What would you do with a blank slate 1971 Honda 600?

[Swagger]

NOT MY CAR

So this weekend I was given a 71 honda 600 roller. It's missing the engine and enough small bits that's I'm really not motivated at all to even consider the foolishness of restoring this thing. for those unfamiliar with them, the 600s originally came with a 600cc air cooled vertical twin that chain with chain drive.

Since I'm not considering THAT stupidity, it opens the door for a different brand of...stupidity!

So here's my thoughts; I've got a pretty solid low miles '01 cbrXX1100 blackbird engine sitting in the back room and this silly little pretend car plopped in my lap so to speak....
(I bet you can see where I'm headed here)

Yeah....that kinda stupid. Having done a fair amount of oddball fabrication over the years I'm really tempted to go a little nuts. Having said that....what would you (fellow) nut-jobs do with it?

 

[m357.5]

All I'm wondering is......what are you waiting for ;D XX that thing pronto my man.

 

[mysta2]

Sweet!!

I've wanted one of those since ten years ago when I saw one parked outside a bar by the Portland airport, the roof had been cut off and the doors were welded shut... I'd do that!

...I'd also paint it championship white, black out the interior, add a couple of bright red Recaros, slap a set of these:

on it, drop a B series into it out of a GSR or something.

and drive it to work every morning with a big stupid grin on my face.

 

[Garage Guerrilla]

NOT MY CAR

So this weekend I was given a 71 honda 600 roller. It's missing the engine and enough small bits that's I'm really not motivated at all to even consider the foolishness of restoring this thing. for those unfamiliar with them, the 600s originally came with a 600cc air cooled vertical twin that chain with chain drive.

Since I'm not considering THAT stupidity, it opens the door for a different brand of...stupidity!

So here's my thoughts; I've got a pretty solid low miles '01 cbrXX1100 blackbird engine sitting in the back room and this silly little pretend car plopped in my lap so to speak....
(I bet you can see where I'm headed here)

Yeah....that kinda stupid. Having done a fair amount of oddball fabrication over the years I'm really tempted to go a little nuts. Having said that....what would you (fellow) nut-jobs do with it?

Absolutely! Do it to it!! ;D

 

[Tim]

Slap a turbo on it while you're in there, and some NOS.

 

[Flugtechnik]

That would be awesome! If you're gonna do that though, you will probably need some bigger tires........

Like these.....

 

[Swagger]

Looking through my list of 'stuff' in storage (documentation is your friend!) and I think I have a rough plan.....

Blackbird motor: I've got it, including the EFI, harnesses etc. It's a very strong engine, this one's got 5xxx miles before the bike got hit, it's barely broken in and I know the kat the owned it first.

I've got a sealed, Torsen differential from an old autocross car I was building.....wouldn't been too awfully hard to mate a 630 chain sprocket to it and run some seal bearings, then it can be hung from frame members but left open for maintenance and gawking. I can build axles that'll run the GM inner CV joints and mate that to whatever outter........

I'm thinking bolt in subframes for the engine and suspension. Welded tube structures, spherical rod ends on tubular A-arms, inboard discs in back, 11" wilwoods all around with dynalite single piston calipers.

I haven't seen the 'car' yet so obviously that'll have to happen before i know if it's something I even want to pursue......but one never knows....

 

[sebatron]

sounds like you already know exactly what to do 8)
i'd given thought to dropping a zx12 or busa motor into the back of my old '73 mini, what stopped me was (apart from it being a pretty dumb idea) the complete and utter lack of a reverse gear, and trying to get a functional reverse set up so i could street the thing.

if you're going to go ahead with it, check out how people have previously hooked up automotive start motors to the differential for a reverse.
it'd be weird, having to put the motor into neutral then pushing a button to effectively throttle your reverse, but hey, it's part of the charm

 

[Flugtechnik]

it'd be weird, having to put the motor into neutral then pushing a button to effectively throttle your reverse, but hey, it's part of the charm

Or something like this..... ;D

 

[Swagger]

HAHAHA!! Just a trap door in the floor! Genius!

Well, I've got ideas that's for certain, just wondered what others would do given the chance.
As for reverse, that's easy as well. Since there'll be a short chain run from the transmission to the diff, I can add a jackshaft and one-way bearing carrier for a small motor. A starter motor is a good place to begin because they have beefy mounting flanges already in place.

