Another RWD motor option, if you can make it fit.

Quote
jrally
This was developed for the crazy guys doing solid axle swaps on early Subarus that wanted a strong tranny with a proper transfercase option. (not racing, just wheelin) I think it's a very cool option, just would have trouble fitting a Subi engine between most other cars frame rails, I would think.

-Jon

actually that was the way I had to sell the idea to him, I always planned on using a 2wd tranny.

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"Rally racing makes a heroin addiction look like a vague craving for something salty"

I'm pretty sure the EJ22 doesn't actually like coolant or oil much. At least I tend to run out of both in my cars. Of course, the car was $200 and of the two spare EJ22 longblock engines sitting at the shop the average spent was around $200.

Frame rails are overrated.

Now that I think of it, I was measuring a DOHC engine since that's what I'd want to put in there. 12:1 compression with the 2.5RS heads/cams makes for a REALLY fun little engine, and that's with the stock soda straw intake manifold. I got some plans to work around that little problem.

I love the rotaries, don't get me wrong, but the latest bugaboo I'm butting my head against is getting the water pump to turn. I'm shredding belts like nobody's business. Latest thing is a new alt belt and a new shorty belt that only loops around the water pump and crank pulley, everyone says to use a Napa 7215 belt (22 1/8" but that was a little loose, and it slipped a bunch when it stretched, so this time I went with a 7208 belt (21 1/4" which was tight, and stayed tight, until the first rallycross, and now it has 3/4" of slop again and I can easily turn the water pump by hand.

Those $200 cogged belt drive systems are startin' to look really good right about now. With my luck, I'd just start stripping the belts and find out that they're $70 special order items instead of $15 at any NAPA in the country...

Sidemount alternator? Gets more belt wrap around the water pump pulley then, and it's not that much fabbing. I've never been convinced by the little cheater lawnmower belts as a bandaid...

i'm going to be the bigger man and here and apologize where this thread went. if you read my first post, i never dissed on, or made claim that subaru>whatever or that the w5X>whatever. I just wanted to show something that i have been waiting for a long time with some people that might find it cool if nothing else. I wasn't even sharing my build, the pics are just from, yes my project, but I had no others to show you.

This clearly got a few people roweled up that I would putting a subaru motor in a rx-7. And claiming this was better then that and so on and so forth, it all got a little silly in the end.

John, you are a knowledgeable man, and you have great ideas and you do a lot for the rally community, but you carry a hidden agenda with the words you type. We all need to make a buck, I'll never fault someone for that, but to push something into a place where it had no right to be in the first place is pretty juvenile to say the least.

Mr. Clark I really have nothing but the utmost respect for the many years that you have spent in the rally world. I aspire to know as much about rally as your little pinky probably knows. I know you are a fan of the rotarys, you told me that the last time we talked. But this car came to me with nothing but a rolling shell, i could have tried to piece a rotary together and spent the money that i don't have trying to do it right. Only to probably end up in the end with a car I would never finish and my wallet even emptier then it is now. So I took stuff I for the most part had laying around and decided to take a path no one has tried before. And I think the most important part of any build, I'm having fun doing it. It's an adventure to see how this all works together. Maybe it will be a huge cluster fuck in the end, maybe it will work great on stage, but at least I'll be able to really answer that question.

So I'm taking your words of "whatever turns your crank" and plugging away at my cluster eff of a project. With the hopes someday I'll be back on stage.

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"Rally racing makes a heroin addiction look like a vague craving for something salty"

Nah, you got me thinking crazy mid engine 4wd transmission pointed backwards, std. diffs flipped upside down so the car goes forwards, kinda thoughts...

Well then, my work is done.

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"Rally racing makes a heroin addiction look like a vague craving for something salty"

What he said, or Locosts - my dad's long been thinking of a Subie engined Locost for CG reasons.

I love the whole mixnmatch thing. Maybe it works, maybe it works and costs less, that's why I did my car the way I did, but in my case it didn't come cheap and I just hope your'n does, and goes ahead and actually works...

As soon as I saw the bell, and that it accepts Toyota 4x4 trans, I had the exact same thought as Pete. Mid engine 4x4 something or other.

I personally am not a fan of the Subaru engine, but I also own and love Chevrolet Corvairs......

