What I've been up to

[kevlar corolla]

Thanks Jonas,keeps me from getting bored.I fabbed up most of the engine mounts tonight,there's 6 points of contact so its a bit of work compared to a car engine.Its a tight squeeze but looks good in there,pics soon enough.

[dr.occa]

Tom, how much power loss do you suppose will occur since the R1 motor will be responsible for twice the wheels to rotate? Also, will the crank hold up to the extra work or since the surface application is ice is it of little concern?

[kevlar corolla]

Not sure,the chains are quite long so they add rotational weight as well.I think the guys that add the long swingarms(most do it for looks)and the the big ass tires have a measurable power loss but not sure how much.Not worried about the crank,the R1 transmission aren't considered very robust so I expect if something fails it'll be that.The trouble with bike engines in cars is the tall 1st gear,next to no flywheel and awd means the start of the race will be the hardest on the engine.

I think the power output will be fine,bikes don't make much tq so the trick is getting the gearing right.This car put out 55hp with the 3 cylinder,70hp with the oem sohc 4 cylinder and about 115hp with the breathed on dohc swap I took out all at the crank.This engine is making approx 150hp-90ft/lbs but with gearing that should be much better suited the intended useage,the hot rod engine couldn't reach more than about 8200rpm(8600 limit) in 2nd gear on the straight and I've picked gearing to put me right in the meat of the power in 2nd and 3rd.I think the weight with the awd/bike engine combo will be very close if not a little lighter than the fwd car engine and trans combo-I expect about 1600lbs ready to race but wouldn't be surprised if it checked in a few lbs under that.
My main competition is the prepped mazda gtx's,with bumped boost they are making around 200hp I expect but will weigh around 2200lbs I think with a front heavy chassis(probably aound 56%).My car will be slightly rear heavy(my guess is about 52%)but with a lower cg as the engine is mounted right at the floor level and most of its mass centralized,I should out brake and out turn them with little problem.
Of course I could be completely wrong and the car sucks,but I got to start somewhere.

[dr.occa]

Yeah, we can conjecture all day but the track is going to be the answer box. I'm looking forward to seeing footage man with bated breath and all.

Mazda GTXs huh...

[kevlar corolla]

Yes the track is where it'll be settled.

The gtx's are pretty quick but I was able to run with them(ahead of them actually)with my buddies corolla wagon alltrac,if the geo is reliable and even decently set-up I should be able to run away and hide from them(on paper anyways).Might take some time to get it really good but I'm usually able to come off the trailer with a fresh build and have it at least decent.I haven't really set any goals for this year other to get the bugs sorted,make it reliable and easy to drive.
The goal for 2013 is to have a perfect 30 race season,I've never seen or heard of it done in our series so it would be cool to pull it off.My personal best is 20 race wins in a season a couple years ago,the 1st day of the season was a 4th and 2 3rds and then I went the next 27 races either 1st or 2nd.

[dr.occa]

THAT is a great sounding season for anybody

[kevlar corolla]

Yes I was plenty happy with it given the # of good cars/drivers in the class.

The open wheel car has a perfect record since its debut so I'm pretty ok with that too.

[kevlar corolla]

Engines mounted,

[dr.occa]

That's killer Tom Would you oblige us a shot of the flywheel & chain side?

How long did it take you to put that cage up?

[kevlar corolla]

I'll get a shot of the drive side once I have the bits mounted,there isn't much of a flywheel on these engines and its buried behind the engine cases.The cage I did last year,its a bolt in I bought used from a road racer so it only took a day to get it in(it is a TIGHT squeeze though).I need to change the rear braces and move them inboard and too the floor,they currently go to the shock towers but will I need to cut all that out to make room for the front struts.I'll use the new braces to mount the strut tops too.

[kevlar corolla]

Been busy,jackshft mounted,throttle cable done,shifter done,steering column lowered,rad hoses done,rear braces done,rear suspension lca inner pivot layed out and brackets designed and at the metal shop for cutting,battery box mounted,coolant expansion tank figured out,just needs to be mounted.
Thats about it for now I guess.

[dr.occa]

You're all about business man. So just one shifter cable on bikes huh. I know next to nothing about bike transmissions.

I'm enjoying the education Tom.

[kevlar corolla]

Most bikes don't have a cable(none that I can think of actually),usually your foot acts directly on a lever with no linkages.I could've started from scratch with the shifter set-up and delete the cable since my shifter is mounted about 2 feet from the bike shifter but I was trying to minimize the amount of fab work involved to use the 1 engine between two different cars.The cable is the same one used in the open wheel car,theres another bracket you can't see that runs behind the cylinder head that the cable goes to and works another "L" to change directions to work the bike shifter.I didn't want to remake all that again for a cable or rod to come in from the other side for the geo.
Hopefully everything works out ok with the drives,I just picked up the chain I need to run the to the front diff so I'm off to the shop to play with that for a bit amoung other things.

[dr.occa]

It's a lot of eye-opening stuff Tom. How much time do you actually get/make a week to devote to your many builds each season?

[kevlar corolla]

I don't really "get" any time,like most I have to work full time and have a house/family etc so its definately "make" time.I truly don't keep track of my time as I prefer to not be depressed,when I'm working on something I need to get at it and it see it thru or I get sidetracked and will never finish.On stuff like this I spend 3 nights a week in the shop for around 3 hours each night and try for at least 6 hours of straight work time on saturdays and another 4 + hours on sundays.When its crunch time its more and when I've got the project up and running much less,the idea with this build is to only have to spend a weekend or less swapping the engine back into whatever season is coming up.
I tend to never really be 100% satisfied with a build so I'm always doing small changes,sometimes not so small.