Alez
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| posted on 11/9/03 at 04:38 PM |
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Are BECs reliable for daily road use??
Greetings!
I'm very new to these, but I'm already very impressed with the performance to price figures you can get from these..
"cars"?
What worries me a bit, from my absolute lack of experience, is reliability. The concern comes from the fact that these engines have been designed to
pull the weight of a bike, which is say half? of the weight of these locosts. It is clear that you won't be asking for 100% the power you can
get from one of these for more than very short "bursts", but still you will be asking for a lot more than a biker. From an engine design
point of view, this may not mean overstress for the engine (the engine may have been designed to withstand high power in steady operation) but still
it could mean higher maintenance.
Does this result in a significantly increased maintenance costs and hassle, compared to a car engined locost or a reliable sports bike like the Honda
Fireblade? It would be great to have some feedback from you guys who have been driving these beasts for a while now.
Thanks!
Alex
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Jon Ison
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| posted on 11/9/03 at 07:02 PM |
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6000 + miles, thrashed its balls of, no problems, no oil leaks, nothing, looked after they are pretty bomb proof.....
20min thrash on a track day, come in n she sits there purring asking for more whilst the boy racers are lifting there bonnets and gettin coverd in
steam.
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loafersmate
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| posted on 11/9/03 at 07:45 PM |
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I'll second that, done about 2000 miles since July and it's never missed a beat. Don't forget that once they are rolling you
don't use the clutch and because the acceleration comes from high revs not torque the stresses the engine sees are probably less than in a pinto
(that ought to stir up a frenzy )
Cheers
Ben
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Alez
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 08:26 AM |
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Guys,
That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks very much for your help, I think it is crystal clear now.
BTW, forgot to ask something. I've heard in this same forum that Fireblades last while Blackbirds don't (apparently they fail quite a
lot). Any thoughts on that? What other engines are popular in these cars? Is the Hayabusa one of the popular choices? Which one do you have?
Cheers,
Alex
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Alez
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 08:32 AM |
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Sorry! Just realized that you both ride Fireblades. Also realized that 6'000 and 2'000 are not long mileages anyway.. Well, my Golf has
now more than 180'000. But I guess you generally don't want to do that to one of these..
Cheers,
Alex
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ChrisGamlin
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 01:30 PM |
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If you are looking to use it as a daily commuter and put 15-20k a year on it, I would say you shouldnt even be looking at a Seven type car, let alone
a bike engined one, what is considered high mileage in kit car terms isnt the same!
99% of these cars are used for sunday blasts and track days, and as such they dont rack up miles very quickly. Doing this, they are generally very
reliable, but nobody can really comment on doing proper high mileage because nobody has been mad enough to try it!
Regarding the comparative weight, I dont think its as bad as it would first appear. Everyone, please feel free to pick holes in this as I only thought
about it briefly the other day when somebody mentioned it on the BEC list, and I havent properly thought it through, so is probably all bollox 
.....
I would say that the beating the clutch takes is higher on a BEC, but not its not double just because the weight is double.
Lets say a bike with rider weighs 250kgs, and a BEC with driver weighs 500kgs. Twice the weight, but the car is geared a lot lower (about 50% lower).
This means you have a lower gear for pulling away. If the car weighed 250kg, the clutch would last LONGER than on a 250kg bike because of the lower
gearing. Double the weight of the car to 500kgs and yes you increase the strain on the clutch, but not by double compared to what the bike encounters,
and probably no more than what the bike encounters with a heavy rider and pillion.
Also I would guess that gearbox and engine strain in BECs is no higher than on the bike, assuming it is driven/ridden the same way using full revs and
wide open throttle for the same amount of time (bear with me I know this isnt really feasible...)
Remember that there is the same amount of torque coming through the engine regardless of whether its in the car or bike, so the gearbox and clutch
doesnt see any extra forces compared to those it sees in the bike, so no extra wear / strain.
In real life tho, the engine/gearbox in a BEC probably has a higher proportion of its working life at higher RPM and wide open throttle (so higher
strain) due to gearing and slower acceleration of a BEC, but its nothing to do with the weight differences, if you drove a BEC the same way as you
rode the bike, then it wouldnt wear out any quicker.
Chris
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Alez
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 03:29 PM |
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Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comments and thoughts, they are quite encouraging. I hadn't thought about the gear ratios being completely different from
bikes', which obviously makes a lot of difference. Also, it is important that people who have these are reporting low maintenance, after all.
Cheers,
Alex
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Jon Ison
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 08:08 PM |
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chris, i hear wot your saying but weather permiting i am happy to jump in and go to work in mine, ive actually done over 7k in it now, 800mile round
trip to le-mans apart from driver induced clutch failure no probs at all, i know youve been to many track days and its allways the same, bonnets off
steam n oil all over, whilst a bec just burbles for more, the engineering in a bike engine is not far from F1 stuff of less than 10 years back, not
many CECs get near it.......just my 2p worth.......
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Spyderman
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 10:58 PM |
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Chris,
It isn't the torque loads, but the snatch loads that does the damage!
On the bike the chain will act as a damper to a small degree. In the car the greater weight and shaft drive will put more loading into the engine and
clutch.
If you have ever riden bikes you may have noticed that shaft driven bikes give more backlash.
With a bike engine you tend to slip the clutch less (in normal use, other than pulling away) than you would a normal car engine. Thus increasing the
loadings through it.
From what I have heard the clutch is usually changed a lot mor frequently than a car clutch would be.
No reason why you can't expect a reasonable life out of it though. Just don't expect it to last any where near as long as a car clutch!
Terry
Spyderman
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ChrisGamlin
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| posted on 12/9/03 at 10:59 PM |
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I totally agree Jon, I would do the same if the car was convenient to jump into on a week day (it lives 40 miles away at my parents tho!), and Im also
planning on doing Le Mans next year, but I just dont think that any Seven, CEC or BEC, is really suitable for proper high mileage (20k+ per year), not
necessarily because of the mechanicals tho, just because it needs a very hardy and dedicated person to do it, hence why you will very rarely find
anyone that can comment on how their car fared doing serious high mileage like many do in a tintop (when was the last time you heard of a Caterfield
hitting 50k miles, let alone 150k miles...)
cheers
Chris
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