Roto B

So here it is. I figured I would start a thread and post some progress on this money pit I thought would be a quick swap. I have been looking into puting a rotary into my BGT for a few years now and got the wild hair to pull the trigger and go for broke (and it made me broke quick!). I have been horrible at taking pictures so far but when I get a chance I will try to upload a bunch.

Here is a list of what I got so far (I'm going to leave out the prices 'cause it makes me want to puke thinking about it ):
93-95 RX7 FD3S Eng and Xmsn from an ebay salvage shop
GT45 Turbo kit (came with intercooler, most piping, a manifold I could'nt use and other misc parts)
Adaptronic PNP ECU / Innovate LC2 Lambda sensor
more vacume line than I know what to do with
a completely upgraded and redesigned fuel feed system (3/8 tubing and stainless hose with about 3 million AN fittings and connectors to make it work)
Stainless exhaust manif flange and all stainless butt weld pipe for a custom turbo header
Other miscellaneous crap that will be listed as I complete this horrible idea.

Roto B

The first thing I did was stripped the external crap off the engine. Bye bye twins, rat nest and anything else not needed to turn fire into torque. Lots of research into what wires and what sensors to keep. The bad part is I only got half of the plugs for the ECU, good luck on finding those new and Mazda dealers laughed at me when I told them what I needed.\

So with the engine and xmsn slimmed down I figured I see how it fit into the engine bay, here is where I realized I was going to soon become proficient in TIG welding. The old engine mounts had to go and the oil pan wanted to take up the same space as the front cross member. Back to ebay for a 3in1 Tig/Stick/Plasma machine! Any excuse for a new tool is a good one, a shame it would come before a $3k over budget realization. So cut and chop ahoy! The passenger foot well needed to give a little for the starter and solenoid also.

After getting the eng “into” the car, I found out that I needed to remove the OMP because it was resting on the steering column (I forgot to say, this is a RHD car). With this out of the way I could just barely get into the exhaust to make it do a much hated 90 rite out of the flange. I tried to squeeze 2” pipe in the little space left but ended up having to go with 1.5” for the header tubing. I’m still not to the point of welding up the header but I will post some pics when I do.

As for wireing, I'm about half way done with that endeavour. I stripped, cut, repined the eng harness for single turbo and have the other two din plugs for the ECU to do still. I had to go to a local salvage yard and find an old Mitsubishi for the missing and broken ECU plugs. I will try to atach a link I found that was great help with this.

Next up will be pics of the progress so far.

rx7 SE

iTrader: (5)

If you need stock parts, try contacting Fritz Flynn on the forums. He's in Charlottesville and will probably have what you need.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

while it certainly sounds like an ordeal, it also sounds like you're moving in the right direction - a few snags, but they sound more like they delay you as opposed to moving you backwards. definitely look forward to whatever photos you have to share and also the link to the Mitsubishi plugs.

by virtue of the fact that you're TIG welding, i would imagine you have quite a handle on things, but nevertheless, maybe you'll want to poke around some Australian or British forums just to see whatever RHD-specific ideas and solutions those guys have circulating in terms of function and fabrication.

Roto B

Thanks for the pointers. I'm not too into needing any stock parts as of now but if I need a replacment for anything I'll keep that guy in mind.

I tried to post some pics up here last night only to have my home computer go ****-up on me. Workin on the pics, I promise!

Roto B

So... I finaly got some of the older (from the last two months) pics uploaded. I'm still working on getting them here in the thread but they can be seen in my album under my profile.

I'll make it a point to get more and get caught up tonight.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (2)

Any British Leyland car is a money pit regardless of what you do with it. Between bad electronics, corrosion, poor mechanical design, etc., not to mention getting a high centerline engine & trans to fit, you'll be lucky to complete this within a reasonable time frame or budget.

