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

[BaronVonVankel]

Hi, im new here and from the UK. Im wondering if anyone knows of any Mazda VVankel Rotary engined Hot Rods?? any pictures? or details?

[broncowheels]

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

[Stovebolter]

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.

[Bib_Overalls]

I had a Mazda rotery pickup once. It had a Holly carb and headers and ran like stink. But it spent most of it's time parked next to a gas pump.

I can not recall seeing or reading about a rotary powered hot rod. Certainly an interesting concept. If you have a hankering to build one get at it. We are waiting to see the pictures.

[BaronVonVankel]

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)

[mopar34]

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.

[SBC]

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

YouTube - Rotary Hotrod

[gassersgarage]

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.

[Stovebolter]

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

[Matt167]

The build cost wouldn't too much but, there anoying 2 strokes ( basicly ) , ineficent and I'v never seen anything Mazda rotary powered other than an RX7 or RX8.

[Swifster]

Matt,

Time for school. For their size, they are very efficient. But even better than that, they are smooth. Rotories can come in one to four rotors (race engines) and Mazda won a 24 of LeMans race with this style engine a few years back.

In the early '70's, just about every car sold by Mazda had a rotory in it, including it's pick-up truck. The problem with this engine is that they are not emissions friendly. The best part about these engines, is the few amount of moving parts. It makes these engine almost bullet proof. The only real wear item are the seals.

Baron, most of the cars sold in this country weigh a lot more than what most european cars do. For the simplicity of the rotory, they are better suited to light weight cars, not larger american cars. Even using the twin turbo 255 HP unit out of the 3rd generation RX-7 wouldn't be enough to pull around a 3500 lb car like a big inch V-8.

Now having said that, I've seen Miatas, bugeye (frogeye) Sprites, and few Triumph Spitfires with rotory transplants. Grassroots Motorsports built a rotory powered Spitfire a few years ago that done very well. Here it is.

[drg84]

Swiftster, I hate to argue with you(again), but the rotory has issues. As for as simplicity goes, the rotory is truely for lightweight cars. But their by no means bulletproof. Seems to me that the points on the rotors like to grind off causing poor compression and smoking. As such, their almost useless by 100K. Otherwise, mazda would be Still putting them in its entire product line. As for the wankel powered hot-rods, wouldnt it work to place a rotory in something like a spirit, a mustang, a escort or something else lightweight? Just to be different

[Swifster]

Gas mileage on a rotory is poor, and this more than anything else keeps Mazda using this engine in anything but a power ride. I've never heard anything about the rotor tips being worn out, but again, the seals get brittle, leak, and cause lower compression and smoking.

As for transplanting this engine, they've never been used in a FWD application. Without a trans or bellhousing to bolt up to it, a lot of time would be involved in just getting the engine attached to the trans and making sure the axles fit side-to-side.

As for using the Mazda rotory in a Mustang-sized car or similar, it would definitely be different, but with the limited displacement the street engines have, it would make big power without turbos.

Now if you have an older Pinto or Vega (which was originally designed to use a rotory), it would be a dramatic increase over the stock engines. The engine is great for extremely small engine compartments.

Until the fuel crisis of the early '70's, GM had been looking into rotory technology in small and midsize cars. Because fuel economy became an issue, the rotory was shelved in everything (including mainstream Mazdas) but the RX-7.

[Stu Cool]

Perhaps on a reverse of the situation, we are seeing a lot of LS1 aluminum V8s in RX-7s. Weight comes in very similar so they handle well and are wicked fast.

Pat

[BaronVonVankel]

Originally posted by broncowheels
This is a hot rod site! Not a fast and the furious car site!

Sorry to utter such blasphemies on your forum, i know that you Americans are rather fond of your home grown V8s... i just wondered if anyone in Hot Rod land had dared to be a bit different... if anyone has they must be hiding in shame.
I like Rods a lot, especially the 'American Graffiti' 32 Ford (and similar) look. The chances of me building one at the moment are not good.. young family and all that, its a dream of mine though... maybe one day.
A car like that cant be very heavy, well not until you fit the 454ci V8 anyway The 3 rotor 300bhp engine from the Mazda Cosmo would haul it about without any problem.
I only got to thinking about a Rotary Rod because i ride a Norton Rotary motorcycle. You have to admit, it would stand out as being a bit individualistic.
So! whos going to beat me to it then?