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2006 rx8 motor swap

CrankyYankee said:
1973 MG Midget curb weight 2350 lbs.
2006 Mazda Miata curb weight 2441 lbs.

Pretty darn close!
Click to expand...

Good point. I can't verify the numbers, but his is a chrome-bumper Midget - so I'm thinking somewhere between '68 and '72. 2,350lbs. must be for the US version, too, but still sounds rather high to me. Either way:

I briefly owned a pre-converted non-US 1969 Midget with a Morris Marina 1300cc engine, 5-speed out of the same, and twin-carb conversion in college, all of which had been done by the PO - and even with that combination, it was bloody quick.

Thing is, though, comparing an 1100cc roadster with mechanical roots that stretch back to the pre-WWII days to a 2-litre, fuel-injected, properly ported-and-sorted modern vehicle with a legacy that reaches back to Frankie Goes To Hollywood is comparing apples and oranges at best. The Miata will, in all possible ways, stomp all over a Midget (or, more appropriately, an MGB - the car it intended to resurrect).

Either way, a Jeep's not a good application for a rotary. Much better to go with a decent turbodiesel.
 
It seems that if I remember correctly, there was a rock buggy that someone out west ran in competition with a rotary that was kicking butt not long ago...
 
Save the motor for a few years.

When hydrogen fueling stations are on every corner, that rotary will be just the ticket.
 
not to mention rotaries get horrid gas mileage despite their small displacement.

4 banger weight, 6 cylinder power, 8 cylinder gas mileage.

i dont see the point other than coolness factor
 
MudDawg said:
It seems that if I remember correctly, there was a rock buggy that someone out west ran in competition with a rotary that was kicking butt not long ago...
Click to expand...

Probably Russ Hogan, He runs the off-road campgrounds for the Disney OK wheeling area. He has 2 or 3 Rotary powered Buggys. He is using the older wankels but they seem to work well, they sound like hell but get the job done. I can see why, they are small, very small, and can't hardly wiegh a thing.

Here is a vid of his big 5 seater buggy on an obstacle called the wailling wall in Disney OK. Those are 49" Iroks on mog axles :D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3oHPMCtFGM
 
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BlueCuda said:
they are small, very small, and can't hardly wiegh a thing.
Click to expand...

the 13b weighs a fair bit actually, you have to consider there's a thick cast end plate, a cast rotor housing with a cast rotor, another cast endplate, another cast housing and rotor, then a last cast end plate and a big heavy eccentric shaft through the middle that's pretty heavy too.

the core weighs 180lbs
complete firewall forward about 325.

an LS1 for example isn't much more than that, what maybe 375 tops? I don't really know. I do know once swapped into an FC RX7 there is almost no weight difference and still maintaines a 50/50 weight distro vs the 13b ;)
 
philip_g an LS1 for example isn't much more than that said:
With a quick google search I came up with 390lbs dry weight for an LS-1.
Damn...I think i'm goin' to have to rustle me up a Miata and stuff it full of GM horsepower!:farmer:
Click to expand...
 
CrankyYankee said:
With a quick google search I came up with 390lbs dry weight for an LS-1.
Damn...I think i'm goin' to have to rustle me up a Miata and stuff it full of GM horsepower!:farmer:
Click to expand...

on the NA it takes a bit of fab work the NB they sell a kit.

your big problem will be traction :)
 
ok been playing made motor mounts need to know what tranny and t case
can make the adaptors myself
thinking bout trying to mate the aw4
only pics i have are the wrecked rx8
will get more when i have the motor mounted
 
i have a feeling you're going to have to gear down like mad. perhaps a doubler or really low axle gears. i'm certainly interested, but still skeptical. it's a cool swap, but i don't think i'd pick it. either way, post up.
 
transam89gta said:
ok been playing made motor mounts need to know what tranny and t case
can make the adaptors myself
thinking bout trying to mate the aw4
only pics i have are the wrecked rx8
will get more when i have the motor mounted
Click to expand...

and to think it only took you a year to get that far!
 
jesterbomb said:
I really want to say yes. But I can't :-(

Aside from the "holy shit, what the hell is that?" look you'll get from everyone once you pop the hood, I think driving it around will get old after a while. It would be too much of a drastic change in driving style for it to be worthwhile. That engine is designed for things that you aren't gonna use it for, in a vehicle it won't be in. Or, at least if you're trying to to do those things in a cherokee.....

It's too bad though. I love the Wankel engine. It's another of the oddball types that never really caught on like it should have. Like the Tesla. Or hell, the Inline four stroke, Shoulda been WAY more prevalent IMO.

Sorry man, I can't see that it would be a lasting relationship.



However if you could turn the I6 into a six stroke.....WooHee!

Edit: Screw the Miata. Come up north and get yourself a Samurai. Then scare the crap out of local Quad and dirt bike Hooligans. Sammy's aren't that much bigger.
Click to expand...


X2 on the sammy that would be a more likely candidate for a rotary. You can also swap in a TDI from a VW:D
 
Yes putting the rx motor in a jeep would be only for coolness factor. You're not going to want to be running 8k on the trails. Cool motor, terrible for off road.

That being said, I have always wanted to do this. It would be fun to be able to turn 9k and have a motor with only one moving part. One advantage is that you have 0% chance of ever throwing a rod :)
 
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