John, I noticed a lot of discussion about drivetrains. Have you considered finding a Saab Sonnet? it's a V4 and transaxle that can be dropped right into a mid engine chassis. It has the benefit of being available cheap (although you have to search a while to find them, but I do see them occasionally very cheap) and they are more period correct to the car.
DLD
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Just found this build thread, and man is that thing beautiful. Sorry to hear about your health concerns. Are you having to abandon the project? or just not do the physical work?
There's been lots of discussion about drivetrains, and I like how wide open you are keeping it. Just from my personal experience another other possibilities.
any vw bus trans can be easily made to work mid engine. So can a porsche 915.
What kind of weight are you thinking this will be? In the original post you said it raced at 1100ish. That's crazy light. My old 850 was way way smaller body than this is, (6.8 inches smaller wheelbase, 6 inches narrower) and I could only get it down to 1350
If you want cheap horsepower, you can get ej20 subaru JDM engines for around $600. If you get the twin turbo, they were good stock for either 247 hp or 260hp. Either keep the subaru 5 speed and do whatever the 818 guys do to take out the rear drive or get a vw or porsche 915 for mid engine applications. A microsquirt can run it in wasted spark configuration and in a car this light it becomes a religious experience when the boost comes in.
tygaboy, A small transfer case with double row chain should handle the torque just fine, and wouldn't be too difficult to fabricate. The ST engine would be wicked awesome in that car!
Sorry to enter the conversation so late. Were any bodies pulled from the molds?
Man, I love the looks of the SP1000. Unfortunately it was too much of a project for me to take on. I sold the molds to a gentleman on the west coast. If my memory and spelling are correct his name is Choate Berkely. (Sorry if I messed up your name!) The last I hear the molds were being refurbished and the plan was to offer them for sale.
I'm actually feeling better lately and have been working a couple of car projects when I can.
Good to hear you're feeling better.
If you can, send the buyer a note about this thread and hopefully he'll send us some updates.
Just a thought on engines....... there are people building V-12s from LS1 V-8s. That would suggest that one might be able to make an LS1 based V-4.
In reply to DeadSkunk:
I'm sure anything is possible... but I'm not as sure about spending that sort of money just to build a V4. Especially since one would still have to figure out a transaxle and whatnot to go with it.
With the car being as light as it should be, it's hard to argue against a larger (1000-1300) I4 MC engine/trans combined with a reversing splitter.
DeadSkunk wrote: Just a thought on engines....... there are people building V-12s from LS1 V-8s. That would suggest that one might be able to make an LS1 based V-4.
the same guy who made the v12 LS1 is also working on a V4
In reply to edizzle89:
Neat, that should be able to be used with a Subaru transmission without it exploding. I would be interested in a 2.4l or 2.7l that makes 200hp+
Ian F wrote: Good to hear you're feeling better. If you can, send the buyer a note about this thread and hopefully he'll send us some updates.
He's an active poster on the board.... Don't want to out him if he's keeping it seceret for some reason, but pay close attention and you'll see him.
I can't believe I am saying this but....
I understand the difficulty associated with a transaxle engine setup but IF you were willing to go through the trouble of finding a reasonable donor modern 500 Abarth...that would be cool. God knows it would sound the buisness
Flight Service wrote: In reply to edizzle89:You mean the Motus?
You beat me to it! Motus is based in Birmingham, I've gone to an open house down there and got to talk to the engineer; so cool.
I think we discussed the Motus earlier in this thread (edit: yep - previous page, although it looks like more info has been added during the past year). I remember seeing it somewhere. Definitely a possible option. Plus, the intake horns poking out of the rear deck would look bad-ass. 
I saw the Motus sport touring bike at Barber quite a few years back.
To be honest, it's not a very good set-up. Too heavy (580 claimed with carbon fiber wheels?), too expensive, the warranty is too short for limited dealer network on an unknown motorcycle. How many bikes do they have at their dealers? (Hint: not many) You could buy a crashed VFR1200F and get about the same power with a higher, rev-i-er, known and reliable engine. Hell at the asking over $30k for the Motus bike, you could probably buy a new VFR1200F ($16k MSRP) entire bike for less money than a Motus engine.
I appreciate what they are trying to do and it is ambitious, but honestly, trying to bring a high-end sport touring bike to market, based on car engine tech isn't going to work. Especially at $30k+ a pop and limited dealer support.
They honestly brought nothing to market other than a bigger price tag and a made in America sticker.
V4 power curve? Get a honda VFR1200f/x, cheaper, more serviceable and has mucho support. Big power small package? Get a Hayabusa or ZX14R engine, cheaper, more power, more serviceable and has mucho support. Want to spend cubic dollars for the same performance, buy the Motus.
Just my two cents worth.
Just to show I am not USA bashing, the DeltaHawk is one of the most interesting engines I have seen in years.
Flight Service wrote: Just to show I am not USA bashing, the DeltaHawk is one of the most interesting engines I have seen in years.
Definitely a cool looking engine. 2-stroke diesel... damn... but the design seems so aircraft-specific, I'm not sure it would work well in automotive applications. A boat, however... that could have possibilities, since operating conditions (sustained, constant RPM) would be similar to an aircraft.
In reply to Ian F:
I agree the design does not lend itself to automotive applications, maybe military or truck, but the engine itself is very very cool.
Flight Service wrote: In reply to edizzle89:
although the motus looks very similar to a baby sized LS, besides the cam sprocket it shares nothing with the LS. The guys from Katech did say that the LS was an inspiration for there engine which is probably why it looks very similar but thats about it.
In reply to Flight Service:
Yep - rekindles pipe-dreams of building a barrel-back wooden boat. 
For the SP1000, I agree with sticking with a MC engine and then using that transaxle adapter to run it in the car. The inboard brakes on that are just so freakin' cool. As I mentioned a couple of years ago in this thread, my goal for a build like this would be lightness at #1; low budget would be #2 (or #3).
I need to get my shop built so that when whoever bought the molds is ready to sell them I'll be ready to get a set. 
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