Extreme engine swapping, and hp talk

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:22 pm

i like the old 250 ninjas, the ones with the boxy styling. i really hope to find one someday.

steffen707 · Post by **steffen707** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:26 pm

Dac, you can find those often on ebay and craigslist. Finding one near you for the right price might take a while.

SprEE*MP* · Post by SprEE*MP* » Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:52 pm

eh, close to 4000 aint bad....here in canada they are 4500.....thats an ad price...so closer to 5000 after all the added on dealer s***

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:12 pm

steffen707 wrote:Dac, you can find those often on ebay and craigslist. Finding one near you for the right price might take a while.

while, with my current income ($0 a month)(until next job comes though) even if i had the cash to get one, i wouldn't be able to get my motorcycle legal/insurance.

There was a local Honda 250 (hondas version of the ninja) for $800 i was wanting to pick up. But im just to low on cash right now. Maybe in a few years ill find what im looking for. Until then i can live with mopeds/scooters.

steffen707 · Post by **steffen707** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:43 pm

I didn't know honda had a 250cc version of a sportbike. What model?

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:08 am

steffen707 wrote:I didn't know honda had a 250cc version of a sportbike. What model?

not a clue. it was on craigslist a few months ago.

All it said was it was a Honda 250 and it was a blue/black sports bike. I believe it was a 92 but im not 100% sure.
I tried to google it but all i found was honda 250 dirtbikes.

steffen707 · Post by **steffen707** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:24 am

Okay, so I was on ebay and I found this auction for some knockoff chineese scooter. Brand new for $750.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Powerspo ... 240%3A1318

I understand that the engine and trans are probably junk, but the frame is probably solid, it won't have any scratches on it cuz its new, even has a front ABS disc brake.

What I'm wondering is what's stopping a guy from buying one of these cheap scooters, and swapping in an elite powerplant and trans? What do you guys think would be the negatives to this?

Positives I see are, brand new body, abs front disc, motorcycle style front fork. Negatives, lots of work, weighs 209 lbs.

ALOW1 · Post by **ALOW1** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:45 am

steffen707 wrote:
What do you guys think would be the negatives to this?

A close friend of mine owns a cheap imported scooter. The biggest thing that I hate about it is when I drive it down the street I can feel the frame on it flexing.

It scares the * out of me. The owner weighs about a buck n a quarter but I am around 270. When I ride it I always got to push the handle bars out of it because It feels to me like the frame is going to break.

I wouldn't trust the thing to do over 40 on it.

evilone · Post by **evilone** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:30 am

Yes they are heavy. The seating position i feel comfortable on the elite is where the chinese seat has that height transition. I'm sure not all seats are like this just the ones i've been on.

Wheelman-111 · Post by **Wheelman-111** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:44 am

Greetings:

The sportiest 250 Honda seen legally in the USA in recent years was the Nighthawk. AFAIK it's the same under-achieving single-carb 244cc 2-valve air-cooled twin as the Rebel. It produces something less than 20HP.

Europe and Japan, with their much larger markets for 250s, have much more competitive stuff from Honda and the other Big 3. Kawasaki is the only remaining player in the Hi-Po 250 market here. They've owned the go-fast division back to the 2-stroke triples of the '70s. My brother had one of those. Huge power. No brakes.

DJPhatman · Post by **DJPhatman** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:29 pm

I had a pair of H-1 Kawasaki's!! One was only "mildly" built, for street use, and the other was bored and stroked. Both started as 750cc, with the mild version coming in at around 820cc's and the B&S one coming in at over1000cc's. They were some scary, fast little bikes. They didn't have high top speed (110mph, maybe?) but they got there in a huge hurry!! My 1st encounter with the Kawasaki triple was a 350. Extremely light and nimble, and was bone stock. Out-accelerated any bigger bike, till 3rd gear. After hitting 4th, it took a long time to wind out. Top speed on that bike was around 85-90, but that was real hairy on a bike that light.

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:27 pm

i helped an old guy down the street build his, It was that same exact bike.

His bike was falling apart before it was even together. The plastics where very hard dry plastic, the kind that breaks the second you drop it. The tabs where breaking off as we where putting it together.
Next bike problem with that bike i seen was the front brakes. Yeah it was a disk brake setup, but the pads where trash. If it was my bike i would swap that out before anything.

Now, that was just that bike. My step dad has a Chines bike. Since i work on it with him like every other day, i know a fair bit about it. Its A over common chines 4 stroke. (50cc). Now since this is about the frame and body and not the motor, ill leave the motor problems out of this...

Frame- Huge *, heavy *, *. With the chines brands you get one of two things...
Brand A, who only makes 50cc bikes and wants to keep it lights. so they make a light * frame that bends and folds and isnt worth a s***.
Brand B, who makes 50cc and 150cc. Since these bikes are made on the cheap they dont want to make two different sets of frames. so the 50cc and 150cc have the same heavy * frame. (90% of the time)

Now my step dads bike has the heavy * frame. So the ride is slow, even with a tuned up motor.

This bike also fried the wiring within the first 500 miles. The remote start Completely failed and took out just about all the front wiring with it.
Even after rewiring everything, the sensors in the brake handles are $hitty, and the brake light dont work worth a $hit. The headlight also fell apart within the first 1000 miles. Dont get me wrong, i dont mean came loose, i mean fell apart when we where riding down the road. we had to stop and pick up the pieces.

Thats all i can remember off the top of my head, but IMO thats worth avoiding.

steffen707 · Post by **steffen707** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 1:07 am

WOW DAC! You made up my mind. If i'm gunna do motor swapping, better be with quality company frame and everything else.

Guess i'm naive and thought that you couldn't mess up a turn signal switch, or the wiring, but I believe you if you say cheap crap is cheap. My buddy had a Geely about 3 years ago. All I remembered is that it was slower on take off than my spree, and would beat me top end after about 4 blocks. I don't think he owned it long enough for stuff to just start falling off the bike though.

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:40 pm

We tuned this one up some. Some ebay 85cc kit, Jetted, air filter, drilled pipe.
The thing is still a POS. Besides the fact that it blows a belt every 1000 miles or so, it is a strong runner. its just slow as *. Even tuned up it hardly hits 50mph and really drags it feet getting to speed.

losthope · Post by **losthope** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:55 pm

here you go!

Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Extreme engine swapping, and hp talk

Quarter-Liter Quandary