Roto B

i once read somewhere "There is a fine line between hoby and insanity".... This is true with anything that turns fire into torque! If i wanted something reliable I would have invested in a Honda. I have always had a thing for the fine lines of a clasic British beauty, tell me they're not sexy...
As for the time frame.... This here is a one man **** show! I did a ground up restore on my 73 midget, by myself and in my garage...paint and all, in 3 months for under 3k USD. Not to shabby for a money pit enthusiast if I may say.
So while your loathing for Leyland machines is understandable, Lucas is an *** of wiring, I ask only you have an appreciation for those of us that wish to skew from the norm or others comfort zones.

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

If you build it ..it will HUMM..
Keep up the good work!

Roto B

got the engine mounts all welded up, I want to put a couple more supports in and call it good!



You can also see where I had to cut the front crossmember. Thats next on the attack list.

Roto B

It took me a bit to find again and I figured I would try to post it here, hopefully I don't **** anyone off for it but this is great info if you need to do some repluging. This guy did an awesome job.
http://www.autosoftsys.com/supra/ecuext/

Roto B

I'm Back! Sorry it's been so long sense I've posted but I've been hip deep in trying to work on this thing and a bunch of other crap. Here's an update on where im at and what I've done. (Pics will be posted as soon as I can get them from my phone to computer)
Front crossmember-Done
All engine and xmsn mounts- Done
Turbo manifold - What a pain in the ***, hopefuly it works!
Downpipe- very little welding left to do
Radiator- mounted and shrowded. May not look too good but the front end on the car is a little off from the previous owner.
Wireing- should be done but I'm sure I'll figure out I forgot something when I try to make it run. Just got to wrap the loom.
Fuel system- all tubeing is ran from front to back, now for the braided lines. (more fun!)
Intercooler and pipeing- should be all done just need to mount it up and stabilize the tubeing.

The intercooler was a pain to figure out. I had to cut the inner fenders to run the pipeing rite next to the wheels. I have about 3/4" clearance at max turn.

Roto B

So, I finally finished the install. I had a couple issues with fuel pressure when I tried to start it but got those figured out and it fired rite up. Boy does this bastard fly! next stop is to get it tuned.

I ended up getting a pineapple pulley (big turbo kit) and when I went to install it, snap went a bolt. just my luck. So after I fixed that and went to put that all back together, snap goes another bolt. What should have been a quick 30 min install turned into an all day affair of drilling and taping and replacing hardware.

Now with the water pump fixed, I finished up with the mounting of the radiator and components. that went smooth.

The exhaust was an adventure in it's self. Nothing to restrict flow all the way back except a couple bends. Magnaflow muffler (that doesn't muffle a damn thing) and that's it.

Thanks to all that gave me pointers and support and sorry updates were kind of far between. (I needed to be in the garage and not on the computer)
I'm posting the rest of the pics in my profile today.

erick31876

iTrader: (8)

Glad to hear you got it running, it gives me motivation to get moving with the wiring on my project

Roto B

Get after it Eric. Grab a beer, hit yourself in the face with a hammer and tell yourself "the worst is over". Just keep the beer to a minimum or it won't be!

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

When my son finished high school, many years ago, we considered building him a rotary powered sports car. At the time, I was driving a 13b powered 1980 GLC, which was a lot of fun. We located a partially restored, rust free MGB, which someone had lost interest in, and I almost bought it. But we began to consider how much work it would be to finish restoring the car, install the engine and trans, do the wiring, get the instruments to work, etc, etc. We decided that it would be much less work to just build a convertible from an RX-7, which we did in three months. I had previously done this with a 240Z, so I knew what was involved. We drove the custom RX-7 convertible for several years and then sold it for $10k, which made it seem worth while.

I commend you for going ahead with your project - a friend of mine who is a Mazda rotary specialist did several swaps in MGB, Spitfire, Porsche 914, Datsun 510 and various other cars back in the 1980s and 90s, and they all seemed to work well. Meanwhile, I have shifted gears and I am going in the opposite direction - I recently installed a Skyline straight six in a 1984 RX-7.

Best luck with your project.