The Kneeslider

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Hayabusa V8 engine

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Hayabusa V8 engineRadical Extreme Sports Cars started building race cars powered by superbike engines back in 1996. They began using Suzuki engines and it looks like they have been fairly successful. Their latest creation, the SR8, goes a step farther. Instead of just dropping in a complete engine, they built a V8 by grafting two Hayabusa engines together. So far the figures are 372hp and the ability to rev to over 10,000rpm, which is not unusual in a motorcycle but quite a spin in a car. The SR8, depending on gearing can top 200mph. It seems we are seeing more of this kind of complex engineering lately and it may be the result of the wide availability of computer CAD/CAM SR8 sports carsoftware, enabling smaller shops to go places where only major firms used to go. The Motoczysz C1 comes to mind as another recent example of engine modifications by a small builder/designer. We may be seeing a lot more of this and I can’t wait. This kind of inventive talent has always existed but now there are more opportunities for it to be realized.

See also Motorcycle engine powered cars

Comments

  1. This is quite possibly the coolest thing in a while. I mean you could get this kinda power from a turbo busa, but the frankenstien factor is off the charts.

  4. The best part is that it is a 360hp V-8 that has a redline of 11000 rpm. I would love to put on of those in anycar

  5. I’m just wondering how much the 8 cylinder busa motor weighs. I’m guessing around 500 lbs. Close?

  6. Nope, you’re way high. 95 kilos which according to my handy pound-o-verter comes to about 209 pounds.

  9. Anybody who could mention the advantages of having such an engine mounted on a car when a turbocharged Hayabusa engine would produce 300+ HP at the crank? Maybe it’s just me who has that sort of idea…

  10. the advantage my friend are countless.
    you will get a smooth power band, the turbo can be a pain to start in the winter, you must wait (turbo timer have different issues) when you drive your car hard and want to park it. also if you ever drove a 4 banger car like an evo then went to drive a smooth v8 like the s4, it is like night and day. the power of the evo will rip you apart in an instant and it will make a lot of vibrations; in the other hand the s4 is like a space shuttle you press the throttle and it’s like the engine is electric, you press it hard the v8 sings like a soprano with moderate vibrations.

    it’s all i have in mind right now but to conclude, turbo are good for savage power while more cylinder provide a more civilized power.

  11. The advantage is that you can turbocharge this V8 too.
    By the time thier development is finished it should make approximately twice the HP of a single Busa engine… and weigh 80Lbs less than what 2 busa engines+trans would weight.

    The only real question is: Is the price low enough? A brand new busa motor can be had for under $10k If this motor costs more than say, $30k USD, it won’t really be worth it. … but still cool 🙂

    –Ash

  12. A simply awesome engine. That’s the only thing I could possibly say that would even remotely do justice to such a radical design. The power to weight of this engine more than makes up for any price it would have, and in comparison to many other companies who produce “crate motors”, this simply puts them all in the ground. I wonder how good the reliability is?

    Hmmm… one of these plus an AE86…..

  18. If this engine was for sale for under $10k, they couldn’t make them fast enough (even without a turbo or supercharger).

    Great Work.

  19. Now all they need to do is throw on a couple of turbochargers (1 per busa engine) and they could be getting from what i’ve heard about 22 hp per lb of boost (11 per turbo). I couldn’t even imagine this machine on a drag strip with that….bearly any turbo lag, big ratios, high redlines = FAST SPEEDS!

  20. Seems many have never seen or heard of setup Russ Collins built. It used a common bottom end that would mount a KZ1000 top end on each bank. A light V8 that easily made 250hp and spin to 12,000. Mount one in a MG Midget or MGBGT for a rocket on wheels.

  21. I would love to make that street legal. Maybe a small bubble top for it. If it would get 25 MPG @ 100 MPH it would be the perfect commuter vehicle!

  22. It looks like a great concept, and would certainly work in a small lightweight racecar, but how would this thing work in a full-size car? Of course it has enough horsepower to make just about any car move fast, however where do you get that horsepower? If you don’t have enough torque or horsepower at low RPMs, your car will never move.

