12 replies to this topic

[felixy69]

hi guys
recently i am looking into doing a R1 swap, FWD, this will be a daily driver
reason i didn't want a Zcar was due to noise and comfort and drive-ability. 
so i have decided either Vtec B18 swap or R1 swap. just trying to gather some thoughts to gether and pricing and all.

i believe there are many cheaper options for vtec swap like allspeed or KJB frame kits

what are the frame kit options for R1 FWD swap ?
what are their prices ?
pros and cons ?
are there lots of fab work involve ?
drive ability with R1 motor in front ?
please give me some feed backs on your R1 swap.

thanks for your help 
a pic of ur R1 mini would be great !

 

[waddle]

google pro-motive

[Mini 360]

R1 as a daily.  mad!  They hit stupidly high RPMs and are noisy even at average speeds.  B18 would be my recommendation.  Car engine so designed for the job, still revs to 8600rpm (9200 if you reeeally want in my experience ) and can pick up an entire car for a couple grand.  Engine is the tricky bit.  There aren't many B18s out there not needing rebuilt.  They burn oil like mad.  Mine does in my DC2 anyway! 

 

However LynxAE do a very good, reasonably cheap conversion kit.  Couple on here have done it to my knowledge.  They use the standard engine /subframe mounts and you can apparently convert it in a weekend.  How true that is I do not know but it does appear to be a simple install.  

 

Both good engines but for daily use, B18 all the way.

[R1mini]

As you want a daily driver, I wouldn't even think about any sort of bike engined power, go for the car engine every time

[vx220]

Just wondering, how long do the R1 guys expect from a chain?

I think this might be a limiting factor for the daily driven bike engine

Don't think the noise would worry me, after all bike riders have it every day (althought with a helmet on) but maybe I am turning a bit senile!?

[Mini 360]

All depends on the level of sound deadening/damping on the engine i suppose.  Just used to R1 Minis being fully stripped out track weapons these days

[vx220]

Does anyone have dyno plots for torque comparing say the first 6000 revs of an R1 vs a road 1380?

[Baldspeed Racing]

email Darren or Phil at Pro Motive, as for using it as a daily Darren used to use his demo car as daily and wasnt shy with the mileage he drove either so their shouldnt be any issues....you might just need some ear plugs tho lol

[felixy69]

well....i ws only concern with cost factor. as someone above said..B18 or B16 are still exp and are hard to come by with good condition units.

with honda swap, theres aslo of fab work including steering rack, bulk head and front body parts...theres also the brake booster and pedals is to be concern.

 

with R1...i dont see it needed much of that fab work.

cept the frame kit is more expensive.

[Baldspeed Racing]

The R1 kit is a straight bolt on unit so nowt needs to be done to the shell or other

[roofless]

the only modification to the shell for a pro-motive install is the addition of a hole on the drivers side inner wing to allow airflow as the radiator swaps sides in the engine bay.

 

They can be used as dailies... I did for 2 months, Alex Cross did for longer than that I seem to remember, and one of the guys did run around in the demo car for quite a while.

 

as a long term daily drive noise may become an issue, and the fact that its solid mounted all around could become a pain in the ass. Clutch control can be an issue as can heat if you're regularly in slow moving or rush hour traffic for extended periods

 

brakes wise Id assume youd upgrade to something sensible for brakes and a servo is highly recommended ( you can take a very good vacuum feed off the throttle bodies on the injected 5PW engine )

 

a while back I did a cost summary for a pro-mo conversion with everything taken into consideration, and bottom lined at around £6500.00.

[Harrison541]

Has the low sump clearance from the ProMotive kits ever been an issue for anyone?

It seems to get mentioned a lot as one of the negative points for Promotive but I've never read of anyone actually scraping or damaging it.

[roofless]

Ive never had a problem with the sump, and I cant remember anyone I know who owns one discussing it ?