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ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter)
ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
1/14/24 4:25 p.m.
Keith Tanner said:

The engine is a v twin, so two of them side by side is plausible. The side view shows them fairly far forward and low (which doesn't seem ideal, but hey the Quattro had five cylinders way out there). I'm sure whoever drew up these plans had at least some rough measurements.

Honda has made quite a few V-twin bike engines, and quite a few V-fours as well. The VF 1100 would suggest a V-four. The Honda parlance is VF=V-four, and VT=V-twin. VTR=V-Twin Racing, and VFR=V-Four Racing. There are some exceptions to this naming convention on newer bikes, but Honda stuck to it pretty strictly in the 80's.

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter)
ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
1/14/24 5:05 p.m.
hybridmomentspass said:

Any more info on this 4WD RX7 mentioned earlier??

There isn't a ton of information out there about these Millen 4WD first-gen RX-7s...lots of speculation, though! There were only a few of them made, like 2-3. From what I understand, they had a ported and fuel-injected 13B that was moved back, down, and to the side of the engine bay. Apparently they used a custom transmission, possibly made by Weismann. Since the engine was moved so much, it might have had a separate transfer case. There are claims of using 626 parts, but I suspect that is mainly referring to the front uprights/driveshafts being FWD 626-based. They competed in events in the US and NZ.
 

To further confuse things, there was a later Millen 4WD 20B-powered FC RX-7 for Pikes Peak. There was also a Group B first-gen RX-7 built by Mazda Rally Team Europe, which seems to sometimes get mixed up with the Millen cars, but was a different beast. The MRTE car was allowed to compete in Group B as a development of the previously-homologated Group 4 car. I don't know much about these, but I think it was RWD, with a 13B fed by a Weber IDA 51, and also lots of custom bits. If anyone knows more, I'd love to hear, or be corrected if my understanding is wrong.

Loweguy5
Loweguy5 GRM+ Memberand Dork
1/14/24 6:50 p.m.

In reply to kevlarcorolla :

Wow that is neat!

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter)
ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
1/14/24 7:12 p.m.

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

Mazda's Group B RWD car:

Millen's 4WD rally car:


 

kevlarcorolla
kevlarcorolla Dork
1/15/24 9:38 a.m.

In reply to Loweguy5 :

Thanks,worked better then expected and was shockingly reliable over 2 seasons and 60 races.

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