6-cyl Honda Goldwing Engine in a Subaru Justy...comments?

Hey there guys…I included this bit of info on a response to another question and decided to get some opinions or hate mail from you to see what you thought.



I am currently…or will be in the Spring installing an 02’ GL1800 Flat 6 engine under the hood of a 4WD SUbaru Justy…Justy for fun. I already have all the parts and the car…and this is just for fun, because I can do it. What do you think?



I am going to use the GL1800’s driveshaft output to go to a fabbed up driveshaft driving the rear diff on the Justy. I may make the seating arrangement a front Center seat and leave the bench for 2 more people in the back…though may ditch the back seat alltogether…probably.



Anyway this is just for fun and to say we did it type of thing…I have some concerns myself such as clutch loading or over loading rather…aside from that I dont have too many more concerns aside from it being ugly…lol… I wish I had an old Opel Gt

To each his own. Yesterday on Craigslist I saw a custom 3-wheeler trike made with a VW beetle air-cooled engine. I wish I could post a picture but the ad is gone. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Those are actually quite common…

The Goldwing motor is terrific by itself, likely much better than the original Justy motor. Your challenges are making some proper motor mounts, hopefully with some rubber in there to dampen vibration. Mating the motor to the transaxle; no idea how you are going to get them to bolt up together. It sounds like fun if you like this kind of fun.

The resulting car if you are successful should be a hoot to drive.

There will not be a motor to transaxle mating…The tranny is all in one inside the GL1800 engine already…I just need to mount the engine and hook up the driveshaft to the rear diff… No other transmission involved… The Hoot to drive factor is the primary motivating factor…and saying we did it coming in second…wierd factor in third or something like that. It would sound awesome too…not sure if I am going to run the exhaust pipe up the back of the car like a potato shooter or center it in the middle with 6 little pipes grouped together…unmuffled…maybe a glass pack… Or 3 pipes in front of each rear wheel on both sides… LOL… I cant wait to start this…have had all the parts for over a year now…but weather and garage loss stopped the project for a moment.

I think I am calling it the JUSTYWING…LOL

Also the GL1800 will have 2X the horsepower of the original 3cylinder Ridicu-motor that was in there. Torque number will be right around even I believe it a few lbs more as well. The original idea was a Hayabusa engine…but with the chain drive would have been more fabrication…they already make an adapter to convert the sprocket output to a U-joint assy…so… Then I would have had to mount the engine sideways… So I decided to go with a shaft drive engine to begin with… All of this is for pure fun…so… I could have made the Hayabusa engine work, but I went with the 6cyl for rare (in a car) factor as well.

How are you going to handle the shifter? I saw a bike rider who was partially disabled who had rigged up an electric shifter. He pulled the clutch lever and hit an up or down button that moved the bikes shift lever one notch at a time.

Such an electro/mechanical set up might work for your “Jusonda”.

The shifter? THATS EZ…I am just going to rig up a lever system. The GL1800 has a one down and 5 up config…so all you need is a vertical shifter in the car and move it forward and back…Sure an electro mag shifter will work same as an air shifter as well…I am shooting for simplicity so I will try the lever action first and if its too convoluted I wouldnt be against an electro…just need a proper solenoid to move it…that would be cool actually. Once the engine is mounted you can fab up a lever system to get that in the car with you Very easy principle and will be executed with plates of aluminum and little pivot points…arrange them properly and you will be able to translate that forward and back movement to the shift lever shaft…and go right thru the gears…the clutch is hydraulic so that is another ez hookup. I can use the original master cyl from the Wing…and fab up a pedal instead of a lever for the clutch… hell I could put the masater cyl WITH the lever on it and use my foot to actuate the lever of course I would use a rubber stop to prevent pver doing it, but again…easy principle to make into reality with some creative mountings etc…I am looking forward to it so much already. Nothing has me stumped thus far EXCEPT…getting th engine into the bay and mounted AND having it at the proper level for driveshaft hookup.

The issue here is that the driveshaft is offset to one side of the engine…SO I either have to offset the engine under the hood…which I dont want to do…OR make an offset assy with a chain drive or belt drive between two pulleys and U-joint setups…

Anyone else got any funny names for this abomination?

JustyWing?

Subaronda?
Hondaru?

LOL

What are you going to do for engine cooling?

As you check out options for centering the drive shaft, don’t forget marine applications. You might end up with a couple of Harley Davision pulley and a belt in there somewhere.

Yes I already thought of some type of Harley pulleys in the mix. That way I could use a nice thick belt.

Cooling? Another easy one…the GL1800 is water cooled with its own thermostat and water pump on the engine…all I need to do is plumb it to the little Justy Radiator…I will also have heat in the car as well.

Uncle…what in the marine world might you be referring to as far as handling that offset? I have worked on quite a few boats and cant think of anything that may help me in that world of parts. In my head I think the hardest part of this build will be to fab whatever device will handle this offset for me. I already have ideas and they are rather simple…but I am thinking in terms of salvage yards that I can pirate for this adapter… I envision a plate of steel or Aluminum with two pulleys or tied together offset and with U-joint provisions so that I can deal with the offset and continue toward the pumpkin with my fabbed up driveshaft.

Let me know what you had in mind…

Perhaps you can adapt a V drive (popular set up in ski boats).

I’m shocked that more of you dont have any wise cracks for my little project. It sure is going to be fun… I cant wait to complete it. Sure is an ugly car tho…again I wish I had an old Opel GT…remember those?

Also as far as that V-drive idea…no can do…its too big and it has a gear reduction that needs to be considered.

Just a simple piece of plate steel with two pulleys mounted to it to offset the drive locations is the simplest idea I have had for some time…if I run across some type of machinery that piques my interest I wont hesitate to try it if it will fit so…I have my eyes open for something…what I dont know but I will when I see it.

Oh Well…maybe no one thinks this is a good idea just for fun even and they are keeping quiet… If you dont have anything nice to say type of thing…LOL…

post a link to some pics please .

I have to snap up some more…I lost that folder during my last OS reload…I may still have them on disc.

At the moment it is just a car fully stock…and the Goldwing engine complete in the back hatch area waiting to go under the hood…so not much to see yet… I will be taking photos and movie clips during the build for sure…but for now its just a stock Justy with a GL1800 in the hatch…lol

How much do you think this Suba-Wing will weigh when it’s done? The clutch should be able to handle it but I don’t know if I’d want to drive around with 4 people in there. Will it have new clutch parts or how many miles on the clutch now?

You don’t live near Minneapolis, MN do you? I’d love to see it when it’s done. Post photos and give a report on how it turns out.

My guess is that it will weigh the same if not 100lbs lighter because of the removal of the IRON engine and its trans. maybe even 200lbs lighter. I doubt very much that we will ever have more than 2 people in the car at any given time however. GL1800 has low miles so I am going to leave the clutch alone…but may see how difficult it will be to install firmer engagement springs on the clutch…that was always in the back of my mind in addition to the robustness of the clutch. I am also guessing that the final drive of this setup will be lower than when the engine was in the Goldwing so this will ease the load on the clutch a bit.

I am in the PHilly suburbs…and will be fully documenting the build so people can see its progress. I am eager for the weather to break so we can get started… After losing my shop car repairs have slowed if not stopped for me at the moment. Hopefully this will change soon. That is my top priority of late… to get a new shop.