Honda FL 440 Build

[aschn]

Hey guys,

About a year ago I bought a chopped Honda Odyssey FL250 that someone tried using quad parts in. Instead of using the chopped mash up of a FL250 and Kawasaki Mojave quad, I will be creating a full independent suspension for this buggy and dropping in a fan-cooled 440 Rotax.

My goals for this are roughly 12-14 inches of travel in the front, 15-17 inches of travel in the rear, and a top steed of 60 mph. I will be using Afco big body aluminum coilovers on all four corners of this build.

I am planning on using the FL250 frame:


I also have the majority of the CAD work on the front suspension done, just have to get the camber right and figure out steering to eliminate bump steer.



If anyone has any suggestions/lessons learned from the fan-cooled Rotax sled engines please let me know, since I have virtually no experience with two stroke snowmobile engines.

[K-fab]

Howdy and welcome to MBN.

Looks like a fun project. Keep the pics and build coming.
Photo bucket is working for you? How’d ya do that?

[65chedderbob]

Sled engines work great in my experience. A few things I learned are to make sure when you mount the motor that the clutches are aligned straight and even or the belt will drag and wear faster (this is for any CVT style transmission, not just sled engines) and make sure the primary clutch uses the same width/pitch belt as the secondary clutch does.

I haven't had any issues with running a 440 fan engine in the summer up here (70-80 degree weather). Just make sure you don't run out of gas/oil when running wide open down the road lol the pistons and rods don't tend to like running super lean. I haven't rejetted either the Polaris or Ski Doo engines I've used in mine, just dropped em in and ran with em. I figured a little rich is safer than risking running lean. If you are concerned about heat, you could add ducting to direct more air over the engine, but I haven't had the need so far. A thermometer may be helpful to keep an eye on temps if you're nervous.

If you have any specific questions I can try to answer them with my past experience. They're a lot of fun, enjoy and good luck

[K-fab]

I'll second that on getting things aligned. They need to be PERFECT both as viewed from top (crank of engine and input shaft of trans perfectly parallel) and as viewed from behind (no twist).

[aschn]

Haven't posted in a while because of school, but got my front suspension design done and started making the front left trailing arms

[aschn]

Finished up the front left half. Rod ends bottom out after 13" of travel, which is limiting factor. Shocks allow for 16" of travel total. More tube notching and rear suspension design to come

[aschn]

Wow, been a while since I posted here, ended up scrapping my first idea for front suspension due to the inherent weakness of my design. Frustrating, but I want something that will last.

I'd I'm pretty comfortable with filling gaps in tubes (which might come in handy for the roll cage) after turning a pile of tubes into A-arms and mounts.





Ended up going with double A arms in the front and now I'm on to rear suspension before finishing up the cage.

[fns]

Looks great. Keep updating with pictures.

[jimmyg]

Top stuff! Learn from what doesn't work and build it better. Sounds like a good plan to me.

[aschn]

Got my A arms and spindles on my frame last night, now it's time to weld my steering arms on my spindles (hopefully just once) and try to eliminate bump steer as much as possible.