Pro's And Cons Of A Bike Engine In Your Roadster

[leroybrown911]

I had my heart set on a bike engine. Had an early R1 engine lined up. But to be honest, for me the cost does not make it worthwhile. Hence early zetec for me, on bike carbs!

[trick-kit]

The way round a bike engine route is to purchase a right off. It doesn't take much for a bike to become uneconomical to repair. Parts can be salvaged from this and then resold to offset the outlay. Depending on the motor you want it may even be finacially viable to buy a whole bike and do the same.

I would say buy a running bike so you can ride it to see if it runs ok, as in the past I have bought bike engines which you get limited guarantee on, 3 months I think it was. well it took me longer to get round to fitting it. when it was first run there was a god awful noise and turned out to have had major crankcase repairs done but cleverly disguised on the outside anyway...inside there was lumps of weld fouling the gearbox, result was one knackered ZX9r motor and £1200 down the toilet.......live and learn buy a whole bike or one from a known supplier like Andy at AB performance or Yorkshire engines.

[ozzy1]

The other thing with bike engines is that most of a 1000cc or less can generally have just a baffle plate put in to stop the oil starvation problem,this costs less than 50quid generally.The only problem then is the reverse gear which you can buy or make or personally i would buy a complete bike and sell the parts off on ebay and use the money from that to buy the reverse gearbox.

[tex]

cost is the only issue
parts are not cheap - but neither are good car parts!
transmission can be a nuisance but not bad
motorway driving can be overcome using an mp3 player
would i buy a car or bike engine? gotta first think on what do you want it for? touring? track? what? buy to suit. try to get the most modern engine you can if possible.

if going bike keep it original - dont modify it - just the clutch springs need stiffening by 10%

[7ishNZ]

I built a Haynes with a 2006 R1 motor... performance is spectacular! It is one of the fastest 7's on our local track, and easily thrashes cars with motors costing 3 times as much.
What lets it down is the constant high revs on the road... 6500 at 60mph with a 3.54 diff. If you want a track day car, with very little cruising.. go for the bike engine. If you want a tourer.. stick to the car engine.
My build diary:
http://www.lotus7.co.nz/forum/viewto...t=72&start=140

I am about to re-power it with a 3sgte ( turbo) motor and 6 speed altezza box... should give me the track performance and the touring comfort.