> From:    Greg Potts <greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
> Date:    Thu, 3 May 2007 12:32:58 -0400
>
> A V-4 100cc engine from a 1985 Honda Magna or Sabre would be
> excellent.... it produces a nice flat powerband and has more torque
> available than any baywindow engine. If I were installing one I would
> use a chain or belt to connect the transmission's input shaft to the
> bike's crank, that way you could double the available torque through
> 2:1 gearing.

I don't think you can buy a belt that will survive Vanagon-moving levels
of power for a long period of time.  (At work, it's hard to keep a
toothed belt between the 25 hp motor and transmission of a vehicle that
weighs about two-thirds of what a Vanagon does.)  A chain might work, but
it might last better if it was enclosed and running in oil, instead of
open like on a motorcycle.

Hopefully the bike engine turns the "wrong" way - that might make it
easy to use 2:1 reduction gears without an additional idler gear.  Or,
maybe you can do something simple to a Vanagon transmission to make it
go the other way - like flipping the ring gear around back in splitty
days.

Matt Roberds