Car engine as power source

It used to be easy to use any old engine as a source of power for anything you could imagine. Nowadays with electronic everything is it still possible? The engine in question happens to be out of a Honda Civic, year unknown for now, but it has fuel injection and I don't know what else. Can the computers be used without the whole car? Will it work without a transmission attached? What all needs to be taken care of? I'm guessing electronics is fuel and ignition, but that might be a lot. I don't know how well it would work to strap a mag or distributor to it and cobble a carburetor into service, but it would be nice to not need to.

No problem as long as you understand what all the sensors do.And you keep them in service and reading valves within normal limits.
The computer, O2 sensors, electric fuel pump, transmission sensors etc.
The local hockey rinks here use cut down chev trucks running LP, under the OLYMPIA chassis.Start instantly and run without a sputter.

It"s not as easy to do what your asking as it used to be but it is still possible. Even with all of the new bells and whistles an engine is still an engine. In the case of a computer controlled engine you"ll have to remove a good part of the wiring harness and the computer to control the engine. You"ll also need the sensors that go in the exhaust and the intake to tell the computer what to do. All in all though it can be done it"s just alot more complicated nowdays than it used to be.

For street rods etc,speed shops sell "kits" so you can adapt modern computerized engines to your rod or classic vehicle,dunno how far they go toward non V8 engines ...

If you want it bad enough, it can be done.
last fall at the Western minnesota steam threshers reunion at Rolag, I saw a little motor driven rig with what had been a fuel injected and distributorless all computer controlled engine.
It was some sort of little unidentified aluminum 4 cyl OHC engine.
The owner had fitted the air intake with a small carb and a GM V8 HEI electronic ignition distributor was mounted so it was roller chain driven off the crankshaft. 4 HEI plug terninals went to the tiny 4 cyl engine, and the other 4 ran to a bracket with 4 spark plugs mounted to a bracket on the rigs firewall.
It ran very nicely ;-)

I think the answer is "in some cases it is so difficult that it is not cost effective."

I've been thinking (maybe my dreams are too high) of getting a 64/-5 Dodge/ Plymouth and swapping in a modern Chrysler 5.7/ 6.2 hemi. There are lots of people doing this, but there ARE obstacles.

Some engines tie in sensors from the trans that you must overcome, even the rear end, and some newer engines don't even have a mechanical throttle---it's "fly by wire." If you're looking for "cheap power" this may not be the route to go.

The aging Cletrac/ Oliver I picked up now has a Toyota 20R + 4 speed---from the '80's---with a carburetor.

Several years ago an operator at one of the city run rinks was badly burned and I think died from his injuries. An olympia ice resurfacer exploded in its parking spot. I think it had a propane leak and blew up from the furnace coming on. I remember because it was an olympia. Not nearly as common as a Zamboni. Dave

Would be a good side income to make this happen... One could develop a manual fuel injection unit to replace the electronic one (sprint cars run them), and a simple electronic ignition system to replace all the computerized stuff used on these engines while in a street driven vehicle. Of course, you'd have to emblazon the Calif. Motto: OFF ROAD USE ONLY on all of it, but for farm/tractor use, this would work. Since I do body repair, I don't get that far into the mechanics of them anymore. There used to be units that could be purchased to start an engine that would not otherwise start for diagnostics. It would basically take the place of the distributor (or ignition module) and you could make it run. Re-po agents and other folks of a not so nice nature started using them, and I have not seen them in a long time, so they may have outlawed them. The injection unit could be mechanical, and work off of the camshaft etc. As an engine for off road, stationery work, or farm use, it would not at this time have to be certified by the EPA I don't think, but that is changing everyday. Just a thought or two, and maybe be able to keep the cost down, so it would be worth the conversion.

Why hack it all up and try to reverse engineer the engine to run with a carb and stand alone ignition?
Just run the engine with the computer controlling it. Works fine for highway vehicles.
Gas engines have never started so well, had so much power, burned less fuel, had better drivability or lasted so long. Since engines went to computer control.

Some guys are just Luddites!

I believe the short answer is as long as you keep enough of the exhaust to incorporate the O2 sensor and the car had a manual transmission, this should be fairly easy. However, you WILL need the computer AND the ENTIRE harness that went with it. Converting a fuel injected/electronic ignition engine back to a carburetor/distributor is possible, but the amount of $ and time required is substantial.

It's actually pretty common to swap the computer and all into early hot rods and street rods, you can even get a wiring harness from Ford to set up a 5.0 into an early Mustang or whatever, just a simplified harness with just the basics. I can't really see a good point in trying to un-do all the engineering and trying to convert to mechanical injection, etc.- I spent a lot of time working on sprinters, even playing with the World of Outlaws for a while, Hilborns, Algon, & such, and they are not made for static use by any means, very one-dimensional, max power only. They are also individual throttle body/nozzle for each cylinder type systems, not a common throttle body with individually fired injectors- completely different system. Modern EFI systems run very clean, and fuel-efficient

Don't forget to plan on using the high pressure fuel system - electric fuel pump might be in the fuel tank - from the car and the wiring that goes with it.
Or build another high pressure fuel system that is regulated to what pressure engine is designed for..should already be a regulator on the fuel rail on your engine.

There was a guy a few years ago adopted his tuner Neon to run a distributor. Machined a drive slot or lug into the end of a camshaft and mounted the distributor to it. The rotor has to turn a 1/2 turn per crank revolution same as the cam does so it was more about getting it mounted than anything else.

A 3 cylinder gas could be run with a 6 cylinder distributor the same as a 4 cylinder could be run with a 8 cylinder distributor. Making a carb adapter shouldn't be too hard, either. As long as the donor motor doesn't have variable valve timing or something.

Mopar Performance has the computer and wiring kits to allow swapping the new Hemi into older vehicles. There are companies making carb'd intakes for them, and I do belive that XV Motorsports might even be making a new front timing cover to allow the use of a distributor.

The reason for factory built carb intakes for modern fuel injected engines. Is that some racing classes don't allow fuel injection.
For example the new LS series of Chev engines factory stock make levels of horsepower. That can not be attained with the old LT and Vortec engines even if they were souped up.

Something I found humorous. Some folks are converting certain V10s from crank fired/ injection to distributor

BUT WHERE do you find a 10 cyl. distributor?

Answer: Two audi 5 cyl distributors!!!

Don't know that I am a Luddite, but I am always looking at how things are done, the reason behind them, and if there is a better or easier way. As for trying to use all of the factory items, it can be a mess. I've been working on late 60's Camaro's that have the late model engines installed. It can be done, and is good, but they don't sit still on a farm running other machinery, or pulling a plow. I agree that the modern EFI is great, but when these engines are taken out of their original environment, other things change, or need to be changed as well. I don't see where connecting the speedometer sensor is going to be of any help on an engine running a generator, auger, or anything else stationery. If you use the original system with the computer, this is one sensor that will have to be in place in a lot of systems, and it will not be functioning properly. Many of the gas and diesel accelerators are a "by wire" system. They have to get certain feedback, or they just flop... There are also fuses, circuit breakers, and relays that have to be incorporated for them to work properly. Yes, we have to re-engineer a lot of things to make a simple change. It's NOT stopping progress in other areas, it's making these things work in other areas that may be of good use to others.

Just set the trans switch circuits to tell the computer it's in direct drive if not using the trans. Speedo input circuit will now read correct from a flywheel,crank or shaft mounted sensor.
Simple solution would be to chop at the firewall and add a pair of dolly wheels or legs. Keep the electronics connected and mounted in their original positions.
The fly by wire throttle is the simplest part.Just tie the throttle pot to the governor arm.

Find an older engine.