Lets face it, no one wants go through the pain of blowing an engine. Not only does it ruin your day of fun but it is an expensive exercise to get your machine back in action. The most common form of engine failure besides overheating is lack of lubrication. Lets look at how we are going to prevent this with the GSXR…

Although the 1300cc Hayabusa engine is an engineering masterpiece, when it comes to 4 wheel application there are some bases that need to be covered to ensure a long, happy life for your busa engine. When using the engine in an off road application (or any automotive application for that matter) you want to get the motor mounted as low as possible in the chassis to keep the center of gravity at a minimum. We’ve found that the GSXR has a rather deep oil sump, which is perfectly fine in a road bike but a little too big and bulky for my liking in the buggy.

Coupled with this is the oil deliverability issues that many motorcycle engined cars face (mostly track cars that are capable of high lateral g force). During cornering the lateral force produced by a high powered track car can be enough to make your stomach turn, so have a think about what all the oil in that engine is doing? Exactly! There’s a chance of oil starvation which is usually not encountered in a stock road bike, and when you have no oil at 10,000 rpm…

Kaaabooooom!

But there is some good news. There are a few specialist workshops that are producing aftermarket sumps for the GSXR which will solve this problem we face and while there not the cheapest parts on the planet, when you consider the price of fixing a seized engine, i think you’ll agree that it’s money well spent.

Option 1

The Low Profile Billet Sump

At around $650 this billet sump is a great alternative to the stock unit and is perfect for high HP applications and motorcycle engine powered cars. Due to its unique ’swinging pick up arm’ the engine is all but guaranteed to be supplied with a continual flow of oil even during hard cornering. You turn left, the oil hits the right hand side of the sump and guess what.. Thats where the pick up swings. The same for hard braking and acceleration. And most importantly for us it’s 2″ lower than the stock item so it won’t protrude below the chassis line.

This is most likely the sump we will be using.

Option 2

The Dry Sump Sysetm

When you mention the word dry sump, what comes to mind? Probably high hp race car engines and lots of $$$$$ and you’re right! Take a look at Formula 1, Indy car, Nascar and any other professional race series and you’ll find most if not all are running a dry sump set up in the engines. They help contribute to huge horsepower gains and are a great way to keep your engine lubed at high revs due to the constant pressure supplied by the external pulley driven pump set up. The oil is also kept cooler using this setup as the oil is stored in an external ‘reservoir’. Applications for the GSXR such as the one above are available at around $2000. If you’re running Nitrous or a serious turbo setup for track work then this maybe for you, but to be honest i’ve seen 500Hp Hayabusa’s that just run a billet sump.

Stay tuned as I will post a full DIY sump replacement post for those that are interested in performing the same mods when ours arrive.

I hope that clears up the issues we face with the sump set ups so please let me know your thoughts!

Stay Sideways
Nick

First off I’d just like to say thanks to you all for filling in my survey about the buggy design, we had a great response to the survey and some awesome suggestions as to what engine we should base our dune buggy plans around. We had everything from twin turbo V8’s to 250cc 2-stokes to imported Japanese car engines. The most popular suggestions for the buggy were jap road bike engines such as Honda’s CBR 600 engine and Yamaha’s R1 & R6, but the winner in the popularity stakes was by far the famed Suzuki Hayabusa power plant. It was a tough decision but as you will soon see the performance of this engine is mind blowing and and with prices falling and availability on the rise it made the choice a whole lot easier.

The history of the Hayabusa:

Suzuki obviously wanted to make it clear from the start that they wanted the title of the worlds fastest production bike above their name back in 1999 when thay came up with the name. It obviously has some kind of Japanese meaning to it? I hear you ask. It sure does because the geniuses at suzuki named it after the Peregrine Falcon, the bird capable of achieving speeds over 200 mph (322 km/h) and predator of (perhaps not coincidently) the common blackbird. How ironic considering that the first model to roll off the production line topped the speed traps at a blistering 319 Km/h!

The Hayabusa which is also known as the GSX1300R in some countries was originally introduced by Suzuki back in 1999. Back then it had a 1299 cc (79 cu in) inline-4 engine and was known as the fastest production bike in the world before the 2001 detuning agreement came into force.

In stock form the 99 model was capable of the following:

• 1/4 mile: 10.02 seconds @ 143.7 mph (231 km/h)
• 60–80 mph: 3.13 seconds
• 80–100 mph: 3.31 seconds
• Top speed: 189.6 mph (305 km/h)
• Power: 156.1 hp (116.4 kW) @ 9,500 rpm (rear wheel)

Fast forward almost a decade later and the legend still lives on albeit with more capacity and more power to boot. Determined to hold the title of the fastest production bike on the planet, and with BMW and Kawasaki breathing down their neck with the K1200S, Ninja ZX-12R, and Ninja ZX-14, Suzuki upped the anti for the 2008 model busa by increasing displacement from 1299cc to 1340cc and pushing the power figure up to 171hp.

Ok so what does this mean for us buggy builders?

Well apart from the obviously blistering power figure, the Suzuki engine has a rock solid reputation for reliability and quality. Not only that but it is a great platform for building a big power engine, with just some small tweaks such as exhausts and ECU people have been getting over 200Hp. Start adding turbos and you’re looking at bone jarring power figures as high as 700Hp! No that is not a misprint, check this out if you don’t believe me!

See what im talking about? This engine really is a buggy builders dream especially when you consider that most local bike shops can not only service this engine but provide you with spare parts and performance bits.

The best part - I’ve seen these engines for sale on Ebay for as little as$1000. Why would you not use one of these in your buggy?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below

Nick

Ahh the good old Air cooled Volkswagen engine, it may have been the engine of choice back in the early days of buggy building but what about now?

When you are looking into building a dune buggy or even buying one for that matter, engine choice is high on the priority list for most people and some would agree that it is the most important aspect of a dune buggy.

The choice really is endless these days with the development of high horsepower, next generation motorcycle engines such as the 1300cc Hayabusa engine with 194Hp right out of the factory. Older examples of this engine can be picked up second hand for about $1000 - $2000, an absolute bargain if you ask me especially when you look at some of the modified versions capable of 500+ Hp (i will be writing another article about these engines soon!)

You can also choose from other light weight Japanese engines that fit perfectly into off road buggy frames such as Nissans SR20 turbo 4 cylinder, a readily available import engine that can be found for under $2000!

But it’s not just about hi tech Jap engines, what about the good old v8? You get serious power and even more serious torque from these ‘old school’ engines which are also getting more and more powerful as time goes on. I don’t have to tell you how readily available these engines are around town and if you have some spare cash to add either a turbo or supercharger, look out i say! you’ll be in for some staggering power figures.

What is your engine of choice?