  23. I would LOVE to see one of these in something like a lotus 7… the power to weight would be amazing!

  27. These ideas have been around for years. The v8 busa engine is just the latest version. All of us here also know that our time could be much better spent. What you are seeing is part of the future. Small swept displacement makes better mileage. High rpm moves twice the air allowing for more fuel consumption when it is asked for. This intrest is not surprising. This is the technology we should have had for 50 Fifty years now. Face it the new LS7 Corvette is 427 Aluminum inches of small block pushrod tech. It still sucks. People will buy it for 66 thousand dollars though. I saw a 4 ohc 426 hemi that would have made 750 streetable hp. Our goal is low reciprocating mass. The goal of the automakers is to shovel shit for dullards to consume. How much did that thing weigh? 200lbs magnesium would be 2/3s of that. Also it still dosen’t have titanium rods or pistons. Enter 18000 rpm. How much air is that? 470 hp worth give or take. Remember this guy is not G.M. he is just a talented guy with a Fifty thousand dollar cnc mill in his garage by comparison to G.M. Think about that!

  29. I recently had a friend give me the “Sub Compac Car” magizine that had a piece on Radical’s v8 engine. I though, how cool. I’d prefer the sound over the HP. Ever listen the the V8 Moto Guzzi sound byte on the internet? WOW. Unfortunatly, for the Radical engine, it turns out is sounds like a 4 cyl. Can’t remeber exactly but the timing, i think, has 2 cyls firiing at the same time??? Threrefore, (this i do remember) it does not sound like a v8. I thought….bummer. but ist still has lots of HP!

  30. they had sound bites of this engine on their website and i m sure many of us can tell you this does not sound like any 4 banger even in the upper rpms

  32. 11000 RPM, All kinds of power….and im gonna take a guess and say Good Fuel Mileage.

  33. Lots can be said about this great motor, and we can all envision our favorite car or bike with one of these in it, but until the engine is actually available for use we can only dream. I look forward with great anticipation to the day in the hopefully near future when these engines begin to appear and are available to all!

  34. busa v8 in a bike(£12,000?), for road & race normally asperated with spondon alloy tube frame(£4000?), gsxr running gear.( rolling doner bike £1000?) build cost approx. £17,000 give or take a bit. Race fairing & paint job. Compaired to standard busa, extra weight of busa top end. But weight saved in other parts in build i.e. frame ect. would make extra weight minimal, and double the power/torque? simply put, what does a moto gp bike cost?(£100,000?) for 250hp, or busa v8 £17,000 370hp which would make moto gp bikes look coman as muck. Strength & reliability my only concern. And if you want to get silly, twin turbo, nitromethane for drag racing. love to know that power figure. Thats what I’m talking about.

  35. Wow a turbo busa can make 600hp but this thing has probably double the torque that a turbo busa would have and if it had a turbo that would be great… now two turbos that would be something eilse they have put something like that in a car 2 turbocharged hayabusa engines 500hp each in a small 4 wheel drive car http://videos.streetfire.net/video/wm/51B01019-AFD4-401C-8DC0-6034F3E20985.htm

    look how good one turbo busa works in a car
    http://videos.streetfire.net/search/kit+car/0/wm/97333B9F-3559-4913-A7EA-A06DB1C9729C.htm
    but the v8 would be soo much gruntier than the turbo motor

  36. all i have to say is woooww i herd the sound clip and dammmm it reminds me of champ car not quite as nasty as f1 but definently as good as champ car all it needs is a large turbo and it would be perfect but my favorite is still the r26b motor 4 rotor mazda capible of 900hp at 10500 rpm listen to this thing http://videos.streetfire.net/search/mazda+787b/0/2EC0470C-6163-4302-9A0F-1E4DC362C3FB.htm
    here it is in actionhttp://videos.streetfire.net/search/mazda+787b/0/10385722-789D-4B39-82C7-44C5033BF826.htm
    me and my dad are gonna use a busa motor in our next buggy we already built one with a 250bike motor and its fine for my little bros lots of suspension but boring compared to my bike so for the next one we are gonna use a busa motor then maby think about a turbo for later about 21 inches of travel the old ones only got about 14 all around the busa cars can kick a ls1 cars ass in the dunes (i dont like dunes i like the rocks) because a lighter car is faster in the sand but in the dirt you want the big heavy car cuase it does much better throught the endless whoop sections and you need a big v8 with lots of grunt for that but way more expensive the motor is like 10 g then you got to buy the mendolia transaxle about 5 g or u can use the busa with the 6 speed tranny already on it and its lighter and really cheap http://www.sandbullet.com busa cars
    big v8 cars http://www.jimcorace.com

