Hi, I'm new here to the forum. However I have a growing interest in minimalist economy cars and electric vehicles. In fact I recently picked up a nice little Honda GL500 Silverwing for $50 that I'm planning on converting into a electric cafe racer over the winter. Don't worry I'll be posting a build thread on here and endless spear more than likely. As I am still learning and will likely have a lot of question when the time comes.
However that left me with a question. What to do with a nice 500cc motorcycle engine with a lot of life left in it? A local junkyard has an old RWD Toyota corolla coup for around $500. I can't recall off the top of my head, but I'd like to say it's a 4th gen corolla, but don't quote me.
So I was thinking about buying it and swapping the GL500 engine in. Then strip the interior of all unnecessary equipment to reduce weight as much as possible. The bike engine is a longitudinally oriented, shaft driven, and is supposed to produce 48 horsepower stock. So the engine, hypothetically speaking, should fit with relative ease and could be as simple as making engine mounts and an adapter for the drive shaft. However I am concerned about the extra weight of the drive train. Let alone the extra 1400lbs overall. Not having a reverse gear would also suck, however I live in an area where I could get away with it.
What do you guy's think? Do you think I can improve the fuel economy with this swap over a stock toyota corolla? Or am I being a bit crazy?
Thank you for your time
