Bugeye RX

There's a video from last year up above but I will be posting a few updates soon.

billt

iTrader: (1)

Have you been to Mark's Auto Cruise nights, Monday nights in Granby? I live in Torrington and occasionally ride through the northwest hills on nice weekends-maybe I'll be lucky enough to spot you. BTW it looks like you were going a little over the posted 25MPH speed limit

Bugeye RX

I have not been to Marks but I might give that a try. And the video just makes it look faster, you no like how the TV make you look fatter. ~~~~~Vroom Vroom

Bugeye RX

Finally decided on some seats. I went with the Miata seat as the cool Bomber seats were to uncomfortable for long rides. I also found a nice flush mount gas filler cap for the fuel cell.

banzaitoyota

I have a softspot for Frogeyes

Bugeye RX

Took the Bugeye to a few shows to see how it measure up. Drew a good crowd and even the Purist's like the 13B conversion. Them British car guys are crazy and I had get time hanging with them.

Dcashdollar

iTrader: (8)

This build turned out very very nicely. I would love to come to CT sometime to see that car in person.

Bugeye RX

Thanks, I could not have done it without the help of the experts here. If you do get to CT drop me a note. You can not only see it but you can take it for a drive, if you can fit! Thanks again. its been a blast sharing this build.

Morrx

G'day

Well done it is good to see another old pommy (English) car on the road with a proper engine. From my experience it takes a fun car and makes it brilliant.

Too many people start projects and never finish them.

Again well done.

Cheers
Graham

Bugeye RX

Hey Graham I agree 100%, I try to only take on one project at a time that way it has my devoted attention, otherwise I'd get weeded and probably never finish one. I also love the simplicity and compactness of the rotary's. You can put them in anything without much effort. My next project might be a Triumph or SL230 turbo rotary. Thanks again!

carlosrx3

Check out this MG with a rotary.We had a Orchard Beach Meet on May 22, 2011 (VMRC) and this guy show up .

This car is nice!

cfamilyfix

iTrader: (15)

That was one of my favorites that day. Made it look so simple and clean.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Wow, I'd better get my butt in gear and get my MG Midget's 13B built soon. Gotta choose a rotating assembly...

Rotary-MG

iTrader: (1)

WoW! I can't believe I didn't see this thread sooner.

I know what people mean about projects that don't get completed.

Brian Kraus and I both started out projects around the same time, and he's been racing and had a cover on a magazine, and here I am still planning and trying to stay motivated. Actually, other things in life took some priority, but anyways.....

It took a while to read all the posts and to try to get up to speed on this project. Awesome, just great, I really have to get off my butt and finish up my project. I have no excuses!!!!

One thing that I noticed that was missing from the discussion was the solution for the shifter placement to the stock location with the RX7 tranny. Both Brian Kraus and I are using the shifter housing tail piece from a Mazda B2000 pickup truck '80-84. I got mine at pick-a-part for $8. If you don't have that, then the next closest would be a SA tail piece. Using an FB tail piece places the shifter even further towards the rear of the car. But I've seen an FB tail piece that was modified to move the shifter forward a few inches. The B2000 tail piece bolts right up to the RX7 tranny.

I'd like to shorten my GSLSE rear end. If I remember correctly, this is what Brian did. Currently I just have the stock Midget rear end.

parts I have on my car....
Winner's Circle 2" lowered heavy springs all around.
poly bushings
Frontline BigBrake kit
Frontline front suspension
Spax adjustable shock conversion
Tilton brake pedal assembly

My hat goes off to you for finishing your project.
I think I've been working on this car for over 10 years now.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

I got my Midget in '96 and it's currently a piece of garage furniture. But I've got all the rebuild parts (gasket set, 2mm and 3mm apex seals etc) sitting here, two rotating assemblies to choose from (S4 NA or R5), aluminum flywheel or light steel, RB Holley 600, modded stock high flow manifold (it's a reverse runner so it fits the narrow engine bay right there lol), aluminum GMB waterpump impeller and FC waterpump housing for a super light weight waterpump. I also have all the exhaust parts I'm gonna need like an RB 2.5" presilencer, magnaflow 4x9, another magnaflow 4" round for the back. Hopefully it'll finally be quiet enough for the street. Just gotta finish up the GLC's exhaust and a couple other things first.

