Production Diesel ATV farm bike & Diesel SuperBike.

andrewaust · Post by **andrewaust** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:52 am

Here's a few links that I found interesting = it seems more company's are starting to think Diesel power. The superbike is featured in Stuarts Dieselbike.net site and part of his web background - it's good to see the information getting out there.

The ATV is really a M/C, but sold as an ATV

Cheers

Andrew

http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/6043/

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4273/

Here's some interesting news for those thinking of producing biodiesel http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/5544/

balboa_71 · Post by **balboa_71** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:36 pm

Andrew,
These bike appeared about a year ago. A bit pricey for an off the road bike IMHO

Cris

andrewaust · Post by **andrewaust** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:12 pm

Yeah the biggest hurdle is price at the moment. I was reading some info about a combustion design http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/4695/ and also about some interesting injection technology http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory: ... tor_System or http://www.greendieselcorp.com/

The reason for posting this up is the fact that there's just so much technology out there, but it's just like the electronic/computer revolution we live in "where to start", I guess if someone had a way of combining all this technology, some really great stuff could come out of it.

The Superbike is one good example - a lot of money time and effort has gone into it, but like so many inventors, no one seems to want to be serious about putting the bike into large scale production.

Hopefully someone will come along and take up some of the challenges.

Cheers

Andrew

Post by **Byrdman** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:03 pm

andrewaust wrote:The Superbike is one good example - a lot of money time and effort has gone into it, but like so many inventors, no one seems to want to be serious about putting the bike into large scale production.

And the other issue, at least here in the States, is that Diesel power still hasn't been fully accepted as an alternative to Gasoline engines.

I mean we have huge on-road trucks, industrial equipment, and ag equipment running on diesel but it hasn't fully trickled down to the consumer level yet. This is where interest and development dollars are found!

When I left Fuji Heavy Industries, they were in the process of final testing the diesel engine for the Polaris 455 Diesel ATV.

That was a project that was requested by farmers and construction workers. Sadly, the engine wasn't as robust as it should have been and failures plagued the entire project.

Once diesel's many advantages have been seen and accepted by the public, I think we'll see it pop up all over the place.

Post by **Stuart** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:38 pm

Byrdman,
I looked into using a Polaris engine at one time and got told some interesting stuff. Some models available in the UK are called DBat and have, I think, standard Yanmar generator lumps in them. 412cc.
We do have some 455cc and of these, I'm told, aim to buy a later model rather than an earlier one because the Main bearings just don't last on the early models.
One showed up at the Hamm Rally this year (ex Brit Army). They are interesting engines and used by the army I suspect because the Injector pump is lubed not be the diesel but by the sump oil. With that setup it could run on kerosene (parafin) no problem. The pump sits up on top of the head and works off the cam.

Has a different clock housing though.
Byrd, do you know of any more inherent faults with this engine?

On the subject of Diesel Stateside, I think if most ppl actually go the drive a few miles in say a Common Rail Golf or even Renault Megan they'd be pretty amazed at the roll on acceleration. Sporty diesel insurance is gonna go up soon in the UK simply because the insurance industry got wrong footed by the power these cars can deliver. Shame really as I wanna buy one in about a years time

andrewaust · Post by **andrewaust** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:16 am

Thankfully OZ is just starting to have on offer small diesel sedans & hatches etc.

A few years back the only diesel vehicle really on offer here close to a family vehicle was the 4WD, although Holden (GM) had a diesel Gemini option in the 80's, powered by a Isuzu 4 cyl indirect injection engine. It wasn't a real hit here - maybe if it was turbo charged things may have been different, as power was a draw back - economy was great though, as well as reliability.

If I was thinking about getting hold of a 3cyl diesel, especially a turbo one for a bike project, id have to import, you'd have no chance of getting anything here. There would be a few around, but not in surplus supply.

That's a shame the Polaris had so many problems, and now they would probably have a bad reputation for diesel power, Polaris buyers would be wanting to stay with the petrol variant.

Cheers

Andrew

Irsh · Post by **Irsh** » Sat May 26, 2007 4:59 am

From what I've been told the Polaris/Fuji 455cc crank bearings were larger after '99. There were also some head gasket failures which some cured with the thicker gasket offered (drop in compression). The package from what I can see lends itself to a bike very well. I've found three complete units and am in the process of finding someone to take the rolling chassis off my hands.

Post by **Stuart** » Sat May 26, 2007 6:07 pm

I spoke to this chap last year and he was very helpful. He told me about what year to aim for. I'm sure he wouldn't mind answering the odd question should you have any.
http://www.ellisquads.co.uk/