So I have been thinking about this for a while and think I am ready to get started in this project.

I am going to take an older motorcycle that I can buy without an engine, and then find a diesel motor to put in it. I am not real concerned with speed, but with the right gearing I think a 18-20hp genset diesel motor that has a horizontal shaft would be a great starter motor for my project.

hopefully in a year or 2 I will have this sucker on the road...

 

Sounds like a fun project. I have been watching the development of the military KLRs with diesel engines. Diesel motorcycles are one of the next big developments in the "automotive" world.
There are a few engines that come to mind for a home project. If it's water cooled then Yanmar and Kubota small engines might work but it seems the small ones don't have turbos and are generally heavier than necessary for a bike. If it's air cooled I don't know of any unless Deutz makes a small one. I did see a diesel cement mixer the other day with a nice air cooled on it. Also there are diesel aircraft engines that would probably be really expensive but light and powerful. A Horizontal cylinder would be nice to help dampen the heavy power pulses, sort of like an old Harley Sprint or Honda 90 design.

What will you do for a tranny and clutch?


John

 

i would like to find an old bike that still has a belt or chain drive tranny with it. i could adapt those to work. only time will tell what i come up with

 

an r series bmw would work great.they use a dry clutch and run a shaft drive.plus the engine would set front to back.whereas if you use a harley the engine will set in sideways.so if it's anything over a single cyl it's gonna stick out to the sides.

 

There are a couple diesel bikes in the news these days. The military KLR650 and a 450lb 1200cc 3cyl TD sportbike from star twin that can develop something like 120hp. There are probably others out there by now.
Imagine running veggie oil on a KLR, hahahaha..

 

Not necessarily...there are several hundred thousand inline 4 gassers sittin' sideways in sport bikes out there right now...even a few 6's...

There are several choices: Ferguson (UK) Briggs & Stratton has a 3 cylinder and so does Perkins...this is gonna be a cool project...besides BMW, Moto Guzzi several of the Jap bikes have shaft drive too, at a really reasonable price used!

 

There is a single cylinder Lombardini and a three cylinder Lombardini used by Alkota on pressure washers. The single is rated 10hp and the triple is like 26.5.

Neither is turbo but I think the triple COULD be made so.

Booger is HEAVY however!

 

Like this?

 

man that is one pimp oil filter...haha

 

been looking into the same thing for a while. Check this out, lots of good info
http://www.dieselbike.net/

 

yeah, i was thinking doing something along the lines of the "andrew's bike build" near the bottom of the page.

 

I had the same idea as well... now I think I'm going to fab a frame to suit the engine once I finish up some design classes

 

www.dieselmotorcycle.com

 

Wonder what tires you'd need under a CTD bike?

- imagine what a windscreen the CAC would make...

 

That was done on an even bigger scale on Monster garage - they used a heavy duty motor! Jesse originally wanted to make it a bike but it turned out to be impossible, so they made it a trike. Pretty burly trike!!!