The only agenda I have is to see 150 car entries of reasonably strong, relatively fast, easy to maintain cars that people can keep for years long enough that they can get more hours in and learn their driving craft better, have more fun, and stay in the sport longer.

And I know humor and "sarcasm lite" and irony doesn't tranlate into print very well, but it certainly seems a good majority of people "get" it.....even some of the furriners who I write to or read here. I have had a couple of Finns on another worldwide forum full of "The rest of the world" PM and ask if I'm "an old Swede who has lived away for a long time" and I asked why would they say such a horrible thing and several have said "because you get it, and because your humor is not American humor-----it's like ours"
That means, as some damn Finn once said explaining the quirky, laconic comments some of them are famous for: "A Finn is never completely serious, but a Finn is never completely joking"

The difference is, I've learned after 40 years, is some people aren't always looking for offense.

Because if you're looking for offense, it shouldn't surprise you if you find it.

No personal offense is or should be implied from comments about a car or car parts.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2011 01:01PM by john vanlandingham.

Quote
Pete

Quote
Doivi Clarkinen
Subaru engines are great in Subarus, I just don't think highly enough of them to swap them into a car that already has a better engine (like an RX-7).

They're a lighter engine and they don't puke when you get the coolant temps over 210 or get a little dust in 'em. Sounds a hell of a lot better to me. I'm kinda tired of constantly rebuilding the things.

Which engine are you talking about, Subaru or Mazda rotary? Cuz what you said could apply to either...

Quote
mellow65

Mr. Clark I really have nothing but the utmost respect for the many years that you have spent in the rally world. I aspire to know as much about rally as your little pinky probably knows. I know you are a fan of the rotarys, you told me that the last time we talked. But this car came to me with nothing but a rolling shell, i could have tried to piece a rotary together and spent the money that i don't have trying to do it right. Only to probably end up in the end with a car I would never finish and my wallet even emptier then it is now. So I took stuff I for the most part had laying around and decided to take a path no one has tried before. And I think the most important part of any build, I'm having fun doing it. It's an adventure to see how this all works together. Maybe it will be a huge cluster fuck in the end, maybe it will work great on stage, but at least I'll be able to really answer that question.

So I'm taking your words of "whatever turns your crank" and plugging away at my cluster eff of a project. With the hopes someday I'll be back on stage.

It's just an odd choice to me and a big downgrade in powerplant in my opinion but I'm not trying to tell you what to do. What raised my hackles is your assertion that rotary engines are not as reliable as old Subaru engines. I've had plenty of experience with both and know this is not true. A well built rotary engine can last many years reliable as hell in a race or rally car, I've seen it numerous times. Though maybe the issue is a well built rotary may not be in your price range. Also, what are you going to be using the RX-7 for now? Unless they changes the rules when I wasn't looking putting a Subaru engine into a Mazda will make it not legal for any rally sanctioning body. One thing is for sure. Seeing an Rx-7 go by making Subaru noises will be... interesting!

Quote
john vanlandingham
The only agenda I have is to see 150 car entries of reasonably strong, relatively fast, easy to maintain cars that people can keep for years long enough that they can get more hours in and learn their driving craft better, have more fun, and stay in the sport longer.

And I know humor and "sarcasm lite" and irony doesn't tranlate into print very well, but it certainly seems a good majority of people "get" it.....even some of the furriners who I write to or read here. I have had a couple of Finns on another worldwide forum full of "The rest of the world" PM and ask if I'm "an old Swede who has lived away for a long time" and I asked why would they say such a horrible thing and several have said "because you get it, and because your humor is not American humor-----it's like ours"
That means, as some damn Finn once said explaining the quirky, laconic comments some of them are famous for: "A Finn is never completely serious, but a Finn is never completely joking"

The difference is, I've learned after 40 years, is some people aren't always looking for offense.

Because if you're looking for offense, it should surprise you if you find it.

No personal offense is or should be implied from comments about a car or car parts.

Holy shit, a relatively concise and profound post by JV that I completely understood on the first read through! Did you bang your head or something? Seriously though, that last line is golden.

Quote
mekilljoydammit
What he said, or Locosts - my dad's long been thinking of a Subie engined Locost for CG reasons.

The engine's CG isn't THAT great height-wise.

I tell you what, though. Subarus are wide, Sevens are narrow. Now picture a Seven with chromed SOHC valvecovers peeking out of each side panel. It'd be like a four wheeled BMW motorcycle.