This is purely mental masturbation at this point but fun to think on...

I've also considered all wheel drive as an option since I'd be fabrication so much. A couple subaru difs for and after with an enclosed driveshaft, again chain drive from the trans output to the drive shaft and off we go. For this to owrk well it'd need a third differential between the front and rear drive units but again.....fabrication is simply taking metal away from one part and adding it to another until they do what you wish.

 

[sebatron]

i think you may be overcomplicating it.
if you're doing AWD, do twin motor

 

[cafe kid]

There is a video on you tube where they mated a 1400cc to a Smart car. I imagine it would be similar!

 

[mysta2]

i think you may be overcomplicating it.
if you're doing AWD, do twin motor

There's your reverse right there! Like James Mays AlfaRomaab ;D

 

[sebatron]

haha not what i meant but hilarious all the same.

imagine the 4wd skid you could pull if theyre going in opposing direction... could see some interesting gyroscopic rotation.

DO IT!

 

[Swagger]

I knew I could count on you lot for some good planning.....hehehehe!

Got a chance to take a look at my newest piece of shi...I mean project.......

I won't be touching it until probably next winter but it's got potential. May do the AWD thing.
What the hell...it'd be the only one EVER!

 

[boomshakalaka]

sorry I dont know anything about these things.. is the option FWD or AWD? Because if thats the case, its certainly worth the extra work for the awd imo.

 

[JRK5892]

personally i would drop a Vtech honda civic motor in it, that sucker would SCREAM... awesome ride to work on, make a sleeper man

 

[boomshakalaka]

personally i would drop a Vtech honda civic motor in it, that sucker would SCREAM... awesome ride to work on, make a sleeper man

I love sleepers, but this thing is going to need more rubber on the ground, meaning flared fenders. With the scream from the engine and the widebody stance, there probably wont be much "sleeper" about this one!

 

[Swagger]

If you've ever seen one, they're pretty much a slipper with a motorcycle engine and a couple egg crates for seats. This "car" came from Japan in the era when their cars were not particularly suited for use on US roads...well...really any roads. The basic structure is just not all that burly, it was powered by twin cylinder 600cc aircooled MC engine making a throbbing 22hp IIRC.

not inspiring

Since the shell is there and more or less in tact (still haven't actually seen it though the title and papers came yesterday) and apparently the doors/latches etc are functional the rest will be left to fabrication.

When (or if) I do get around to building something I think I'll stick to M/C power to preserve the gokart feel of it. I thought about various car motors but they are pretty ungainly in comparison to the Blackbird engine I already have. It makes 160-ish HP and 90ftlb as is and weighs around 225lb, the car engine and trans combo makes what...200hp and weighs closer to 400lb combined? Biggest issue would be the sheer size of the automotive setup. Though absolutely bullet proof in a sub-800pound rig, it'd just be too big. 200hp is easily attainable with the 1100xx lump, I could see more than that with a fairly simple turbo setup running 4-5psi and be able to enjoy 10000rpm symphonies etc etc. Add to that, I think an sequential shifter in a car would be cool!

Letting thoughts run wild this morning waiting for the truck to get here I fall back tho thinking how cool it'd be to run AWD in this. Fabricating a frame and suspension to suit would be aformidable task, but not outside the realm of possibility. A couple subaru legacy rear differentials with a central drive shaft set (offset to suit motor) between them. The front would need to rotate in reverse of it's intended use, but in combination with the light weight of the final product and the shared loading, the reversed ring and pinion would still be plenty strong. A 1/1 gear cluster and a one way bearing set would allow the proper rotation needed for all four wheels to be going the right direction plus the one-way bearing would allow the drive to disengage when off the loud pedal. So...under power it's AWD, with all that spiffy traction. Off the gas however it would act like a RWD car with all the ability to turn in with less inherent 'push' that high power to weight ration AWD cars suffer from. I got to fart around with a 'decommissioned' WRC Subaru a couple years back that had that setup. Worked good.

So that's the pipe-dream thus far. The reality is that it'll probably sit in storage for a while before I even get close to having time/funds to throw at it.....

 

[charlesskelter]

What I would do:

Use the engine you already have sitting around
Flare the fenders about an inch
Drop it to about 3" ground clearance
Get some low offset wide 14x6" front,14x8" rear rims with super sticky tires stretched to fit the rubber just inside the flares

Drive the hell out of it