HomemadeTurbo - DIY Turbo Forum - buddy of mine is building a FC and it gives me a hard on

Quote:

Originally Posted by igy

Space. The car has to be able to be driven on the street, it is what the owner/builder wants. 5" pipe does not fit under the car

Ah.

Here in the Dirty South, we get TRASHCAR discards for pennies on the dollar. 4" and 5" to flat rectangular section transitions meant for low-to-ground vehicles, with a few hours use on them, can be had pretty cheaply locally, and there is a huge resaler of such parts in Charlotte. I know it's not normal fare, but it's out there. Not arguing, either, but there is always another way and target power is a lot to be shoving out 3.5" pipe if you can possibly expell it easier.. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by junkyard racer

and isn't the 13b the same in the FC and the FD?

Probably, my knowledge of rotaries extends to second hand lore and speculation. I know basic displacement stuff (1.1 vs 1.3 vs 2.0 for 12A 13B 20B), that there were four and six port 13Bs, that I did a couple clutches and basic maintainence on a few back in my days as a wrench at a fix & repair, and that the old carbed 12A solenoid system was almost as easy to troubleshoot as Ford EGR stuff (I touched a lot more Fords, they might have in fact been easier if I didn't have to reach for a manual every time I touched one).

I also know Steve Eckeritch of GRM Rotary Spit fame, he did the GT6/Miata/RX7 hybrid ass end for the Ro-Spit, traded a couple Triumph parts with him over the years, and had him show me some of his mojo on the Turbo II RX7s in re being able to grind 0.003" off each side of a rotor housing and still use it where mere mortals throw them away. He kept having problems with blasting off chunks of rotor housing around the ports, but this was also in the stone age of tuning ~95-96 or so before riceboys had figured out that stock Honduh engines were only good for 6 psi of boost on an FMU. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by junkyard racer

And if you do a little research on the rotary, they were very very well engineered motors, can typically last hundreds of thousands of miles if maintained (like any other motor)

I know I read some posts on an FD forum about all the owners there coming to a consensus that the FD would be the ultimate sportscar of it's time regardless of price if it weren't such a QC nightmare. I watched a number of FD cars lose engine wiring harnesses (went and looked at a few between 96-99, thinking of buying one) and destroying the front end of the car, and dealer denied warranty even though they were supposed to honor it according to articles at the time in GRM. I've both seen and heard of near-unfixable drivability and/or power problems from the overly complex vacuum system on FDs - admittedly, no more or less of a problem than the vacuum system on carby Honduhs and Toyotas except Honduh and Toyota apparently used better quality vacuum hose not as prone to leaks, and all aforementioned cars easily fixable in the hands of someone who can learn and understand semi-complex systems (ie not your average enthusiast or wrench).

I know ALL the rotaries hit ~80K and don't like to start if they've been left sitting for a couple days. Apex seals are consumables on those cars, partially due to design, partially because they are never maintainenced properly (oil injection pumps aren't replaced when they should be, oil not topped off between changes when the cars are designed to burn it, etc).

Quote:

Originally Posted by junkyard racer

and I didnt know this but the corvette accually experimented with a rotary motor at one time ;)

Actually, back in the 70s GM announced that within three years 75% of their product line was going to be rotary powered, and the first car in line for a rotary was the Vega. They ditched that idea in about a week with the rotary emissions problems and focussed instead on such engineering feats as the Quad 4, the 3rd generation Camaro, and their crowning acheivement the Crossfire fuel injection system in the '84 Corvette. ::)

Dropping the GM name doesn't mean much to me, and most of the Corvette line means even less. The old cars are only valuable because they are old and rare and 1.9 million mullets liked the shitty C3 160 hp L-48s and the OMG L-82s!!!11 that came with monstrous RV cam grinds. The C4 chassis is solid if you want to throw some work into a platform, but it's the C5 and C6 that are real cars - only took GM a handful of decades to figure out how to build a car, awesome learning curve there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by junkyard racer

You do also know the rotary was used in airplanes....right?

You do know they use the OHC 1.8 leakers from 80s Subarus in airplanes... right?

:P

Okay, tired, ZZZZzzzZZZZzzz soon. It was fun arguing with you again, Frank, and give your boy props on his car for me. While rotaries aren't my cup of tea, it'll be faster than anything I can afford anytime in this decade and I am green with envy. :y