RWD civic with rotary motor
RWD civic with rotary motor
Whats up everyone, im brainstorming a project right now and im looking for
some insight/advice. Ive got a spare 97 Honda Civic Dx coupe in my backyard
with no motor and im completely stripping it out to build up something
monstrous :). i started out researching fwd motors to build up considering
it would be a somewhat easy swap because a lot of honda motors will drop
right in with little modifications. During my 4bangin' studies a buddy of
mine, who is into the older muscle cars, said i should just get a 350 v8
for it and he would help me put it all in. So i started researching that.
ive found that a f$&@load of custom fabricating is required including frame
rails, differential installation and so forth. Now, considering im only 19
i was born and raised in the tuner era (i shouldnt say raised because my
parents were not mechanics but w/e i do my research) so i dont know the
first thing about a v8. Still exploring my options, i started to look into
rotary motors because ive always admired the rx7. i found theyre much
lighter than a v8 and can produce similar power with little modification to
the motor, on the downside tho they dont usually last more than 100k miles
but who cares its a race car not a daily driver. Shit, if you do the math
thats roughly 400,000 quarter mile runs, which is plenty. To get to the
point im not afraid of the time, work, and money this will cost but just
for arguements sake lets assume the money part isnt an issue. My
question(s): to drop a rotary motor into my civic shell would i need to do
something with the firewall? and if so how would i go about keeping the
heat away from the driver? As far as the rwd conversion, is the
differential different for every motor or could i hook up any
drivetrain/differential to any rotary motor + transmission? Ive also read
the gas tank may have to be relocated, where to? Or, if possible would it
be easier to drop the shell onto the whole chassis setup off an rx7? I know
i still have to buy an rx7 im looking into getting a salvaged one
Ive only seen pictures of 1 person who put a rotary in a civic and i think
its a great idea, considering that a honda shell with an rx7 motor would
weigh almost 200lbs less than an rx7 with an rx7 motor, and also the civic
has a wider wheelbase which if im correct would handle better (especially
lowered) :)
What do you think?
SoFresh1189It would be easier dropping the Civic shell onto an RX7 chassis but given
the choice I would drive the RX7 and do something else to the civic. There
was a writeup on a Honda forum which someone dropped a Civic shell onto a
Corvette chassis which was cool.
And if you managed to put a rotary in the Civic it wouldn't necessarily
out-handle an RX7 - it all depends on the tuner as the balance and
suspension geometry of the car might have been compromised in the build.
If you do it right then yeah but in a one off DIY project that is not
likely to happen straight away - there will be allot of little problems
you'll encounter. Heck I'm having problems building up my Megasquirt
system:banghead:
Get your research in with the parts you'll be hoping to use. And you can
use any differential/transmission with the rotary as long as you can
fabricate it to make it fit(Bellhousing, propshaft etc). I think you're
biting off more than you can chew - cars like this can takes pro's many
months to build. I recently visited a local Motorsport engineering place
where they were building a K20A powered AWD Mini which suits the super 2000
specs:drool: It takes shit loads of work and effort even for those guys
with years of experience as well as modern machining equipment(3 axis CNC
machine in workshop!).
fudgeHonestly...I think you're dreaming. However I'd like nothing more than for
you to prove me wrong.
Past that, don't be so quick to think the Wankel rotaries are
super-lightweight. With all the turbo and manifold stuff the engine weighs
about as much as an LS1 (Alumunim block 5.7 liter V8 GM produced from about
1997-2004). So much so that is is very common to see people swap out the
1.3 rotaries for the LSX motors. My understanding is that the 13BT with
tranny is about as heavy as an LS1 with tranny, and the 20B is heavier than
that. Now factor in the reliability issue, the cost of modding issue (LS1s
are easy and relatively cheap to mod) AND the fact that the RX7s with this
big 5.7 liter engine handle better due to the flat torque curve of the V8,
and well, the rotary engine is cool, but not always they best choice for
performance. Not to mention a rotary has what, 250hp and probably very
little torque while an LS1 has 350hp and 350+ ft-lbs of torque stock.
Next: A motor that tends to last 100,000 miles does not = 400,000
dragstrip passes. The stresses a dragstrip puts on the motor/drivetrain is
incomparable to 100,000 street miles. If this is going to be a dragracer
be prepared to do some rebuilds.
Yes, I'd say it's going to be a hell of a lot easier to but a Civic body
onto an RX7 frame. Compared to making a Civic a RWD car that needs to
handle a good deal of power, dropping a rotary or 350 into a Civic is
childs play. There is a reason you see very few RWD swaps; it is a
shitload of work and if not done properly it's going to get ugly at the
dragstrip.
You're planning on doing a RWD swap on a Civic and your primary concern is
about not knowing what to do with the firewall? You're in over your head.
What work have you done on cars in the past?
giant016actually i havent done a whole lot of work on cars im no pro but ive got a pretty good idea what im doing. the rwd conversion is a definite i bought the rear subframe from an s2000, which i presume will answer my gas tank question. and the whole rear suspension will probably be from an s2000 as well. now, im not expecting this to plug and play in the least but i know my way around a welder and i know enough people with the proper equipment and professional know-how that i need. the rwd conversion has been done before so ill have somewhere to reference that from to get it right. the only thing im debating now is which motor to put in it. ive done extensive research on rotary motors but not nearly enough but ive got until i finish the rwd conversion to figure that out. as for the firewall issue that will probably all have to be figured out after i decide what motor to drop in it
SoFresh1189Period.
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