More brains than money. 
https://youtu.be/UsbfzmPCYX4
More brains than money.
https://youtu.be/UsbfzmPCYX4
did not need to see that...
I'll take two please.
I'd like to see more on the suspension set-up,especially using bike dampers in the front.
I think that it's great that Jay get's turned on by stuff like that. Although I could not stand to open my hood and see that rats nest of wires.
That thing is awesome!
Just watched it and found myself grinning the whole time. I think the best part of the whole thing was that it was 16 minutes long and about half that was him just winding through the gears and making that beautiful noise!
When I grow up I want to be Jay Leno.
-Rob
I need a car like that in my life.
At first I thought is was going to be f20 powered. When I heard it shift though... Nothin like bangin gears.
Makes me smile.
Kreb wrote: I think that it's great that Jay get's turned on by stuff like that. Although I could not stand to open my hood and see that rats nest of wires.
I agree. Guy has millions in cars and will gladly jump in a beatup looking old Honda for a joy ride.
I really want to have a bike engined car. This is awesome.
I wonder if he engineered in some sort of reverse gear, or if it just has the forward gears of the bike transmission.
In reply to stuart in mn:
Leno asked him, and he did say he used some sort of BMW gear case to add reverse but I didn't listen carefully.
From the looks I would say no reverse. The cheap ways of doing it are at the rear end and the expensive ways are half his overall budget.
I'm thinking no reverse. BMW rear end, Miata driveshafts, uprights and brakes. Sport bike shocks and springs. Nice.
My favorite part of the video was watching the owner's silly grin while Jay was driving. The dude nailed it and Jay approved of it.
I was listening but didn't hear mention of reverse. There was something about an adapter used to connect the motorcycle transmission to an output shaft. On the other hand it was pretty hard to hear any of the conversation over the exhaust noise. 
Grtechguy wrote:Kreb wrote: I think that it's great that Jay get's turned on by stuff like that. Although I could not stand to open my hood and see that rats nest of wires.I agree. Guy has millions in cars and will gladly jump in a beatup looking old Honda for a joy ride.
And it was pretty clear that Jay didn't want to get out of the car either.
He is a better fabricator than blogger for sure... but there are some pics of the car build here SuperfastMatt.com
He switched to Facebook so... I can't see his stuff.
singleslammer wrote: From the looks I would say no reverse. The cheap ways of doing it are at the rear end and the expensive ways are half his overall budget.
In a car that small and light I would just hook up a second hand brake lever to something like a freewheeling bike chain hub and any time you need to back up just pull the handle a couple times in neutral. Then never park nose-down in a parking spot. Haven't thought all the way through the directions of rotation on that idea yet, but nevertheless a route I would strongly consider.
In reply to rcutclif:
GM starter on the snout of the diff. I would add a fair amount of weight but should work pretty well.
Want to build that after the truck
I was just about to start looking for a Honda to do this to when they mentioned they weren't sold here...bummer
In reply to fiesta54:
It wouldn't be any less cool in a Fiat 124... just sayin'
Heck, put a Hayabusa in the back of a Datsun 1200 (~1600 lbs stock) and that still be pretty cool. Or a Smartcar(!), that's been done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgwzHJo3IXM
That said, having gotten a ride in a bike-powered Locost, I'd have to pass. For the track, absolutely, but for the street, not so much. There's a lot of "features" that come with a bike engine that in a street car, will quickly wear out the honeymoon.
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