seems to be contagious

[youngsmith]

Alright, I was just down in south Florida visiting some family. My uncle and I got talking, and I'm afraid I've just about convinced him to pull the motor out of his '72 midget in favor of something with a little more power. I happen to have a spare mazda rotary engine and 5 speed transmission laying around, and I offered them to him.

Here's my question, should we do the swap to his current car, or look for something else.

His current car is a '72 midget with the original engine, all original electronics, very nearly perfect body, and something like 55,000 original miles. He has all of the mantainance and repair records, and is the third owner.

I think the car is really too nice to cut up, but he hardly gets any use out of it, since it's not much fun to drive at highway speeds with the 4 speed and somewhat anemic angine.

I know where there is a '59 bugeye localy that has a staright body, but no interior or driveline. I thikn that a better project would be to take the bugeye, that would require a great deal to get it back to original, and convert that.

What do you guys think? should I try to talk him out of it? Or should we just be gung ho, and cut the thing up?

Tony

 

[youngsmith]

By the way, the reason I say it's contagious, is I'm in the middle of an engine swap in my '69 spitfire. the engine I chose is a 1.6 mitsubishi turbo unit.

Tony

 

[Steve]

Go with the bugeye. It would be a sin to do that to a nice, straight, original Midget with low miles. If the engine were shot that would be a different matter. Bear in mind that there is an awful lot that you can do to hop up an 'A' series engine so that the performance would be sharper if that is all you need. The 1275 motor really isn't bad, a friend of mine in the UK made quite modest upgrades, and his car was an absolute blast to drive.

 

[Biff]

Tony,

Another option would be to do a five speed conversion in the present car, especially if it is a Round Wheel Arch '72. That and some minor work on the engine will give you a little extra HP and the five speed comfortable cruising at high speed with lower rpm's. Failing that go for the bugeye build.

 

[Basil]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Biff:
Tony,

Another option would be to do a five speed conversion in the present car, especially if it is a Round Wheel Arch '72. That and some minor work on the engine will give you a little extra HP and the five speed comfortable cruising at high speed with lower rpm's. Failing that go for the bugeye build.<hr></blockquote>

Well well, look who just became a senior member

Don't let it go to your head (and keep posting).

Basil

 

[Christopher H]

The Bugeye, 100 percent. If you cut up the midget, you may loose interest and nt put it back together

. On the other hand, the bugeye is pretty much in need of everything, now isn't it?

Besides, while I hate to be crass, the finished project will be worth more if you build the bugeye.

Chris

 

[78Z]

Go for the Bugeye - seems perfect and the MG sounds too nice to hack up.

 

[Guest]

you could always send me the Bugeye. I had one of those back in college

 

[Bruce74B]

Tony,

Looks like the votes are all headed toward the Bugeye to preserve the great Midget you have...and I agree. Why not preserve the Midget and resurect the Bugeye? The world would be a better place for the Bugeye with a rotary engine. I bet you could raise funds by selling rides here on this Thread...I would offer $50 to drive a bugeye with a Rotary and a five-speed for and hour! This is not a bid item...sell rides for fun and expenses! LOL or at least post some progress reports and pics when you are done. GOOD LUCK!

Bruce

 

[Christopher H]

....Besides, car projects take four times as long and cost eight times as much as you originaly budgeted. You'll have 15K in the car and probably two years working on and off by the time it is done.

Drive the Midget while you work on the other car. Like someone else here said, life is too short to drive boring cars.

Chris

 

[aeronca65t]

In my judgement, this is a difficult swap. Have you noticed that there are very few Mazda rotary swaps in Miatas?...a Ford 302 V-8 in a Miata is easier.

The rotary has a "funny" shape that's hard to "fit" in a conventional car. There's a fantastic MGB rotary in our area, but the guy said the job was an enormous task. I actually owned a 12B motor that I considered swapping into a Spridget. I took a rusty parts car I had, and chopped it out to see how the rotary would fit. By the time I was done, I had chopped out a lot of structural metal...I junked the parts car and sold the rotary engine. The rotary also has a pretty large trans, so the Midget trans tunnel would have to go....another major structural headache. Your Spitfire swap is *much* easier, since the tunnel isn't structural and the car has a seperate frame.

