My Yamaha SR250

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Tbird1983

Planning on doing loads of mods to the pickup, its ridiculous on fuel. Bike gets more than twice the mileage than the pickup truck.

IIRC the bakkie still uses that A-series engine originally designed by Austin, which clearly has some limitations of an older project. Would you ever consider an engine swap?

BTW what about the Diesel scene there in SA? I see lots of people there adapt Ford Essex V6 and a variety of V8 engines into nearly everything back there, but I don't find too many references of Diesel swaps (except for a Landcruiser 79 with a Cummins ISF2.8 replacing the 1HZ).

[Tbird1983]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

IIRC the bakkie still uses that A-series engine originally designed by Austin, which clearly has some limitations of an older project. Would you ever consider an engine swap?

BTW what about the Diesel scene there in SA? I see lots of people there adapt Ford Essex V6 and a variety of V8 engines into nearly everything back there, but I don't find too many references of Diesel swaps (except for a Landcruiser 79 with a Cummins ISF2.8 replacing the 1HZ).

I did consider an engine swop, possibly the Nissan SR20 engine as its easily available and has been done many times before.

The Ford Essex engine swops are from back in the 80s-90s. These days the majority is 1jz, 2jz and Lexus V8 swops into anything and everything LOL but more for performance than economy.

Older diesels are not popular here for some reason. Id love to find a diesel power plant that would fit but ive been advised against it on the Nissan 1400 as there are not many options available. Newer model cars with tdi engines are pretty popular but to get one of them to fit would require more work than its work unfortunately.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Tbird1983

Older diesels are not popular here for some reason.

Relatively cheap gasoline made out of coal by Sasol

Id love to find a diesel power plant that would fit but ive been advised against it on the Nissan 1400 as there are not many options available. Newer model cars with tdi engines are pretty popular but to get one of them to fit would require more work than its work unfortunately.

There are many engines between 1.7L to 2.5L that wouldn't be too hard to fit into the 1400. Even the 1.3L Fiat Multijet could get the job done if you would consider something with electronic injection, and IIRC it has already been used in at least one RWD application in India before the phaseout of new Chevrolet car sales there.

[Grant-53]

One option to improve the efficiency of the gas engine would be to increase the compression ratio to say 10.5:1 by planing the head, and porting intake and exhaust passages. Depending on the fuel available alcohol injection or some other means to reduce pre-ignition might be needed. A local machine shop could do this without pulling the engine.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

Depending on the fuel available alcohol injection or some other means to reduce pre-ignition might be needed.

If the OP settles on more extensive engine mods instead of the aerodynamic and riding style adjusts it would be quite tempting to try a Prius-ish emulation of the Atkinson cycle in order to avoid the need for either premium fuel or any supplemental injection. Even though I am favorable to warer/alcohol injection for special/high-performance applications, it may not be the most practical approach.

BTW it may be easy to do the tuning without removing the engine block in the motorcycle, but in the bakkie if the OP eventually decides to get a fuel efficiency-oriented cam regrind it wouldn't be so easy to do so without taking the engine out since it features an OHV engine.

[Tbird1983]

So after a long time of thinking about it, I finally decided to let my old faithful go to a new home.

Managed to find an almost brand new (its a 2009 model with 1100km on the clock, the guy bought it new for his daughter when she graduated high school, not long after she met a guy and lost interest in the bike so it just stood for the past 10 years ), its an Indian built Bajaj Pulsar 180cc with a claimed fuel consumption of 45km per litre of fuel. Comes from the same factory as the new small engine KTM bikes.

Link to specs:
https://www.bikesmedia.in/bajaj/pulsar-180-dtsi.html

Done some online research and apparently in India people get 40-60km/l consumption depending on speeds travelled as their roads are bad over there so 120km/h+ riding is not always possible. These bikes are built for durability of their harsh climate and roads and are very reliable from the reviews ive read online, some older models have 90 000+km on them and still drive perfectly.

Took delivery of the bike last night, it has a half tank of fuel which il ride out before filling up and testing the fuel economy for myself, I will be taking it easy until about 2500-3000km to make sure the engine is run in properly, it was serviced recently and the mechanic gave it a once over to make sure everything is still in decent shape after standing for 10 years but il give it an oil change at 3000km in any case.

But yea will definitely keep a log on here of how things go.

PS, the bike will be eco-modded to try up the fuel econ even more.

[bschloop]

As a general rule, stay away from Batwing fairings. Unless you want to go with full streamlining, a vintage style race fairing with an extended windshield, and a tapered tail trunk is the best thing for a small bike

[Tbird1983]

Originally Posted by bschloop

As a general rule, stay away from Batwing fairings. Unless you want to go with full streamlining, a vintage style race fairing with an extended windshield, and a tapered tail trunk is the best thing for a small bike

Thanks for the tip, the Yamaha was sold, new bike already has a fairing, will be looking to add a top box for better drag.

[Grant-53]

The biggest gain will likely be from a tail box that fits close to the rider's back. See sendler's box or the Yamaha Rifle fairing at craigvetter.com.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Tbird1983

Managed to find an almost brand new (its a 2009 model with 1100km on the clock, the guy bought it new for his daughter when she graduated high school, not long after she met a guy and lost interest in the bike so it just stood for the past 10 years ), its an Indian built Bajaj Pulsar 180cc with a claimed fuel consumption of 45km per litre of fuel. Comes from the same factory as the new small engine KTM bikes.

IIRC some Bajaj motorcycles are available in some export markets rebadged as Kawasaki too.