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Rotary in a golf?
Black_math - October 22nd, 2003 at 08:52 PM

How hard would it be would it be to stick a 1200 or a bit bigger into a golf mk 2?
can somebody help me or arent i being specifi enough.

kombi_kid - October 22nd, 2003 at 09:34 PM

many people hate rotaries here as they are a death trap for VW's!! they are light thats all thats good about them.
they need constant maintainence and are always hard to get partsfor/work done on them.
your better off upgrading and buying a golf GTI 1.8L or 2L engine!!
cheers
rhys

Biggus - October 22nd, 2003 at 10:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kombi_kid
many people hate rotaries here as they are a death trap for VW's!! they are light thats all thats good about them.
they need constant maintainence and are always hard to get partsfor/work done on them.
your better off upgrading and buying a golf GTI 1.8L or 2L engine!!
cheers
rhys



Maybe we should ask Zenjoe what he thinks, hey?

You've never owned a rotary, have you? Yes, they're light, but they're capable of comparitively large power outputs for relatively little outlay. Modern rotaries are excellent performers, and don't really require anymore maitenance than you would expect from any other high performance engine. Parts are plentiful, as are workshops that specialise them, particularly in the major cities. If anything, the rotary performance market in Australia is larger than the VW market.


Now, back to the question....
Aren't Golfs front-wheel drive? I don't know how you'd go about converting a FWD car to a rotary engine. It would be hellishly expensive to do.

Baja Wes - October 23rd, 2003 at 08:30 AM

modern rotaries last a long time.

Earlier rotaries got a bad name because of people doing wild porting like the bridgeports which gives the apex seals a hard time, so they die early.

Modern EFI rotaries with more modest ports should be perfectly streetable and reliable.

It would be a hard conversion in a FWD golf, and would suck to drive (can you say torque steer). I would start with a RWD platform.

Black_math - October 23rd, 2003 at 04:13 PM

So just go with a golf motor? or something else but not a rotary?

kombi_kid - October 23rd, 2003 at 05:27 PM

yer i thought he was talking about the old 13B rotaries.
it was just from a post before that was discussed that i wrote it from!
i dont have any experiences with rotary!
cheers
rhys

vwrallycar - October 23rd, 2003 at 08:50 PM

hey if thats a GTI 1.8 you got and you wanna change it, do u wanna sell the motor?

Biggus - October 23rd, 2003 at 09:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kombi_kid
yer i thought he was talking about the old 13B rotaries.



You don't mean the 13B. That only just went out of production a few months ago. You might be talking about early 12As and 10As.

I don't think we're going to see RENESIS rotaries in beetles anytime soon simply because they're so new. It would be super cool though. If I win the $15mil tonight, I'd consider it. :D

T25Turbo - October 24th, 2003 at 04:40 PM

Black Math,

I had a dream about doing exactly what you describe. I am behind you all the way.

Power to weight is phenomenal, just look at the fastest Drag Racers in the country, the Turbo Rotarians are keeping up or quicker than the fastest Blown V8s.

I think a cheaper approach would be to get a mazda 323 (rear drive old one) and drop a rotary in that. Otherwise if you want to keep it VW, a beetle would probably be better to drive.

If Rotary into golf is what you want to do go ahead and do it. Be prepared to shell out some cash though.

Biggus - October 24th, 2003 at 05:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Black_math
So just go with a golf motor? or something else but not a rotary?


See, the thing is that converting a front-wheel drive car to another engine is a lot of work from an engineering standpoint. Think about the transmission. It has to remain in a more or less standard position, because its driving the wheels. You'd have to mount the rotary in an east-west fashion, and I don't know that the golf is wide enough for it. This is why you don't see many front wheel drive engine swaps, at least for street cars with more-or-less normal chassis', and in those cases where I've seen them done, the old engine is replaced with an extremely similar design. It might be worth your while to find some ford laser/mazda 323 forums and chat with people who've converted their 1.6 B6 engines for 1.8 BP engines, just to ask about the difficulties they encountered.

You know, you could just go turbo. Its easier, and probably a lot cheaper.

Black_math - October 24th, 2003 at 07:07 PM

Oh i was gonna have a turbo in it anyway, that would be basic

kombi_kid - October 24th, 2003 at 07:39 PM

turbo + insurance+under 25= lots of cash/non existant!!!
not tryin to scare u off but this is where it all starts!!!
cheers
rhys

Black_math - October 25th, 2003 at 09:00 AM

Nah im not gonna put a rotary in im jus gonan get a big ass normal motor, and i do have the money.

Biggus - October 25th, 2003 at 05:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kombi_kid
turbo + insurance+under 25= lots of cash/non existant!!!
not tryin to scare u off but this is where it all starts!!!
cheers
rhys


Yeah, its expensive, but it isn't as bad as most people reckon. I've been turbo and imported since I was 21, and I've only just turned 25. It isn't as big a deal as you'd think. There are insurers out there who don't include a full cavity search as part of their premiums. It'd be more expensive to insure an atmo rotary in a golf than it would to stick a turbo on a vw motor.

Costs do stack up quickly, but if you can afford a big ass motor, then you can probably afford the insurance too.

Black_math - October 25th, 2003 at 09:33 PM

:DGood good for me then:D

Biggus - October 26th, 2003 at 04:23 AM

Of course, we all expect a ride in it when you're done.

Do you know if the trans will hold up to stacks more power?:bounce

Black_math - October 26th, 2003 at 10:48 AM

It better cause this ones gonna be all street racing trick :D, and if it dosnt ile sell it and get a new one:) then do that up

lowdown - October 26th, 2003 at 04:46 PM

kombi kid please dont regurgitate other peoples closeminded views drive/own a rotary yourself then give us your views most people have never even driven a rotary let alone owned one and just start spewing out absolute bullshit. im tired of rotary bagging on this site i can tell you all that i have 10 times more trouble with my air cooled vw motor than i ever did with my rotories and i drove the shit out of them.
black_math it is possible to make your fwd golf rotary powered there is a few guys in newzealand running fwd rotors. i think you will have troubles finding a workshop that will do it, but ask around you never know. also check out http://www.3rotor.com  and look for the newzealand links you will probably find info on the fwd rotors somewere on there.

kombi_kid - October 26th, 2003 at 05:31 PM

hey
im not baggin them and sorry if i offended and as he asked for opinions so yer....
again sorry if i offended
cheers
rhys

Black_math - October 26th, 2003 at 06:27 PM

Thanks lowdown, id liek to but im thinking about just going iwth a big vw or whatever motor lot les complicated to install, but im gonna have a look at the site and see if it would be worth it:)