Rotary Midget project by Dutch 1960

4 minute(s) of a 97 minute read

The car is done! The "first drive" was sweet, even though it wasn't an open road deal. Still sorting the DMV and insurance, so it will not be at the San Diego British Car Day (today), but it got done in time, which was a goal. Still the parking brake and the wipers to work out, but the rest of it is done.

As expected, it is a Midget with some extra horsepower and a five speed. It has that small motorboat sound at idle, and the characteristic rotary leaf blower/chain saw sound at speed. As a fan of the rotary engine, I am very happy with the result. However, if one is not a "rotorhead", I would honestly recommend something else for an engine swap. Engine tech has come a long way in recent decades, and there are small, powerful piston engines that don't have the quirks, noises, heat, and sensitivities of the rotary.

One unexpected thing is that the electric fans (twin universal fans from Summit) are surprisingly loud.

Finally, it was much more work and "re-do's" than I anticipated. Race cars are stripped out and you just put in what you need. Street car restorations and refurbishments are very much a "tab A to slot B" kind of assembly/reassembly process. Doing an engine swap for a street-driven car, the process just never seems to end. The work schedule goes on and on. In hindsight, there is no way to "minimize" the commitment, and the few things I did, such as splicing front engine mounting plates. were false economies. I should have just fabbed up a piece for the job, as the effort saved was very small in the big scheme of things. If you do choose to go the engine swap route, plan on a big time commitment. And learn to weld or have a buddy who knows how, or you are going to put some welding shop owner's child through college.  

My sense is that the difference in work would not be great between a "stock" driveline for the street, and a "performance" build. So if you are looking for a docile "street" build, do it that way, and if you are looking for more (and have the powerplant build under control), then go for it. The work and commitment, outside of the engine build, aren't going to be much different, even if some details are done in different ways.

I will add up the stack of invoices and receipts, and give you an idea of what I spent on this act of madness (do I really want to know?), as some interest was expressed.

I plan to add a separate tech page with all the little info on adaptations, thread sizes, parts, fittings, and wiring loom splices and connections. Some of it is peculiar to the rotary, but much of it would be useful for other engine swaps, too.

Pacman, I'll get a video link to you. Man, I want some of whatever it is you have for breakfast! It would keep me going all day--

10-14-2016

Nitrated axle shafts is my "Plan A" at this point. Your Jaguar probably fell prey to a ported and modified rotary (which my car is not). Attitudes about rotaries mirror those of V8s many years ago, which is that the type of engine, by its mere presence in the engine bay, confers magical gobs of horsepower to the car. Just as a 2 barrel 289 V8 in a Mustang is not the same thing as a Boss 302, a stock rotary 12A will give (dare I say it?) spritely performance to the Midget, but it is not going to win any races against a new Camry.

Bridge ported 13B and an RX7 driveline, and it's an entirely different story. Pacman is going to get excited about the bitsa hulk of a Midget on deck around here.