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Dont bother going bike POWA
billy - 11/6/05 at 08:45 PM

Hi chaps, just thought id give you my views on bike powa, i like the sound of it myself, but.........boy dont they start to run out of steam at the big speeds, the old CEC keeps on pulling. so i think bike powa is ok for small tracks etc, not so good for the road but i only seem to get about 20 per gallon. bah

[Edited on 11/6/05 by billy]


Hellfire - 11/6/05 at 08:53 PM



Take no notice!!!


billy - 11/6/05 at 09:01 PM

dont tell me.... you got a BEC????


Wadders - 11/6/05 at 09:12 PM

Good for the motorway then.....Yawn




Originally posted by billy
the old CEC keeps on pulling. so i think bike powa is ok for small tracks etc, not so good for the road but i only seem to get about 20 per gallon. bah

[Edited on 11/6/05 by billy]



billy - 11/6/05 at 09:17 PM

or the big boy tracks


Wadders - 11/6/05 at 09:29 PM

Yeah right




Originally posted by billy
or the big boy tracks





[Edited on 11/6/05 by Wadders]


OX - 11/6/05 at 09:42 PM

if the car engine has got less than 200 bhp then its gonna get beaten by most of the high bhp becs,unless high speed is all you want and then its the diff that restricts the bec
mine pulls to 120 very hard all the way to the red line ,its way under geared ,i dont think a 3.14 diff will help all that much either


lol 20 mpg ,,id be happy if got 10

[Edited on 11/6/05 by OX]


Jon Ison - 11/6/05 at 10:18 PM

silly billy.........


phelpsa - 11/6/05 at 10:36 PM

Technically, doesn't a bike engine turn into a car engine when its put in a car


stevebubs - 12/6/05 at 12:32 AM

quote:
Originally posted by phelpsa
Technically, doesn't a bike engine turn into a car engine when its put in a car


According to the DVLA...yes....


colibriman - 12/6/05 at 03:00 AM

quote:

lol 20 mpg ,,id be happy if got 10




I know what you mean Ox.....

I went through a gallon and a half doing 8 laps of about a minute and a half...

= not a lot/ gallon (too pissed and tired to work it out)


wilkingj - 12/6/05 at 07:45 AM

quote:
Originally posted by OX
if the car engine has got less than 200 bhp then its gonna get beaten by most of the high bhp becs,unless high speed is all you want and then its the diff that restricts the bec
mine pulls to 120 very hard all the way to the red line ,its way under geared ,i dont think a 3.14 diff will help all that much either
[Edited on 11/6/05 by OX]


What bike engine do you have?
What Diff?
What car / chassis?

I am interested in this thread, as I have yet to get my V8 on the road, and have no idea of what the performance will be like. I should have 230 bhp or perhaps a bit more if lucky.
There is no substitute for BHP and Grunt.


smart51 - 12/6/05 at 09:28 AM

quote:

There is no substitute for BHP and Grunt.



The whole point of a seven is that there is a substitute for grunt - low weight.

360 BHP per tonne can either be 180 BHP in a 500kg car or 720 BHP in an all American pickup. I'd rather drive the seven.


Hellfire - 12/6/05 at 11:00 AM

When on the road, our's should be hitting about 388bhp/tonne.


JoelP - 12/6/05 at 11:04 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Hellfire
When on the road, our's should be hitting about 388bhp/tonne.


im aiming for about 100 per tonne. eat dust!


billy - 12/6/05 at 11:24 AM

he he he, i thought that would stir it up with the BEC lovers of cors not all BEC i was thinking of those blade engines


colibriman - 12/6/05 at 11:25 AM

ahem........


billy - 12/6/05 at 11:30 AM

Actualy im thinking of buying a R1 engine for my dutton project, any ideas on prices etc???


zilspeed - 12/6/05 at 11:35 AM

R1 Dutton ?

Shome Mishtake Shurely .....


Way tooo heavy is it not ?


colibriman - 12/6/05 at 11:38 AM

quote:

Actualy im thinking of buying a R1 engine for my dutton project, any ideas on prices etc???



R1's are normally around £1000 for carbed
and £1200 for fuel injected..

That's delivered.

Thanks for asking..

Colin


colibriman - 12/6/05 at 11:39 AM

quote:

Way tooo heavy is it not ?



John.....an R1 aint heavy....


Hellfire - 12/6/05 at 02:17 PM

Picture the scene:

Saturday morning... hazy sun. 10:00. The waft of bacon butties in the air as MK lad's eat there 11:00(?)s's

A new comer saunter's up and start's chatting - eventually Leigh ( a regular) offer's to take him out for a quick spin. He returns back 10 minutes later... 'nuf said.

