Where it all begins
After removing the old IQ engine, Transmission, fuel tank, ECU, exhaust, an every other piece of unwanted hardware it was finally time to get the R1 engine in the front of the IQ.
The Yamaha R1 has an aluminum Delta box frame, so I decided to use Aluminum where ever possible, mostly because it light, it`s easy to work with, and it looks cool.
There is no "kit" to install the engine, everything had to be custom made, luckily the R1 engine is small and compact by comparison so moving the parts in and out of the car to get things measured and mocked up were not too difficult.
With the engine removed I washes and cleaned the engine bay ready for fitting, even though the R1 engine was a lot smaller it still needed to be positioned exactly in the right location.
This is how I did it...
A pretty tight fit
I had to get the chain drive out off the R1 drive sprocket output shaft, then out to the twin drive idler sprocket, then under the engine to the front Diff and drive shafts. The diagram above gives a pretty accurate idea of the layout I came up with. All I had to do now is fabricate a way to hold it all in place.
Always start with a clean car
When all the parts were removed I took the car outside and power washed the engine bay. Apart from some dust it was really clean and looked like new. One thing I hate doing is working on a dirty car, this also helped when I was marking out the layout on fresh clean paintwork. Amazingly the IQ is almost 99.9 % rust free, add to that the low mileage and it is a pretty nice car to do this kind of project.
Marking it out
Using whatever I could lay my hands on to get the engine in a rough position in the engine bay. I used string lines stretched across the bodywork to line up the engine mount.
Technically this should be accurate, this is just a mock up to get an idea of where it goes.
Front brace section
I needed a base point that was accurate to line the rest of the engine up so I fabricate the front section of the cradle so it aligned up perfectly with all my measurement. once I had this peice in place I could figure the rest out by cross measuring from set point on the sides and cross members.
Fabricating the cradle
I used my band saw to cut out the side support for the front section of the cradle using Aluminum plate 3" X 3/8" 6061. This would give good support and brace the front end of the IQ
It also gives a fixed reference for me to measure the rest of the cradle from.
1.5" round Aluminum
The rest of the cradle would be made from 1.5" heavy guage tubing. As mentioned Aluminum is easy to work with and requires no pait to protect it, just some steel wool to polish it slightly.
Photo shows fish mouthing on the ends of the tubing used for bracing.
Basic cradle nearly completed
In order to get this far the engine was in and out of the cat many times. I chose this design as it provided some lateral support to the engine that then rest mostly on the original IQ Main frame on either side.
Solid mounting the engine
I opted to not use the existing rubber engine mounts from the R1, although I could have adapted them I actually wanted the engine to be more fixed due to the chain drive setup I had.
Shown here is the front engine mounts made from 7/16" 6061 the rear mounts are bolted through the engine using 2 plates, this also incorporates the chain drive assembly link to the chain drive page is Here.
Tig welded the cradle
Couple of photos of the engine cradle on the bench to show what it looks like. I seems to be rigid and I am assuming the Aluminum will hold up to the stress of the engine torque.
Light weight
The weight of the cradle is very light, I did not remember to weigh it before I installed it but it weighs about the same as just ONE of the IQ 2 Steel engine mounts. I like working with Aluminum, I`m not a certified Tig welder but I am getting better the more I use it. The front cross tubing goes through the side plates and is welded on both sides.
The IQ sub frame
I modified the IQ sub frame so the front section of the cradle not only bolted to each side frame member but down onto the sub frame too.
Also the 2 steel cross braces that hold the front Diff bearings were welded in place. A couple of other small brackets for the fuel pump canister and the exhaust and it was finished. I cleaned up all the nasty stock weld and gave it a final couple coats of black acrylic paint.
On the bench
A lot of the mocking up was done out of the car and on the bench, so much easier once everything was tack welded in place in the IQ and finally welded up on the bench. This also made it easier to set up the drive system.
Skid plate for diff sprocket
While the sub frame was off the cart I mounted the hard plastic skid plate to the brackets I had welded on to hold the Diff bearings.
This was in case I drive over something that could damage the large drive sprocket mounted to the diff.
Riveting the skid plate on
I used countersunk blind rivets to hold it on. I heated up the plastic so is conformed to the shape of the underside mounting bracket. It is shaped so that it will glide across anything that might otherwise damage the sprocket and chain.
To be continued..