R1 engine in Elan

[Tannerman]

Talking to an Elise owner in our local last night and he told me about a guy he was talking to at the local NYLOC meet who has an Elan and is putting a R1 Bike engine in.

Aparently he is well under way with this and i wondered if it was anyone on here.

I think it would be an interesting swap as R1 engines can be had for around the 1 to 1.5k mark and the performance is outstanding plus parts availability is better.

I think you could get a good price for a Elan engine so it wouldn't be a great deal of cash to swap.

What do you guys think

[theelanman]

I have heard talk of something v similar but I thought it was an original 60's Elan....

[cliff]

This company do a kit for a mini, not cheap though.

http://www.lynxae.co.uk/Products-MiniR1.htm

[bobbrown]

I have a friend who has with a little help from me done this on three cars now, a Mini (original), a Locost, and a Van Diemen single seater, none were straight forward and all are RWD even the Mini. In our Elans this would be very tricky and although on the face of it may look easy it isn't.
Most bike engines combine the gearbox with the engine and it is next to impossible to split the two then there is the problem of chain drive and the lack of a differential. OK on a RWD car you can turn the engine so the drive is facing the rear of the car but then you need a diff and do not forget most bike engines do not have reverse!. Problems that are not insermountable but they get very complex and can be expensive, like a Quaife reverse gearbox is £850.00.
Most bike engines produce the power further up the rev range like the Hayabusa produces 150hp at 9500rpm and a low 128 Nm at 7500 rpm as a comparison the stock figures for the Elan are 165hp at 6600rpm and 200Nm at 4200 rpm.

Bob

[Bolsom]

Just read this. As well as lack of torque I would expect any bike engine to guzzle petrol at a great rate.
My son has an R1 and boy is it thirsty compared to my old Dominator. Although it is just a bit faster. (About 75 mph).
Colin

[F1 LOTUS]

Here's a nicely documented project -
'Website detailing the development of the Mitabusa kit that allows a Haybusa engine to be installed in a Miata.'
Miatabusa
"We still don't know exactly how much weight the Hayabusa engine swap will save. We do know the stock 1.8, with alternator and power steering pump, but without the flywheel, weighed 296 pounds. We also know the Hayabusa engine, without gearbox or header, weighed 135 pounds. So on the surface, it looks like we should have 161 pounds shaved right off the bat... "

[bobbrown]

For all that work it may have been better to use a RPE RP-V8 engine which is two Haybusa engines stuck together to form a 2.6 ltr V8 which gives 380hp and 215 lb/ft torque, which works out at 4.3 bhp/kg against 2.6 bhp/kg for a standard Haybusa engine.
Which by the way is the same power to weight as a K series R500 engine V the Haybusa engine, the R500 produces 230hp and 155 lbsft.

All things are possible just depends on how deep your pockets are.