Rotary Coupe?

[Ben Doughney]

On 31 Oct 2004, at 12:38 AM, Mike Arman wrote:

> Every once in a while there's a short discussion of putting a M*zda 
> rotary engine into an Audi - usually into a type 44, which sounds like 
> it ought to be the "natural" candidate, being very advanced and 
> aerodynamic and all that, and the (remote) descendant of the RO-80.
>
> Reality and good sense intrudes shortly thereafter, when issues of 
> vehicle weight, pentosin pumps and plumbing, autocheck harnesses and 
> miles of oddly colored and poorly documented wires (etc., etc., etc.) 
> arise. Seemed like a good idea at the time . . .

I have a couple of Ro80's one with a Mazda engine, and one with an 
original NSU engine. Looking at the gearbox, it looks very similar to 
the early Audis' that had inboard brakes. You can buy an adapter to 
adapt a Mazda engine to the NSU gearbox, and it is possible that the 
same adapter could work on an Audi gearbox. Clearance shouldn't be too 
much of an issue, as the engine is not much bigger then the 
bellhousing, but the Mazda sump sticks down a bit.

I would only do it in an automatic car though, there isn't much torque 
out of a rotary engine- it doesn't kick in until about 3000 rpm. Or you 
could find a VW or Porsche semi auto and adapt that to fit in the car.

You will also have to find a good mounting place for a large oil 
cooler, as rotary engines mostly cool themselves through the oil.

Apart from that, it shouldn't be too difficult to do.

BTW, the type 44 was going to take a 3 rotor version of the NSU engine, 
they had all of the bugs worked out of it, and even had a couple of 
prototypes driving round, but VW-Audi decided that the public opinion 
of the rotary would turn people away and didn't go ahead with it.

Ben Doughney

'71 1600TL
'65 1500N - Val
'70 NSU Ro80
'71 NSU Ro80
'85 Audi 90 2.3E Quattro
'83 Audi Coupe GT 5S
'89 Lancia Thema ie

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