Rotary-MG

iTrader: (1)

Hi Jeff,
it's always a pleasure to read your posts. I like the idea of an alum water pump.

ya, i think i got my Midget in '89??? my friend bought it off an old lady that had it in her yard. My friend had to cut it out from a patch of ivy. I know kept the stock 1098cc in running form to maybe '96? Besides the engine conversion, just the regular restoration stuff took a lot of time. After starting the business 8 yrs ago, the Midget spent most of her time under a pile of junk. I have a real workshop now and can stop using her as a storage bin.

Since I dropped her a full 2 inches, I was worried about the exhaust clearance. So the headers come into the passenger compartment, and the pipes run on top of the floor. I know that I will have to deal with the heat issue, but passenger comfort isn't why I'm building this car. Headers and pipes are all wrapped to the axles, and I have 3000F ceramic insulation padding in a big roll. The two primaries combine just before a Random Tech cat. and then I have a SpinTech RV size muffler. The ATL aluminum fuel cell is up in the trunk.

I have to fix my webpage, it's all outlined there. I'm sure my web page has a better memory of what I've done than I do.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Yes I've seen your website with the exhaust that runs above the floor. You also went with a cat. That's cool, I guess. Air pump too?

My friend got this Midget in '88 and converted it to a streetported twin dizzy 12A (single dizzy conversion for electronic ignition) and an 84 Nikki at a local rotary shop he used to work at. I thought it was the most clever thing, being young and impressionable. It got a washer dropped down the carb so he rebuilt it in '89. Then it suffered a front bearing failure so it sat until '90 when he kinda started tearing into it, but by then lost momentum. It sat for six years when I got it in '96. Then it sat for four years while I smartened myself up a bit about these rotary things. Then in '00 I got gutsy and swapped in a complete REPU engine and tranny. Got it running but the driveshaft wasn't finished. At least it ran! Ran out of time and had to swap the engine back into my REPU. Then in '01, by this time I was on a couple of forums and read about Brian Kraus' yellow RX-Midget. By then the REPU's engine was available again and the driveshaft was modded. I got to drive it on the heavy 30 pound REPU flywheel and 9 bolt heavy duty pressure plate. It killed my left leg so I was walking funny for the next several days. It still had the original Lockheed clutch master mated to an RX-7 slave. Not a good combo for your leg. Fast forward to '03. I had a rear CW and a brand new light steel flywheel to swap on the REPU's engine. Also an air compressor to buzz the big nut on and off. I got to drive it around with a light steel and a nice freshly rebuilt 74 Hitachi carb. This setup was great! The primaries were very powerful, able to really raise the front end. But when you open the secondaries there was no more power. Turns out the engine had an NO intermediate which has primary ports and runners the size of a GSL-SE, so they're too small for a carbed setup. Also the reverse runner was flowing its tall secondaries into the short primary port. To make matters worse, the exhaust was only 1 7/8 or 1 3/4 OD. The ID was like 1.5"! That's too small for a stock ported 12A! I built a Y plate engine ported to 74 spec with parts from the REPU's engine, because Y plates are a little lighter than 74 3B plates, and the intermediate has tall runners so is compatible with the reverse runner manifold. But sadly another car around here needed a 13B so it came out. Turns out it was for the best as it vibrated slightly with competition motor mounts (but was ok with stock ones) and it smoked a little on startup because I reused the oil seals and didn't get competition outer springs (I use these on all my rebuilds now for less smoke on startup and they're great for boost!). Also one of the rotor housings had to be thrown away because it had tons of missing chrome. The other was reasonable. I swapped in another reasonable housing but it took a long time to break in as the apex seals were used and needed to get used to the less worn housing (so it was running mostly on one rotor for a while lol, no wonder it vibrated). Now I get to build an even better engine, one with a factory matched rotating assembly (less chance of vibrations). Near perfect rotor housing with only a couple minor boogered sections and like 98% perfect chrome. ACV ports fully blocked was an ambitious move on my part, and because RB doesn't sell the blockoff bolts for 74-75 housings anymore. The side plates are about the same condition-wise, but I weighed all that I had and picked the three lightest. Again Y plates, but this time I went with a mild streetport because I have an RB Holley here. Turns out the Holley will actually fit better than the Hitachi. The throttle cable had to be replaced so I used a brake cable from a bike. Its little lump on the end wasn't shaped quite right for a stock carb, but the two little metal strips that the RB carbs come with will work perfectly. Also the air cleaner assembly gives more hood clearance for ultimately more flow than the old Nikki filter getup that only barely fits on a Hitachi under the hood. Even with a 3/4" carb adaptor, the Holley fits better. Weird, right?