  37. V8 gruntier than a turbo? Shows how little you know, a well designed and built turbo ‘busa engine will produce much more torque throughout the rev range than a NA v8. A 450bhp turbo busa will be producing over 300lb ft of torque while still revving over 9k. Coming on boost at 3k that gives you a much wider and stronger torque and powerband than the peaky v8.
    Not to mention the v8 costs about 4x the amount.

  38. I am not wondering about what this engine will do in a car. Sign me up, I want to put this thing underneath me in my Ducati 996 on two wheels and just have a whole lotta kick ass fun. If there is any possible way that I can get hold of one of these babies, just let me know the $$cost$$ I’ll take it from there..

  40. I’ve ridden a 494 bhp.turbo Busa.It lofted the front wheel in 5th gear at 150 mph.I’m not sure I’d want more than that in a car.That said,still way cool.

  42. I was wondering as the v8 hyabussa you are building is avalible in kit or if plans for the parts are avalible so that other people who are into this might be able to make or buy parts to make one there is a huge market in the kitcar seen for kit engine of this potential.(I’m a metal tradesman and find the whole idea of making an engine from two others interesting) using cnc to make parts to graft two engines togother to make a v8 is cool and obviously effective!

  44. Just look for “Ghostrider + turbo hayabusa” on youtube or google, top speed 450km/h, 500bhp, the bike that records the turbo busa is doing 300km/h when the busa wheelies past it.

    A V8 conversion would be able to get 1000hp out of it, the 360HP is two engines that are slightly tuned above stock capacity, still, nice development, however this cant be sold due to suzuki owning the rights to making that engine (i’d suppose)

  45. Busa motor is already a great motor, V8 conversion just totally insane.. However, I hear alot of people saying that’d be nice for a car, I highly doubt the thing would make enough torque for the engine to be viable in even a light street car. I suspect even with a twin turbo setup, the engine would bog down severely anywhere under 6k RPM (not quite sure of powerband on this motor, but anyway).. As for bikes, I could see such a custom piece become pretty popular for most well-funded enthusiasts, I know some chopper guys that use frankensteined jap engines rather than some of the more domestic counterparts. I’d like to see such an engine become available on the market, alot of bikers I know look around for faster and more powerful motors, and end up with giant lunkers that growl and vibrate themselves to death after a good long ride. This Busa engine looks pretty interesting and the stats on it are very impressive, no doubt a lot of rich people will be trying to stuff these things into any bike imaginable if there’s market potential for this thing.
    -ed

  46. Reply to Patrick N:

    Yeah, I’ve seen that video too. Very very impressive. It’s apparent that the camera bike is a high-end one, and the turbo Busa wheelies past it at what can be imagined as near top speed. I just wonder what internal mods had been done to the block of that motor, as I don’t see anything resembling near stock surviving all that boost.
    -ed

  47. Great stuff, i love it but i would like to know are there any bike motors that have a reverse gear already built into it? I heard the Honda Gold Wing has it but which model? Anyone know?

  48. 372hp would be nice, how much torque would this thing make. If you put it in a 2000lb car, its 0-60 would suffer greatly. It would need a small turbo, or a supercharger to make enough torque to make any good 1/4 mile numbers.

  49. Some years back, Suzuki built a lightweight concept roadster for the show circuit which had something like a 2.0L or 2.5L V-8 in it which made about 240 hp. I thought the idea was great…putting something like that in a Miata-type car would be tons of fun! Even the last generation Lotus Esprit had a sub-three liter V-8 in it, as I recall. It replaced the turbo four that had been in Esprits for years.

