General Putting a bike engine in a Sei?

[Renrut]

Slowly is the best answer

Mostly waiting for machining work.

I've had to completely rebuild the rear end and dump the fiat wishbones. I'm going for a chapman strut setup now. This involves modifications to the uprights, new wishbones and some chassis mods.

This all came from me not following some very good advice on here and building the rear end as a full space frame.

I'd recommend mocking up all the major bits outside the car first before you cut any metal and seeing how everything needs to go together.

Are you thinking chain drive or using one of those quaife style gearboxes?

 

[BlueDan]

Nice to hear this is still coming along

There was another one on here, a silver Seicento with a bike engine in the front, I can't remember if it was finished or not though.

 

[slugworth1987]

another idea in the way of intake why not run it from the rear wheel arch? you will have a good pressure from the wheel spinning and it wont be that hot either, adding a gaurse or somthing will stop large particals getting into the intake system also as for exhaust use 2 street legal bike exhausts cant use one on VTR engines it blows them to bits as long as there e stamped road legals you can bend and minipulate pipeing to "coil" round the rear to give you a good baffle also

 

[bugnutuk1]

Slowly is the best answer

Mostly waiting for machining work.

I've had to completely rebuild the rear end and dump the fiat wishbones. I'm going for a chapman strut setup now. This involves modifications to the uprights, new wishbones and some chassis mods.

This all came from me not following some very good advice on here and building the rear end as a full space frame.

I'd recommend mocking up all the major bits outside the car first before you cut any metal and seeing how everything needs to go together.

Are you thinking chain drive or using one of those quaife style gearboxes?

oh i will be doing a mock before anything gets cut out just up there today having a brainstorming session as i want to retain as much of the parts as possible i will be way off base with some of my ideas but on the whole i think a few quid will be saved and better for the iva test as well being original parts . i will be using a chain drive diff (uno turbo lsd in an ideal world and outputs ) if not trusty rs turbo one . and exhaust i aint messing round might go to pipewerx at burscough or buy a tig plant as i will have to mod the cross braces on the cage and build the mounting frame for the engine to tie in to the cage anyway i have mig welders etc but i love to tig being a coded welder anyway it aint a worry fab wise etc its fun i have also seen on retro power a 126 being built and he has a range rover transfer locked in low givine a diff ratio of 3.92 i think its a work of art but i want to work on the lightest possible principal without sacrificing strength and he had twice the power of what i have to so he can afford the weight i cant

 

[fingers99]

You might like to fix the full stop key on your keyboard, first!

See either of the Staniforth books for the infamous "string computer" which should be a big help in working out the geometry.

 

[bugnutuk1]

its funny you should mention his books. i gave a copy away a few years ago. and now i am having to buy another copy!. i have done a bit more reaserch and think it will have to be custom length avo shox on the rear and coilovers on the front with reduced spring weight but need to know what the front end weight will be before ordering springs and shox etc . brake wise i have the uno turbo brakes but i have been thinking of going bigger as it is going to be on 15" wheels. plans are a foot now as just got back off my hols and can put more effort in to the project between fishing trips lol oh and of course work

 

[fingers99]

Don't forget that even with a bike engine, shifting the engine to the back results in a lot of weight transfer, so the back brakes become muc more important thann before.

 

[bugnutuk1]

i also have the uno rear disc as well and with using the x19 rear trailing arm etc a bit of machining etc job should be a good un. also i was going to put a brake valve into make the most of the set up and it is the 1500 x19 set up i will be using unless anyone can suggest a better brake package to opt for to fit the x19 hubs ???? under 15 " rims

 

[sei16v]

Glad this is still coming along!! Wanna see this running!!

 

[Renrut]

Yes its still chugging along.

The exhaust is an elise item and seems to be good enough. The majority of the noise comes from the engine vibrating the chassis so much. The engine is now out of the car and all the rear suspension is disassembled.

I'm redoing the rear wishbones, got access to my dads lathe but its 160 miles away. So I've got the wishbone bushes made. I've now got to weld up the wishbones and then I'll start on the uprights.

Before the engine can go back in I want to completely redo the engine mounts to make them far more damping. The diff is now mounted off the engine completely so I don't have to worry about upsetting the angles on the chain.

I'll also be reworking the cooling system as I'm not happy with it, maybe rad to front or maybe twin small rads mounted in the wings just like on a bike.

Not sure on the air intakes yet. I've got some nice IVA friendly plastic intakes off an old motorbike (yamaha 1200 something or other iirc) which look like they will go with the curves of the Seicento. Temptation is to have them sunk into the rear wings so that they don't stick out much. Ducting out of the wheel arch would be a pig as it'd be a long run. Might be easier to duct it up from directly underneath the car.

Thinking ahead I'd also like to put some sort of bulkhead in. This would cut down cabin noise again and add a little more safety in case something lets go. Looking at it there isn't an easy solution as the engine is so long. Maybe ally sheet in 2 layers or maybe polycarb.