He then goes out in a Pinto - for comparison... he returns. He says to wife... **** ***** ***** fill in the blanks yourself!

I'm unsure as to whether he ordered one but I reckon the grin factor says it all!!!


Volvorsport - 12/6/05 at 02:44 PM

ive nothing against bike power as long as the weight is kept low , ive never been in one , so somebody could probably put me straight on that .

only reason i didnt do it - is i have ulterior motives , and my whole donor car thing cost less than that , and can be had upto about 250 bhp in pretty much std trim - of course i spent twice what an R1 engine would cost, and i have 500 + hp available .

itll be interesting to see what traction problems i have .

its not all about power , - throttle response , cornering , braking , all come from low weight .


Marcus - 12/6/05 at 08:10 PM

A standard 'Blade engine DOESN'T run out of puff! I've been in a few, and seen a few on a track. The Isonblade managed to keep up with James (Hicost) round Donington and that was a fairly standard engine. Steve Faunch (yorks group) has a standard 'blade and it's damned fast (or is it just that he drives fast everywhere!)

Saying that, mine's a crossflow and I'm sticking with that (bit of a purist at heart)

Marcus


billy - 12/6/05 at 09:34 PM

My god Hellfire, your gonna put anyone off a kit if they go out in a pinto POWA car i bet they did notice the differance he he (sorry all pinto owners)


garage19 - 12/6/05 at 09:41 PM

Having built and fetled a few bike engines in the past there was one thing that put me off going BEC.

The clutch.

If you see the grief that a few race starts can cause a bike clutch and thats only accelerating half the mass.

I just couldn't see how your average bike clutch could put up with launching 5-600kg plus the possibilty of two people.

Come on.... own up. How many BEC drivers have had clutch problems???


billy - 12/6/05 at 09:46 PM

or rectifyer problems too i dont want to seem thet im slagging BEC off, but when your 16 stone and got a real fat wife, and you want to go out with your picnic basket on the back etc......... you know where im coming from. how well dos a BEC stand up to that then


Jon Ison - 13/6/05 at 06:15 AM

RGB series = "race starts" = uprated clutch springs = no problems.

Le Mans = 2 up = camping gear(plus beer) = 900 mile round trip= no problems.

Rectifier hot= not mounted on ally base= get a new one and mount it properly= problem gone.

silly billy.........

Its a proven fact you need around 400bhp in a CEC locost too be quicker than 0.9litre BEC around Donnington at least, and that was 2 up touching 130mph, aint that enough for most roads ?


Jon Ison - 13/6/05 at 06:15 AM

RGB series = "race starts" = uprated clutch springs = no problems.

Le Mans = 2 up = camping gear(plus beer) = 900 mile round trip= no problems.

Rectifier hot= not mounted on ally base= get a new one and mount it properly= problem gone.

silly billy.........

Its a proven fact you need around 400bhp in a CEC locost too be quicker than 0.9litre BEC around Donnington at least, and that was 2 up touching 130mph, aint that enough for most roads ?


DarrenW - 13/6/05 at 08:30 AM

Me thinks this is a post that will never end.

Car engines are cheap as chips, do the job, make a se7en very entertaining and faster than most production cars.

I, like a lot of other people, have never had a bike, wouldnt know what to do with one, find the idea of a bike engine a bit alien = choose car engine.

Some people have serious budget constraints / family to think of = car engines can be cheaper.

Some people love bikes, love the sound, love cars with bike engines = choose bike engines.

Bottom line - horses for courses, no wrong answers just lots of variation which is why this forum works. There is always someone to help or a different experience to share.

Oh, nearly forgot - bike engines are for puffs LOL


ned - 13/6/05 at 09:07 AM

I have been out in several cars, trhe isonblade tbh i expected to be quicker than it was but jim's r1 phoenix was very impressive. I've also driven and spannered on vauxhall xe race cars and watched them run alongside hyabusa engined radicals! A standard vauxhall on twin carbs dyno's at 187bhp will beat a 1300 hyabusa engined radical prosport. A powertec 1500 hyabusa engined radical on an equal power to weight ratio to a 240bhp vauxhall xe engined car, the xe car will win.

Take power to weight into consideration on a roadcar and the majority of time the bec will win, simple fact. I would personally put a fireblade/zx9 about the same as a standardish zetec/duartec/xe on carbs or throttle bodies at say around 180-190bhp. A zx12, hyabusa and possibly r1 I would say you'd need a tuned 2ltr 16v cec to be quicker.

