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GRM - RX7 Transplant Synopsis and discussion (this will be good).October 21 2004 at 7:57 AM Duane K Estill
This is a summary of the article so as not to plagiarize, and not pictures will be made available as they are copyrighted. I want mention the guys name who owns the car. These are the 'details.'
#74 X 4 Speed was the donor.
#Transplanted an 1974 RX4 (??) engine first - this must be a mistake because the article
says 13B and that engine doesn't show up
until 2nd gen. GSL then it is the basis for
the rest of the RX-7 engines. I'll assume
they meant RX-7. That or I'm missing
something.
#13B engine mated to the X four speed transaxle
and 1500CC clutch assembly. (??) Weren't 74's 1300's, unless he replaced this, article sounds like it was already there.
#Used eccentric shaft spacer form "a" Mazda automatic transmission, mated to a machined Fiat 124 flywheel that was drilled to match the Mazda's bolt pattern.
#Ring gear was mounted on the other side of the flywheel to mate up with the starter.
#Fiat starter mounted on engine, Mazda's is mounted on the bell housing. With Fiat transaxle (this is supposedly the 1500cc). So dude cut a hole in the Fiat bell housing and made a bracket to hold a Corvair (!!??) starter with a "Marine Bendix" drive necessary for the proper reach to mate up with the flywheel ring gear.
#Starter was then reverse wound to turn in the proper direction, Corvair starters run the other way. What the F***???!!
#Made a large triangular adaptor plate and solid engine mounts from .5 inch sheet of 6061 T6 aluminum.
#Engine was rotated forward "about 20 degrees" for mounting for half shaft clearance from the exhaust.
#Oil pickup (??) relocated beause of the rotation.
#For clearance in the engine bay, powertrain moved off axis with the front of the engine towards the front of the car.
#Exhaust system was fabricated from a "Racing Beat" header kit, flowmaster musffler, and O2 sensor and Supertrapp baffle.
#Mazda oil cooler mounted under engine cover,stock FIAT fan and radiator used.
#Recently installed SDS EM-3D programmable electronic fuel injection.
#145 HP at 7K at the rear wheel.
#BFG R1 215/50R13 tires with wheels slightly trimmed.
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Okay, I'm not a mechanic, but from a sheerly porject planning perspective this looks rather poorly planned and really just 'catch as catch can.' I admire the guy for doing it, but there are some big things that jump out. Like these:
1. Why even consider preserving the stock engine bay? If you're gonna go this far, loose the rear trunk and start with maximum space.
2. Why use a FIAT transmisssion. Use stock or at least a heavier duty italian, like a Biturbo Maserati or Lancia truck tranz.
3. Why not turbo, the 13B in Turbo form (89) version makes 200 HP. What's the point of only 145HP FOR ALL THIS TROUBLE?
4. If you're going to ricify, go all the way, using starter and other stuff MADE for this engine.
5. AUTOCAD with proper measurements would allow one to measure things before hand and PLAN AHEAD rather than "making" stuff fit.
This is the closest to a documented and systematic transplant approach for a rotary implant. Is there anybody here that can take this and be systematic and thorough in their analysis and offer this for a reproducable product? If we're ever gonna do things like this, it needs to be systematically documented so that anybody with all the parts could sit down and do it...like a brown wire mod rather than...this pissing in the breeze stuff.
Offered in good faith. I've got a 3D CAD design engineer buddy and we will be measuring everything after yanking the engine out of my parts car and creating rotatable models to do as much measuring before even touching the car or considering a part in the system This will be documented carefully and available to any who want it.
