I unloaded the first part of the new buggy last night.



That's all for now, but more will soon come.

The love you have for jamming big a** engines into dune buggys.
What frame do you have for this one?

Someone wants to trade my GK13 for his GK03 and some cash and I'm thinking about doing it. But what I would really love to get is this a beat up GK34 that's in Clovis, NM....the guy thinks it's worth $7,000 and it doesn't run (based on the fact that someone bought it new for $13,000 in 2009). He texts me periodically offering it for less each time...if you can drop down to $2000 by next weekend I'll go get the thing.

If not then it's looking like a B12-powered GK03. Man I would like to do that 4-seater, though.

looks almost too good to tear it down..

Trust me it's her good side. However, a few years ago, I would have pieced her back together and sold her for profit. Now, though, I really want that B12 lump and I won't get another chance at a low miles, ready to go motor.

Looking forward to this! I have an 06 SV with a Katana 600 motor. I have to tune the carbs and fix the shift linkage, should be running soon. A bandit 1200 should bolt right in if I feel I need more power.

tomorrow...possibly...

Saweeet! That should be awesome! Chop chop!

Have you ever worked for Joyner?

i would rather have the looks like a gmc brigadier with the gin poles.i could pick up and tear poop around here
nice pictures

I'll ask him if it's for sale lol

thats ok just to far for me to drive it home

No, but I did buy it from the sales manager at Joyner USA.

So I got this thing...



First impression is WOAH! It most certainly doesn't not have anywhere near the power of the vifferbuggy lol. But, despite that, it actually does get up and move pretty good. I certainly didn't spend any time thinking "if only it were faster". I wish it would accelerate a little better but eh.

So, surprises:



It actually has the fuel injected triple. It's a bit peppier than I thought, but this motor is a leaky mofo. Also has a less than ideal ring or valve somewhere because it smokes pretty good on start up. The PCV was pinched off and that could have cause "some" of it but I don't think it could account for all the smoke I saw. It cleared up after I let her idle thoroughly. Still leaks a lot...looks like from the head area, definitely from the base gasket, and saw some oil bubbling around an assortment of bolts.



Tires are practically new!



The practically new tires and wheels are too wide and rubbed the shocks so they moved the lower mounts over...which causes them to bind up on heavy compression.



Seats are rubbish.



I just...don't know. Tangled, bone dry...took me an hour to get it all out, lubed, and spooled back up properly. Or as properly as it would let me do it since it was creased in places. I'm going to have to go find a tree and use it to drag the buggy up to pull some of the creases out. Even then the cable will never be the same. It works, though. I might just buy a new cable.

Now...The real surprise...

Contrary to what I was told, the tranny input shaft is on the left side of the buggy...and it spins clockwise looking at it. This simplifies mating the B12 engine to it so much. The buggy cost me more than I was expecting so I thought I would have to put the B12 swap off until the fall, probably...but I don't think so now. At the time I believed the transmission to be reversed, which would mean I would need to drive it via shaft extensions with the motor backwards and a chain. That's not the way it will need to be.

I'm going to get a blown clutch plate for one of the engines and a beat front sprocket for the B12. I'll have both turned down and fitted to a stainless sleeve...the whole thing will be 4" long...one end goes in the tranny bell, one end on the B12 output shaft, and the there's my connection. I'll use the B12 clutch and the Cherry 4 speed tranny. The B12 will be left in 3rd gear (1:1 ratio) unless I feel I need to go really really fast or need to tractor over a mountain or something.

All I'll need are new motor mounts...which really is an undertaking in itself, but I was going to have to do that anyway. This will be much, much cheaper than trying to find a B13 to stick in it.

Great idea mating the engine to existing trans. Keep in mind the input shaft of the trans uses the pilot bushing for support. So its gonna be crucial that the output of the bandit is perfectly centered and doesn't flex. you'll probaby be safest to build a flange to focus on mating the bike motor to the trans before worring about engine mounts. Once you have the engine mated to the trans it ought to be pretty easy mount engine and trans!

Defenatly need an extra shifter for the bike motor. Sequential gearbox is much more fun to shift! Plus you will have like 24 forward gears and 6 reverse! Be freakin awesome! Can't wait to see:)

Before today I've never looked at an input shaft and yeah...one bearing in the middle. I'm going to have to be really close to center. I'm thinking a plate on the bell mount with a bearing mounted center to support it. I guess really until I have both the engine and the tranny side by side I'm not sure at all how I'll make that connection.

Street shoes..

I just went out and toted the kids about the neighborhood and I'm not sure I want to drop my B12 engine in it. This thing is by no means fast, but it's not slow. I think I definitely want more than 40hp, but I think I'm losing interest in altering the entire powertrain. Probably unreasonable to expect to find a decent turbo swift to swap in, but I bet I can find a 1000cc metro engine to run and I bet that would be power enough. I think I'm going to start looking into that as an option far more seriously.

Anyone know if the same EFI would work with the 1000cc 3-cylinder? Maybe I could just buy a block and slap it all together...hmmm....

Swift and Metro use a Suzuki G series engine. You also need the matching transmission for that block.

Do the G engines share the same motor mounts? I'm considering buying a Metro to use as a donor...I'd like to be able to just swap the stuff over. If I'm going to have to fabricate everything anyway I may as well just figure out my B12 motor.