Motorcycle Engine in a Car - Here's Why and How

What happens when you put a motorcycle engine in a car? Why would you want to do this? How do you do this? Is it as hard as it sounds?

All good questions. All answered here.

I know that Quaife also makes a reversing gearbox, and while I haven't used it, Quaife makes great stuff, so that's another option.

In this video, I go over how I put a CBR1000RR motorcycle engine in my Honda S600. I talk about things to think about when mounting the engine, driveline configurations and considerations, what to do about the exhaust, some different ideas about fueling, and other things to think about like controls and gauges.

[gvet]

I guess a man at my work was far ahead of his time. He drove to work in a Chevy Vega that was powered by a snow mobile engine. Complete with rope start.

[zdfnhxfgjnhxfgnj]

Hey matt, i remember watching your car on jay leno back in 2015 and thinking how cool it would be to have a bike engined car. So i started building a locost 7 with the intentions of a bike motor. Safe to say your car was inspiration. Now its come full circle and my car is in your video at 6:12 and 6:17 lol

[Noah-eron]

I love rewatching Matt's older videos. Its clear he has improved a lot in terms of production quality, but the videos really haven't changed. A lot of YouTubers completely change their style as time goes on, but Matt stays true to himself. I love it.

[santiagoardilesgonzalez]

"we don´t solve our problems with money, because we are adults... and because we dont have that much money"
Best cuote EVER!

[jasonhowell]

This is the most simple yet comprehensive run through of something I’d have wanted to know for the last 5 years. Thank you bud.

[sailincat]

Excellent presentation! Clear helpful photos, clear audio, good rapid pace perfect English, just-the-facts, no "um, " uh, " unfinished or restarted sentences, irrelevant tangents or excessively long anecdotes. Entertaining use of humor. Directed at an audience who might actually put the info to use. Well done!

[mannycweiss]

best quote "throwing it into reverse and exploding all my shit", that's when I knew he was my people and i would subscribe

[CMAllstars]

This showed up in my recommendations... Just watched the Jay Leno video as well, and I can only imagine the sense of pride you felt when he was smiling ear to ear in something you built. Very well done!

[vtr]

Love how the entire list of things only placed the brakes as the last item to take care of. Take care of yourself Matt, you're one hell of a guy.

EDIT: Just realised, with that reverse box, you now also technically have the same number of gears backwards as you do forwards :|

[zzzzzsleeping]

The reverse was my problem -- If I will do it over again I will use a chain drive differential and an electric motor for reverse. What my problem on using driveshaft was the joints. Consider there is a one universal joint in the engine output shaft, the 2nd on the front reverse joint, the 3rd at the back of the reverse joint, the 4th in the middle of the driveshaft and the 5th on the differential joint.
You add the slacks together and you will notice so many things can happen and break and also to clunky.

[MexicoAdventurer]

I bought a go-kart with what I was told was a Suzuki 175 motocross motor and 6 speed gear box. It was a monster with a top speed of 110 mph. It got there in 6 seconds. I've been wanting to fo exactly what you did here all of my life. Maybe I will, now.

[bignick]

I was inspired to do an engine swap to a bike engine and then I found your video. I have a 1983 Datsun Nissan Sentra wagon. It's front wheel drive and much heavier so I'm worried about getting a big enough engine and the clutch burning up. Your videos still help a lot. Wish me luck.

[Typingwithpaws]

dude....this is one of the best car mod videos ive ever seen. simple, informative, well presented. you should be damn proud of yourself for putting this together!!

[ericvulgate]

in the early 70's my grandfather took a brand new corvair and put a 2 stroke boat engine in it for the fuel savings. it was a whole process to drive and it couldn't do hills but it was pretty cool. as far as i know it's still running too.

[elituko]

This is basically a convertible legends car. But seats 2, is already street legal and designed to run rain or shine. And they sound awesome. Imagine with a CBX engine, it would sound like a formula 1 car. Great video, and thanks a lot for putting this idea back in a retired guys head, just what I needed...

[louiszierlein]

Great video. I have built many things from kibbles and bits over the years. People keep telling me I should start a channel. maybe I will someday. I hope you get more views. This is very realistic, not a lot of BS, straight to the point.

[craigpennington]

I've been a gear head almost all of my like and worked on a lot of stuff but never found any of it simple.

[NLRamonNL]

I would prolly go for a small 12-volt powered motor for reverse. BMW does this for some of their heavy motorcycles, I believe they use the starter motor for that.

[jksleepers]

I’m so thankful that a friend recommended your channel to me. Your stoic mannerisms along with your quick witted sense of humor are an amazing combo. I look forward to watching more content from you.

[dopeymark]

Yeah so this is pretty much my dream car. I grew up riding rice rockets in the '80s and I always wanted the Rev range and driving dynamics of a motorcycle engine in a small car. The only production car that ever came close was the Honda S2000. Good job Matt.