a BMW 1200R willl certainly solve the problem of drive shaft, and engine doesnt have to b parallel to the differential. :)
beside u could also say it is boxer powered.

I'm with Dodgeman on this one..............WHY!!!

Why not just put four wheels and a steering wheel on the Busa
Or lets all get hold of a 500cc 2 stroke bike engine and fit that in our Datto's
And can someone enlighten me as to what is better in a GSXR1300 engine than oh lets say an SR20DET.

Anything is possible, I like the idea of a bike engined Datto. The speedway Dwarf/Legend racers have regular diffs but have them shortened on one side to allow the engine to be offset to the right hand side. I think the Aussie racers are the same. Lotus 7 style cars are being built with these engines too, and use a hydraulic/electric reverser unit. I know of a car using a Subaru front transaxle to provide reverse and a selector for 3rd and 4th gears to change the drive ratio....It would make a good toy but probably wouldn't be too practical on the street.

Some of these 4 cylinder, liquid cooled motorcycle engines can be used in the conventional way by turning the engine 90 degerrs to put the output shaft to the rear. It would be necessary to use one that had the chain on the left, otherwise the shaft turns the wrong way.
Next, machine the teeth from the sprocket & use the resultant disc as a mounting face for the uni joint & the front drive shaft. Use the original gearbox mounting for a new crossmember that takes the driveshaft center bearing & run the rear driveshaft from there.

The engine will be offset in the chassis, but don't wory 'bout that, you will have bigger problems to handle. You will need to work out clutch actuation, gear lever mechanism, & of course, you will need to overcome the reverse gear problem.

After doing all this, you will likely find that the final drive ratio is still too low for such a high reving engine as motorcycles use a primary reduction. That is, the clutch [& gearbox input] spin at a speed that is slower than engine rpm. The clutch is geared down.

There is a racecar being built about 2 blocks away with a Kawasaki engine done this way & he had to build a "step up" box to bring drive shaft speeds up to allow the car diff to produce some speed.

After you have solved ALL the engineering & construction problems, spent a bucket of money, & wasted countless hours, you must take one good look at it all & ask yourself,.......why?

Quote:
no, try 680

I reccon it would work OK, with 170 hp in a light car, you would end up with a very healty power to weight ratio. The weight of a 1200 ute is what ---- about 8- 900kg? or so
and could probably be lightened a bit.

A 5 or 6 kg per hp ratio is similar to WRX etc. The 6 speed sequential box (which is on the engine), and the clutch, may object to the extra weight it would have to push. The Aussie Racers weigh about 450 kg
and seem reliable in the drive train. Anyway,
I'm just considering the possibility, and it would be interesting to see if anyone has tried it.

Numerous web sites deal with this idea, but they are all based on open type sports cars. A Datsun 1200 would be a much more versatile base car,and should have good performance,even with the extra weight.

BillK

if you could set a motor bike engine with enough go, then u could proably set the Sequential gerabox to go with it ...

other wise two motor bike engines could do the trick one for the rea wheels and one for the front...... i have seen this in one for the Lotus Clubmans, did 0-100 in 2.7secs

have a look at this site www.zcars.org.uk they build twin bike engined minis, surely a mini doesnt weigh much more than a datsun,get a ute and mount one engine in the engine bay one in the floor of the tray, make it four wheel drive and bobs ur sisters brother, ur car now absolutely cains

westfield puts the hayabusa motor into their full race SE and SEi's (I saw it on a show on foxtel) I guess they use an adaptor to turn chain drive to shaft drive

It Wouldn't Work

The Busa engine is designed to power something that weighs about 200kg so there is the first problem.
Then you have : Major driveline issues - you aren't gunna have a chain/sprocket driven Datto
The list goes on and on.
Somethings are meant to be for bikes and some for cars.
It would work in an off road buggy though, I've seen similar conversions, but you basically just have a bike with four wheels.