That was kind of a long paragraph, but it was all the same subject so I stand by it. I can't think of anything else at the moment. Oh yeah, I converted the clutch master and slave to an FC set. It seems to work better but needs to a little lighter. I picked out a really nice soft 225mm Daikin pressure plate and a low mile disc. It will work perfectly with the light steel flywheel. If I were to use the aluminum, I'd have to clearance it for the three pressure plate rivits. Not really looking forward to that. Plus since it's a streetport I've already lost some potential low end torque. Another aspect is the way this RB Holley drove last time I used it ie not as nice as a stock Hiatchi, especially when cold as the manual choke they're coming with nowadays wasn't hooked up, and when I went to use it, it stalled the engine every time. So I think I'd enjoy driving the car more if it kept the light steel that I fell in love with back in '03. So hopefully it will have similar primaries to when it was able to lift the front end a bit under primary-only acceleration, and now hopefully the secondaries will finally flow worth something now that I'm redoing the whole exhaust to 2.5". It was really disturbingly loud before too, as it only had a single Rotary Engineering glassapack at the very end. It kinda worked with the tiny restrictive exhaust I suppose, but now that I'm really opening things up, I know I need at least as many mufflers as I mentioned previously (three inlcuding the RB presilencer). I hope I won't need any more muffling than that. I'll also be adding an O2 bung and a narrow band sensor. Might as well since I have them sitting here. Then I can throw the wideband in for tuning. Oh I also have a Carter 72 gph fuel pump and a Holley FPR with pressure gauge to throw in at some point. Gonna be a busy summer. Can't hardly wait.

Oh I forgot to mention the car needs a complete brake job. Turns out my proportioning valve popped and spilled fluid on the garage floor last year. I haven't looked into it yet. I'll do that once the place holder engine is pulled after the exhaust is fabbed, but before the new engine goes in. Do you have any pointers for doing brake work on these? I mean complete brake job here. The thing has sat for 20 years and had an unexplained prop valve leak. Any idea what it could be? I looked up prices and they're astronomical so I'll be reusing this one if I can.

Sorry if this seemed kind of rushed or I didn't use good sentence structure. I have a lot of info upstairs that needed to come out.

Oh and yes I use my Midget as a storage bin as well. Gotta break those habits...

Bugeye RX

Thanks, I can't believe it's done myself! As for the shifter I actually moved the whole motor and tranny forward 2-1/2 inches and didn't have to modify the tail piece at all. The shifter is close to original position, maybe two inches off, but feels pretty good for my reach and with the Miata seats I have plenty good elbow room.

Rotary-MG

iTrader: (1)

Jeff, over the years I've seen you talk about your various projects and I still can't get my head around all the things you got going on. I also understand that you did some sort of write up on direct fire ignition? I hold the advice you give on this forum with much respect.

regarding the cat. It is my hope that the cat can act as some minor pre-silencer. If I can get it to reduce some of the rotary stink, then maybe I can abate some embarrassing stink around town. No air pump, from what I researched, newer cats actually can produce their own O2, unlike the cats from the early 80's that barely worked and required extra air. It's kinda a gamble, I'm not so sure it will work with the rotary.

Bugeye RX,
I have my 13B as far back in the engine compartment as she can go. The starter is within 1/4 inch of the firewall and I can fit a few basket ***** between the engine and radiator. I have a bit of sheet metal to replace. sry, if i got this wrong, but was your name Dave? My name is Stan. I should add that to my sig. Sry, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Have you seen how the shifters on Cobras extend way forward?