They each have their own characteristics which some see as advantages/other as disdvantages.

You can also argue the costs until the cows come home by the time you have a complete install with either

Personally I prefer the torque you get from a car engined car (drove a diesel for too long ) but now i have a revvy petrol engine everyday car I'm enjoying that just as much!

I'd also like to point out that for a turbo engined car to be quicker round a track it often needs to have twice as much power as a similar naturally aspirated car to be quicker to counter the effects of turbo lag etc etc. Yes I kow hicost has anti-lag but I don't believe you're allowed to use it on the track! Jasper's zx9 locost could keep up with hicost too, hicost's car has far more top end though, how many locost's can pull 150mph+??

Ned.


Hellfire - 13/6/05 at 09:07 AM

Some people have experienced problems with both clutch and rectifier.

However, clutch isn't like in a car. 20~30 minutes if you take your time can see replacement. Rectifier as Jon say's... mount it properly and it isn't a problem usually.


ChrisGamlin - 13/6/05 at 09:10 AM

To answer the clutch / weight issue, if you think about it, there's not quite such a difference as you first think. Take a typical bike engine, say R1. The bike itself weighs ~190kgs, but when designing the drivetrain Yamaha will have looked at worse case scenario for the weight it can cope with, so maybe assume a 90kg rider plus another 60kg pillion (plus some luggage if you like), which takes us up to ~350kgs fully laden.
Add to this that in the bike, its geared to ~180mph whereas in the car its more like 125mph so the bike is geared something like 40% higher. This means you need much more clutch slip to pull away than if the bike was geared to the same 125mph, so overall even though the BEC is maybe 200kgs heavier in most circumstances, the clutch doesnt really take any more abuse pulling away than if it was in the bike.

At the end of the day though, as others have said its horses for courses. However, performance per pound (and by that I mean overall track performance, not just straight line grunt), I defy anyone to find a car engine that will touch most bike installations.

Chris


ned - 13/6/05 at 09:17 AM

chris, i would take you up on your offer, but i can't be bothered

Ned.


ChrisGamlin - 13/6/05 at 09:30 AM

Hehe, Xe VX per chance? I guess I should have qualified my statement a little to say "off-the-shelf", if you went the DIY route with a Megasquirt and home made TBs then you could do an XE cheaply, but its a lot of faff IMHO. There's also probably a few "oddball" engines out there which could probably be purchased on the cheap but because very few people have fitted them into Caterfields, you have many more hurdles to overcome and very little off-the-shelf manifolds etc to save money with.

I agree with your equivalents above, blade is about par with 180bhp CEC, so to get that from an Xe you need TB's or some tarty carbs, an ECU(?), plus obviously a gearbox, so by the time you got all that lot I reckon you'd be more out of pocket than a £400 CBR1000 or £700 blade/ZX9 package, and spending nearer a £1000-1200 R1 package, which gives you ~160bhp and would blow any sub 200bhp CEC away.


Volvorsport - 13/6/05 at 09:37 AM

ill have to disagree on a turbo engined car needing twice the power - with small spooling turbo , high compression(relatively) , boost can be present as low as 2000 rpm , make boost , make torque , go forward

are YOU calling my engine oddball


ned - 13/6/05 at 09:45 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Volvorsport
are YOU calling my engine oddball

yes!!

but seriously, from experience of watching races, 280-300bhp naturally aspirated engined cars have beaten 500bhp yb cosworth engined cars...

Ned.

[Edited on 13/6/05 by ned]


Volvorsport - 13/6/05 at 09:56 AM

i agree the added paraphanalia causes extra weight , in the particular example , of YB cossies they are laggy and harder to drive to boot and have a weight penalty

newer turbo design is bringing NA and turbo closer together !! ie GT series turbo

in the turboed millington Darrian we were seeing full boost by 3500 rpm , hampered by a restrictor aswell.


Peteff - 13/6/05 at 10:34 AM

I wish you'd posted this before, I'm going to have to change all my plans now. Anybody want to swap a 1300 xflow for my ZX9R engine before I make any more stupid mistakes.


colibriman - 13/6/05 at 10:49 AM

Pete...

I've got a RR merlin engine if your feeling like disapointment is looming with your ZX9R....

might need to check your welds and add an extra brace bar or 2 in the engine bay...

[Edited on 13/6/05 by colibriman]


Hellfire - 13/6/05 at 10:57 AM

Last engine I was working on...




Steering it may be more of a problem... not to mention stopping it.


colibriman - 13/6/05 at 11:03 AM

nice boost I bet....

what is it from?


