Engine angle question
 

currently undertaking a 13brew swap into an 8gsl-se and obviously it isnt a straight swap..

the biggest hurdle I am seeing now is oil pan clearance..

my question is at what angle should/can a rotary engine sit.. does it sit flat? can it have a slight angle (front higher)?

My plan is to notch and tig weld up the pan (I am about to pull the pan off and check where the pickup sits in regards to the space between steering arm and engine frame...

I may also notch the cross-member and brace it in front.. for additional strengthening..

I am trying to avoid changing parts as the motor is running and together when I purchased it and would rather use it as is...

I found a thread on here with someone doing something similar but it went nowhere...

How did you mount the engine? Did you make up some special cross member and use the 13brew engine mounts or did you change out for a GSL-SE front cover? If you used the GSL-SE front cover just use the GSL-SE oil pan.

Haven't mounted it just yet.. In the process.. Im in discussions on other threads.. Concensus is front cover, oil pan etc... But I have a full engine and trans ready to drop in with mods..

Dont reay want to spend money on parts if I can fabricate something different.. Still weighing it up

why not just run the GSL-SE oil pan, its $70 new or so. thats like an hour of fab work.

the front cover gets a little trickier, but i have seen tabs welded on the REW front cover to mate to the 1st gen mount bracket.

Yeah.. It may be the way I go.. The way I see it.. Tomorrow we will pull the pan.. See if it can be cut and welded to work the way I have in my head.. If so welding tabs would be easy enough.. Got a mig and tig in my shop and also at work I have all I need to make anything..

if your that worried about it and have everything at your disposal to make stuff, why not make a dry sump system?

Something else for you to consider is your driveshaft working angle, as the angle that your engine(and box) is sitting at will in part dictate what your working angle is going to be

this is why I am trying to figure out the pan etc.. I think the gsl-se pan is the way.. maybe I will weld tabs onto current cover like suggested.. and use existing crossmember and mounts

I would like to say that the engine sits at a 4 degree angle in a 1st-gen. No idea for other generation cars.

thanks.. after spending half a day with a buddy looking at a few ways to go about it I have decided it is better to listen to others who have a lot more experience and have done the swaps.. yes there is always new ways to do it.. but I figure (to my wifes displeasure) that I am going to spend the cash and get a few needed parts and use my labor that way.. so it should end up close to a factory like setup

another quick question... instead of drilling and tapping the 12a cover for the turbo oil return, could the omp hole be used?? ie: being I work as a laboratory machinist at a University I can design and make something that would bolt into the omp's place instead... my issue/thought is... would the return hole be too small?? looks to be like 1/2-5/8 Dia furtherest internal section

Nah, it'd be fine, you will need to remove the drive shaft though.

I have a cover plate that used to be part of a Toyota Camry engine (whatever came after the 5SFE). No need to overthink it, any flat chunk of metal with two holes in it will seal the hole, and you just need to bung a pipe in it if you want to turn it into an oil return.

it has no drive shaft in it..

in fact ive got to find the gasket/oring... everything I see online looks like a ring not like a typical seal ie squarish...

anyone have an idea if they are the same seal thru all covers??

Not sure. I have always just used Right Stuff to seal the blockoff plate in place.

The OMP is substantially higher up than a factory 12at oil return. I've seen problems with oil return being too high up (on an FC engine install into a 1st gen) that caused the owner a lot of problems.
If it were me i'd be drilling a 21mm hole below the OMP where Mazda put it on a 12a turbo, tapping an m22x1.5 thread, surfacing the edges of the hole, and screwing in an m22 to dash 10 fitting with suitable crush washer. This is how I've done it in my 1st gen with an fc engine.

Arran

the 84+ efi engines use an o ring to seal the metering pump. its oval, and there are three sizes

89-2003, N350-14-604, its a bigger oval than the earlier one
84-88, N236-14-604
and then the Rx8 uses an N3H1-14-604

the front cover is actually flat though, and the o ring land is on the metering pump.