13B>>>>Quattro -Reply

[Gross Scruggs <GScruggs@wposmtp.nps.navy.mil>]

Even more adventureous than the 13B swap, go to Pettit Racing in Ft Lauderdale
and get their three (yes, three) rotor Mazda engine and enjoy the fruits of
650hp!  This is a production engine available only in Japan which converts
easily to racing trim, as does the 13B.  I do not believe that lack of torque
should be a concern. (note tongue firmly in cheek)

Racing mods for the rotary give it superb endurance characteristics particularly
with the hardened stationary gear, allowing those 8-9-10k shift points.  A vivid
memory for me was hanging on the fence at the Daytona road course at the exit of
turn three and seeing a pair of RX-3s, nose-to-tail for 10 laps.  Each time they
passed me with a perfectly synchronized 2-3 shift point and the most glorious
8-9k rpm scream you can imagine.  Car magazines rhapsodize about the sounds of a
V12 Ferrari at redline, but from my observation there is simply nothing as
unearthly as an unmuffled hignly tuned rotary engine at the big end of the tach.
 

My question is a more practical one.  Rotary engines are going to be lighter
than virtually anything they replace.  I have conceptual objections to restoring
front/rear balance by just adding inert mass.  What can one do instead?  Move
the battery to the engine compartment?  What? Seriously, does anyone do engine
swaps for the 5k bodies?  Successfully?  

Regards,  Gross Scruggs
'87 5kTQ