Hello from ckhenshaw4

[ckhenshaw4]

Hi, my name is Curt, and I live in Wayland, MI. I have been lurking around here for a while, and I am looking at building a Diesel Motorcycle. Everything we drive is diesel. My 2000 VW Jetta TDI, my wifes 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a Mercedes Diesel, and my 1998 Dodge with a Cummins, not to mention my Kubota BX2200 Tractor. I am also in the process of swapping an Isuzu 4BD1T turbo Diesel into my 2000 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab 4x4 pickup. So you can see that I LOVE diesel engines, and now it is time for a Diesel Bike.
A friend of mine is a "wheeler, dealer" in motorcycles, so he is going to get me a "FREE" donor bike for the project. Looking at making it just a everyday back and forth to work type of bike. So I was looking at going with a 10HP Yanmar knock off Diesel engine with a CVT transmission.
Any suggestions would be appreciated (best donor bike to look for etc....)
Hope to here from ya'll soon.
Curt.

[Stuart]

Welcome Curt Remember the 'buy cheap, buy twice' saying when it comes to those Chinese engines. Always better if you can start with an established make. If you are aiming to build a parallel twin then you don't want one with both pistons going up & down together as this will cause a lot of vibes.
Hope that helps some!

[pietenpol2002]

Welcome Curt. Great to have you on the board. Stuart is absolutely right in that the Yanmar is preferable when it comes to quality. And when he says you buy twice when you buy cheap, that's exactly what it is - you can buy 2 of the clones for the price of the Yanmar. If you do go the clone route, you've got Carroll Stream just east of you in Oxford, MI with a pretty good reputation for their clones. And if you need a CVT, I've got a Comet 40 series unit with belts, jackshaft and bearings that I never used since I went with the Royal Enfield 5 speed instead. I'm just an hour and a half south of you. You also have Bill over in Coldwater, MI who's converting his Enfield to diesel.

Good luck with your build and do start a build thread to keep us posted.

[coachgeo]

Also keep in mind that no matter what one does...... results here seem to show that 10hp rather it be turboed, tweaked IP, both or however...... 45mph cruz to 55mph top is all you get.

[ckhenshaw4]

Thanks for the replies guys. Since I am getting the donor bike so reasonably priced I do believe that I will purchase a reputable engine. Any suggestions? Single cylinder or twin? I would like to be able to cruise between 50 and 55MPH.

[coachgeo]

Don't know about reliability but one of our members has a twin cylinder 22hp unit for sale in our classifieds

[Stuart]

You will need the pulling power of a twin if you have hills and/or wind to cope with.

[henneberg]

The torque curve of a single isnt a nice flat one but tops at 2200-2600 rpm.

A twin has the better flat torque curve to keep up with the speed at hills and wind.

[ckhenshaw4]

Well, I do believe that just about everyone has talked me into a twin. Now would be the time to make up my mind on which one, and try to find it. Is it better to stay with an air cooled V twin, or water cooled something like a Kubota, or Perkins 2 cylinder diesel?

[coachgeo]

Perkins is a BIG 2cyl. Kubota a bit smaller. Both larger than an air cooled twin and both require also a radiator. So your Donor bike will dictate some your restrictions when it comes to physical size of power plant. I'm not sure but I think the Kubota and Perkins make more power. Question is does it offset the additional weight of engine and coolant.

Size of the rider and weight of bike comes into play too.