wondering how many of you have converted them to power your rods and bikes? i was thinking of using a johnson outboard 4 cyl for my bobber project. or would there be a better one?
Why don't you put the imaginary crossfiring experimental engine you had in your imaginary project? You know the one!
Maybe not so goofy...from a recent thread...http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=561748&highlight=crosley+engine scroll dowm to #4...
this is a good one. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256713&highlight=mercruiser+boat+motor
I was thinking a 115hp V4 Mercury Mariner mounted sideways to a Harley divorced transmission. Ought to fit her with some hacking and lengthening. right now she has a suzuki 650cc single cyl. #1 #2 #3
A 1959 Evinrude Starflite V4 most likely, with a factory 70.7 cubic inches of displacement, producing 50 horsepower at 4000 RPM... In 1960 displacement was increased to 89.5 cubic inches and 75 HP at 4500 RPM
They sound like they are reving higher than they are because they are 2 stroke engines. A stock 140 V-4 OMC will turn around 6000, the racing V-4 strangler was good for around 7500+. The motor is run with the crank in the verticle position so if you want to run it horizontally you will have to either adapt dowm draft carbs or configure a different intake to run the stock side draft carbs. A better choice would be an injected 2.5 V -6 merc. The powerhead weighs around 160# complete and they make anywhere from 200 to 350hp depending on the state of tune. The 250 hp ones can be found somewhat inexpensively but expect to pay an arm an a leg for a drag powerhead. Because they are injected they can be run in any position, I was told of one that was in an autocross car that was having crank problems. [hearsay] Performance parts, pistons etc. for the hot motors are astronomically priced.
Many years ago I had an idea for a 2-stroke V6 from an outboard in a motorbike. The idea was to keep the crank vertical, but I can't remember how I thought to get the drive into a more usable direction. If the drive thing can be solved I think the vertical-crank layout might have a lot of potential in a motorbike, because it allows you to do an air-cooled V6 or V8 with all the cylinders getting cooling air, and it keeps the bike narrow where you want it to be narrow. I'd be thinking 4-stroke there, though, and reverse-flow i.e. carbs on the outside, exhausts down the vee.
same way they get the power to the prop, worm drive, just make it much shorter, the go from the worm drive to a divorced tranny and belt or chain drive to the rear. or you can do it like the old snapper mowers do with a friction drive plate
But the ratio on the worm drive is, what, 4:1-ish? You'd have to step back up to the gearbox, with a chain/belt/gear-train. The same problem arises when you want to run a non-unit, chain-drive bike gearbox behind a car engine in a bike. Best I've come up with involves a 2.5-odd:1 ring and pinion behind the engine, driving the clutch and gearbox via a chain with an appropriate ratio to get the gearbox input in the right rpm range. The tricky bit is getting the whole thing compact enough.
laff your a** off if you want, but a college professor I had back in 80' used a stripped down outboard motor with some kind of radiator in a home made helicopter project he had. I recall him bringing photos one day of his progress. He said there were no small light weight 2 cycle engines other than outboard marine suitable for something like a small aircraft. That was 1980, so I suppose he was probably correct for that time. Tom S. in Tn.
Outboards do not use worm drive they use a ring and pinion. V-4 OMC outboards use a 2:1 ratio some high performance outboards use as high as 1.5:1.: some direct drive racing lower units are 1:1. To me it makes much more sense to use a fuel injected outboard in the horizontal position and eliminate the 90 degree gearbox.
well you could always take a page from corvair and belt drive it with odd angle pullys to a horizontal tranny. or cut up, shorten and mod a small rearend, like a golfcart rearend and hook the engien to the rearend and hook the output shaft of the rearend that's left to a tranny and that to the rear.. all very odd. but would look amazing.
OMC used their V4,88 hp powerhead in an out drive, and therefore it was set up for horizontal shaft operation. I was going to use one in a BD5. now I'd like to find a old Saab to stick it in.
That's useful to know. Right-angle drives with a 1:1 ratio are really hard to come by. Industrial units, if they're rated for the sort of power and torque one is looking at, tend to be bigger and heavier than the engine It must be about how they're rated, but in the absence of any knowledge about that, I've got no way of knowing if, say, a 40hp-rated box will handle a peak of 300bhp. As soon as one thinks car engines and bike architecture at the same time, one will probably develop a need for a stout 1:1 right-angle drive somewhere.
Since we're getting crazy, how's about a Sea-Doo pwc engine? 230 HP Supercharged! Lots of 150hp+ snowmobile engines too!
how's using a V4 marine outboard engine crazy? i'm thinking if mounted horzontal , sideways with a chain or belt to a divorced tranny it'd look pretty damn good. or mayhaps inline mated with a small outomatic out of a VW golf or something like that to a shaft drive rearend. with wrapped zoomies a tripower and witewall tires it'd look evil.
So you want the HAMB to help you put a boat engine in your motorbike? Riiiiiight. Shit is just getting ridiculous now.
You get what I'm trying to say right? 2-stroke Boat motors and VW golf transmissions? What the fuck does this have to do with period, traditional Hot Rods or Customs?
It might be edging OT, but I think it's right in the hot-rod mind-set of adapting stuff to applications way outside the original intention. And there's been none of the modern reversion to bodging things right with electronics: all good, mid-20th century mechanical thinking. stainlesssteelrat, I think you'll run up against the same problem one always does when turning a transverse fwd gearbox longitudinal, namely that your output speed is about a quarter of what you want, and your output torque is about four times what you want. Rather try a CX500 or BMW 'box?
You'd be hard pressed to find an air cooled V6 or V8, unless there's something available in aircraft that I don't know about.
I was thinking in terms of a new engine built from scratch, not that I've got any intention of actually doing it I suppose one could build one out of air-cooled Japanese motorbike engine parts, but getting the oiling to work would be a job. Then, of course, there are Magirus-Deutz diesels ...
A Tatra V8 in a bike would be cool, installed longitudinally like in those Flathead bikes that have been built.
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