Project \'rotarvette\'

[MikeLMR]

thats looking cool ... inspiring !

[shaunwil]

Wow, looking very interesting, does the car have a weber carb too ??

Amazing the amount of work that your getting sorted in this weather !

Shaun

[antnicuk]

looking good, thats my kinda project.     i assume that you cant get the engine further back in the bay then due to the gear lever being too far back?  shame as it looks like the engine could go further back otherwise.

Keep up the good work

[oldone]

Great going bud,that ROTOR motor looks like it belonged there in the first place......:evillaugh :cool :guinness

[TwistedHumour]

Looks like it could go back a little bit more  Or will it catch the handbrake in its stock position?

[yoeddynz]

Yeah- I\'m really happy with how its coming along! As for the weather...its been bloody warm for middle of winter i reckon. I cant believe I used to try and do all this sorta work with no garage though.

As for the engine position...I too thought after sitting it in place that it needs to go back further and down...with the IDA on top and filter I feel a bonnet bulge coming on....
but several things make it tricky;
The manifold will foul the servo unit and the clutch slave will foul the heater if it moves back anymore.
As for the gear lever..I took it all out again yesterday and took all the selector mech apart. I\'ve managed to move it all forwards by 102mm.

Then I made a silhouette of the sump and with some string and lots upside down antics I worked out that the engine with its sump turned around will sit back 80mms further and 25mm down but then the gear lever will be only 20mm in front of hand brake.. and the servo will have to go.
So it would  be a right mare!  And lots of fabrication work is outta the question as I\'m currently getting all my power from a honda generator and it definately won\'t run a welder.

My 2.3 chevette in NZ was mounted to far forwards and probably weighed half again but still handled great so I\'m happy enough with this one.

Photos soon..back to work.

[dubber91]

looking great mate. Nice one

[antnicuk]

oh well, we cant say you didnt try.  keep it up.

[dubber91]

what about a sidedraft car instead of the IDA? that might give you a bit more clearance.....

Steve

[yoeddynz]

oooohhhhh nooooo....must be IDA, must be IDA...

I thought about one of those bendy over manifolds with a side draft sitting over top of engine but apart from the fact I still think of the bends as potential fuel drop out points- the fuel hitting the wall on the outside of the bend and sticking?...maybe its not the case.. then theres the look...carb sitting over the top of the engine and hiding the bumble bee look.

Maybe Su\'s? Damn I wish i kept the su setup off the last rx7 I had- I gave to the fella who bought the other \'7 not thinking I\'d have a use for it. Worked well too.

[dubber91]

or you could go for twins......

Steve

[yoeddynz]

photos for ya of said gearbox work and new lever position....



Today I was let loose in the garage nearby and have started the building of the engine crossmember. My work welder ran out of wire 10 minutes in(should have checked) but anyway its a **** gasless mig so I used the welder in the garage and cracked on. I\'m taking a day off work tomorrow while i\'ve use of the garage and should have it all sorted and sitting there without a chain block- which will make the car easier to drive..

[yoeddynz]

hey \'old one\'... can you please measure the height of your 48 ida from the base to  the  top of the carb body where the trumpets bolt on. And the trumpets supplied with 48s- are they a fixed height or can you get shorter ones? I think i\'m going to have around 180-190 mm space under the bonnet so I just want to know the heights so I have no more restless nights with nightmares of chopping holes in my bonnet.....

I\'m thinking of a ramflo type filter which might offer more room.
As for a bonnet bulge- anyone know of any old triumph tr4 bonnets kicking about?
alex

[oldone]

hey \'old one\'... can you please measure the height of your 48 ida from the base to  the  top of the carb body where the trumpets bolt on. And the trumpets supplied with 48s- are they a fixed height or can you get shorter ones? I think i\'m going to have around 180-190 mm space under the bonnet so I just want to know the heights so I have no more restless nights with nightmares of chopping holes in my bonnet.....

I\'m thinking of a ramflo type filter which might offer more room.
As for a bonnet bulge- anyone know of any old triumph tr4 bonnets kicking about?
alex

Will measure the carb tomm for you bud......no probs.:guinness :cool

[yoeddynz]

I took the day off work and cracked on with the engine crossmember and gearbox support.  The crossmember came together nicely and is probably overbuilt but doesn\'t seem to weigh too much so better safe then sorry...



Once that was sorted and in place I started on the g/box support. I ended up using the old Rx7 one and hacking it a bit shorter then welding some box section to it.  I bolted in place some 3mm thick plates I had formed to match the curves in the trans tunnel. Its a bloody pain that I don\'t have a welder in the garage because it meant marking all the odd shapes, bits and pieces as close as i could then going over to the other garage, weld them and hope it was right. I got it right though- and finally was able to remove the jack, stand back and admire the little motor sitting in place.





While taking the photos underneath I noticed the void where the starter motor should be and thought-oh ****- will it fit?...
It does!   phew. It has about  20mm clearance but if i had tried mounting engine further back it certainly would have fouled the chassis rail!



So now I\'ll sort out the radiator. I\'m hoping the Rx7 one might fit in place with a bit of hacking about to the old rad supports. I\'m going to chop another hole in the valance in order to let more air in particularly for the oil cooler.
Then out with the engine again to begin cleaning and painting it and the bay. The fun bit!