  51. I would LOVE to put a V8 Twin Turo Busa with a newmatic shifter in a Speads RM07A F-1000. I think you could have a 150k race car that would be as close to a F1 as possable!

  52. For those of you that are too young to remember,,over 25 years ago,there was two 750 honda motors put together that made 500 horse,,these are both exercises in inginuity,,formula car motors are very simular to these already,its not that new of a concept, and as for putting these in regular auto’s it is correct to assume that the tork of these motors is very high in the rpm range to make them feasable, furthermore they are not echonomicle to operate,yu dont get hp for free! How about 4 harley motors side by side,,a V8 harley,common,,or how about a 3cyl. geo,,with a bike motor,,? with machining anything can be tried ! Idea,,,have fun creating,combinding dreaming,,,maby a V6 Triumph ??

  53. hi mint thing going on here, if any one has anysuggestion about fitting a hayabusa 1300cc engine into one of these fiat 500 hundreds be my guest to email me at scotty_robinson_125@hotmail.com as a need some advice on running the drive on the motorcycle engine to the drive shaft on the car and as i am only 15 any body got websites which i can but cheap restoration gear off thanx.

  54. It’s fine for racing but sucks for street use. NO TORQUE = no go. Unless you weigh in at less that 1400 LB all in. Then it’s useless…………… the more wieght the more useless it becomes. BIG HEAVEY CRANK, long stroke more wieght on the fly wheel too = usable power band for street people. It would be OK in a bike frame !!!!!!!!!!!

  55. If you like a lack of reliability then it’s a great choice. I’m on my second SR3 1500 engine, I can only imagine how much of a bitch it is to keep the SR8 running with it being nearly twice as complex. On the plus side, it does have a pretty solid transmission which is not part of the engine like the ‘busa motors. I’m moving on to a new vehicle with a non-motorcycle engine once I get the latest issues with mine sorted out, just don’t have the time for dealing with engine/tranny issues anymore and they seem to occur pretty frequently for those that I know with SR3’s like mine.

  56. This motor would be horrible in any kind of street car. First of all, in Radical’s brochure on the HPA (The ‘Busa V8, NA) it is clearly stated that this is a race motor. Something that doesn’t occur to most people is the life expectancy of a race motor. Radical says that the HPA is good for _30 Hours_ between rebuilds. If you want to spend $30,000 on a motor that only lasts 30 hours between rebuilds, then you’ve got enough $$$ to send yourself to an engineering school and learn a thing or two about radical motors like this. Secondly, how fuel-efficient do you think a motor can be at 11,000 RPM? Not very. 2.6L at 11K probably is close to the kind of fuel efficiency you see in a 5+ Liter V8 (Think Corvette) at 6500 RPM. Got it?

    Another note: This is for all of the people that want to see this in a bike. There is a very very good reason that no manufacturer mass produces V8s in bikes. There is absolutely no reason to have a 400hp motor in a street bike. Period. Moto GP bikes are limited at something like 212 HP. My friend has a new Ninja 14R. 200HP is enough to pull throttle-on wheelies in sixth gear. At 60mph. I would never want to see this motor in a bike. Way overpowered. You would not be able to use anywhere near full power if you plan on turning. The only thing you could use this motor for is drag racing and top-speed runs. I didn’t get a bike to prove that it’s faster in a straight line than everybody else, we already know that. Kinda makes me wonder how many people here have ever ridden a bike with more than 150hp.

  57. For the “no torque” crowd: mfr’s site shows a flat torque curve w/ 165 ft/lbs at 4,000 RPM. Not a stump puller, but streetable, considering how small a car could accomodate it. 2.6L, after all, is enough displacement to power a minivan.

    Second, forgive my engineering naivete, but why not just gear TWO SEPARATE engines to turn one driveshaft? Vibration concerns could be dealt with via flywheels or viscous coupling. Have to be cheaper than a purpose-built engine.

    I’d love to put that in a RWD ’80s Toyota Corolla and let ‘er rip!

