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What Non-British Cars Do You Have?

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1927 Ford T (my daily driver)
rustywood.jpg

1902 Locomobile wagonette under restoration
1901Loco1.jpg


and several uninteresting modern cars.

Link to my 1902 Locomobile page.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Aloha Walter,

The engine is small physically, and may be a great transplant candidate to an LBC. A 1.3 L engine with 196 HP that is small and light weight.

Safety Fast,
Dave

[/ QUOTE ]

A local guy here has a '69 MGB with a RX7 wankel engine. I didn't get the time to drive it, but he said it goes like stink -- and that's the early RX7 engine with much less HP.

The funny thing is that for such small and efficient engines, they get lousy gas mileage. My friend just sold his '93 RX7, and he would get less than 15mpg (plus it would put out so much emmissions!) Hopefully the new Renesis rotary has solved the unsolvable-for-40-years apex seal problem.
 
2003 Silverado...hers during the week
1997 Chrysler LHS...work road car
1990 Jeep Cherokee...college son
1988 Jeep Wrangler...other college son
1991 Buick Regal...late mother's car used mostly to replace one of the jeeps when they are down...which is often

Bruce
 
Hopefully the new Renesis rotary has solved the unsolvable-for-40-years apex seal problem.

sammyb:

As far as I know, the apex seal problem has been solved for years. NSU, Curtis-Wright and GM never really got these seals worked out, but Mazda finally solved the problem (using seals with very high carbon content and more carefully ground chambers).
The "thirsty nature" of Wankel engines comes for the long slim combustion chamber. Rotarys have far more surface area in the combustion chamber than piston engines....thus, they tend to "quench" more of the fuel mix (this creates obvious emission problems too). Twin plugs and fuel injection has helped, but it's still a problem. Also, rotarys meter a small amount of oil out of the sump into the intake manifold (as a sort of "pre-mix") during hard acceleration...adding to the emissions problem.

We have an RX-7 that races in our club. It has well over 100,000 street miles on it and has never been touched internally. Runs super strong (but terrible gas mileage....12 gallons an hour).
We also have a race-only RX-8 that throws the longest exhaust flames on overun that I've ever seen....I hate to follow him closely for fear of toasting my Spridget.

I've seen a 13B rotary in an MGB too. The owner said it's neat, but that it was a huge pain to fit due to the "funny shape" of the engine. Apparently, that's why Ford V8s are more common in Miatas than the Mazda rotary. This reminds me of the old Chevy Vegas. They were build with a huge powertrain tunnel to accomodate the planned rotary engine that was never used.

TC: If that Model T is really your daily driver, then you're my new hero!
 
Hmmm, Sammy that gives me an idea for the 1500 Spitfire. Since I have the newly acquired MkII on its way down here, I have been thinking of making the 1500 a race car, or some kind of weird project. A Mazda Wankel rotary powered Spitfire seems like a fun idea to me.
 
Walt, ya gotta look at Grassroots' Ro-Spit project. Simply amazing little car.

And there's a rotary-powered Miata on ebay right now. Yes, conventional wisdom is it's a surprisingly difficult swap.
 
I hate people. Everytime I have an idea someone else has already done it. V12 jag been done, rotary spit been done a couple of time. Seems like the only conversion no one has tried yet would be a VW swap.
 
84 Camaro
82 Camaro
95 Caddy STS
73 Corvette Roadster
+ the Brits in the sig below
 
I got a 1994 BMW 525 Tdsa (diesel), it is less reliable than my girlsfriends 1985 Toyota Camry, and that Toyota has cover 100k kilometers more than the BMW, and the Toyota gets half the maintenace.
 
One of the fastest SCCA autocross cars in the country is a 13B rotary powered bug-eyed Sprite!

aeronca65t: If Mazda worked out the apex-seal problem a long time ago, someone ought to let the engineers, marketers and PR guys know /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif . Every single new rotary-powered model that hits the market does so with a message "This model features technology to solve the notorious apex seal wear." (Kind of like with every new generation of Corvette, the marketing messages are heavy on that the interior is now "nicer with richer materials" and that the Corvette is now "world-class" and competes against "the world's best.")

While many 1st and 2nd gen RX7s make 100K+ miles, the average is strikingly low -- like 80,000 miles before problems start. Generally, the higher mileage RX7s are owned by people who change oil ahead of schedule and use higher quality everything: fuel, oil, plugs etc... At least this is what both Mazda company guys and RX7 owners have told me. They also note that luck has a lot to do with it -- there are good ones, bad ones and like my buddy's '93 REALLY BAD ones. It also doesn't help that the Mazda dealer service guys are baffled by Wankel technology.

The Renesis RX8 engine takes an entirely different approach. There's no longer a traditional apex -- now it has a lip and curve on each corner, which helps with both wear and exhaust issues.
 
TC guy
I love your daily driver even if ti isn't an LBC.
 
My wife says I have a major addition, she's right!!!!. I love unique convertible cars. I have owned over 50 different cars in the last 10 years and work or restore all of them. No show cars, all clean drivers. I presently own (non british)
94 Mustang Conv.
90 Mazda Miata
82 Excalibur Conv.
75 Corvette Conv.
73 Mustang Conv.
The only one that at this time needs restoration is my 61 TR3. LIFE IS GOOD
 
1994 Alfa 145 1.6 litre petrol green - Lhd
2002 Peugeot 307 petrol white - Lhd
~~~~~~
Verfeil
 
1999 Volvo S80 2.9 V6
1999 Chevrolet Suburban 5.7 V8
2000 Chevrolet Blazer 4.3 V6
2001 Dodge Ram 3500 Dually 8.0 V10
 
Mine:1995 Ford Ranger
Hers:2002 Ford Escape
Toy:1979 MG Midget, 1500
My Dad retired from Ford Motors in Louisville,Ky, so
I can't afford to drive anything else. Rick
 
68 Alfa Romeo Duetto, 2001 Olds Auora, and the wife drives the 2004 Pontiac Vibe. When the opportunity arises, My '73 MGB (in LA) and a 67 Triumph GT6 for track days.
 
A 1997 Dodge Caravan (wife's)

A 1999 Dodge Neon (work car)

both Dodges are the exact same color purple.

A 1993 Mustang convertable (for sale)
 
Well I now have another non british car, a 75 2002 BMW. Nice little car, needs a good paint job, and an interior but I like it better then the Mercedes, mostly cause it has a manual transmission, a carb, and crank up windows. I hate all that electric stuff the benz had on it.
 
1996 dodge ram CUMMINS diesel 800 ft lbs torque ( mine)
03 mazda protege ( hers)

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/patriot.gif
 
2003 Saab 95 Wagon (wife's), and a 2004 Volkswagen Touareg (mine)
 
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