Someone mentioned rotary Miata

NMNA, thought someone would enjoy a little car pr0n. http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/4155409796.html

Atlanta!!!!

That is a SHOCKINGLY good deal for that.

Why 12A?

white_fly wrote: Why 12A?

Now that is the right question

Why not? The 12A is a good engine.

Until the 13b came along...

Then why did they keep using the 12A for another 10 plus years if the 13B was so much better? I don't get the 12A hate.

In reply to Mazdax605:

I think what he is getting at is that obviously the owner was inept so they chose 12a probably because they got one for free, and because it was carb'd(no wiring) If he paid $4k+ for a shop to do the work, he is an idiot.

In reply to yamaha:

What he said.

I don't get this. There is no improvement in power and a decrease in mileage with this swap. At least with a 13B conversion you'd get 135hp which is more powerful than the 1.8 motor.

Wipe the finger smudges off your berkeleying camera/phone before taking pics!

white_fly wrote: Why 12A?

I asked that at first, too. Then I read this:

Has working cold AC

I tried to get ThunderCougarFalconGoat to buy it, since he's in that area, but he's too poor (and won't sell me his GTO for a massive discount).

Xceler8x wrote: I don't get this. There is no improvement in power and a decrease in mileage with this swap. At least with a 13B conversion you'd get 135hp which is more powerful than the 1.8 motor.

You know you can get that much power out of a 12A pretty simply, right? I would say my stock port 12A with a reworked carb, and Racing Beat exhaust has that much power with just bolt-ons. I guess I just don't get why the 12A is put down all the time. It is probably the rotary that sold the most in the history of the world, and yet it sucks when compared to an engine with a few more millimeters in width on its housing, rotors, and sometimes two extra ports.

And you can you get a lot more power than that by slapping a turbo on a 1.8.

In reply to Sil80redtop:

Hell, you can get more power by slapping a s/c or turbo on the 1.6........

yamaha wrote: In reply to Sil80redtop: Hell, you can get more power by slapping a s/c or turbo on the 1.6........

El es juan.

In reply to Javelin:

Sorry, I don't recognize the option of the unimaginative

Mazdax605 wrote:

Xceler8x wrote: I don't get this. There is no improvement in power and a decrease in mileage with this swap. At least with a 13B conversion you'd get 135hp which is more powerful than the 1.8 motor.

You know you can get that much power out of a 12A pretty simply, right? I would say my stock port 12A with a reworked carb, and Racing Beat exhaust has that much power with just bolt-ons. I guess I just don't get why the 12A is put down all the time. It is probably the rotary that sold the most in the history of the world, and yet it sucks when compared to an engine with a few more millimeters in width on its housing, rotors, and sometimes two extra ports.

Just to clarify. I'm not slagging on the 12A. I think it's a great motor. I just wouldn't pull a 1.6 piston motor to replace it with a rotary that might have the same power and get worse mileage. It just doesn't make sense from a monetary perspective.

If I was going to replace a piston engine with a rotary it'd make enough power so as to make the mpg discussion a sidebar.

I don't see how it's even possible to make less power with a 12A than it is with a 1.6. I can pretty much guarantee that the car is substantially quicker than it was with the 1.6, and with the normal run of modifications, you aren't going to touch it with a a 1.6 without some fairly modifications.

Except 12A's are worth more than 13Bs, so you could sell that engine to an IT7 racer (they're desperate for the things because the housings are getting scarce) and get more power for less cash.

This might be just a rumor, but I've heard that some of the 12a motors can be built to get good MPG for a rotary.

Carb does simplify things greatly, too.

Cause the 1.6 sucks and a rotary is awesome.

The 12A is just not as powerful as a 13b. If you are swapping, why swap IN a 12A?

That is like swapping a 305 into something. Why do it when a 350 costs the same and makes more power?

I would also like to know how they swapped the "bell housing" on the miata trans. The bell housing is not removable. Maybe they meant tailshaft housing?

Also, why carb'd?

This seems like a project you could do in a weekend.

I don't think the 12A and 13B have any issues with AC component swappability.

Rob R.