Changing to Bike engine

[Alex137]

Hi all,

I’ve decided to take the Saab engine and drivetrain out and going to bike engine instead in my locost.

 

I have an R1 engine to fit, after dropping it into the engine bay sat on a block of wood it looks like I can mount it pretty centrally and square to the car and the prop will go down the tunnel nicely etc.

 

However the only thing that’s confused me is I’ve seen quite a few picture of BECs with the engine mounted parallel to the outer frame rail not parallel to the centre of the car, is there a reason for this other than the propshaft alignment on different engines? 
 

just thought I’d see before making up the cradle and mounts for the engine this weekend

 

Cheers

[nelmo]

Isn't that just because bike engines are quite tall so they often have to be leant over to fit in the bay, which makes it look like they're offset to one side but I assume the driveshaft is still central?

[Alex137]

Sorry i probably diddnt explain myself very well, I’ll put some pics on to explain it better.

I know bike engine are tall but as far as I’m aware you must run the original angle that the engine was in the bike so the pick-up and oil level are correct in the sump.

 

So this is how I plan to mount the engine, parallel to the centreline of the car, also as centrally as possible whilst still being able to have a nice run for the prop.

However I’ve seen a few mounted like this…

 

so not parallel to the centreline of the car but with the outer frame rail.

I can only think this is because of propshaft alignment, in my mind however I’m trying to create as balanced a car as possible. So by having the engine sat to one side isn’t helping weight distribution at all.

[RallyChris]

Yes, the issue is likely to be that the offset between crankshaft Centre and gearbox is too large on most bikes for the engine to be aligned straight in the chassis, without the propshaft wiping out the footwell on a RHD seven style kit. By skewing the engine over it allows the prop to sit closer to the car’s centreline.