ChrisGamlin - 13/6/05 at 11:09 AM

I used to work for the company that probably made most of the blades in that engine, at anything from £200-2000 per blade, servicing costs might be an issue


NS Dev - 13/6/05 at 12:26 PM

Ok, I think we all know that there is no one answer to this debate.

On a performance per pound spent basis, i think a bike engine is hard to beat.

On the other hand, for not a lot of money a car engined locost can be very quick. My car will have around 200hp (same spec as my other Vauxhall which makes 176hp @ wheels, 204hp @ flywheel) and I hope to keep the weight down to 575 kg target ish. This gives me around 360 hp per tonne which is a competitive figure, considering the car is only really for road use anyway!

I am fully aware of the advantages of bike engines, as I race in autograss where they are used VERY extensively and where the whole bike engine in a car thing first began!

I am also aware of weaknesses with the clutch assmeblies, which normally involve replacement heavy duty clutch baskets and uprated springs.

There is no one answer to the debate, both sides have advantages and disadvantages, but yes, in terms of pure power to weight ratio achieved per pund spent, it's pretty much impossible to beat a bike engine.


Dale - 13/6/05 at 01:04 PM

A question for Ned and maybe others, I am using a 2.3 l ford factory turbocharged. 190 hp at factory 10lb boost normally set up to run around 20 and with a holset hx35 holding together to 30lbs if your running a very big amount of fuel through them. Its looking like I will need to do a rebuild or replace on my garret t3 (side play is getting a bit much in it) The t3 will get me full boost around 3k, I couild go with the other turbo that cam in the car an ihi and get boost to about 18 lbs in the 2- 2500 rpm or go with a holset which are cheap as dirt for turbos and get about 25 lbs at around 3200. Since I am new to running a car with lag or racing I thought I would bounce this off of the people who know. I will probably limit the power to about 25 at the wheels which any of these will do with little effort. Stock bottom end and only mild porting with a holset I have seen put 420 hp to the ground.
Dale


billy - 13/6/05 at 05:58 PM

The good thing about the old xe POWA is that if mine goes bang, its gonna cost me about 200 quid and i have another 2nd hand lump cos they are going real cheap now. its all the other bits you need to get it to work is the expencive bit so i can happly thrash the pants off mine and know what ever happens it aint gonna bust the bank but if i was gonna live on the track i would go BEC oh and dont call me silly again buster........


Hellfire - 13/6/05 at 06:02 PM

CEC is more likely to go bang as not many Kits have a reliable japanese car engine...

<runs for cover>


Volvorsport - 13/6/05 at 06:27 PM

hmm , volvo mucho reliable .

Regarding the Holset queries , a lot of volvo guys over there are fitting them , theyre cheap , and provide a lot of boost , you need to be running above 16 psi for them to be effective . if i could find one cheap here , i know i would do it , but then i have a fully rebuilt Turbo Technics Rs 500 cossie T4 turbo , with a 360 trust washer , ready to go .


Rorty - 14/6/05 at 04:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by billy
...but when your 16 stone and got a real fat wife...how well dos a BEC stand up to that then

Loose some weight you lard arse and ditch the fat passenger and you'll see the benefit of the BEC.


NS Dev - 14/6/05 at 08:22 AM

quote:
Originally posted by billy
The good thing about the old xe POWA is that if mine goes bang, its gonna cost me about 200 quid and i have another 2nd hand lump cos they are going real cheap now. its all the other bits you need to get it to work is the expencive bit so i can happly thrash the pants off mine and know what ever happens it aint gonna bust the bank but if i was gonna live on the track i would go BEC oh and dont call me silly again buster........


hmmmmmmmmmm!

I know that I extol the virtues of an XE engine (I have several of them) but I won't pretend that you can get a good one for £200.

Yes the other bits that don't break are the expensive bits but those cheap £200 engines on ebay are knackered, just fit for rebuilds, and that is mucho expensive, try £500 for a set of pistons for a start (better than the £700 from vauxhall though)

Yes, the £200 one will no doubt run, they rarely break completely, but just like a smoky old pinto, it will make little power and be generally knackered!


clbarclay - 14/6/05 at 10:56 AM

I have one querey for the BEC drivers, how many thousands of miles has any one done with no more than minor engine matinance/modification?

A bike engine is designed for a vehicle nominaly half the weight of a 7 style car, so in theory thats twice the load/strain on the engine/gearbox.
Especially when car engine in a 7 style car typicaly have half the weight to lug around.


smart51 - 14/6/05 at 11:35 AM

quote:
Originally posted by clbarclay

A bike engine is designed for a vehicle nominaly half the weight of a 7 style car, so in theory thats twice the load/strain on the engine/gearbox.



