Bought a Hayabusa-based race car, I need to learn these engines now.

L

L8Apex

Registered
I'm familiar with engines and engine work in general; I built my engines in my previous race cars. I'm just unfamiliar with motorcycle engines in general.

The race car is a Thunder Roadster. It has a Gen 2 engine and the transmission output is connected to a driveshaft mated to a live axle 4 link. The previous owner says the engine was de-tuned to make it more reliable and thinks the power is about 170hp at the wheels. I'm pretty sure it's an OEM ECU, but I don't know what exactly was done to the engine. I don't know if anything was done to the transmission. The diff is either welded or a spool.

I don't know enough about these engines to ask specific questions, yet.

Are there any odd caveats to these engines?
Is there anything you wished you knew early on about them?
The car is ~1700 lbs (but I can get it down to 1500), is there anything to consider beefing up in the engine/trans to help deal with that extra load?
 
No pics? Boo! :laugh: Oh, and welcome to the org. :laugh:

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post some pics of the engine setup. i heard of people damaging transmission when swapping into a heavier car but for the most part an advantage of running a busa engine is its robust in stock trim and availability of after market companies that address issues. even a reverse gear option is available. i have also seen a set ups where the swap got rid of the factory busa transmission and used an adapter plate to bolt the engine to a rwd transmission.
 
I'll post some engine pics when I get it up on jacks and take the body panels off. Luckily all the panels come of with just a few dzus parts.
I didn't get any video when I drove it briefly, but this is a pretty good vid of another car in a race:
. They're lite, nimble cars and don't have any nanny features. So driving them hard they kinda go all over the place.

I do want to make sure the transmission is sturdy. So I've looked at different options. Billet shafts and forks seem worth it. But for the gears, would billet make a bigger difference than sending OEM parts off to be hardened/cryo treated?
 
L8Apex said:
I'll post some engine pics when I get it up on jacks and take the body panels off. Luckily all the panels come of with just a few dzus parts.
I didn't get any video when I drove it briefly, but this is a pretty good vid of another car in a race:
. They're lite, nimble cars and don't have any nanny features. So driving them hard they kinda go all over the place.

I do want to make sure the transmission is sturdy. So I've looked at different options. Billet shafts and forks seem worth it. But for the gears, would billet make a bigger difference than sending OEM parts off to be hardened/cryo treated?
Click to expand...
Hi. Call Rodinson Industries 631-360-9352. He knows all about busa transmissions. He is a little hard to get on the phone so keep calling. He did my trams. It has a big turbo Garrett G42-1200c. It has a custom 1000 HP RCC, Powerhouse kit. What is the total weight of car and driver? I had an F 5000 Lola T 142 back in 1972.
 
michael parris heuberger said:
Hi. Call Rodinson Industries 631-360-9352. He knows all about busa transmissions. He is a little hard to get on the phone so keep calling. He did my trams. It has a big turbo Garrett G42-1200c. It has a custom 1000 HP RCC, Powerhouse kit. What is the total weight of car and driver? I had an F 5000 Lola T 142 back in 1972.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Robinson Industries has come up a few times in my searches. Seems like a well known source.

The car weighs about 1700 lbs with driver. But the previous owner put in 250 lbs of ballast; the max allowed per rules.
 
There's not much to look at, really. But if anyone sees anything unusual they can point out, I'd appreciate it.

One thing I can't find any info on is the oil pan. I haven't found anything related to "D&D Performance" for a Hayabusa.

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I'm also chasing an overheating issue. I keep reading that these engines can overheat if stopped in traffic. I can't really test this on the street, so it's in my garage with a big fan blowing air into the radiator.

It's got a much bigger radiator than a bike would have. But is it reasonable to see the water temp get up to 190 within a few mins and then slowly creep up to 220+? It's not even enough time to see the oil temp move up.
 
Hmmm, I believe the engine has an ideal temperature range for optimal performance. On the bike they have a smallish radiator with two thermo fans designed to kick in and maintain temp within this range. My temp rises gauge quickly then always stays around the same mark. The fans are very efficient at drawing off heat from the coolant.
 
My first intended mod of this is a dry sump. The pan that's on there now probably also has a swing arm pickup, as that's common with these from what I've seen other people talk about. But even then I've seen people starve the engine on long sweepers.
 
I have three Thunder roadsters and have been running them for 10 years.

You are getting just a bit of well-intentioned, but inaccurate information from the bike community here.

PM me for more detailed information, but I have seen as many as 19 of these at Sebring . Intake airbox is made by Gary Tinker in Florida, who makes these as a Spec car, so they will all be equal.

He normally detunes to making the GEN one and GEN two engines equal, adjusting the timing with an offset key on the ignition, and using carburetors instead of fuel injection.

In this case there will be no standard ECU, but there will be a different electronic box and coil drivers

I either love these things, am insane, or both. One of these is a turbo I pulled from a bike with 308 hp. I can’t do a spec car cause I need gross excesses of horsepower to make up for my nerdy lack of skill, and I absolutely love, love the Hayabusa power plant, and this site

I run NASA , Texas region, and would be happy to to hook you up with anything you need if you feel all alone

For example your radiator should be fine for anything. It could use some tape seal on the shroud in and out and you should be able to stay at about 200° water, 10° higher on the oil. On the engine Dyno we picked up three or 4 hp by leaving the water temperature at 200 anything less had a drop.

Don’t blame me bike guys; plenty of fun and innovative info comes from this site; as always on the net, you have to filter data from innuendo, and way with somebody else’s speculation may cost you.

Your transmission is fine. Your suspension is a three Link, not a four , and the rear axle is a Toyota 6.7 inch Corolla with custom spool and Moser custom axles. synthetic >85W oil, magnetic drain plug and molybdenum disulfide 100PPM helps this small, but light weight gear

You can get it down to about 1600 pounds without getting stupid money or work

It is an extremely cool car for very low cost and you can whip ass on an occasional Radical at three or four times the price with a little data, login and prayer :-)

Your car looks like a nice build by the way. Enjoy the hell out of it.
 
There's a Spec class for these cars where they all have to use the same parts. I think they used carbs to keep the Gen1 and Gen2 more similar in power.

I'm with moondo, I don't like spec classes and this car won't be in one.
 
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