[ACBarnett]

I was curious if anyone has played around with engine swaps in sonetts? I know the ford V6 is popular withthe V4 cars, but I was interested in potential 2-stroke engine swaps. I notived that alot of japanese jet ski engines in the ~1000 cc category have no problem kicking out 150 hp, and I was thinking that a swap with one of those carbed engines would be pretty straightforward other than having to make an adapter plate.

My logic is that something like this would be a great way to end up with a nice, trackable 2-stroke saab with some real power not to mention cheap, plentiful engine parts. I'm just interested to see if anyone's heard of someone doing something like this before.

 

[shaverjeff]

I havent seen any sonnetts modded this way but the people have been swapping in motorcycle engines in mini's for a long time. Keep in mind that jetski motor may make 150hp but whats the torque rating and at what rpms?

I've heard thats a huge issue with swapping in the bike motors as there is no displacement and no torque to move that heavy clunk around. But I'm not speaking from experience, just hearsay

 

[ACBarnett]

I was thinking mostly for use as a track car, etc. Since it's a jetski engine designed to stay at a given rev band for long durations of time, I'm guessing it would most likely have a pretty meaty powerband. The few things I found about the yamaha 155 engine is that expansion chambers will net you another 50 horsepower. Regardless of where the power is, 200 horsepower in a sonett is going to be stupid fast.

Now who has a sonett with a dead engine to donate to me?

 

[shaverjeff]

Once again, its not the hp that matters its the torque rating...:roll:
I dont know anything about jet ski motors but my assumption is they are similar to a bike motor whereas
If you dont achieve maximum torque until 10,000 rpm you'll be riding a slug around the track.

 

[ACBarnett]

My guess would be closer to 5000-6000 rpm, even though they're powering jetdrives they are still intended to be used in direct-drive applications meaning that they are most likely designed to make optimum power from ~3000 to ~5-6000 rpm. Don't think of jetskis as being like motorcycles on water, think of them as small motorboats, at least as far as what the engines are like.

EDIT: ...aaand the redline of the yamaha mill is 7500 rpm

 

[stiggy]

I dunno,the motorbike engines look pretty fun :
Fiat 126 w/ Yamaha R1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1KZ_tyYWBQ

Mini w/ Hayabusa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsVr4idewX4

Mini w/ Yamaha R1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBqoCCmgvIQ

...but this V4 sure sounds nice,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNklzkv5J_I

& I understand the appeal of the 2stroke...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lJQzrWprQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17VYOJfMPCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c5QpBodFTY