The Plan:

To install two Suzuki Hayabusa 1300cc engines in the Fiero. They will be mounted longitudinally in the engine bay and will be connected together with drive chains. There will be a short driveshaft connecting the engines to a '95 E36 M3 3.15:1 LSD differential. Custom halfshafts with M3/Fiero ends will be fabricated.

The specs:

2550 lbs
mid engine/rear drive
6-speed sequential transmission
2.6L 8 cylinder
10,800 RPM
350 HP
210 TQ

For comparison an S2000 ('00-03) is a lightweight, small displacement, high revving, hight HP, low TQ vehicle.

2800 lbs
front engine/rear drive
6-speed manual transmission
2.0L 4 cylinder
9000 RPM
240 HP
153 TQ

10,800 RPM redline, 275/40/17 rear tires, 3.15:1 LSD diff

9000 RPM redline, 225/50/16 rear tires, 4.11:1 LSD diff

Notice that even though no specs are the same both cars have the same overall 1st gear ratio. Both cars will hit 53 MPH at 9000 RPM in 1st gear. Given the weight and power advantage the Fiero should be very quick.

The S2K has a peak of 136 WTQ at 6500 RPM while the Fiero will have 136 WTQ below 3000 RPM and a peak of 188 WTQ at 7500 RPM.

The S2k has a peak of <200 WHP at 8000 RPM while the Fiero will have >200 WHP from 6000 RPM and up with a peak of 300 WHP at 9500 RPM.

As you can see from the graphs the Fiero will be a rocket from ~40 to 160 MPH. Acceleration times will be based on how fast you can shift.

A side affect of the lighter weight engine/trans package, aside from the obvious power/weight ratio, is that the car will have a weight distribution very close to 50/50.

The cost will be ~$7500
5000 for both engines/transmissions
500 for M3 diff
2000 for fabrication and misc parts

Quick chop to get a preview of what the finished product will look like..

So, what do you think? Am I crazy? Will it ever run?

Stay tuned...

P.S. I found a pic of my Fiero in the Gallery under Mods. This was taken by John Rabenius (sp?) the previous owner. If you are a member here John, I am still enjoying the car.

Two transmissions, what happens if one goes into first and the other second?
What about reverse?
2 clutches?

Interesting idea, but how are you going to deal with these issues?

The transmissions are sequentially shifted so it will be much easier than shifting two H-pattern boxes. There will be two "Ls" upsidedown and back to back forming a "T" handle shifter. This will allow the transmissions to be shifted simultaneously but also allow them to be shifted independently should they become out of sync.

Reverse is not a high priority since this will not be a daily driver but I have thought about it. The current plan is to utilize a high torque starter (diesel truck?) that will mate with a ring gear on the short driveshaft between the left engine and the diff.

The Hayabusa is equipped with a hydralic clutche so I plan on fitting a distribution block in between the two clutches and the Fiero hydralic line. I will need to experiment with different master cylinder sizes but I think it is doable.

However I agree with the others when I say: That's a lot of moving parts. I'd also die without reverse - what would you do at a parking lot...push it back and hop in quickly?

Just some concerns you might address is that you will have very little low end torque to get the car moving. The clutches and indeed, the drivetrains in general were designed to support collectively 900lbs of bike not 2500lbs of car. Slipping the clutches to get it up into a good torque curve will only further facilitate wear. You might have already mentioned a solution above. I don't think you will have to many issues with your drive chain. You might consider using a chain from a transverse automatic transaxle however.

Also of interest would probably the the Tiger Z100 (also also UK project) - it's basically a Caterham/Lotus 7 chassis running twin Suzuki (GXSR -1000) engine/gearboxes. But they split the power front & rear (so shifting the gearboxes independently changes the front/rear bias of the power distribution). They also use the mentioned "split T" style shifter. Check 'em out: www.tigerracing.com

There are also discussions around the 'net of other cars (notably an Ultima GTR) being built utilizing a twin 'busa setup as well... it's definitely worth looking into (especially to see how others are mating the engines & drivetrains) -

I will have more torque pushing less weight with the same overall 1st gear ratio VS an S2000.

x2 = 1400 hp fiero!?

At the Goodwood festival of speed they ran the single engined megabusa and an ultima with two turbo charged Hyabusa engines. The single engined megabusa was quicker as the guy in the Ultima couldnt stop it from spinning most of the way up the climb!

The Hyabusa for the Radical SR3 was developed by a small company local to me. In the summer of 2003 they took it to the Nurburgring and broke the outright lap record by 13seconds.

They also designed and built a 325hp V8 using their own bottom end with Hyabusa heads weighing in at a whopping 134kg!!!!

Keep us posted.

Cheers
PK

I don't know how one trans and clutch would be able to handle the power of both engines when asked to move a car.

quote another option.. link them through a differential - and use dampened sprockets for the chains - should eliminate problems with them fighting eachother

Please elaborate on this. I can't picture what you are describing but it sounds interesting. Are you talking about adding a second differential between the two engines using the output shafts as input shafts and the input shaft as an output shaft? MAY be a possibility if I used a low numerical ratio diff (2.35 etc) between the engines and a higher numerical ratio diff (4.55 etc) for the final drive. Too bad I have NO space in the engine bay for this to be a feasible option

------------------
Phil T.

You definetly get a plus for creativity.!! Good work, and I can't want to hear how she runs....Or is that rides......

edit: I just relized what your username means! Thas cool as heck!! For those who don't know, ferrari names most of their cars like this..... 2.6 litre 8 cylinder, so you get 268 gt.....

Go! Go! We want video when you get it done, lots of video.

basicly but more of a custom job that does not use a ring and pinion - since its not necessary in this application - since they "should" be running at the same speed and not different once it could be an inline dry differential using the spyder gears out of a standard fwd differential.. it should only have the driveline loss caused by the chains themselves

if you are interested in persuing it then i can model something up in CAD for you (mechanical designer for a living) (come to think of it a small fwd diff could be modified to do the job)

Psst... did you notice the link for "Radical Extreme Sports Cars" noted above?

quote Originally posted by MinnGreenGT: definitely an ambitious & intriguing project - I know there's a company in the UK (Radical Extreme Sports Cars) actually building a small (2.6L?) V8 from two Hayabusa motors... they're intended for use in a spec race car and are expected to run approx 372hp. - also mentioned were a larger 3.0L version expected to produce over 500hp!!

http://www.maxsym.com/

V8 with Busa heads in the 'Projects' section

Single Engined Radical Nurburg record in the 'News' section.

If you need any info from them lemme know.

Cheers
PK

They are filled with LEDs, 100 in each C5 light and 30 in the upper brake light. I have had people actually complain that my brake loghts are too broght, LOL.

Interesting idea with the overrun clutches, I will look into that.