Honda N600

Search for the Angy Hamsters.  They have done a z600 honda, and done it very well.

Here's a good start:

http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewt … 125#p75125

-=Tom

Pretty sad when Geo Metro stuff is an upgrade!  Not a bad idea though.  Might can make it half way reliable.  Still leaning towards the motorcycle engine though.  If I could just score a Harley engine for cheap, that would be spectacular!  That line of thinking is just wrong!  I saw the angry Hamsters z600.  That is all manner of bad-assery!  Like to get a closer look at that thing.

I'm in the middle of an (extended) Z600 project street car w/VFR800 RWD power, and I can tell you the the Geo Metro front hub/brakes are a huge upgrade from the 600 parts.
And still fit under 13" wheels, since the N/Z600 front body structure is so short that you'll be intruding in the passenger compartment with much bigger wheels. See the Hamster facebook page for how much body hammering they had to do...

Believe it or not, an early S-10 rear axle is narrow enough that you'll only need 2-3" fender flares to fit the tires under the body, and Dutchman Racing will redrill/narrow the axles for cheap, if you don't have a fully equipped machine shop like the Hamsters.

Redrill to 4x4.5 (Metro) and you can use early cut down Prelude rear rotors and late '90s Civic or 1st gen Integra rear calipers (cheap at pick n pull) for max brake action.

You should be able to make something that weighs 1600 lb and goes like crazy, see Hamsters for engine swap follies. I chose the VFR engine because it fits in the stock 19"x19"x20" engine bay, and lets me have a reversing gearbox and viable driveshaft angles...

A VMAX engine (vmx12) will fit, but you'd have to take off the front bevel gear and make some kind of driveshaft flange. 130-ish HP though, and lots of torque so you could gear it up and minimize the shifting, which seems to be a weakness of bike engine cars (BEC) in general, especially race cars. You also have to worry about the oiling system, BEC tend to have high-G oil starvation issues.

I wouldn't stick a Harley engine in a Harley.....

Having said that, you do know how cheap you can get modern sportbike engines for right?

http://dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/mcy/2171037524.html

FZR600 - Probably just needs a battery. But since it's 10 years old nobody wants it. Pull the engine, stick the rest on FleaBay and see if you can make it back.

Hunt a couple go-fast shops & you can probably find an outdated GSXR or R6/1 engine they're using for a doorstop.

-=Tom

I know the sport-bike engines are way better & cheaper than a Harley motor, but the thought of a Harley v twin in a Japanese car makes me smile, and it would no doubt sound really cool!    Probably way out of my budget though...   Getting back to being realistic, probably a sport-bike motor would be the way to go.  600cc, or 1000cc even better.  As I don't own a fab shop (unless you count a hacksaw & hammer as a fab shop) I have my doubts about putting this together under budget.  Overall win in the first trip to the track isn't really on my radar anyways.  IOE would be nice, but really if I can just put something together I'll have fun with, and other folk will point & stare, thinking "what is that...  THING!!!?"  I'll say mission accomplished.

I like the idea of the S-10 rear axle though.  The 2 cars in CA look like a decent starting point, as the shell is all I'm really after anyways.  Right now, the only thing holding me up is the logistics on getting one of those things to Texas.  I'm way to poor to be starting this project, but I'm not getting any younger...

Edit:  Just got a good look at the Angry Hamsters masterpiece here:

http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_articles … -z600.aspx

With my skill-set & equipment, I don't know that I could pull that off.  Maybe I could use the s-10 rear axle without shortening it(just add fender flares) & use the front frame section without narrowing it.  Maybe just cut the body in the front to make it wider to fit the s-10's front track.

Maybe with a stock engine the brakes would survive, but I had a stock one on the street in the late 80's and the rear wheel bearings would shift around in the drum until it rubbed on the backing plate... not to mention the stock front brakes fading quickly in the Berkeley hills.

Abomination is right. Not for lack of trying though, full kudos to the Hamsters for maximum silk purse/sow's ear action.

The Z/N 600 was a light cheap car intended for one step up from motorcycle level transport, from a company that hadn't built cars for very long. A later '74-79 Civic would be a way better candidate for this stuff, if for no other reason than it hasn't been done to my knowledge.

I got lucky in that I had the Cavalier to race and the Z600 as a side project that turned into a street project after the MetroGnome and Hamster 600 turned wheels in anger in Lemons.

Do an early Civic.  The most important thing to remember is that the size (and resulting packaging difficulty) between a micro-car and even a sub-compact is profound.  I had to lower the floor in the z600 by 2.5" just to get enough headroom in the thing.  Our radiator fills the entire stock engine compartment, the brake master cylinders are mounted on an angle with a bell-crank to clear the radiator, etc, etc...

When I raced in the MetroGnome it was immediately apparent how much better of a starting point a friggin' crappy Geo was than our z600.  Another fair warning note is that any bike engine swap is a x5 or possibly x10 difficulty multiplier on the build depending on what drive configuration you choose.  Sorry to be a wet blanket but unfinished builds suck.  I would like to see you get a car on the track

-Tim