Engine Swapping... No... The *OTHER* Way

I have this damn fool idea of swapping the engine from my '78 XS650

... into the frame of a 2015 RE Continental GT.

The GT handles like the business, but the engine is... well... "gutless" would be generous.

It mounts up similar to the XS650 engine, so I feel like besides flipping the rear wheel (GT is RHS final drive, XS650 is LHS - as you well know), I'm "just" a few mounting plates away from getting it done. Oh; and the minor issue of tearing apart the wiring and weaving a new electrical harness.

I'm confident I can sort out the plates for the front and the rear, the top doesn't seem that complicated either. But I'm lazy, and it's that final connection on the bottom that got thinking... Why bother?

Anyone ever run without the bottom bolt? It's pretty clear I'd be damn fool to run without the top braced - hell I'm probably a damned fool anyway - I'm just curious.

Oh, and the sweet looking cad image is from a model I downloaded from GrabCAD, and loaded into Autodesk Fusion 360.

There's a young man running around Tucson with a "Military Model" RE with a XS650 engine. He did a really good job doing it too. Not a "hack" job a all. Sorry I do not have any pics of it. He did it because he said the RE engine blew up twice.

Hi Uncle Buck,
weld some lugs to the Enfield's frame tubes and put that bottom bolt in there, eh?
That ol' XS650 paint-shaker motor needs all the bolts it can get.

kind of like this ?

rockhead said:

kind of like this ?

Click to expand...

He's geared way to tall. Love the comment section. "100 HP is feasible from these motors". LOL.

Hi rockhead,
yours? Nice job whoever built it. Some comments:- Single-wall pipes will always discolor.
That XS-Enfield hybrid's pipes have the blue fading to straw half way down the pipe oxidation that shows the carburation to be just about perfect.
If it retains the Enfield front brake, rider beware! The builders may have continued the British Enfield tradition of making the brake linings out of compressed bacon fat.
BTW my last Royal Enfield was a 1960's 736cc vertical twin. Awesome power, went like a train. Brakes were somewhere between hopeless and pathetic.

No, not mine, just something I saw and liked. Looks very neat and would be a decent ride. I am envious of the R.E. Interceptor though. A very under appreciated bike.