I'm going to start buying parts again. Considering all the new premium parts I have in this, I'm only less than $3-4k into the total build so far, including tools. Most of that has little to do with the engine conversion.

I'm the worst person in the world to ask about doing plumbing. I think that's where I stalled years ago. I hate all kinds of plumbing. From facets in the home and sprinklers. I worked in a plumbing dept and can talk all day about what everything does (including brake plumbing), but when it comes down to doing to, well... I almost outsourced my brake lines.

My fuel lines got crushed when the driveshaft got unbolted while I was pushing the car around my yard.

--Stan

Bugeye RX

Hi Stan, and yeah it's Dave, I cut and channeled the forward cross member and vertical box framing in order to get it as low and forward as possible. I didn't like way it sat on top of the framing and decided to sink down some. (you can see a better pic in my album) Not the easiest path but I got my desired results. I have over 2" of starter clearance. Replacement is a breeze. As for the plumbing, I used the soft nickel copper lines that you can bend by hand, a little price but it's easy to work with. I'm over $6K so far and still need paint, rims, tires, and interior work. I budgeted $10K so it might be achievable.

argatoga

I lost track of this. The early eighties B2000 tail shaft makes a significant differences as far as the shifter position. It nearly fits the original hole perfectly.



Here is the state of my MG. I'm having someone else do the hard work as I don't trust myself bending a fork straight no less cut into the body.

Rotary-MG

iTrader: (1)

That's just so nice! When I began, I didn't stop to think about making it look neat, but we couldn't post images so easily back then either. Especially after seeing a thread on shaved engine compartments, I'm going to have to invest some time into making her look a little better once she's running. But for now, getting the engine to turn over again would be a major step. I can relate to Dave's vids of when he first got her to start up. I so want to be there too.

I see that both of you did a neat job of reboxing the passenger footwell. I have yet to do that. Since I was a little more aggressive about pushing the engine back, and the exhaust routing, I have a bit more work in that area.

My oil pan is about even with the bottom of the frame rails. I didn't have to trim the frame rails, but I did relocate the drain plug. I didn't want to go lower than that for fear of bottoming out and destroying the engine. -yikes-

did i ever mention that I once saw a Supercharged 13B in a Midget, with a Jag independant rear suspension and struts in the front. Ya, the strut towers were crazy.

Rotary-MG

iTrader: (1)

oh btw, i hate having the engine compartment black. Can't see a bloody thing!! goes back to my younger days working on early Mustangs. I don't know what color to paint the car yet, so maybe a neutral machine gray.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

I talked to the guy that had that Midget with the jag rearend. He used a twin dizzy front cover so he could have more control over each ignition's timing. In all my testing, I've never needed that much control over any of my igniton systems. Of course I alwasy go with DLIDFIS. He also had a rotary truck that he'd use for towing his race car (FB I think). This was back in '96 when he was selling a Camden supercharger for 1k, several years before Atkins bought the company.

My Midget will no longer be a piece of furniture in my garage. This summer I've committed to getting it running on the new engine and a new exhaust. No excuses. Will I eat my words in coming weeks/months?

I've thought about painting my engine bay. I was just gonna go with blue, same as the stock paint color. And yes, back then it was a lot harder to post pics. Now it's like a minute in a jpeg program to resize them and then a quick upload to the forum. Hey, do you think I should throw on a quick coat from a rattle can while the engine is out? Just on the ugly areas? I've got plenty of blue engine paint left over from painting the side plates. It's not a perfect match but then the exterior has been repainted at some point and has two subtle shades of blue lol. I bet I'll be more happy with the finished product. Hmm I'll think about it...

Bugeye RX

Sure Jeff toss a coat on there. As for me I went with black so I could just touch it up as I went along. If I would have painted it first I would have ruined it during the build. I have a tendency to use the top of the fender wells as tool trays and work benches as I make my way around under the hood. Maybe once I'm done with the shakedown and everything is done, done I'll think about prettying it up. But for now I don't have to sweat F'n it up if I have to pull something off. It amazing how much road grime end's up under the hoods of these things. If you planning driving it a lot that shinny paint won't be shinny to long.