165 replies to this topic

[cruz]

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These are the parts that will make up the Rotary engine w/ some probable changes like headers and carburetor options.

[MrObsessive]

See I told ya Bro!

Man, that is gonna be super killer once you get that in!!

A for sure show stopper that one!

[Foxer]

That looks awesome. Sure is nice to just happen to have a rotary just laying around the shop!

[cruz]

Gave the engine a black wash and installed the ditributor wires.....
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[Scott Colmer]

This is coming along nicely. I am looking forward to seeing it come together. It's been fun to watch. Great stuff!

My high school car was a Bug Eye Sprite with a ported rotary. It was a blst, but not exactly quiet.

Just as an FYI...

There are three types of porting that can be done to a Wankle (rotary) engine

1) A regular street port which simply ones up the the existing L shaped ports that start on the outside and the make a turn into the combusiton chamber. These will show 4 induction ports on the plates like yours does. My Sprite had this.

2) The next is a bridge port where a second port is cut into the plate after the second leg of the L that faces the combustion chamber. Depending on the size of the second port, these are barely streetable, but fast as He))! They also have a wicked lope. I've ridden in a couple of theses.

3) The port style is the perfial port. The L ports are sealed up and holes are cut directly into the chamber. The souped up pic you have is of a perifial port. I have never heard of one of these being able to run on the street. You would have to have a pretty exotic fuel arrangement. I've never heard one run.

Let's see how wild you get!

Scott

[Joe Handley]

Neat, IIRC GM had been working on a Rotory until the first gas crunch hit and were going to be putting that in the Monza (and the Pacer was also going to get that motor too IIRC), so this could be the phantom type "swap that could have been" in this little car

[Raul_Perez]

Marcos,
While I couldn't tell the difference between a high performance rotary engine and an industrial coffee blender, your engine is looking really good!!

Keep up the GREAT work!!

Later,

[ffreak]

Keep up the great work on the Vega man. Thanks for sharing the build with us as i'm enjoying it very much. This is gonna be sweet.

[cruz]

I have taken advantage of the little bit of time I had this weekend and Acladed several parts and put together others around the engine!
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This is the front bumper and scraped grill, I am happy with the results!!
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This is the intake manifold and the small velocity stacks, was gonna go with the previously shown Holley carb set-up but thought it was a bit out of scale.
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Here I added the oil filter, oil filler tube and did a mockup/install on the engine bay to have an idea how it will look sitting in the engine bay. I also installed the intake manifold and stacks!!
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[RodneyBad]

Soo that's what a Rotary looks like.
Looks way cool.

Great looking Grill/bumper.

[cotto]

Wow, looks just like the rotary engines my boys have around my way. What are you doing for the exhaust system? Are you putting headers or something? This is really an awesome build, I am glad you decided on that engine, makes it even more unique.

[cruz]

Wow, looks just like the rotary engines my boys have around my way. What are you doing for the exhaust system? Are you putting headers or something? This is really an awesome build, I am glad you decided on that engine, makes it even more unique.

Thanks Jay, I too am happy I opted for the Rotary engine! For the headers, I was going to use solder like a lot of the guys do here to make them out of scratch but I prefer using Wire Form, it is slightly harder to bend than solder but soft enough to be easily bent. It's sold @ Michael's just in case someone wants to know.
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This one is actually thicker than the one I use, it's just that it still has the brand name stuck to it just in case you guys need the info. I also had some K&S brand tubing for the installation of the header collector at the end. Also, it's cool if you have a tube cutter, you want these cuts to be clean!

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Took me several tries before I was able to make the correct bends. I have another Rotary engine in my stash so I used it for mock-up purposes, didn't want to take any risks and mess the other one up specially after Alclading some parts on it. Found out that it is better to do your bends with the wire form installed on the engine first, from that point I was able to be more easily creative.
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[cruz]

I will install the headers at the point where the engine meets the bay, I will need the flexibility of the moving headers when accomodating the engine block at that point. Here is more or less how it will look at the end.....
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Still have to do a little bending here and there but that's at least an idea of what I want to achieve. Thanks for looking!!!

[Foxer]

Nice job on the headers. That engine is really different .. and is looking great.

[cruz]

Completed a bit of the interior, used embossing powder for the carpet and some other details like a P/E CD and a Detail Master shifter knob and gauge set. Painted everything w/ Testor's semi gloss black enamel paint. The bucket seats are from a '69 Revell Camaro that I had in my parts box, the ones from the Vega kit were molded in place and I wasn't too crazy about them....
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I think the shifter knob is slightly out of scale but my excuse is that this is Bill Geary's Vega and he needs that big knob for those huge hands of his when at the track!!!
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[DR Dubois]

Soooooo coool!!!

[Fernando Roman]

Se ve muy bien, loco . Guerrillero!

[JTRACING]

thats one sweet engine in there!, the alclad parts really bring it to life! nice interior also!

[abedooley]

THAT IS GONNA BE SUPER BADA$$!!! Can't wait to see it finished. What kit did the Rotary come out of? And... What size Wire Form DO you use for exhaust?

[Randy Kern]

Cruz, you're raising the bar with each build you do! Phenomenal detailing. As Scott said, those rotaries are a popular swap in Bugeyes and Spitfires, especially for track and autocross. LOUD!!