Rotary power E30

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:28 pm

Been using my 316i for drifting and the motor finaly went out with a bang !
Over reved and it broke a valve !

the part of the valve ended op between the piston and head ! .. so you can just emagen what the piston & head looks like !

Now i was playing with the idee of puting a Rotary in ! ? and dont get me wrong ! im a BMW die heart fan ! ... but here in SA you dont get BMW's cheap and confersions are Expensive ! ..

I know a dude with a Rotary shop and said that he would get me a nice rotary for next to nuffing ! we talking about a 145kw motor under 6000 Rand. thats not bad at all ! and being normaly asperated it should be reliable !

My only worry is

1) i have NO experions with any kind of Rotary
2) being a drift car ... it should be balenced ! .. would the rotary mess the
50/50 waight of the BMW around ?
3) and What i hear Rotarys have a overheating probleme ! ... and with Drifting it High revs and low speeds most of the time !

We got 4 Rotery guys in out drift club wich 3 off them strugle with the overheating probleme ! .... but i also should add that all 4 have huge Turbo's on ! we talking 400kw plus !

What do you all think of the conversion ! .. a got or not ?

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:41 pm

How about a SR20?DET?
Those are some serious bad boyÃ‚´s

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:43 pm

Gunni wrote:How about a SR20?DET?
Those are some serious bad boyÃ‚´s

if i had that kind of money ! ... id rather go for the RB25 or even the 1JZ !
The Rotary i can get lank cheap !

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:10 pm

didnÃ‚´t know they where that expensive,
how much power do you really need?

Post Fri May 04, 2007 2:15 am

Interesting idea.
I've wondered what a Mazda MX5 would drive like with an RX7 twin turbo engine, pretty good I reckon!

Or even better a Lotus Seven type car!

It is certainly true that the rotary non-turboed engine you mention is very light-weight, and will be smooth and eager to rev. Also it will have more power and torque than a 316.

Re: weight distribution - is a 4-pot E30 really 50/50, I thought they were slightly front heavy ?

Re: cooling - can't drifters fit large electric fans with a manual switch to run them all the time they are driving ? Would it help anyway?

Well, I say go for it - would be a fascinating project!

Martin.

Post Fri May 04, 2007 10:33 am

If you're really worried about overheating, just move to the UK ;)

sorry sorry... ok I'll shut up now

Post Fri May 04, 2007 10:39 am

A rotary engined E30? now that is crazy. I suggest this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... one_9C.jpg

Post Fri May 04, 2007 2:03 pm

Do it, Do it.

Post Fri May 04, 2007 4:51 pm

I've seen a NA rotary MK2 Escort rally car, was seriously rapid and the sound was unbelievable.

Do it!
jk

Post Fri May 04, 2007 4:55 pm

Going back to the cooling issue, a fair proportion of cooling for a rotary engine is done by the oil, so oil coolers are a must.
My old RX7 twin turbo had two oil coolers as standard!

Martin.

Post Fri May 04, 2007 9:32 pm

in australia a lot of people use rotaries in mk1 and mk2 escorts for the same reason you have. no cheap powerful ford engines out there other than great big V8's that ruin the handling.

it might be worth talking to the australians on ford forums regarding conversion info as it may throw up a few pointers.

i think it would suit an E30 very well and with the fairly large engine bay and small engine, access for repairs / modifications will be good.

go for it!

Post Sun May 13, 2007 5:57 pm

Hey mate,

There are a few rotary powered E30's here in Australia and they are more show than anything.

Have you ever owned a rotary powered car?

I have had the crap pleasure of owning a S4 RX7 13B Turbo and also a 12A n/a 808.

They are amazing sounding engines but to be quite honest they do not last in normal conditions let alone under duress.

The only way you will get a good drifting rotary powered ANYTHING, is if you're father is Bill Gates or the unhappy manager of the World Bank...

My advise... RUN... run as far as you can from these high reving peices of sh

t.

I got a 1JZGTE in mine and these engines come out with forged internals standard and 280hp/206kw.

Mine has now finished the engine mods and i am moving onto the body.

Just to let you in on a secret, one of australia's best known rotary mechanics, drives a 450rwkw 1JZGTE powered holden ute and has only done 5 mods to the engine to acheive this.

This is his daily car which he ran a 1/4 mile of 10.5sec!!!

These motors are no fuss all go.

Anyways good luck with your choice and if you require pics, please email me and i'll send you as much as you would like.

Cheers.

Post Sun May 13, 2007 8:38 pm

Ijzgte

Thats not rick Shaw is it?

I agree. Rotaries sound like a souped up lawn mower, but if set up they can go like stink. If you like going places at 10,000rpm

Personally, I'd ditch the rotary idea and try to source something else.

Post Sun May 13, 2007 8:44 pm

how do they compare weight-wise? also due to the shape the C of G will be lower too won't it? these would help handling...

Post Sun May 13, 2007 8:54 pm

I have to agree with E30_1JZGTE. Ive never owned a rotary but ive not heard alot of good things about them. I dont agree they sound nice however. An RX7 turned up to a meet i was at last year and it sounded like a wasp dying in a baked bean can. The most annoying sounding engine ever. Plus it was blowing out an alarming amount of blue smoke. Dont like em one bit. But thats me.