Rotary rescued from the brink of disaster

[Farside]

After the flood, I was so busy clearing up all the other, more immediate, stuff I totally overlooked the 12a rotary engine and box which was hiding under the kitchen sink.
Still, a good flush out with diesel and a fill of oil and there are six healthy spits of compression when turning it over by hand. This engine was a known good one ten years ago and had been properly stored, with all ports being taped over, but being covered by peaty brown water wasn't exactly in the game plan.

It will be going in the Scimitar, with an ex-MINI Eaton M45 'charger attached to it, eventually.

 

[migcurious]

That's interesting that its going into a scimitar I remember a time when the engines were being removed from cars and something else put in ,good to see its getting the recognition it deserves

 

[Farside]

Now that it's rescued it's on a wheeled pallet with the intention of bolting the 'box to it and turning it over with the starter to see what the comps are in reality. It will likely be ok, I think.
The Scimitar has had a knocking big end for a while, and likely needs a complete rebuild, which doesn't leave much change out of 1000 quid these days, so I picked this up just for the sake of doing something different. The 'charger will address the relative lack of low-down torque and the whole unit will likely work well enough.
I always liked the 12a and the 13b, but the latter are harder to find in good order these days. I think I picked this one up at the right time, before prices rose. I'll be leaving it stock internally, for longevity. If I don't thrash the nuts off it, it should last a while. I've read stories of some people doing totally unexpected mileages with the 12a - 200 and 300K, for example, which rather gives the lie to the notion the rotary is a short-lived engine.
There's a personal quest involved to see just what economy I can wring out of it when fitted with the right carb and modest boost.
For the longer term I'll likely put together a Mazda V6 2.5 and an RX-8 'box, ready for when (and if) this expires.

 

[migcurious]

Ironically the v4 version of the Essex v6 was the replacement in a lot of ro80s in the 1970s

 

[Farside]

Ironically the v4 version of the Essex v6 was the replacement in a lot of ro80s in the 1970s

It was the only engine short enough to fit, iirc. I've heard people say it was a rough old lump, but from my direct recollection of it, it wasn't all that bad - perhaps in comparison to a six, certainly.

 

[daleyd]

It was the only engine short enough to fit, iirc. I've heard people say it was a rough old lump, but from my direct recollection of it, it wasn't all that bad - perhaps in comparison to a six, certainly.

They sounded fantastic with loud pipes on as well, a mate had a mk1 Capri with one in!

 

[Cobbler]

They sounded fantastic with loud pipes on as well, a mate had a mk1 Capri with one in!

They had an unusual beat to them, due to the V4 configuration the firing angles weren't equidistant. From memory, Ford had to fit a balance shaft to combat this.

 

[Wedg1e]

They had an unusual beat to them, due to the V4 configuration the firing angles weren't equidistant. From memory, Ford had to fit a balance shaft to combat this.

Similar to the V4 in my Honda bike; it has a pair of contra-rotating balancers that you can 'tune' to dial out the engine vibes.

My old fella had a Zephyr V4; its party trick was to seize on the M1 near Coventry in the early 70s.

 

[colnerov]

They had an unusual beat to them, due to the V4 configuration the firing angles weren't equidistant. From memory, Ford had to fit a balance shaft to combat this.

Partly, it was because the 'V' was 60 degrees and 4 cylinders whereas the the V6 was smoother but still had a sculptured flywheel. I had more than one back in the day, engine had a lot of grunt. A standard bottom end was good for 3 times the power they produced.

 

[Cobbler]

The V4 was literally 2/3 of the Essex V6. The 6 had oodles of torque, my son had one in a 90 Land Rover & it was a lovely conversion, nice & quiet & it would pull its guts out. Apparently it was designed as both a petrol & diesel engine for standardisation, but the diesel was never put into production, this explains its weight, it's a big old lump, with a big heavy crank in it. It was dropped in favour of the German Cologne engine.

 

[Windy Miller]

The V4 was literally 2/3 of the Essex V6. The 6 had oodles of torque, my son had one in a 90 Land Rover & it was a lovely conversion, nice & quiet & it would pull its guts out. Apparently it was designed as both a petrol & diesel engine for standardisation, but the diesel was never put into production, this explains its weight, it's a big old lump, with a big heavy crank in it. It was dropped in favour of the German Cologne engine.

If memory serves, the Ford V6 > Landrover GearBox adapter plate was known as the Steve Parker conversion?

 

[migcurious]

If memory serves, the Ford V6 > Landrover GearBox adapter plate was known as the Steve Parker conversion?

do you know I think it was that's a blast from the past

 

[migcurious]

do you know I think it was that's a blast from the past

the cologne engine was horrible it was weedy compared to the Essex v6 it was injection but was trangled by siamesed inlet ports , I had both in capris and preferred the 3ltr

 

[colnerov]

Siamesed exhaust ports.

 

[Cobbler]

If memory serves, the Ford V6 > Landrover GearBox adapter plate was known as the Steve Parker conversion?

My sons Landy was done with Steve Parker parts, not by us though, it was bought like it. It sounded wonderful when you floored it, not noisy, just sort of burbled.

 

[Ton-up]

But they didn't half drink the fuel!!! Had a couple of Land Rover lightweights with the S P conversion. They were fantastic. I would give the boy racers a shock, but the mpg was about 8!
A mate had a series 2a swb with a supercharged 3.1ltr, that was incredible, but didn't last long!

 

[penfold]

If memory serves, the Ford V6 > Landrover GearBox adapter plate was known as the Steve Parker conversion?

Milner did a conversion kit as well.

 

[Cobbler]

But they didn't half drink the fuel!!! Had a couple of Land Rover lightweights with the S P conversion. They were fantastic. I would give the boy racers a shock, but the mpg was about 8!
A mate had a series 2a swb with a supercharged 3.1ltr, that was incredible, but didn't last long!

My boys was not anyway near as bad as that, maybe it had an easier time being higher geared because of the 5 speed box, as I recall it was no worse than the 21/2 petrol would be, that's not saying much mind!

His present V8 110 does about 12 on LPG, which moneywise equates to about 25 on petrol which isn't too bad considering it's like a brick on wheels. It's nowhere near as quick as the V6 90 was though.

 

[Robotstar5]

If memory serves, the Ford V6 > Landrover GearBox adapter plate was known as the Steve Parker conversion?

He still sells conversion kits I had one to fit a Cologne V6 into my Lightweight

 

[Bobtail4x4]

I used to know Steve quite well, not seen hm for a few years,

he liked to think outside the box engineering wise,