One of the nicest Spridget swaps I saw was a 1600 Miata engine/trans (the Miata trans is small).

I have a friend who owns a junkyard....when I talked to him about Spridget swaps, he suggested a Chevette 1.6 engine and 5 speed. I know this sounds like a "cheesy" choice, but this engine can make about 90 HP with a header and they're cheap and common (about $200 in my area). Trans is quite small and for what it's worth, apparently, they're pretty durable when used for hydro-plane racing. Technically, the Chevette has Brit heritage (Vauxhall), so some folks may prefer it to a Japanese engine.

A 1275 in a Bugeye is a great swap and it would the way I'd go...older Sprites are light, so a nice 1275 engine can really make them move. Chopping up a decent early Sprite to install a modern engine might be a mistake. There really aren't that many Bugeyes left, but there's lots of box-Spridgets around. Nice Bugeyes in my area can fetch $10,000 or more. A decent Midget is only worth about a third of that.

I'd keep the Midget as a driver and find a nice 1275 (and a disc brake setup) for the Bugeye. Just my two cents.

[ 01-05-2003: Message edited by: aeronca65t ]</p>

 

[78Z]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by youngsmith:
By the way, the reason I say it's contagious, is I'm in the middle of an engine swap in my '69 spitfire. the engine I chose is a 1.6 mitsubishi turbo unit.

Tony<hr></blockquote>

What is the tranny you using for that? I can't seem to think of a Mitsubishi RWD donor car.

 

[youngsmith]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by 78Z:


What is the tranny you using for that? I can't seem to think of a Mitsubishi RWD donor car.<hr></blockquote>

I'm using a tranny from a dodge d-50 pickup, the pre '82 d-50's had the narrow bellhousing, and the pre '80 has the same input shaft spline.

as for thye midget swap, I think the bugeye is how we will try to go.

The other rotary engine someone mentioned on here was probably the 13b engine not the 12a. the 13b is a little different, as is the trans. the shifter needs to be moved forward in order to fit into the tunnel, but that can be done using the tailshaft from an 80's b series mazda pickup with a 2 liter engine. the exhaust will fit with a custom pipe after the stock manifold, but an aftermarket header would require body mods. The oil pan needs to be modified, as the crossmember would foul the sump, but it's not a hard thing to fabricate.

Tony

 

[kmcormick9]

i have a word document detailing how to do this sent to me by a guy who has done it before. i can email it to anybody that wants it, just instant message me on aim at the same name i use here.

i will agree with everyone in here that the bugeye would be the ideal car to do this to. it requires a lot of cutting to do this conversion and you dont want to ruin a good car. ive got a show car right now and thats all thats holding me back. if you mess up in the cutting you can either ruin a good running car or a rusted tub. your choice.

 

[kmcormick9]

another swap ive considered is an engine from a rwd nissan such as a sr20de or a rb24de. these are inline and much narrower than a 12a, plus they can get way more power especially if you go for a jdm unit.

 

[RHWins]

Another problem when significantly increasing power, is everything else. Will the rear axle stand up, when you turn with the extra power, will the suspension handle it; brakes, of course. Larger exhaust components take up room, etc. That Miata idea sounds great.
Good luck

 

[kmcormick9]

the guy i spoke with that did this conversion said that he had to have a rx7 rearend shortened for his application.
i never said it was cheap

 

[kmcormick9]

in my opinion, if your gonna go to the trouble with the 12a why not just do this: https://www.ntahc.org/modifiedhealeys/Photos/126Marian/Marian.htm

 

[Dave Thielke]

kmcormick9
Hey Man, I really thought they were kidding about installing a Hemi in a bug-eye. Sure looks wild, though not my cup-o-tea.