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[oprn]

Pretty cool idea actually but I personally would miss the unique VW flat 4 sound. Unless one was to go with a Goldwing or BMW engine!

[Manxdude]

Check out this build
https://youtu.be/_uxUB9h4A_k