Thread: Hi, does anyone know of any Mazda Rotary engined Hot Rods??

Tweet

Originally posted by Road Agent
That isn't what it says on their website:
http://www.nhrasportcompact.com/2003.../A_Ibarra.html

Ah! yes, youre talking about the 7.44 @176. That was done with their old RX7 bodied car using a two rotor 1308cc (80ci) engine. An amazing time for such a small engine.
It looks like they may have gone even quicker now, its been changed to 7.12 at 178 mph.

The 6.79 @204 was in the RX8 bodied car with a three rotor 120ci engine.
http://www.nhrasportcompact.com/2004.../A_Ibarra.html

Thanks VWstreetrodder, i shall have a look for that

oh my god! LOL... ive just spotted the rice burner threads in the drag racing section. If id seen them first i wouldnt have dared start this thread

Found one It has been done in Australia...

http://www.rotorheads.com/photos/cru...2/gallery5.htm

I'm with him "Except" for the front suspension, of course it's his car.
he has one and i don't.

Originally Posted by Swifster

It's hard to be nastalgic over "HMMMMMMM".

Sorry to drag this up again but i 'saw' (heard) this video and thought of your Hmmmmm comment...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfHqp...related&search

Hey can someone photoshop the rod out of the picture so we can see the gal?.lol

That would be a "shiela" in down-under lingo.

Originally Posted by Bib_Overalls

Certainly an interesting concept. If you have a hankering to build one get at it. We are waiting to see the pictures.

OK then! step one buy a hot rod... check

Step two - find a n/a rotary engine... (still looking)

I like the Wankel engine concept, very few moving parts compared to a regular pistion engine. However so far they don't seem to have the longevity as initially assumed. Under most circumstances I wouldn't want one as a daily driver because of their poor gas mileage. The exception to this thought would be if I could have a 3 rotor C111 or the 4 rotor C111-11!!

Unfortuanatley they are unavailable at any price. But one can always dream.

As for rodding a Rotary engine, no big deal. They're just another form of power plant like the VTwin, V3, V4, v6, V8, V10, V12, I3, I4, I5, I6, I8,I12 I16 and so on and so forth. Building a hotrod is a personal thing, you should always do what you want and ignore the critics.

BTW, Welcome to the forum. Hope you stick around, our bark is much worse then our bite.

Looks like the same car as above?
Sure sounds dif'ernt.

YouTube - Rotary Hotrod

There was a kid in the San Fernando Valley that had an RX-4 (I believe). It was called the "Samurai Warrior". The hood was plexiglas and the entire motor was polished. He used to pick on bbc Chevys while street racing. Uncocked on slicks, that thing sounded like a bunch of angry hornets.

Personal subject to be sure,,myself,not into rotaries at all,sound bad,and gobble gas,,to be found usually in our neck of the woods doing break dancing acts in diesel in an industrial area of any town...But,if you guys look back to the June74 issue of HotRod,you will find the cover car is Andy Brizios twin rotary and auto 32 roadster.Article inside,myself,I prefer the bark of a well modified VW after a v8 of course..

Originally Posted by BaronVonVankel

OK then! step one buy a hot rod... check

Step two - find a n/a rotary engine... (still looking)

In all honesty, I'm not sure why anyone would riducule your thoughts of dropping a rotary in your ride. Your part of this community no matter what your building or how your building it. As far as fuel effiency, who the #$@$ cares. There are guys dropping big blocks in their rides that are getting 5 gallons to the mile. . Do what you want. For me, the alure of dropping a rotary engine would revolve around size of the car and the ease of the transplant. The rotary is a small and neat package. And your project.....a small and neat package. Should work out fine. I may have my hands on a 3 rotor twin turbo out of a 94? RX7 twin turbo. The 3 rotor on the later models is a custom build. I had the pleasure of running the same guy a couple of years ago with my 04 RX8. He literally flew by me like I was tied to a tree. I was going to buy the 3 rotor from him then to drop in the RX8 but decided to just leave the car alone other than adding a Greddy turbo. Instead I will be dropping it in my sons 68 Mark III Spitfire. Size matters especially for my sons project. Man those things are tiny. If that falls through I'll drop something in it like a motor out of a ZX6 or something newer. My Genesis rotary got 16 miles to the galon when it was new and still gets 16 after installing the turbo system. Correct me if I'm wrong.....my 02 LS1/LS6 will be getting close to the same. So for me, it would be about size and weight for a vehicle as small as a Morrison or a Truimph Spitfire.

I wonder who's going to cuss me now?

Dave

Originally Posted by broncowheels

This is a hot rod site! Not a fast and the furious car site!

Hot rods evolve just like everything else. I like the old lake style hot rod era....but who are we to say that the new modern cars arent modern hot rods? Whether this guy is building a 14-71 blown big block or dropping a 3 cylinder motor in a track T......isnt he still a part of the hot rod community? And quite frankly, there are many innovative veterans of the hot rod community that would be ashamed of your comment. Sorry, I guess I'm unbiased.

For what it is worth, I spent a lot of time and a lot of money bringing a 1973 MG Midget from a hulk with a tree growing in it to a 98% restoration. During that progression over about five years I considered replacing the little OHV 4cyl with a rotary engine for the light weight and high rpm potential. I got drawn in to the "Collector Value" of the 1973 model because it was a metal bumper model with rounded rear wheel wells and really looked good, but the expense of maintenance and a number of foibles finally caused me to sell what was a "beautiful headache". So all things considered, you might have an easier time finding a Midget in the UK than in the US and then use that as the body and chassis for what would be a very hot street car. Driving a Midget for five years will enable you to write a scholarly text on "Springs I have seen under large trucks". Most chopped and channeled US early Fords are actually "high" compared to a midget! I have shown this picture before but it shows how low the Midgets are and they are very light so that would be an excellent body for a small rotary engine/motor. The picture was taken quite a few years ago at the Shirley Plantation (Virginia) British Car Day which is an annual event in early Autuum and is a sort of Eastern Concourse for British Cars and there are some really beautiful cars there which I suspect seldom venture outside of a garage except for this event. Many of the British cars have polished Burl wooden dashes which are seldom matched in US rods.

Don Shillady
Retired SCientist/teen rodder