I went to mazdas and more once and ken gave me a tour of his shop and howed me his currnet project, a black FC that he planned to put a 3 rotor in with a camden blower... and I just noticed this on ebay, and its from des moines, wa!!

Could it be the same car?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/3-Rot...QQcmdZViewItem

 

hmmm it must be, heres a quote from the ebay page

"just recently retired after owning and operating a Mazda-specialty shop for more than 20 years."

 

yeah that does look like the same car he had in there

 

well, the engine's probably good if he built it for himself. ha ha ha

 

Near perfect with 142,000 miles huh? No air filter fabricated but drives good enough to drive home? Car looks average to me, wonder what the reserve is.

 

You dont need an air filter to drive it and 142,000 is the odometer... whats so odd about that?

 

ask kompressorloigic about needing an air filter...
"Air filter?... We don't need no stinking air filter!"

A peice of mesh zip tied around the afm works fine

 

Yep thats his car all right. I remember seeing it in his shop. I wonder what he did with the V8 porsh.

 

I remember seeing the car at their shop for sale. I think asking price was between 15-20K if I remember correctly. The exterior didn't impress me, neither did the interior nor the engine bay (aside from the powerplant). I don't think that car was "In near perfect condition" before mods began. Maybe someday I'll be able to afford a 3 rotor and find out why I'd want to add Whipple and shiny Edelbrock.

 

i was also under the impression that ken durkey left the country

 

lol yeah,on my 100 dollar NA, ive been driving for 30K miles with no air filter! and the motor is still running strong and is turning over to 200K now!

"you dont need an air filter on a turbo car, the turbo chops up the big stuff into bite size pieces the engine can handle!!"

 

I helped Ken fire that thing up for the first time. They just poured a little gas down the carb because the fuel system wasn't finished yet, but it did run for a few seconds each time they did it. It was louder than my 20B, but being inside his shop, it was hard for me to tell just how loud it was. I've never actually heard or seen it driving.

I got the EFI manifolds and throttle body from that engine. The TB itself was in excellent condition which tells me the engine had very low miles. He picked up this engine in '97 and finally did something with it last year.

 

Nice *** whipple charger there!!

 

hey your right, that ISNT a camden blower on the car!

makes me wonder what kind of charger it is?

 

Shortly before he left Seattle, Ken came to visit me, and he drove this car. It seemed to run just fine, and I don't have any doubt that it is faster than my 84 with the Ford V8. I am not surprised that it needs a few details - Ken did some interesting projects, but never seemed to completely finish any of them. He was building it for himself, so I think you can assume the parts used were best quality.

If you really want an exotic rotary, this could no doubt be made into a top car. Personally, my preference is for a commonly used engine with parts widely available.

The V8 powered Porsche was sold shortly before he left. It was not finished and running.

I think Ken may still have the rotary tow truck. If restored, that would be a good truck - my cousin built it and towed cars with it every day for many years. He once towed a gigantic old Mercury station wagon from Kirkland to Woodinville with it.

 

Yeah, he still has the rotary tow truck.

 

That is so weird... Lol, almost an oxymoron.

 

I was checking this car out on ebay. Is the seller on the up and up? I.E. can he be trusted?

 

Yes he probably can. I wouldnt pay with a money order though, cus if something happens, you could be screwed.

CJG

 

how odd. That is my car, well it was. I bought that car off a guy here in olympia and it needed the motor put back together. after doing so one of the oil control rings went bad and it started knoking something fierce. I was going to rebuild it but I sold/traded it to ken for a an s5 turbo that he had just came across. when I got the car it was completly stock. I added the s5 tails and the front lip, painted brakes and tinted front signal lights and the white face guages. that car was pretty straight for it's age, it did have a couple door dings but I would say it was above par.

 

Lots of people never experienced how awesome a rotary truck actually is. A flat torque curve + towing = win.