I was leaning on me 1200 last night when a motorcycle came screaming by. I must have been turning 11k because it sounded like a Formula One car. That got me thinking. I now want to put
a bike engine into a 1200. Think about it: 11,000rpm, sequential gearbox, much lighter, as much horsepower and torque as a rotary... My problem is what about reverse gear. Have any of
you had any experience with a bike powered car? I know Quaiffe makes a reverse box for just such a project but I can't seem to find one. I know, get out and push. That might just be
how it works out.

Westfeild and Caterham both offer motorcycle engined cars. There was an article on another reverser for M/C gearboxes in an English Car & Cars Conversions magazine. I will
have it somewhere and I'll dig it up for you.

There are many cars with motorcycle engines under the hood. The problem is that pretty much all of these cars weigh about 200 kilos lighter at least than a 1200. The torque of these
engines is not adequate for cars weighing over 500kg. Just remember that bikes normally weigh between 150-250kg. However I do remember a US road bike that had reverse and 2 forward gears
but it had a 500 cubic inch big block pumping out 500 lazy horsepower. Not bad for $80 000 US.
Just remember though that where there is a will, there is a way.

I've often thought about how a bike engine would go in a coupe, especially a 175hp Suzuki Hayabusa. Awesome close ratio 6-speed to go with it. It would have to make a killer 1300cc class
car. If you look at the figures they're not THAT low on torque but the thing I wonder about is the clutch, I don't know how a tiny clutch designed for a 200kg bike would handle launching
a 700kg car off the line at a zillion rpm...

More food for thought... my old race car the red one in the Kiwi race cars folder weighed 550 kg with fuel. It still had a steel bonnet, doors and bootlid. It had leaf springs and
cast iron calipers front and rear. My new car is space framed, carbon fibre paneled and has alloy everything. For a race dedicated car you could get things really light. In fact I
will have to add ballast to run in my class.

There is a car called the Megabusa which uses the hayabusa engine in a car like the cateram's or westfield or rover type car. All of these cars are much of a muchness but
you can get sequential gearboxes for them so that would be different on a 1200.
For $12000 you can have a brand new honda s2000 engine optioned on one of these cars so 170 odd kW would be quite handy with the added bonus of the V-tech roar as it reaches
9000rpm.
More food for thought.

All well and good but I wouldn't call it a datsun in the same way I wouldn't call Victor Bray's car a Chev. And besides these are fully road registered cars that are designed
for the road not modified from a race car.

OK how did you get it down to 550 kg's with fuel?That's a lot of work with a hole saw! I've done some good stuff on my current race car - haven't run it over a weigh bridge
but reckon it'll still be just over 600 kg.

Hey all, I called Malvern Racing here in the US and ordered some parts from them the other day. He was saying that he's had a lot of people transplanting KA24 engines into 1200's. Does
anybody know anyone that has done this? That's the engine that came in the US version of the 240SX/Silvia. I know in other countries you guys had the CA18DET in those cars and have fit
them into 1200's without too much effort, so I would think the KA24DE would be able to fit too. I don't think these engines put out a great deal of power, but there is an increasing amount
of aftermarket support for them (turbo setups, etc). Just wondering...

-Andy

Peter, I would be interested in A fiberglass rear valance for the 1200 coupe. Almost all of the 1200's I have come across ALWAYS have damage to the front end, or the rear end,
or both. My rear area has been damaged but repaired before I bought it, but they did a crappy job and you can still see where the damage was. $100 sounds ok to me. Keep us
posted.