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Author Topic: Rotary go kart  (Read 1515 times)

Offline baloo

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Rotary go kart
« on: October 28, 2020, 06:43:29 PM »
hi guys
    bit of a long story  but i inherited an Rx8  and dident really need another daily driver but wanted to do something with it, l like the way the front and rear subframes detach carrying all the suspension with them  along with the power frame linking the front and rear (almost) solidly
anyway it looked a good candidate for a  bit of a project soooo....   go kart for the back lawn was the answer   not really interested in making it road legal   ( well at this point anyway )    first thing i did was to drain the fluids then roll the car on its side and weld a length of box section from  front to back joining the front subframe to the back subframe making sure that they could not move in relation to each other, i relise the power frame should be doing that but if the engine mounts are shot then it will flop about like a floppy thing  :)    while it was on its side i removed all the nuts that hold both the front and rear subframes in place disconnected the steering etc   but left the top shock absorber mounts connected so i could gently lower  the car back on to its wheels with them all crashing out to the floor before i was ready,  once back on its wheels i undid  the shock top fixings   so i could just lift the body off leaving the complete drive train on the floor with the subframes locked in their relative positions to each other ....
so then the decisions start to have to be made......     looks very long    so should i should i shorten the wheelbase   etc etc

Andy
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Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2020, 06:48:19 PM »
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Offline Mr Spiller

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2020, 06:55:55 PM »
Ha ha love it
 I bought my 7 engine from a lad who used to race a rotary engined go kart
It was very quick .
Not that that’s relevant at all to what your doing


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Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2020, 10:15:31 PM »
well its a bit of fun   and passes the time since work has vanished  for now


looked a bit long at the original 106" wheelbase



something around 89" wheelbase seemed a good idea   so i took 17" out of the power frame 



Andy
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Offline re japi

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2020, 08:24:45 AM »
Ok, definetly following this. Awesome idea

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Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2020, 08:49:11 AM »

so being new to rotaries  i have lots of questions ,   i see thee is an air pump that seems to push air into the exhaust manifold  whats this all about and can i delete it    dont need this cluttering up my engine bay  ?
what else can i delete there seems to be millions of vaccum hoses criss crossing the engine ?

and are there any other options for inlet manifolds ?   not looking for more power   i want to get my bonnet line as low as possible, altenator looks it  will relocate to where the air con compressor usually lives   but the throttle body still sticks up in the air     i have loads of room running back down the bellhousing and on to the gearbox   it would sit nicely there

Andy
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Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2020, 07:52:32 AM »

 that power frame is  such an irregular shape its hard to shorten it neatly,



its also full of lumps of steel, so whats all that about then ?  some sort of vibration damping ?




anyway i removed 17"  from the power frame  and glued it back together temporary  as i am pretty sure its going to have to shortened again as when i sit in the seat the gear lever is to far forward  and wants to come back 6" or so




im going to run a manual steering rack so moving the engine back will help taking some weight of the front wheels reducing the effort required to turn   and also it will add  more weight  over the back wheels   which might be a good thing as i can see traction problems ahead
the other benefit of moving the engine and box is it buys me some space up front   should this engine give me any trouble i can switch back to a piston engine  ::) ::) ::)
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Offline Mr Spiller

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2020, 08:08:37 AM »
Quote from: baloo on October 29, 2020, 08:49:11 AM

so being new to rotaries  i have lots of questions ,   i see thee is an air pump that seems to push air into the exhaust manifold  whats this all about and can i delete it    dont need this cluttering up my engine bay  ?
what else can i delete there seems to be millions of vaccum hoses criss crossing the engine ?

and are there any other options for inlet manifolds ?   not looking for more power   i want to get my bonnet line as low as possible, altenator looks it  will relocate to where the air con compressor usually lives   but the throttle body still sticks up in the air     i have loads of room running back down the bellhousing and on to the gearbox   it would sit nicely there

Andy
You can get rid of the air pump and blank it off.
No doubt you can get a different inlet but it will be costly .
Not sure anyone has relocated the alternator but it’s done on an REW swap so would have thought so providing you can make a bracket


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Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2020, 08:15:57 AM »

[/quote]
You can get rid of the air pump and blank it off.
No doubt you can get a different inlet but it will be costly .
Not sure anyone has relocated the alternator but it’s done on an REW swap so would have thought so providing you can make a bracket

[/quote]


Hi Mr Spiller
                alternator looks easy enough   but unless i can get  get the inlet  manifold and throttle body lower  theres not much point,
will take the manifold off over the weekend and investigate, but me and costly dont mix well lol
air pump already in the bin ....

thanks Andy
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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #9 on: October 30, 2020, 08:50:55 AM »
Excellent project.. But i would once happy get that prop ...or get another properly shortened and balanced by an axle shop. If it come apart and flails around it will cut you in half. I shortened the prop in my rx8 powered westy and the prob job was done by chards in Bristol forcabout a £100.00.

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Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #10 on: October 30, 2020, 01:41:28 PM »
Quote from: boosted on October 30, 2020, 08:50:55 AM
Excellent project.. But i would once happy get that prop ...or get another properly shortened and balanced by an axle shop. If it come apart and flails around it will cut you in half. I shortened the prop in my rx8 powered westy and the prob job was done by chards in Bristol forcabout a £100.00.

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agreed  im quite fussy about what gets near my butt  and the thought of a prop doing 10,000 rpm making a bid for freedom dosent appeal at all
will buy a new prop when i know exactly how long it is

so  can the mobiliser be written out of the ecu  and if so  who does it ?
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Offline clive

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #11 on: October 31, 2020, 09:07:32 AM »
Wow what an excellent project, lots and lots of work done already.

Keep us informed plus we have good guys here who may be able to help with info should you need it.     
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All the best Clive

Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #12 on: October 31, 2020, 11:05:08 AM »
Hi Clive
      will do,   base frame is more or less decided, will make a spit and put it on that so i can weld the underneath next week ....
made some new engine mounts and  moved the engine/box back 8"





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Offline baloo

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #13 on: October 31, 2020, 11:06:58 AM »






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Offline Mr Spiller

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Re: Rotary go kart
« Reply #14 on: October 31, 2020, 11:09:22 AM »
Wow
Nice job
You’ve been busy


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