The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Smart Car plus GSXR equals “Smartuki,” a VERY Smart Car

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Smartuki - Suzuki powered Smart car
Smartuki - Suzuki powered Smart car

Let me introduce, Peter Bee. Peter is a sensible English fellow who took a liking to the Smart Car as soon as it was introduced, so he bought one. He found the car so much to his liking that he kept on buying them, great second car, nice for running errands, quick scoots around town, all very sensible. Problem is, Pete spends his days around MHP, makers of high performance exhaust systems. When you constantly see high performance vehicles of various sorts and drive a Smart, you soon get the urge to tweak it a bit and Peter did just that. He managed to get the engine up to around 100hp which isn't a bad jump from the 60hp in the stocker, but Pete wanted more.

After seeing nothing else in the option list he looked further afield and started thinking GSXR1000. He talked to the fellows over at Z Cars, you know them, R1 powered Mini's and the like, and they said "Sure, we can do that." So Peter dropped off a brand new Smart Car and the fun began. He also talked to Phil Seton of Seton Racing who took a look at a GSXR1000 engine and found room for improvement. The result? Peter's own personal pleasure button, a way to send his bliss-o-meter straight into the red zone.

Smartuki GSXR1000 engine in frameZ Cars had to build a separate frame to house the engine along with a Cosworth differential and complete independent rear suspension. Phil Seton massaged the GSXR until it was putting out a reliable 180hp. Peter built up a full race MHP titanium exhaust system and then created a handmade wiring harness to integrate all of the Suzuki's engine controls along with the tach, the one that goes red around 13,000rpm. Spax made up a set of coil overs with full height and damping adjustments. Then, someone thought they might want to slow this beast down and they added full floating wavy rotors up front with 6 pot calipers and solid wavy rotors in the rear.

Smartuki and EvoThey call the finished car the Smartuki. It's the only one in existence and Z Cars is planning to offer it as an option. Does it run? 0-60 in 4.2 seconds, 1/4 mile in 12.4 seconds and tops out at 132mph. Definitely not your average Smart! Peter says running up to the traffic lights at 13,500rpm is always amusing since other drivers move over when they hear what sounds like a bike coming up fast. Autosport Magazine tested it against a Mistubishi Evo FQ-330. It didn't win but fared better than the Subaru that tried a week earlier.

GSXR clocks in the SmartukiA few other features:

One off LED lights in the rear
A nice set of minilights
All braided hoses throughout
Brake bias with lock out for lighting the rear wheels 🙂
Electronic shifter with full power shift ability
Nice grill from Smarts R Us
Full alarm with remote start and roof open and close

Peter is very grateful for all of the assistance from the many who helped put this project together with special thanks to:
Phil Seton of Seton Racing
Mark at MHP
Jason at AME for the alarm system
Smarts R Us for the various bits and pieces
and above all, Peter thanks his wife for understanding when she looks in the checkbook!

UPDATE! The new rebuilt Smartuki
UPDATE 2: The new Smartuki is for sale!

The Kneeslider: Motorcycle engine powered cars
The Kneeslider: Smartuki Kits Now Available!

Comments

  3. The smart-suki or what ever you call it is the coolest thing ever. WOW sure would love to see a kit for the project builders of the world.

  4. WOW this thing is amazing i would love 2 see it go its incredeble why not tring next 2 put a zx10 turbo engine in a 3 wheeler.

  5. ive seen this car and it is truly out of this world ,
    and its for sale now … nice, mite have to call pete bee then

  7. hahha, sick.
    we can buy smarts in canada, cheap even, 16k$
    might just have to look at something like this, as i love the car, just not so crazy about how slow they are.

  8. When are they going to do the same conversion to the roadster. That might be the ultimate budget sportscar.

  10. Cool. . .The big problem however is the short wheel base and rather high cross section. I imagine it would roll faster than a pair of dice in Las Vegas

  16. Incredibly lame. Should’ve just bought a GSXR1000 if he wanted to go fast, that would’ve actually handled too.

  19. I once saw a 300 shortblock shoe-horned into a yugo at atco raceway in NJ; least it was a yugo body originally.

    Kinda takes the point away.

    What’s the mpg? That would be what’s important, that’s why you buy the car. I mean it’s all good to have allot of money to waste on trivial projects when you don’t have anything else to do, but sheesh.

    Bike motors were designed for a pulling weight and a lifespan. By increasing one using stock internals you just made something that’ll last you long enough to get publicity.

    Which if that was the point, smart man.

  22. Good work. Outbreakmonkey, pity you can’t spell it properly. What’s in your garage…probably a clapped out Cortina I expect.

  23. I don’t get it…. what’s the point of this thing? I don’t see anything “smart” about it. Plus that thing is so tiny if you were in an accident I imagine you wouldn’t have much protection.

    If I want a small car I’ll get a Civic hatchback or something.

  25. Hello.. I want to use a GSXR 600 engine in a small car. Do you offer the diff and or axles and other parts to complete this? thank you.

