I just picked up IU's old SAE baja buggy. The stock Briggs 10hp isn't gonna cut it for me so what should I put in it?

I just picked up IU's old SAE baja buggy. The stock Briggs 10hp isn't gonna cut it for me so what should I put in it?

Coworker has a kawi 440 snowmobile motor I'm thinking about.

Also dune buggy thread.

572 HEMI

go on Craigslist and get a beat up parts motorcycle that runs and boom instant 30-50+hp 5/6 speed package for maybe $100. Bonus if it's electric start. Hardest part would be adapting the driven sprocket but I'm sure a machine shop can whip you up one for $50 or so. Then you just need to shorten the chain with a $10 chain breaker and figure out a fuel and battery setup. Battery can just be bungee strapped somewhere and you can use a 5 gallon plastic fuel can with a small hole drilled in the top with a fuel line going inside and a $10 electric pump. then it's just mounting the engine and running the cables and you're golden

Rolls-Royce Merlin.

1000cc bike engine

just get wrecked bike.

can't guarantee your safety or even survival but you'll be fast as fuck before the end

judging by the jackshaft and swingarm pivot location your best bet might be the snowmobile motor with a cvt -> chain reduction to jack shaft. You could also modify the 10hp briggs 305 motor or even use the briggs v-twin. If youre sticking with briggs power with the 1" x 1/4" keyed shaft its probably easiest to run a comet 790, or a cvtech depending on what gearing youre able to come up with.

if youre willing to get inventive i would put a 450 dirt bike motor in it. 450's are cheap, but youll need to be inventive with the jack shaft
good luck. I built 3.5 generations of baja SAE cars at UNLV. My favorite was our 6spd manual car with a swingarm suspension like the one you pictured. youre going to want to get some longer 6-8" stroke shocks in the rear like what you have in the front though. those tiny mtb shocks wont handle the heat of trying to dampen something over 300lbs heavier than a mtb

pic is the long travel front end with custom 10" stroke internal bypass shocks on the last car i worked on. that was my wife's (then gf's) project on the car

That's what I've been doing. I liked the kawi idea cause it's next to free, but I want something e-start and efi. Sad thing is that all the bikes that are running and trashed from slides are way too big.

I can't see this 200lb frame putting down 100+ hp in anyway that isn't a wheelie

so add wheelie bars

btw the swingarm will probably crack. i can tell you this from experience. ours required welding after every race. at least its way simpler than irs + sway bar tho

I don't have the briggs that was stock to this and for the trouble I figured I'd go with something bigger, I figured I can probably get away with 30-50 hp. Dirt bike motors had passed through my mind, but are scarce on the local craigslist.

I wasn't impressed with the rear shocks size or travel, but everyone is fascinated by the word fox on them. I'll address that once its running, but thank you for the pointers.

I'm not the first owner of this post IU and so far the rear end looks to be holding up. I'll source atv it came from and maybe pick up some spares.

the swingarm is probably custom. they like to crack near the weld joint on the cross lateral tube. it's in torsion and acts as a fuckhueg sway bar, so unless its 4130 thats been quenched and tempered to ~25-32 HRC it will probably crack after a lot of use. you just keep welding that shit up though and ignore it until it pops up again.

will do.

Factor in your 300 lb ass.

>What should I put in it?
A lawnmower engine.

Smallest turbo you can find

>way too big
get a welder and grinder nigga

I meant power wise, bike engine's are all pretty doable dimensionally.

take it easy on the takeoff then
alternatively, get an atv. comes with engine package as well as drive sprocket and axle

Big vtwin engine like a TL1000 or derivative.
Instant torque from idle and linear delivery.