Decided to swap the xflow engine in my striker hillclimb project for a bike engine (zx9r)
The bike engine has come out of a lotus seven style car and comes with a very expensive Tony Law exhaust manifold.
My question is should i try fitting the engine using the manifold it came with or is this going to cock things up.
Also would it be worth looking out for a prop and getting it to fit as well prior to welding in some engine mounts.
I know this is a ass about tit way of working but its going to have to be a very cheap build so anything that can save a bob or two must be tried.

You should really optimise the position of the engine in the chassis first, then get a prop to fit, rather than mounting the motor based on the length of a random prop that you may find.

I would drop it in and see, line up the manifold, check bonnet and ground clearance, if both good get a prop shaft made to fit

I got mine in position and used the prop i had which was lucky as it was for my Yamaha engine so was for a bike engine.
I used the standard Kawasaki headers and cut and re-welded, Tony Law are usually steeel headers so you can cut and weld without specialist gear.

What's the best way of mounting the engine? Cradle or engine mounts.
I rang Raw to see if the have any mounts to suit my engine but the don't and would have to fabricate some.

I fabricated my own cradle by lifting the engine into position ensure that the sprocket adptor was as straight as possible to the dif and that the engine was at a good height so it did not come out the bonnet too much and the sump was not hanging down too far but if you are chopping it you can get it a bit higher.

Then mock up bars accross the engine bay ensuring they align up with the mounts on the engine and mark up the mounting points, when happy fit the mountin brackets to the chassis, when done measure and cut your box section for the cradle and mount them while loose to the engine and bolt to the mounting brackets.
Then you can start to tack the cradle together, i kept checking before fully welding that everything still lines up.
Then you can start on the lower mountsbolt the barckets to the lower bike engine mounts then tack into place, loose off the engine lift it out fully weld up.
Mine is solid mounted no bushes, others may do it different but thats mine.

[Edited on 4/7/14 by kj]

I'd contemplate shortening g the passenger footwell to get the eingine further back and the output shaft more central in the tunnel like caterham do! Not a massive job either

if its anything like my striker the passenger footwell is already shorter.
engine doesn't want to be to far back, little enough weight on the front anyway with a bike engine.

quote:

---

Originally posted by bigfoot4616
if its anything like my striker the passenger footwell is already shorter.
engine doesn't want to be to far back, little enough weight on the front anyway with a bike engine.

---

Setup makes a big difference.my mid engined car has most of the weight central and turn in is very good indeed! Front end grip is very good unless surface is poor!
If it were me I'd get it back (like a mallock etc) but everyone is different

[Edited on 4/7/14 by daniel mason]