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Toyohog! 1-of-a-kind Harley Davidson Powered Prius, Street Reg, Full Roll Cage on 2040-cars

Year:2008 Mileage:223134
Location:

Escondido, California, United States

Escondido, California, United States
Advertising:

This ain't no April Fools joke! This here is a 1-of-a-kind, custom built 2008 Toyota Prius powered by a Harley Davidson and it's currently registered and insured to drive on the street. Yes, you could drive this bad-boy to work if you've got the jewels.*

Features:
  • 2 Cylinder air-cooled engine with rock-and-stick technology that replaces the overly-complicated crap that Toyota spent bazillions of dollars and dozens of years designing and I spent a couple hours with a 10mm wrench and some wire cutters undoing. 
  • 4-speed manual non-syncronized transmission with push/pull sequential shift replaces that electro-mechanical slushbox that Toyota calls a "transmission"
  • Points ignition: Because it either works or it doesn't. Spend your OBD-scanner and volt-meter budget on beer instead.
  • 1.75x.095 DOM custom-fitted rollcage with "NASCAR-style" driver's doorbar, and "FIA bars" for additional A-pillar reinforcement. Allegedly this is what you get when you bring your Prius in for the "unintended acceleration" recall**, but I can't swear to that.
  • Unmuffled, straight-though big bore exhaust designed by Basset, because loud pipes save lives and you'll need to drown out the sound of the Earth crying every time to stomp the throttle that controls your S&S "bug-sprayer" carburetor.
  • Oh yea, the throttle: The pedal comes from a 1960s Austin Mini Cooper because I don't trust that "drive by wire" nonsense (see aforementioned "unintended acceleration recall")
  • While we're on the subject of pedals: The clutch pedal is a totally bad-ass chrome job and the cable was replaced in Dec 2013. Some call the pedal a "finger lever". Whatever.
  • Kill Switch: In case removing all of the Toyota electronics, drivetrain, interior, and soullessness wasn't enough to exorcise the factory glitches. It's a total CYA move.
  • Side view mirror "handlebar whips": Because that's how you roll.
  • Sissy bar: It is a Prius, after all.

Boring details:
Engine is from a 1986 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 that's been bored to 1100cc and uses Harley Davidson factory flat-top 1100 pistons. Engine work completed in October 2013. Transmission is stock. Clutch is brand new Barnett extra plate clutch with heavy duty spring and installed less than 2 weeks ago. Car comes with a complete spare 1200 cc, 5-speed sportster engine and trans from 1994 (needs heads reinstalled) that's also belt drive and will need a chain drive conversion spacer installed because the car is chain-drive to the front wheels of the Prius using the original (but modified) Prius differential, cv joints and axles. The differential is suspended using a custom frame with pillow block bearings. Sliding mechanism allows for chain tension adjustments.

Also included are several cylinder jugs, some 883 pistons, some heads, gaskets, new chain and a whole bevy of other spares you may want/need. Why might you need them? Because, after replacing the clutch back on March 23rd, we can't get the currently-installed engine to fire up again. 

BONUS: You'll get a 1986 Hybrid-Davidson pit bike (aka the original motor-donor). It's currently sporting a weedwacker motor that turns a lucas alternator via chain drive, which goes through some electrical do-dads to charge some batteries which in turn power an electric motor. Said electric motor then goes through a jack-shaft arrangement to drive the rear wheel of the motorcycle. "Ran when parked". 

It's still parked. 

Mostly because it won't run no more. 

Kinda like the Prius with the Harley engine in it. I would say you could put the Harley engine back in the bike frame and drive it around, but in case you missed it above, we weren't able to get that 883/1100 engine fired up again after swapping in a new clutch. I'm done wrenching on it. Time for someone else to buy it and wrench on it. Put your own engine in it. Make it a 2-stroke diesel. Or fix the Harley setup and take it to Sturgis. The whole frame that supports the Harley drivetrain is bolt in. It connects to the stock Prius drivetrain mounting locations, front bumper mounts, and the front suspension cradle. It's 100% removable with some wrenches. Nothing was welded into the car's engine bay that would prevent you from bolting a stock Prius drivetrain right back into it.

Suspension is stock Prius. Brakes are more-or-less stock (with all of the abs and electrical stuff removed). All of the non-white panels (the ones that are accident-damaged) are bolt-on parts and easily replaced. The Prius was never in an accident-- the good panels were sold off to fit within 24 Hour of LeMons budget requirements and the damaged "free" panels used instead. The original rear hatch with hatch glass and spoiler, etc, is included with the sale. Currently fuel setup is a carter 2-4psi fuel pump sucking through the stock, unmodified Prius fuel tank. I'd recommend replacing this with a MUCH lighter fuel cell arrangement.

