Honda Z600 street car project continues

Finally some action on the project, this has been going along for a while...

A little background: I got this car for free on Craigslist a few years ago, with the idea of maybe a Lemons car.
Once the Hamsters did their Z600, it was decided to concentrate on the Cavalier(s) and do some racing- but the Z600 didn't get entirely forgotten. I've been gathering parts for a while and trying some different ideas tech-wise.

I had one of these back in the 90s, and I liked it a lot, but it was sadly underpowered and underbraked... I thought 'heck, if it'll end up a street car I don't have to worry about budget so much, let's go for power!'

I found a cheap VFR800 motor- the V4 shape is the biggest displacement that will fit in the Z's 19" x 19" x 20" engine bay. I still had to space the front subframe off the firewall a few mm to get the alternator cover away from the steering rack, but everything fits, and the driveshaft (aside from having to go through the passenger compartment on the way to the tunnel) isn't offset enough to be a problem on the way back to the final drive.

The Honda hydraulic clutch is using a Yamaha brake master cylinder bolted to the fenderwell with the Z600 stock clutch cable through a cut down lever. The radiators are from a Kawasaki dirt bike, under $100 on ebay for some fine Chinese craftsmanship- ordered by dimension. There's one in front of the engine behind the grille, but I wanted enough core to have a margin, plus I can put a fan on the sideways one...

Here's a look down behind the engine showing the alternator/waterpump clearance.

The heim joint is bolted to a bellcrank that lets me shift the bike transmission with the stock shifter, I really wanted it to be subtle- this is the complete stock Z linkage inside the cabin.

Here's the driver's view, the shifter falls nicely to hand. I still want to make a 1N23456 shift knob.
I freely admit to sitting in the drivers seat and making 'vroom' noises while shifting up and down...

It's got a Geo Metro master cylinder, and I just finished the throttle cable / pedal interface.
I'm going to use the Z choke knob for the VFR fast idle (and getting the VFR PGM-FI injection to work correctly in a car has been an adventure!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl3lox7nfuk

The Hamsters solved their 'front suspension designed for 36hp' problem by transplanting an RX-7 front subframe. I don't have the facilities to do that, plus I wanted to keep the stock Z600 subframe and suspension pickup points. This is a reversed left-to-right Mazda 323 lower control arm with stock rear bushing and a GLC front bushing in a loop welded to the Z subframe. I think it'll be strong enough, and the arc is the same as the Z.

There are a couple of tubing bars under the engine for sump protection. That heim joint in the middle of the picture is the other end of the shift linkage from the cabin.

Ok, bastard parts time: Acura RSX strut, custom Z600 steering arms welded (not by me!) to the struts to give minimal bump steer and good ackerman. Geo Metro Steering knuckles and brakes (go go Rock Auto closeout- those rebuilt calipers were $13 each...)
Cheesy ebay coilovers with Escort wagon rear springs (theoretically the right rate, but there may be some spring experimentation later).

On to the rear: Shamelessly stolen (in idea if not execution) Hamster 3-link rear suspension design:

Springs will live back here, not sure if the springs being mounted more towards the middle will screw up the handling, but I didn't want to mount them as far outboard as the Hamsters.
Buggy gas tank has to share space with rear axle and panhard link. Not a lot of extra real estate back here if you're trying to keep it as a street car. I have figured out how to use the stock fender fuel filler with this tank, and all of this fuel-related stuff will be under sheet metal and Dynamat...

In between all this is the reverse gearbox, the single most expensive part on the whole car.
It still amazes me that there are so many bike-engine cars in England that there are THREE different companies that will sell you a reversing gearbox.
Driveshaft dives through the floor and connects up with a 1210 yoke/u joint. The 'transmission' tunnel on this car is tiny.

That's it for now, more as it goes.

-Anton