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PostPosted: November 29, 2020, 9:43 pm 
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Joined: April 27, 2014, 11:12 pm
Posts: 12
Hello all.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving long weekend.

Although I have my Harley powered car project ahead of me, I'm also looking at items for my next, next project, a slow speed rock crawler of sorts. It will be a 2+2 seater on the small width side. I just picked up a pair of Suzuki Samurai axles with the divorced transfer case. Divorced means not attached to the transmission and uses a short shaft with u-joints between them.

With the divorced transfer case, that leaves me with a ton, I hope, of engine/trans combinations. I need to stay below 2.L, preferably around 1.8L. An aluminium block and head would be nice to keep the weight down. I also want to have an automatic transmission making it a bit easier to slow speed over logs/rocks etc. I also would like it to be old school simple to wire up, no FI, only carb and standard distributor ignition.

I'll be running around a 32" tall tire. I'll have 5.38:1 gears in the differentials and more than likely a 4.9:1 transfer case low range gear reduction. This will NOT be a speed demon.

I was thinking Chevy Chevette 1.6L with an automatic. I think they ran the old TH-200 in them, not sure if the later bell housings bolt pattern is the same. But they're all cast iron and not that readily available locally. Also thought about a very early Subaru flat four, but it would need to be adaptable to a standard rear wheel drive automatic transmission. I some checking and they make tons of different adapters for Subaru to VW transaxles, but couldn't find a reference to a Ford or GM trans bolt pattern adapter.

So what would be a "good" engine/auto trans combo for me to look for? Again it can't be made of unobtanium... :)

FORGOT TO MENTION.

This will be a scratch build, so engine compartment is not an issue.

Any thoughts or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great week, Dan!

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1976 FLH Electra Glide
2009 FLTRSE3 Road Glide
Boardtrack Racer Project Bike
Morgan Three Wheeler Project

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PostPosted: November 30, 2020, 1:23 pm 
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Joined: February 8, 2014, 10:47 pm
Posts: 781
Location: Cornelius OR
You had me until you said no EFI.

EFI won't flood out on it's side, nose, or tail.

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PostPosted: December 1, 2020, 2:07 pm 
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Joined: April 27, 2014, 11:12 pm
Posts: 12
Bent Wrench wrote:
You had me until you said no EFI.

EFI won't flood out on it's side, nose, or tail.


Okay, I'm old school and I know that LOTS of EFI setups are easy to use as standalone systems. I also have read quite a bit about off road buggies running propane and that too would be good at all angles.

So IF I added back in EFI is okay, I think my options go wildly up.

The Miata 1.6L with an automatic could be an option for me. My transfer case is a divorced unit so it just has a short drive shaft as an input and does NOT bolt directly to the tail housing of any particular transmission type.

Not being familiar with Miatas other than I do have an '06 Miata 5-speed trans for my Harley powered car project, do they have standalone wiring harnesses or aftermarket controllers for the EFI?

Thanks!

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Dan

1976 FLH Electra Glide
2009 FLTRSE3 Road Glide
Boardtrack Racer Project Bike
Morgan Three Wheeler Project

Picture Trail Photo Albums
http://www.picturetrail.com/Dan_Lockwood


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PostPosted: December 2, 2020, 12:24 pm 
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Joined: April 26, 2008, 6:06 pm
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Location: Under the weather. (Seattle)
In addition to people running the factory 1.6/1.8 Miata ECU's, there are multiple aftermarket ECU's that have been used. I believe MegaSquirt even has a PnP (plug and play) setup available.

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PostPosted: December 2, 2020, 1:23 pm 
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Joined: February 8, 2014, 10:47 pm
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Location: Cornelius OR
I think you want a long stroke small bore motor for the torques.

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PostPosted: December 18, 2020, 2:13 pm 
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Joined: February 20, 2014, 12:36 pm
Posts: 26
Location: Cntl Coast, CA
Bent Wrench wrote:
I think you want a long stroke small bore motor for the torques.


Kinda like a 1.6 suzuki engine...


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