The Roll-cage is a couple of bars and gussets away from being FIA Rally compliant. The main hoop diagonal is installed so that it can be X'd, and so is the roof diagonal. I see no glaring reason it wouldn't be NASA or SCCA legal as it sits. Has passed technical inspection for 24HOL series several times. Car is being sold as 24 Hours of LeMons tech-ready with seat, harness, and hand-held fire extinguisher.

Lots of videos and pictures of it running. Google "ToyoHog" and Harley powered prius and you'll find them. 

Car is located in Escondido, CA.
Email if you've got questions.






*check your local laws and regulations if you're a ninny.

**WARNING: This car is subject to a factory recall and has not yet had the recall work completed. You are HIGHLY ADVISED to have the recall work done prior to attempting the drive this. The inverter water pump and the steering shaft are both the subjects of the recall. (Please, whatever you do, post a youtube video of you taking this in to your local Toyota dealer for the recall work!)

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Auto blog

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Mon, Aug 6 2018

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Recharge Wrap-up: Honda Grace hybrid goes on sale in Japan, Daimler spends 100M euros on batteries

Tue, Dec 2 2014

The Mercedes-Benz S-500 Plug-In Hybrid has earned an Environmental Certificate from the TUV Sud technical inspection authority. The award is based on a lifecycle assessment of the vehicle. This includes the ability to reduce CO2 emissions by 43 percent through charging, and by 56 percent if charged using hydroelectricity. Read more in the press release below. Daimler is expanding its production capacity for lithium-ion batteries. The company is investing around 100 million euros in its subsidiary Deutsche ACCUmotive, who will provide batteries for the electric Smart Fortwo and Forfour, as well as various Mercedes-Benz models. By the end of the construction, Deutsche ACCUmotive will have quadrupled production and logistics space since 2011. Read more in the press release below. Honda has begun sales of its Grace hybrid sedan in Japan. The Grace is based on the Honda Fit and uses the automaker's Sport Hybrid i-DCD system. It comes in front- and four-wheel-drive versions and uses a seven-speed DCT with built-in motor. The Honda Grace starts at the equivalent of about $16,500. Read more in the press release below. Honda has begun operation of its wind farm in Brazil. The farm consists of nine wind turbines, expected to produce about 95,000 MWh of electricity per year, which is on par with Honda's consumption for automobile production in the country. Honda is aiming to cut its CO2 production by 30 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels. Read more in the press release below. Toyota has won the 2014 World Endurance Championship's Driver and Manufacturer categories with hybrid technology. Toyota celebrated the win after the final race in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Toyota uses the same hybrid technology in its racing cars as it does in its production vehicles. Read more in the press release below. Controlled Power Technologies and other groups are calling for an international 48-volt electrical standard for vehicles. The groups called for the standard at the International Conference Automotive 48 V Power Supply Systems, saying that the 48V standard for mild hybrids would help make the systems more affordable. This will make it easier for automakers to meet the more stringent CO2 standards anticipated in coming years along with the introduction of the World Light vehicles Test Procedures. Read more at Green Car Congress. The world's first certified three-litre luxury saloon: S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID receives Environmental Certificate Stuttgart.

Mazda's new Mexican plant capacity rises to 230,000

Sat, 05 Jan 2013

After the turmoil of last year, 2013 is getting off to a much better start for Mazda. The company has issued a release indicating that the forthcoming plant in Salamanca, Mexico has had its production capacity raised even though it isn't scheduled to go online until March 2014. The original plans called for a 140,000-unit capacity, 90,000 of that allotted for the Mazda2 and Mazda3, the remaining 50,000 for a small car Mazda would build for Toyota that would be based on the Mazda2. The new plans call for raising that by 90,000 units to a total of 230,000 units within two years, by the end of March 2016, and it looks like it will all go toward Mazda production to satisfy growing demand for Skyactiv vehciles. The Mexican plant's opening will be the return of Mazda manufacturing to North America, after Mazda6 production was moved back to Japan last year.
More good news for the company is that it projects 10 billion yen ($114 million) in net income for the financial year that will end in March. That would be a welcome turnaround from the 100-billion-yen loss in the previous financial year, part of a series of three annual losses in a four-year span.
You'll find the press release with the factory update below.