hey guys. brand new to this site but it was a highly recommended place to bring stupid questions to.
i have a 2007 yaris sedan. i've always been obsessed with lame cars being turned into monsters. ergo, the most reasonable route to take with my grandma commuter is to rotary swap it, preferably with a 13B. don't tell me they're unreliable engines; i plan on taking care of it and not beating the hell out of it (most of the time).
now, i want to hear three things from you guys: why this is a great idea (i was told that you're all a bunch of terrible, awful, no-good enablers), why it's the worst thing i could possibly do to a perfectly healthy little car, and, most importantly, how i should start this project off.
i want to know: can this chassis withstand the power of a moderately boosted 2-rotor? is a RWD swap an absolute must? what might make this build extremely expensive and/or even dumber than i'm envisioning it? how could i make this even more extreme and dumb, and could i possibly make god cry any harder? is there anything worse in the entire world i could possibly spend my time and money on?
thank you all very much for your wisdom and unwavering support. i look forward to seeing what your thoughts are.
This may be the very first time that a drumroll has preceded a Yaris.
I will definitely be watching this thread.
This is so perfectly dumb I love it. Please do please
Mrfurzzy said:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/parts-sale/mazda-rotary-to-vw-adapter-and-dellorto-carbintake/181458/page1/
Rotary to FWD transaxle adapter. Seems almost meant to be
ah! already something more than i already knew. now...do i keep the manual yaris trans?
There are no wrong answers here. I recommend 2 things:
First, a grinder. Then, a welder.
Build a subframe to mount the engine where the backseat was and make it rwd, ditch the turbo and just do some porting and it'll be a riot on wheels. Build a dog house around the motor but make it so the intake sticks out so you can hear it.
Pragmatically, the difficulty of a rotary is that they often sit lower in the chassis due to the crank shaft (eccentric shaft in rotary-ease) is at the center of the engine, as opposed to the bottom (like a piston engine). That means the engine & transmission is physically lower than the equivalent banger.
This normally isn't a problem because in all of the production cars (Rx-7s, 8s, etc.), the engine was completely behind the front subframe, nestled down so that the crank pulley was right above the subframes' cross-beam. It works well in a bug/ACVW as you can hang it behind the axle.
Mounting it transversally (like a FWD) setup may present clearance issues or CV alignment woes.
All that to say is start with the grinder THEN the welder as Robbie said, not the other way around.
In reply to safetydirt :
So, with B13 will this be FR (front engine, rear drive) or FF or RR?
In the days of my youth, people would swap rotories into Toyota Startlets so I guess this builds upon that :)
In reply to John Welsh :
B13--is that a Honda engine?
Ok, I'll admit it. I am the one that recommended posting on this forum. OP has the Yaris and dreams of spinning triangles. He asked for help, but I have limited knowledge of rotaries. Wonko's post above is exactly what I was hoping for. My suggestion to him was figure out the transmission adapter/conversion and the rest would be easy. Yes, I also suggested engine in the back, but I think that would be too involved.
A couple of notes:
His car is currently an automatic.
He is based in the middle of California for a couple more years and then hopes to move north to Oregon. ( not sure it could be made legal to daily...)
His first swap project.
He is stubborn enough to do it....
Reference sites for him to gain knowledge would be a plus!
During 2019 one of my customers started building a 13B Citi Golf (South African marketed Mk1), but then Covid hit in 2020, and he had to move to a smaller premises and all the toys, including a sweet 1996 Corolla RXi with rally suspension, had to be sold to make a living.
He had already had the adapter to a VW Kombi box made, as these had the same bell housing pattern as the old local 1988 VW Passat 5 speed, same as orientation as the Audi A4s, ie longitudinal front wheel drive, and the gearbox was already mounted