  59. A note to everyone suggesting Turbos on the Radical V8 I have been helping run an SR8 in the radical championship this year and to say they aint reliable in standard for is an understament.
    Even with non V8 1300 busas if you turbo them they dont last long at all.
    I live in Peterborough in UK where Radical are based and they have for 2008 upped the power on the SR8 2.6 to 380hp and also make a 2.8 with 455hp. and they also come with flat shifting, paddle shift and throttle blipper.
    check this page for more info.
    http://www.radicalextremesportscars.com/news_folder/2008_sr5_sr8/index.php

  60. hi ive a smart roadster im wondering about fitting a H/busa engine in it and would it take space in the car any ideas of cost thanks john any info gratefully received

  61. i have seen this engine in an metro 6R4 rally car, possibly the best noise i have heard! also a very fast car, i have heard of some reliability issuse! this could be due to the severity of the use though?!?

  62. the fact that it only makes 165lb-ft of torque is not a big deal if you consider that it revs to over 1100 rpms.
    just gear it down and it will make it feel like more torque.

    nobody here seems to realize that if your engine makes 100lb-ft of torque, and your final drive gear is 2:1, your actual torque driving the wheel is 200lb-ft.

    it would go great in something like a miata or a lotus 7

  63. would it fit in my smart roadster what gear box would you use
    do you think i would to build a new engine mounting frame

  64. Zcars.org.uk has done a twin Busa ; 1 frt , 1 back , and they make a sub-frame to hold the engine and first – class susp; should slide right in after removing a half a stone of ugly weight

  65. Does the stock Hayabusa engine have the same short time between overhaul of 30 hours when used under racing conditions as the Radical SR8 V8?

  66. I knew someone (Russell Savoury) who built a V8 from two 1000cc Yamaha EXUP engines and dropped it in a lightweight Caterham chassis. 2 litre, 40 valve, V8! Sounded like the ‘Thai Fighters’ from ‘Star Wars’! Awesome!

  67. Once upon a time, the US Military wanted a 1000 hp Aircraft Engine. Etore Bugatti designed & built a U-16! Think of 2 straight 8 engines fused together side by side. Each with it’s own crankshaft. Glue a large (strong) transfer case on the end to gear the 2 cranks together & also, gear down the final output drive to the propeller.

    Several were built, set-up & ran. But it wouldn’t last the 50 hours that the contract specified! OOPS! A bunch of the gearhead engine guys of the day (see below) tried to make it work but before they could, WW 1 had ended & the contract was canceled.

    I heard that the 2 crankshafts were built too close together. Those days it was common to use 3 main bearings on a straight 8 !?! At the lower speeds, all would be OK but when the RPM’s were raised, the cranks would bend & “Whirl” & various very hard bits & pieces would touch each other. That’s touch as in CRUNCH!! The Devil’s in the Details!

    Google King Bugatti U-16 (sometimes called an H-16) for more of the story & some pics.

    Rafe03

    PS:- Among the gearheads involved were the Duesenberg Bros & Harry Miller Ever heard of them?

    PPS:- Neither the first time nor the last time engines have been “Siamesed” . In WW 2, some Sherman Tanks were powered by paired 6-71 GMC Diesels. Others had a set of Chrysler 6 cyl flat heat auto engines geared together. A set of 5 car engines that is!! So getting a pair of Busa’s harnesed to work together should be “just another day at the engineering office!”

    Rafe03

  68. how much dose this engine cost & where & who do I talk to inorder to obtain this moter? Any info would be appreciated.

  70. wow i want one twin turbo v8 busa would be insane fun in my classic all i can think is f… old pushrod v8s give me superbike power redlining wonder what sort of milage you would get and what sort of crazy box and differential would you need someone tell me what a complete package is worth please to much for me to comprehend in one sitting i have seen hyobussa powered smart cars and vws but this v8 option is right on the money light more powerfull than the average v8 and revs more than a rotary thats the sort of animal you want under the bonnet

  71. Not an “Electric” crowd at all are you? Electrics will kick your piston asses anytime, and with fewer moving parts too! Give us shafts that an take the torque and we can wind the motors, bigger better than you have ever imagined. The new depleted Uranium deep charger batteries from the U.S, Navy will eat your V-8 contraptions alive! Gasoline just can’t burn fast enough to keep up!