Bike Engined 205

[dave205 19]

Im sure ive seen something on here with regards to putting bike engines in 205,s. Anybody had any experiance of them, fitment, handling, cost, what are they comparable to?

[Cameron 16]

Depends massively on where you put it.. front engine rear wheel drive (FR), front engine front wheel drive (FF) or mid engine rear wheel drive (MR).

 

FR:

Fitting - very complicated, requires custom mounting, custom propshaft, a transmission tunnel, custom rear suspension / transplant from another FR car.

Handling - Most likely probably rubbish but if you're VERY careful about what components you use / the design it could be quite good.

Cost - a fortune if you get someone else to do it, depends on what engine / components you use but if you do it properly i.e. use a Hayabusa engine it's likely to set you back £10k in parts alone.

 

FF:

Fitting - complicated, requires custom mounting, a bolt-on diff housing or chain drive to a differential, custom driveshafts.

Handling - similar to FR.

Cost - similar to FR.

 

MR:

Fitting - extremely complicated, requires major fabrication to get the engine in, needs custom rear suspension, a bolt-on diff housing or a chain driven diff, custom driveshafts etc etc etc.

Handling - Most likely rubbish, again, but if you design it right it could be excellent.

 

Just so you don't think I'm talking s*it, I looked into this extensively for my hillclimb project and it isn't cheap! A Hayabusa engine in good condition will set you back £3.5-6k quite happily, then you need to upgrade certain components for it to be reliable in a car which costs about £2.5k. That's just for the engine, you'd be amazed by the amount of custom parts you need to actually install it and make it run! You need to think of all of this before you start otherwise you'll end up a couple of years down the line with an "unfinished project" ad on eBay and empty pockets.

[Anulfo 22]

I saw a 205 with a honda blackbird engine at the Brean rally stages a few years ago which im sure was mid engine rwd configuration.Like has already been said your main problems are fitting everything in,fabricating mounting points etc so the thing works!!On the plus side motorcyle engines are normally in a pretty high state of tune straight out of the box!!With other mods to lighten the shell the resulting car will be very competitive as i recall the 205 at Brean was!!

[harryskid 193]

I saw a 205 with a honda blackbird engine at the Brean rally stages a few years ago which im sure was mid engine rwd configuration.Like has already been said your main problems are fitting everything in,fabricating mounting points etc so the thing works!!On the plus side motorcyle engines are normally in a pretty high state of tune straight out of the box!!With other mods to lighten the shell the resulting car will be very competitive as i recall the 205 at Brean was!!

 

Was it sliver, as there was one on a couple of the rallys i did last year and it was very competive?

[Dj_mini 7]

I was thinking of the same silver one he was getting quicker all through the year but could match james's pace he has a new car for this year.

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

http://www.zcars.org.uk/univkit.php

[ollie406 0]

I think a 205 is too heavy,

 

A small fiat, smart cars and minis are common bike engine conversions...

 

Rear wheel drive more fun than front?

 

 

Source a rear diff, chain drive it through bike gearbox?

Mount engine in a frame,

 

Fanny's your aunt....

 

Only downside is no reverse, but I think z-cars offer something to fix that, just depends how much you wanna throw at the job...

 

Check the smart hyabusa on YouTube!

[Cameron 16]

Source a rear diff, chain drive it through bike gearbox?

Mount engine in a frame,

 

Fanny's your aunt....

 

What are you going to do about the rear suspension then? You can't retain the trailing arms.

 

Just to add to the Z Cars link - Kit price is £7500 inc VAT and doesn't include an engine!

Edited January 22, 2012 by Cameron

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

or fitting, fabrication, welding, prepping, paint etc etc

[dave205 19]

What are you going to do about the rear suspension then? You can't retain the trailing arms.

 

Just to add to the Z Cars link - Kit price is £7500 inc VAT and doesn't include an engine!

 

I assume he means FF?

[Cameron 16]

Source a rear diff..

 

I assumed this meant MR.

[dave205 19]

I assumed this meant MR.

 

And mount it in the front?

[Anulfo 22]

Was it sliver, as there was one on a couple of the rallys i did last year and it was very competive?

 

the car in question was yellow and blue.I think it must have been sold on or broken up as i've not seen it since.

[Anulfo 22]

I think a 205 is too heavy,

 

A small fiat, smart cars and minis are common bike engine conversions...

 

Rear wheel drive more fun than front?

 

 

Source a rear diff, chain drive it through bike gearbox?

Mount engine in a frame,

 

Fanny's your aunt....

 

Only downside is no reverse, but I think z-cars offer something to fix that, just depends how much you wanna throw at the job...

 

Check the smart hyabusa on YouTube!

 

If the shell of the 205 is stripped of as much weight as possible it would be well worthwhile fitting a bike engine.The Hayabusa engined 205 has been done quite a few times and i've seen a couple for sale in motorsports news before now.Don't forget some of the bigger bikes will have a 'crawler' reverse gear to help with the manoeverability especially when parking.

Great if you have the mechanical skills and equipment to do such a conversion yourself but if you get specialist companies to do the work for you then it's going to get expensive!!!

[ollie406 0]

No super bikes I've ever seen are heavy enough to require a crawler reverse gear....

 

And those big Harley 1500 things are no where near the power needed, you'd be better off with an old tractor engine!

 

 

Looking over the z cars pics on their web site... They use a big starter motor onto a gear on the drive and have electric reverse!!

 

Good idea I recon...

[dave205 19]

Whats the standard power of a hayabusa?

Edited January 22, 2012 by dave205

[welshpug 1,657]

I believe Z cars have done a saxo have they not? they weigh much the same as a 205 shell.

[dave205 19]

[quote name='Cameron' timestamp='1327140783'

 

A Hayabusa engine in good condition will set you back £3.5-6k quite happily, then you need to upgrade certain components for it to be reliable in a car which costs about £2.5k. That's just for the engine, you'd be amazed by the amount of custom parts

 

Can you break that cost down?

Why not use an R1 engine? Circa 800-1000 for a good one.

Sierra diff and cut/weld sleeve the driveshafts with 205 ones, mount it in the front, run the r1 clocks n loom, not bother with reverse it'll be purely for track use. Strip everything out To minimize weight and cut the bonnet and slam panel suit.

[Cameron 16]

Do it yourself you lazy git.

[dave205 19]

The only i say is a friend of mine is building a striker kit car, he bought an r1 engine with loom for £550 and a sirra rear diff, driveshafts and prop shaft for around £100-150, he's running it on omex with a digi dash. Omex 600 ecu, approx 5-600 new?!

 

If i could get hold of a 205 already stripped with a decent suspension/brake setup and a cage and buckets that would be the main items. What other things do i need to factor in? All work will be done by myself, so no labour charges.

[Cameron 16]

Off the top of my head, you'd need some sort of diff, then a way of mounting it, then driveshafts, engine mounts and an exhaust. I don't want to sound harsh but if you're capable of doing this then you should be able to think of all of these yourself.

 

Getting an engine installed is the easy bit, don't underestimate the hundreds of little niggly and often expensive jobs you need to do to get it running and driveable!

 

What sort of budget have you got in mind?

[dave205 19]

None taken, i understand what your saying, its an engineering project not a mechanical one. I feel i have enough knowledge/skills and resources through friends and family to do it.

 

With regards to cost i think it could be down for 3-4k dependant on spec obviously.