Rotary Midget project by Dutch 1960

5 minute(s) of a 97 minute read

Mike, I was looking at that space behind the passenger seat, I would be very interested in any info you have. I like the idea of keeping the weight down low and between the wheels. I will use a small Facet style electric fuel pump, so the mounting for that can be moved around at will, to accommodate the battery.

I am shopping for the old style heater box now, I came to the same conclusion. I am considering flipping and moving rearward the heater box outlet passages so they are on top of the flat panel where the battery used to be, giving good clearance for the rotary bell housing/transmission. Then the passages can drop back down and forward through the flat panel near the edges, and leaving the footwell vents and doors in place. It looks like the old style heater box will still clear the bonnet, even if it is raised up a bit. Also need to engineer an outlet back into the engine room/trans tunnel/out the bottom of the car. The heater will need to operate, even when the interior outlets are closed, for oil cooling on the late 12A system I am using.

Went to the pick-a-part yards for the first time in about ten years. Not surprised that there were almost no LBCs, just one Spitfire. But the early RX7s were completely gone! They used to litter the places. I am going to need to shepherd my spare odd rotary engine bits a little more closely now.

6-28-2014

I need some help from the forum. I am collecting bits from various cars to build things out now. One thing I am considering doing is moving the brake equalization sender and the associated line splits and hard plumbing from the right side of the engine bay to the left side. I can fab up the lines, but I am wondering whether the later model RB 1500 cc engine cars have the lines moved to the left side from the factory. As the intake and exhaust are on the right side of the 1500 cc engine, unlike the 1275 cc earlier cars, did the factory move the brake hard lines to the left side? As the rotary also has the intake and exhaust on the right side, I want to get the brake lines away from the heat.

I have found many photos of 1500 cc engine bays on line, but they usually have the heater fan intake duct line in the way, and since the brake lines mount down low, I cannot detect the location of the brake hard lines. It looks like the 1500 cc cars have the radiator overflow tank mounted where the brake lines would go on the right side of the engine bay. As I do not currently have access to a 1500 cc car to look at, any help from others on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

6-29-2014

Trevor, thanks, I don't really need photos, but I do know what I am looking for now.

Phillip, the racing rotary is very noisy, but I am staying with a stock-based street set-up. The intended use is for just driving around, without the maintenance requirements of the 4 cylinder, with additional power that should mesh well with the capabilities of the rest of the car, and still get about 20 mpg. The car will appear externally stock, down to its Rostyle wheels, that is the plan. A well muffled stock rotary engine has a pleasant sound to it IMO, like a small boat motor at idle, and something like a turbine hum at speed. The ported open piped racer is like sticking your ears into a wood chipper. A properly built and well treated stock, street driven rotary should essentially last forever, with only frequent oil changes and the occasional belts and hoses. Almost forty years of street driving the things tells me that if you change and top up the oil, and don't over rev or overheat it, there is essentially no other engine maintenance and it lasts forever. People hear "rotary Midget" and think race car. This one is going in a different direction entirely. (I do find the 1275 engine in the other car is fun to drive and has that nice "blat" to the exhaust when you get on it. But I want to go to 7k rpm, have a fifth gear, and add 50% or so to the horsepower, and this is a different way to get there, with less maintenance and a more understressed engine when I am done.)

Tom, thanks for the "heads up". For this application, I am really only looking at cooling the engine oil, indirectly, via the heater core (sort of one of those upside-down-and-backwards rotary engine quirks), and the occasional toasty feet on a cold morning. The factory Sprite/Midget, older style Smith's embossed heater core box, should work perfectly. One of my little challenges in this project is to use as many stock, unmodified Midget and early RX7 parts as possible, and only go up or down model years to get the right parts, when I must.

Love the video. Rotary racing has come and gone, except for certain autocross applications, if one is realistic about it. The engines just have no room for error, and can't hold up to any kind of abuse for long. These days, there is so much power available from other modern engines.

But as a street engine, it was always a pleasant little thing, though a bit lacking in power for the application. Putting it in a 1600 lb car in place of the 2400 lb original should wake things up a bit. And how much torque do you need when you are driving around on 155/13 street tires?