  26. I’ve put 50,000 klm on a Canadian smart fourtwo in the last year.
    The smartuki would be a BLAST!.
    I’d like to see some engineering guru combine the Toyota Prius electric technology with the smart deisel. Either vehicle would be substantially more efficient…

  27. Unfortunatley you wont be able to get these in the U.S for some time. However if i had sen this earlier i would have let you know that there has been one resident in Florida for the past year, not the same model as this but one i think you would actually prefer, its called a crossblade and comes as you see above but without roof, doors or windshield, its back in the U.K now. If you want to find out more about Smart cars and the like the most informative sites are the UK club sites which can be found by looging into http://www.newfunkysmart.co.uk and asking on the boards for information and further links, they will be more than happy to help you out and i guarantee that you will have all the information that you would like within 5 minutes of popping the question.

    cheers

    steve

  28. Such was the impracticality of this car, it was dismantled and the Bike engined rear subframe was sold on Ebay.

    A second bike engined Smart car was built by us using a Z-cars subframe. It’s known as “The beast” and was built on a Smart Roadster which with it’s lower centre of gravity made a lot more sense. However the bike clutch and chain drive were never designed to haul around a vehicle that with two passengers weighs over 900kgs. Conclusion… bike engines belong in bikes, or superlightweight track cars.

    If you want to know more visit http://www.smartmaniacs.co.uk which a cool forum dedicated to all things Smart.

  30. When in Europe, I saw a smart car but it looked like a dune buggy. I guess someone had one without a body as I’ve been told that they have a tubular frame. Is it possible to buy one someplace? I know they aren’t available in the States yet, but in Canada? If anyone has a contact for me I’d be most grateful.
    Frank

  31. I’m salivating! The SMART car is exciting but the stock engine sounds lame and was a put-off. I wonder why Pete didn’t chose the roadster model to modify?

  32. Hello! Would you consider posting a link to nortonchrke.com? The Norton Shrike is an effort towards absolute simplicity in construction, moderately high performance, and a comparatively high degree of crash protection. I have tried both ends of the performance spectrum (650 Yamaha Maxim and BMW K1200RS) and both are workable. The prototype now has 90,000+ miles on it, and is a wonderfully satisfying daily driver.
    Cheers!

  35. WOW! I sell smart cars in canada and we only have the one 3 Cylinder Turbo Diesel engines right now!! I would love to have that here in Canada at the Auto show in Feb here in Toronto! I JUST WANNA DRIVE IT!!! We have a gas engine, european spec BRABUS model from Germany. Makes 75 horses!! and that thing flies! Imagine 180 horses!! DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  37. here in mexico they come 3 cyl tubo gasoline with 89hp but you can get the BRABUS package from the dealer and ups it to 97hp and al they change is the exhaust. and i saw someone mention fwd, no the are rear engine rear wheel drive

  40. Well pete,why not come over to my place and tweek my brabus for me please.?….mine is a monster but would love for my monster to roar as loud as yours….guess my softop would just fly off huh?
    just to say your car kicks ass.fandabbydossy!!!!

  42. How about a turbo’d, massaged V-Max motor. Then it wouldn’t sound like a pissed off mosquito. And 200hp would be very feasible.

  44. I would like to buy a smart car email me. Your web sight is not user friendly for buyers.

  46. I love my smart the way it is! wouldnt have it any other way, and despite its flimsy look, it keeps me safe and has tons of character!! Plus there arent that many cars on the road that it is compulsory to flash your lights at another smart owner, otherwise it’s considered rude!! hilarious…

  48. Hi , I also own a Smart but, living in Belgium, it’s not possible to have this Smartuki road legal

    I would like to know which whells are used on the car above

  49. hey i live in canton kansas. i was on my way to salina and i saw one of these driving down the interstate. i live 40 mins south of salina were are these sold and what is gona be the price

  50. For those who have posted opinions about how lousy the car is, how it will tip over like a dice, how slow it can go etc etc etc. At top speed the car feels more stable than most other cars at their top speeds.

    Video of a Smart Brabus ( 74HP, 155km/h top speed, 0-60 in 12.4 seconds ) and an BMW M3 ( 380 HP )running up the twisties just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv0AI3hjc7k

  52. ammm
    and this car have a reverse?????

    the car is awasome but u dont think about it
    nice car men

  53. i think this is very cool. its like the old days of MG and Triumph.
    the makers of the Smart car should pay attention to this.
    you could allways call Gail Banks if you want to stick with the
    diesel. i look forward to more cars like this in the future.

  54. As an owner of a busa pwrd car I can say that there are many cars out there other than a Smart that are also good choices for the conversion. Everyone is saying “when will they be aval. in the US…who cares, find something else to put a MC motor in and be original.

    V-max fiend mentioned using a Vmax mill. I suppose you could do worse but a massaged turbo busa motor can easily make 500 hp and as much as 700+…not really in the same league if all you are getting is 200 out of a turbo’ed Vmax.

    There are videos all over youtube with this, a gix 1k Smart and a Smart with a busa mill.

    -Jonny
    Jonny Hotnuts Racing

  57. nice but check the web it’s already been done. there’s a few out there with 1300 turbo hyabuse engines 240+ bhp now that’s crazy

  58. hey what kinda transmission did you? use because i really dont think tha stock gear box could handle the power or high rmp.