Not quite, Yes, a 7 and driver is twice the weight of a bike and rider but with smaller wheels and a higher final drive ratio, the engine / gearbox sees 1.5 times the load not twice the load.

Remember that the mechanicals of the engine are rated at full power plus a margin. At full throttle, the load on the system will be the same, you just get less acceleration in a BEC. for constant speed driving the load will be a larger fraction of maximmum in a BEC compared with a bike.


Hellfire - 14/6/05 at 12:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by clbarclay
I have one querey for the BEC drivers, how many thousands of miles has any one done with no more than minor engine matinance/modification?




We did about 4,500 miles in ours before writing it off. No clutch problems whatsoever or rectifier problems. The only work we ever did on the engine was to replace 2nd gear, which was faulty before the engine went into the indy, so i guess that don't count. In all however, this procedure took about a day, so could be classified as minor repair. By its very nature though, a bike engine is light, so one person can quite easily remove and install it on his own and in minimal time, so the majority of repairs could be classed as minor.


ChrisGamlin - 14/6/05 at 08:56 PM

cbarclay, see my post back on page 2, as others have said its not quite as simple as saying double the weight = double the strain on the engine.


MikeRJ - 14/6/05 at 10:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by NS Dev

hmmmmmmmmmm!

I know that I extol the virtues of an XE engine (I have several of them) but I won't pretend that you can get a good one for £200.

Yes the other bits that don't break are the expensive bits but those cheap £200 engines on ebay are knackered, just fit for rebuilds, and that is mucho expensive, try £500 for a set of pistons for a start (better than the £700 from vauxhall though)

Yes, the £200 one will no doubt run, they rarely break completely, but just like a smoky old pinto, it will make little power and be generally knackered!


Which is why you don't buy stuff like that on Ebay unless you happen to know it's history. I've just picked up a 20XE for £170 out of an early 16vGTE, which of course is completely rotten, but the engine runs absolutey fine, not a hint of smoke. My own 16vGTE had well over 140k miles on it when I sold it and it also didn't burn oil.

Obviously you take more of a a risk of the alleged porosity with the later non-cosworth heads.


NS Dev - 15/6/05 at 08:12 AM

that's ok, if you can effectively get a whole car and therefore hear and try the engine then that's good.

Just beware though that on every one (of 5) Xe's that I have had apart, 90,000 miles seems to have pretty much done the big ends. They don't give low oil pressure and they sound fine, but if you strip them, you can see the backing material. Every one I have looked at has been like this!

The mains seem fine on every one though, oddly enough!

Worth bunging some new big end shells in, and seeing as you'd be stupid to run an XE without putting ARP rod bolts in it, which necessitates slightly increasing the countersink on the big end cap bolt holes, then sticking some new shells in while the caps are off is not a big job.


Stu16v - 15/6/05 at 05:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by NS Dev
that's ok, if you can effectively get a whole car and therefore hear and try the engine then that's good.

Just beware though that on every one (of 5) Xe's that I have had apart, 90,000 miles seems to have pretty much done the big ends. They don't give low oil pressure and they sound fine, but if you strip them, you can see the backing material. Every one I have looked at has been like this!

The mains seem fine on every one though, oddly enough!

Worth bunging some new big end shells in, and seeing as you'd be stupid to run an XE without putting ARP rod bolts in it, which necessitates slightly increasing the countersink on the big end cap bolt holes, then sticking some new shells in while the caps are off is not a big job.


As were the big-ends on the motor presently in my car. Alledgedly 135,000 miles when it was removed, I saw the wear on the big-ends when I fitted the ARP rod-bolts. So I slapped them back in anyway, and ragged it stupid for 18 months, including a high number of trackdays... OK, so it might of seemed pointless fitting the ARP bolts, but at the end of the day the shells are still doing their job, just with increased tolerances. If there is plenty of oil pressure, there isn't too much of a problem, as it is the oil that is the bearing surface, NOT the shells...
I finally changed the shells in the middle of last year, when I fitted my dry sump kit. Now on 143,000 miles and *touches wood* still sounds as sweet as ever. If it does go bang, I have three spares...
What am I trying to say? Dunno. I suppose worn big-end shells are only a problem if you know/care about them!!!

But as already said, best way to get an XE is out of a complete car. Every engine I currently have 'in stock' have been removed by my fair hands from the car. Sell some of the bits on Migweb etc, and sometimes you can end up with an engine, and be 'in pocket' too...