Motormounts are in place, the engine is sitting on the mounts. The flywheel and drive sprocket are at the machine shop.

The $600 piece of aluminum that connects the transmission and engine on a Softail is marked so I can have it cut in half. Maybe I can make a piece of motorcycle art from the front half. The BDL belt drive kit has enough pieces left to make a really nice bookend.

Several of the motor mount holes on the engine are stripped. It appears that some of the bolts have a different thread pitch than the engine takes. I thought I kept the bolts separate, but obviously all of them will need to be chased with a tap. Some will need to be retapped, but all of them need to be correct before the engine gets bolted down for the last time.

This view of the front of the engine shows the turbo-charger. Intake is the nozzle that points to the left side of the bike (right in this view) and the pressurized air for the intake manifold comes out of the nozzle that points forward and up. I'll need to install a pipe from there around to the left and into the intake manifold. The intake manifold itself needs to be modified, it currently expects the air to come down from the top, but that nozzle would sit under the frame in its current configuaration. It has a plug that can be removed to put the nozzle where it can be used.

You can see one of the bolts for the exhaust next to the frame rail. Exhaust plumbing should be easy enough. It simply needs a pipe that goes down and to the back of the bike.

This week the plan is to identify and begin connecting some of the other items. Before now, simply putting the engine in the right place was a challenge. Now I can concentrate on some of the other items.

If spending money is an approximation of progress, then the past couple of weeks indicate the project is moving right along. The BDL primary belt conversion kit came in. I bought a kit for an Evo Softail. The transmission end fits perfectly, the cluth and starter will bolt right on. The front pulley and front half of the connector plate and belt will not fit. The new front pulley should be delivered on Wednesday, I haven't ordered a belt yet.

On Saturday July 22nd I built most of the rear engine mount/front transmission mount. This week the goal is to build the front engine mount and figure out the adjustments so the primary belt track and tension are correct. The engine mounts consist of two flat plates about an inch front to rear and 8" wide. I plant to put a piece of rubber between the plates to provide some vibration damping. Because the rubber is there, I'll need adustment links to keep the engine from sliding back and loosening the belt. One of the adjustment links will connect between the transmission plate and the engine just above the top belt run. I haven't identified the spot on the other side of the engine yet. There aren't any obvious mounting points on that side.

The next set of pictures will be of the engine sitting on the mounts with at least one of the belt pulleys installed.

The engine and the bike met today. I also took an angle grinder to the frame, so I may be past the point of no return on this project.

To put the engine in the frame, the rear brake master cylinder mount and to top Heim joint mount had to be removed. With those items removed, the engine slid into the bay, but it isn't in the right place yet. As you can see from the photo, the engine is too tall. I've already removed the exhaust manfold and turbo-charger and prepared those items to be mounted low in the front of the engine, but the intake manifold still adds enough height to prevent the engine from sitting straight in the frame. The current best solution for this is to cut and plug the intake flange. The intake air would get to the engine by remove one of the plugs from the end of the intake manifold and installing a flange there. In the photo above, the plug is the little round item directly above the center of the flywheel. There is a second plug on the other end of the manifold, allowing a choice for the intake from the turbo.

The second problem with the engine is that it's still too wide. In the lower left of this photo, you can just see the end of the input shaft for the transmission. The flywheel is too far to the left for an attached pulley to drive the transmission. This means the engine will have to be moved left (or the transmission shaft lengthened.) Moving the engine will also cause the bike to be heavier on the right side. Perhaps it's time to look into the choices on primary belt conversions and determine the actual location of the transmission pulley.

On Monday, I'll show it to Kevin O'Grince. He's the owner of Artisan Auto Body in Manassas Park, VA. I'm doing the work at his shop. He may have additional ideas.

Some additional clearance might also be gained by sectioning the oil pan. With the engine moving to the right, it may only be necessary to cut the right side so the engine doesn't interfere with the frame rail. The rail would need to be replaced with a brace to maintain frame strengh, but that might also be a method for including a skid plate for the oil pan. There are a lot of options, none of them easy, but all are well within the capabilities of the guys at the shop.

Stripped the diesel engine this morning. Removed the radiator and hoses, fan, alternator and alternator mount. This cleaned up the front (right side) of the engine.

Next I removed the air filter and mounting bracket, intake hoses and muffler. The top of the engine is now a lot lower.

I removed the starter, the exhaust manifold with turbocharger and oil lines. Then removed the flywheel so the engine plate at the rear of the engine could also be removed. After taking the plate off, I replaced the flywheel and did a test fit of the manifold and turbocharger mounted so the exhaust goes down rather than up. It fits like it belongs. The turbo housing will need to be rotated so the oil still fllows from top to bottom, then the wastegate will need to be mounted 180 degrees so it still connects correctly. It will also need new oil lines, but none of these looks like a show-stopper. Doing it that way, it looks easiest (at this point) to keep the Harley starter.

I also ordered a maintenance manual from Kubota. Having the manual should make it a bit easier to figure out some of these things. With a bit of luck, they'll have a photo of the turbo mounted in the 'down' position. Then I can be certain that the parts to mount it are available.

Many of you have asked me to keep you up-to-date on my project. This is the beginning of that effort. The goal is to build a diesel powered motorcycle and ride it in the Iron Butt Rally. Here is a picture of the bike on the day I picked it up.

It's a '92 Harley FLHS. It was in beautiful condition, and has only 11,xxx miles. Several have expressed dismay that it has to be disassembled for this project. In the week after taking delivery, I rode the bike only enough to determine that it's in good condition. I wasn't able to find anything wrong with it. Then I started taking it apart. Within a week I had the saddlebags, seat, tank, windscreen, engine and primary drive removed.

I found an engine on-line at www.dieselenginemotors.com It's a Kubota D1105T, a 1.2 liter turbocharged diesel that produces 31.5 horsepower.

Preliminary calculations show the stock gear ratio produces 21 mph per 1000 engine RPM. The Kubota is rated at 3000, so it will have to be geared about 25% taller.

I'm looking into belt conversions for the primary since the engine won't bolt up to the standard HD primary cover.

Engine size doesn't seem to be a problem, but I haven't tried to slide it into the frame yet. Nearly all of the black items in the engine picture need to be removed, which means replacements will have to be installed later.

The radiator will be replaced, probably with one from a Kawasaki Ninja 500. Does size matter for this? I hope not. Both the Ninja 500 and the Kubota diesel produce about 30 HP. Both burn approximately the same amount of fuel (if anything, the diesel should burn less fuel.) Therefore there should be about the same amount of waste heat produced and the 500 radiator should be sufficient for the task.