During tech at the Ohio Mile yesterday, racer Brandon Malone of Connecticut said, “Hey I have a good BangShift Question of the Day for you!” Often those words are followed by ideas so bad, so weird, or so boring that on this planet they pretty much suck. Brandon was the exception to the rule. This guy had a great question and a great example yo back it up with. The question?
What is the least amount of power you have ever picked up with an engine swap?
The answer for Brandon is 3hp and it centers around this bike. He ditched the factory Suzuki engine which made like 7hp and dropped this baddie of an Aprila engine in there and it made three more horsepower. Now as a percentage basis it is bad ass but as part of the overall package, it was a mess.
We should note that Malone is a land speed racer who competes on 50CC motorcycles at the Ohio Mile. If those three additional horsepower result in a new record, you’ll be the first to know right here.
Check out the photos below of the Aprila engine swap equipped Suzuki –
I’m betting that engine is making a lot more than the stock hp rating…
Mine is somewhat similar. I bought a mini bike to use as a pit vehicle. It was way too slow with it’s 3.5hp, so I went for harbor freight 212cc that makes 6.5hp and dropped it in. On the first ride, I forgot about the triple in torque numbers, floored it, and it pulled the front wheel so far off the ground, I thought it was going to go right over backwards. Since then, I’ve removed the governor and put a cam in it. I figure it makes about 8.5 or 9 horse now. And yes, if you whack the throttle, it will go over backwards.
Only did one engine swap so far myself, a 4.8 LS for a GM Goodwrench 350. I never got any “before” dyno numbers, but the Goodwrench 350 is rated for 260 hp at the crank and the 4.8 put 240 hp to the wheels. So call it around 300 hp at the crank for a 40 hp gain, which is about the same by percent.
With the original engine, two years ago the bike went 50.6mph.
This weekend with the new engine, 57.6mph.
And with a skinnier rider on Sunday, 60.6mph.
Those are the official numbers.
Looks like roughly a 14% to 20% top speed increase.
I’ll take that all day long!