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Three question-points about 13b-powered S30s


Max_S

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Hi everyone
Trying to find an engine for my planned 240/260z-project, I keep coming back to the rotary from Mazda.
It has fuel-injection, it's not crazy expensive to run in Germany (like a V8 would be), and it's compact and relatively light.
But looking around, including old threads in this forum, three things are still "in the air".
First:
Does anyone here have experiences with a rotary in an S30?
Last I found was "I want to" and "I consider".
Has anyone got one running and driven it?
How much was transplanted (engine? Gearbox? Turbos? Electronics?)?
Are there photos (all I got so far is a speedhunters-article on a three-rotor racecar).
Second:
By now, is there any place to buy fitting engine-mounts?
Or are there at least sketches so I could have them made?
Because all I could fab up myself would be solid mounts, and I don't think that that's very pleasant (after all, I'm not planning an all-out racecar).
Third:
What kind of power can you squeeze out with how much work/which consequences?
Sure, just slapping a big turbo on it will give a big dyno-number, but probably also a very short engine-life and a rough "kick" at the end of the big lag.
And that's not very helpful/nice for road use.

Thanks in advance,

Max

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I don't know of any rotary s30's but I'm pretty sure those will have to be custom built engine mounts, what is often done is you start with either the s30 steel and rubber engine mounts or the Mazda steel/rubber engine mounts and then just weld together an adapter to match them up.  The Mazda forums would be your best place for answers on rotarys.

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You could make good power with a 13B turbo in a light weight and small foot print. Some negatives to me would be fuel consumption as opposed to other engine options that would be of the same hp range and lack of torque down low. It would come down to the desired power band.

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^That is funny, I used to do the same on that track carrying too much speed in Gran Turismo. Looks like he is having trouble keeping the car in gear with it popping out. I wonder what transmission is behind it.

 

I think drive did a comparison and found a rotary uses more fuel than a V8 with about the same output.

 

Alex http://s30drifting.blogspot.com/ had a rotary in his drift S30. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTvrwMREOb53ARiCs23q5tg Francisco bought the chassis.

 

 is a pretty good one on how to get it into the car

 

http://www.viczcar.com/member-rides/matthew-clemeshas-20b-rotary-powered-73-240z

 

There is another one on viczcar

 

Solid mounting it in theory shouldn't be a problem as it has no piston type movement. You could add isolators via hockey pucks, jaguar mounts, polyurethane mounts etc. 

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@auxilary Is the expert on this topic. Not only has he done it, but he's the most forthcoming about the challenges. I loved to give him a hard time whenever I met him about it ever being on the road, and put up with the poking and prodding quite well.

 

That said, from my recollection of conversations, he insisted that it was a very easy install, especially if you ditch the oil injection and convert to using premix. The factory turbo manifold puts the turbo in such a spot that fitment is extremely difficult, and he mentioned that any of the common top mounts would make mounting much easier.

 

And aside from the ones mentioned, I think there's a few others floating around. It's amazing how many swaps are undocumented on the internet simply because the owner doesn't care about spending the time to post stuff on the internet.

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