shadowlife25

Hey guys, Mario here.

I'm working on writing a book on maintaining and modifying rotary cars, with emphasis on the RX-7. For now my focus is on the first gen, so I thought I'd pop in and get the scoop from my friends in the know
I Also wanted to ask everyone here in the club for permission to use their various write-ups and vehicle pictures for it. Everyone whose information is used will be given full credit in the book.
Just so you guys know this is a personal project for me, and I want to be able to give something back to the rotary community. I am including the opening page and the chapter list in the attached file. Please share your thoughts and let me know if I've left something out. This would not be possible without all of you, so don't be shy!
If possible I would like to market this book as a hardcover because hardcopy is always useful, but I also want to if I'm able, to give contributing RX-7 Club members a copy of it for their help. Keep in mind that this may be a while coming, but I hope to make something great that we can all benefit from.
I'll add more as it comes.

nevarmore

It would be nice to have a printed reference book like this instead of having to fire up the computer to look things up online when I'm up to my neck in grease.

rotaryrudy

iTrader: (2)

sorry i havent written up anything on my TII first gen swap. Ive been really busy with school and trying to get loans to open a bar. As soon as i get some more time ill get started on it. I think its a great idea.

shadowlife25

Thanks guys
It's a work in progress, but I hope it will be worth it for you. Oh, and thanks Rudy. No rush man. Good luck with getting your loans.

PaulFitzwarryne

At the moment not enough time is spent on pressing the search button. For those who find this task too difficult I suppose there is some merit in a 'RX-7 for Dummies' book.

A major problem is that on a lot of issues there are numerous points of view and approaches which would be difficult to balance in a print copy.

In my view it would be far better to have a comprehensive electronic reference book which can be continually updated. I thought Manntis was attempting to do this on his web site.

My preference would be something like the concept of the 3rd generation forum. Unfortunately to date there are too few entries.

Many years ago preinternet I was involved in helping to write a modification/maintenance manual for an other sports car. The approach adopted by the owners club was to form a committee with each member responsible for one area. They could write it themselves or delegate different parts of the task. After 18 months the result was an excellent loose leaf book which complimented the factory manual.

1stgen4life

iTrader: (1)

In your chapter list, how are 1a and 1d any different? I think it is a great idea and I wish you luck.

Lee Lyons

you don't even need to go any farther than the search on this site to get your info...dont know if people would buy your book but hey anythings worth a shot I mean if people can sell a rock and make millions why not a book on a car no ones ever heard of...lol...sad eh?

RustyRotary

iTrader: (2)

I think it'd be great, but only if it's done properly. Even on this forum I often find my questions completely unanswered. Collaborating with other people/tuning shops/etc. and researching every topic to it's fullest would make the book worth it. Otherwise, it'd basically just be a forum archive in a book form, which would be as many opinions as facts.

PaulFitzwarryne

Lee- I agree not many have not heard of the Wankel Spyder, perhaps he will mention others to get more sales.

DAVID GRIMES

Will you use the spell checker in your "propsed book" ?

shadowlife25

1stGen - 1a is about Felix Wankel and is a short biography if you will. 1d is about the actual workings of the rotary engine.
Paul F- While I know it is difficult to present all points of view, this is not my goal.
My goal is to provide a variety of different methods that are proven to WORK, with the choice left to the vehicle owner and their pocketbook as to which method will be employed. For example the TII swap. Also I will be trying to inlude as many rotary engined vehicles as possible in the early history part of the book. For example the Ro80. As far as sales go, I haven't thought that far ahead. I mainly wanted to put something together for US. i do plan on putting up a website that will have it in digital form too when time permits and I find someone who is experienced in that area, as I am not. Lastly, It's not meant to be a "Dummies" book. I just plan to present it in a fashion that anyone can use. Hence the breakup of the modification section into 3 parts: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. I figured this would provide a base point from which to start for noobs as they become increasingly more familiar with their cars.
Rusty - I do plan on thoroughly researching various shop methods and interviewing as many people in the field as I can that have a respected reputation and gaining the benefit of their experience for this book.
David - LOL Yes I will use a spell checker.
Lee - Yes I suppose that everyone can just use this site and the myriad of others out there to get their information...BUT, I plan to put as much as possible into one place for easy reference. There will also be a recommended sites list.

