kit cars
 

I was wondering if anyone makes kit cars that use rotary engines?

What about any Japanese powerplant? I notice most kit cars are built for american v8 engines

There are plenty of kits that can accept either rotaries or any other kind of engine. Most kits dont have engine specifications, and leave the powerplant up to the buyers discretion.

I have been planning a s2000 f20c powered locost kit build, and I know that there are a few 13b lotus 7 replicas out there.

Nice, you have a link? company name? Ill search right now

Were you going to build the f20c kit car? Is there a chasis available that is made for the f20c engine?

The companies tend to build an example with a popular engine that is plentiful. As the final builder you can stuff just about anything you want in any kit. Its all a matter of how much you are able to fabricate your own mounts and other extras to make it work. Usually you can get the basic kits that have specific mounts in place for the powertrain they chose. If you see a kit you like call the manufacturer and ask if anybody has put engine "X" in it. If someone has they probably can put you in touch with that person. Most guys will be glad to help with everything short of coming to your shop and doing it for you. I've even seen guys fax drawings with dimensions to make the parts they made to fit an engine.

I believe the K-1 Attack generally uses Honda engines:

http://www.k1roadster.nl/concept/home.php

I just traded in my Lotus Super 7 clone with a street ported 12a in it to wirewheel classics. Go to the wirewheel website, click on Lotus in the bar to the left and my excar will pop up with plenty of pictures. Its yellow and they list it as an RM7. That car was the fastest thing I ever owned - sideways in second without really trying. If you are interested, I can direct you to a Canadian site that has the assembled kit minus running gear for $8,000. Several companies made Super 7 clones with rotaries in them - perfect combo.

http://www.flyinmiata.com/westfield/

Super 7 replica with a miata donor. Miatas are very plentiful and cheap and there's lots of ways to get good power out of them.

What do you guys think about http://www.factoryfive.com/ ? It seems to be one of the cheaper kit cars. I would not mind one of these, but I have a few concerns

Im not a really big domestic car fan either, and people might think something weird if I threw an 4cyl or 2 rotor engine in it

The Factory Five Roadster is probably the most popular model of kit car. There is a large on-line support base, as well as a race series in NASA for these cars. But the car is really designed to take a torquey V8 and Ford running gear. It's also fairly heavy for a kit - about the weight of a Miata, IIRC.

But what are you actually looking for in a kit? A Classic Roadster? An "Italian Wedge"? An Auto-X Monster? Figure out the type of car that you have a passion for, and then look at the options. Don't spec the engine first, at least not without having an idea of where you want to end up.

For small engines (rotaries and 4-bangers), weight is the killer. Small, light designs are popular. These are often based on the Lotus-7 clones (aka. the "Locost"). The following is a good website to start looking around:

http://www.locostusa.com/forums/

Keith Tanner's site is also a good one for seeing the trials and tribulations of building your own car, even starting from a "kit":

http://www.cheapsportscar.net/

As for me, I've always loved the vintage AC Cobra look. Kit-car nirvana for me would be a 20B powered Factory Five Roadster. But the reality is that it would cost at least $40k in the end and a couple solid years of building and re-engineering to make it a reality.

$40k will buy me a lot of tires, gas and consumables for the track car :)

-b

Thanks for the links. I am unsure of what I want because I dont know too many options. I have a lot more research before I could choose one

initial D is REAL!,

If really depends on the kit. A lot of these kits use a lot more than just an engine from the donor car. If you look at the FactoryFive GTM kit, it uses a lot of pieces from the Corvette donor car. With a kit like that, if you plan to use a different engine then you still need parts from the donor car for the rest of it. Some kits are basically everything but the engine/transmission; it just all depends.

I would suggest first finding a kit that fits within your budget. Then do some research on people who have assembled those kits to see if other engines are easily adaptable.

I'm pretty sure all the kits will at a minimum use the brakes, suspension uprights, and complete drivetrain from the donor.