Just to get off my usual Subaru tack - I've been thinking a lot about Hayabusa motorbike engines recently. People have been putting them into Lotus 7s, and this is also the engine in the Radical cars.

They are 1.3 litre displacement and put out 175 horsepower, and come with a sequential shift gearbox bolted to them.

I am thinking one of these could be put in a 914 with the radiator mounted next to it in the middle of the car (like that 911/2 that had a Geo Metro engine).

The main problem I see is lack of torque to actually get things rolling.

Now - the silliest bike-powered lotus 7 I have seen is powered by TWO (2) 1100cc Jap bikes engines. One driving the front wheels and one driving the back.......

This particular lotus 7 can get to 60 in 3.1 or so seconds.

I think getting a drivetrain in the front of a 914 would be hard.... but not impossible.

Low gearing would take care of the limited torque, shifts with a snick, snick. Upshifts can be made at full throttle with a split second ignition kill on the ratchet shifter!

Heck, why not mount two side by side for each wheel? Lots of wadded up superbikes everywhere. . .

Someone needs to do this, 14k rpm and light weight.

Right on!

Motorcyclist had an article on a turbocharged busa getting about 400 horsepower. They were doing top speed runs of 250mph.

I'll take 2 of these....that would be about 800 horsepower and roughly 400lbs of torque with reevvvvvvvvvv capability in a 2000lb car. mmmmmmm

Don't forget about the venerable V-Max motor! I think they can go to 1600cc. I love the sound of a V-4 from Idle to 7000 rpm. Gosh I miss my VFR.

Only park head-in if it is uphill!!

Read some of the British racing mags. The hillclimb guys over there make loads of bike-engined specials. 800lb single seaters with full wings and 170hp bike engines. For something as heavy as a 914, torque would be a problem. Gearing isn't the only solution, as these things need to rev to the moon to make any power as it is. Installing even shorter gearing means cruising at 10,000rpm.

The very best bike conversion I've ever seen was a 1.8L V8 make by using two complete Kawasaki 900 engines, with gearboxes! The engines were placed "cheek to cheek" in a wide cradle, with the output shafts (one through an idler) geared to a central output shaft that fed a normal car diff. The gear linkages were all worked together. About 275hp and maybe 100ft/lbs of torque, aimed at a sports racing car class restricted to 2.0 liters. Once the proof of concept was working, the guy planned to use a pair of 1000cc engines for 300hp. A pair of 'busa engines would be close to 350hp & 175ft/lbs, and then you could add turbos.

Let's see, there was the Bricklin, so this would be called a Pricklin?