CA Street Legal CBR1000rr powered '27 T Roadster

Long Overdue Update on '27 Roadster

Okay, so after driving my Roadster for about 700 miles and autocrossing it several times I decided to tear it all back down to the frame and start over. This time I sourced a 5 speed LSD transaxle out of a Turbo'd MR2 and close coupled the CBR1000RR motor to it and mounted it mid-engined. I built a new IRS suspension with inboard shocks using a lot of the MR2 components.

I now have another 800 miles or so on this configuration and am in the process of installing a T25/T28 AR86 Turbo and intercooler system.

It took a while to get the rear suspension dialed in, but having the Limited Slip Differential and a better front46%/rear54% weight distribution makes a huge difference on the autocross track.

I typically run the Toyota transmission in 4th gear around town, but can shift it into 5th for freeway driving. I had thought that I would run the MR2 tranny in 3rd for tight autocross tracks, but haven't tried it yet. A bonus of using a second transmission is that I now have reverse.

Also in this picture is my 1970's road race car powered by a 1999 ZX9r and my rock crawler powered by a Honda V45. The road race car uses a BMW 328 LSD diff and the rock crawler uses a Saginaw 4 speed transfer case and Samurai axles. The low/low gear ratio for the rock crawler is 120:1 and it will go anywhere you want it to go.

None of these motorcycle engine powered vehicles are chain driven.

Could you translate this:

"... close coupled the CBR1000RR motor to it and mounted it mid-engined."

What kind of brakes you got?

I fabricated an adapter that fit the splines on the output shaft of the CBR motor on one end, a rubber donut (from a Formula Ford rear half shaft) in the middle and the splines on the input shaft of the Toyota MR2 transaxle on the other end. This configuration allowed for a "cush" drive between the CBR motor and the car transmission and eliminated the need for a chain. I had originally installed the CBR1000RR motor in the rock crawler using a chain drive set up, but found it to be way to noisey at high speed. I have some video of the crawler going up a six foot vertical face idling in first gear, and then in twenty-fourth gear you could be cruising at about 40 mph on a gravel road and spray rocks off all four tires when you punched it. But ultimately it seemed like a waste to have that motor rattlling around in a 4x4 buggy so I built the roadster.

The Roadster has stock vented Toyota rotors and Wilwood four piston calipers.