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Rotary powered gokart?

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Old 03-09-15, 06:50 PM
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Rotary powered gokart?

Ok, so I have seen go karts powered by 1 rotor and mini rotary's, but I am thinking of putting in a 13b into a go kart chassis. In theory, I can take the engine, water-pump, and alternator, hook it up to 1 belt, then extend coolant hoses to the front and hookup a radiator, plug up very limited amount of wires from the ECU and it should run without the emissions and such. Then instead of having gears, I suppose I could weld-up a gear of appropriate size to the end of the eshaft and have that turn the wheels. 8K RPM limit should work for some speed. Any input, links/ suggestions/ diagrams, anything is welcome!
Old 03-09-15, 07:48 PM
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Why even run a ecu? Get a carb, manifold and a dizzy and mount a ignition box and boom
Old 03-09-15, 09:31 PM
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Originally Posted by lduley
Why even run a ecu? Get a carb, manifold and a dizzy and mount a ignition box and boom
hmm, then I would have to hook something up to the CAS so it would know exactly when to spark, am I right?
Old 03-09-15, 11:34 PM
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Had a brainfart... you connect the distributor to the Cas... I could do that and get rid of the OMP and everything else.
Old 03-10-15, 06:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Chillichinchilla
Had a brainfart... you connect the distributor to the Cas... I could do that and get rid of the OMP and everything else.
The dizzy essentially IS the CAS
Old 03-14-15, 10:01 AM
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Engine, Not Motor

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Honestly, for what most people would consider go-kart size, a 13B is too much engine.

You're far better off with an engine half the size and weight as well as less than half the power.
Old 03-14-15, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by aaron cake
honestly, for what most people would consider go-kart size, a 13b is too much engine.

You're far better off with an engine half the size and weight as well as less than half the power.
12a powah!!!!!!!!!!!!
Old 03-14-15, 12:21 PM
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Originally Posted by plentymoon

12a powah!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think Aaron was more or less referencing a single rotor
Old 03-15-15, 01:28 AM
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Originally Posted by lduley

I think Aaron was more or less referencing a single rotor
Oh I know was just throwing out 12A Powah!!!!!!!
Old 03-15-15, 10:09 AM
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A single rotor, if available. Problem with a single rotor is that unless you find a Sachs engine (that would be my choice) then you need to machine 13B/12A parts to put a single rotor together. Or spend a lot of money with Atkins to get a kit.

Consider just the cooling requirements of a 13B before putting one on a go-kart. The size of even the stock rad is impressive.

Of course "go kart" might mean "sand rail" to some people.
Old 03-16-15, 11:54 AM
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Haha yeah, I know it will look silly with the radiator, I just want the full 13B in there haha. I want to do something different/new. you know. Now the problem that I see encountering is just using 1 gear, I would love to rig it so it uses 4 or even 5 gears.
Old 03-24-15, 05:36 PM
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If you could find a trashed Suzuki RE5 you could have engine, transmission, everything you need in a nice compact format to work in a cart.
Old 03-27-15, 11:32 PM
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What about a engine from a rotary snowmobile, they are small....add boost.
Old 03-28-15, 09:38 AM
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Originally Posted by SPENT-IT
What about a engine from a rotary snowmobile, they are small....add boost.
If you can find one, almost easier to find a 10th anny
Old 03-28-15, 10:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Chillichinchilla
Haha yeah, I know it will look silly with the radiator, I just want the full 13B in there haha. I want to do something different/new. you know. Now the problem that I see encountering is just using 1 gear, I would love to rig it so it uses 4 or even 5 gears.
Only real issue is that once a 13B is mounted, with the rad, oil cooler, fuel tank, yadda yadda, it will weigh 3 - 4 x more than the go-kart chassis. Depending on the chassis of course. And do nothing but just fry the tires. There are also power transmission issues. If you just intend to belt the engine to the wheels, then you'll still need to run some sort of clutch which means adding a support bearing to a Mazda bell housing and then fitting a large sprocket/pulley for your chain/belt. I guess you could run a rather aggressive gear ratio...But at top speed you'd be spinning the 13B at redline so your cooling requirements are going to be twice what you would need in a car.

Fitting an FC/FD/SA transmission is even more problematic. Now you have to deal with a drive shaft pointing towards the axle in a perpendicular way. So some sort of diff, which is easiest on a live axle salvaged from a small car. With the transmission and axle that's 400 LBs of additional weight.

Motorcycle transmission is a possibility but you'll run into power handling issues and of course all the fab required to mate it to the engine/clutch.

A modified bellhousing allowing a 13B to be mounted to a FWD transaxle is an option.
Old 04-01-15, 05:26 PM
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If you are talking about the rotary go kart on youtube I have the same engine. For a go kart you would want to use a sachs km48 or the 303 from an arctic cat snowmobile.
Old 04-09-15, 12:00 PM
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I agree with Tom, Suzuki RE5 engine.
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