Lastly, if you all truly belive that this idea is not worth pursuing, then I'll let it go if there is no interest. Like I said initially- this is just my project that I wanted to share...

H4Inf

I reckon it's a great idea if you don't take any shortcuts. Get as much as you can into it, spend a long time researching everything. It would be great to see every topic ever discussed on the forums brought up in the book. Every little tip and trick etc. It would probably be very thick, but I reckon it would be an invaluable resource if done right!

It could also put wannabe rotorheads off lol, they see a huge thick book and think holy crap! And then buy a piston.

I wish all the best to you Let me know when you finish it and I will have to buy a copy.

nevarmore

A few comments on searching (comments, not complaints):
1) The RX7Club is HUGE, there are a lot of topics. Many of them are misworded or use many different words to ask about a problem (carb, carby, carburetor, carburettor, nikki). So if you want to find the answer, you either have to sift through a lot of threads or you have to fiddle with your search strings. Both take time that you may not have when trying to sort out a problem.
2) The RX7Club is HUGE, there are a lot of topics. Searching all of them, even ones in the relevant section, takes time and resources($$). The club is offered free to us and is supported by advertisers. It's only polite to limit our use of it when we can so we don't strain a free service.
3) Strangers on the internet. Its generally safe to assume that someone who goes to the effort of composing or compiling a book has taken some time to fact check themselves and offered up the text for peer review. Sometimes people post an answer they really don't know, sometimes people make simple mistakes, and sometimes people were taught the wrong answer and don't know any better.
4) Google. The RX-7 club is constantly updated and has a lot of members to catch incorrect answers. That webpage you found on angelfire might be as old as your car and made by a 6-year-old. See #3 for how a book prevents some of this.

I would like to see a good peer review system set up for this book. I would also be willing to help do the review or organize it. I will certainly be buying a copy when it comes out.

shadowlife25

Nevarmore - Thank you for your comments and inspiration
A peer review is an excellent idea and is what i was trying to do in starting this thread. If you would truly be willing to give a helping hand in this area i would appreciate it immensely. Send me a PM and i'll send you what you like to help in the collaboration.

To everyone - This project is for you, so tell me what other things you would like to see included.

God Bless

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

I, personally have been thinking about donig this for a while now. I find that the Heynes and Factory shop manuals only go so far, and sometimes you really need better write-ups.

I wanted to make a pun and call it "Rx7: A Complete Teardown and Rebuild", since it says on the front of the Heynes "Based on a complete teardown and rebuild"

I think it's a great idea, and if you need some help getting things together, doing research or writing things, PM me. I would love to get involved, and I'm pretty good at balancing many points of view and offering them in text.

I know it won't cover ALL the things that are on this forum and other online sources, but we really need reference material for the things covered most often. I vote that the first chapter be completely oriented around FAQ answers. If there was a section at the beginning of the Heynes manual answering the questions "What oil should I use", "What spark plugs do I use", "Why does my car burn oil" and "What is an FB, FC, S1, S2" then we'd be able to scream RTFM when people asked the questions

After all this time there are so many upgrades available for so many parts of the car I think it would be good to give information on those too.

I think that if you're willing, we can make this a team effort. Concentrate on 1st Gens (because there's more than enough information to make a book on them alone), sticky a thread or subforum or something, and get the whole section looking for good material. A few people may do a 'good' job of searching up threads, but the more people we have the more chance there is that someone will remember an old long-lost thread that nobody else does and go fetch it for us.

It would be a huge effort, and I don't even know a darned thing about getting a book published, but I think that it would be well worth the effort.

And it may cost more, but if the pages could be made of something a little... less absorbant than the Heynes, it could help all us greasy-handed mechanic types

Jon