1968 Viva HB + Mazda quadcam V6 - now sold to a good home!

None for sale on Evilbay at the moment...

In fact I cant find anything other than rebuilt ones.

I guess all the cheap rotaries have gone.

I think I could probably live with 399bhp.... :-D

Since we were sharing Rotary engines.... check this beast out.... yes a 6 rota in this RX4

Boy finally showing a grown up side, picking a decent car to like.

heh

--Phil

hubba hubba!!

How do you join rotary 'cranks' together? Or do you have to have a special one made?

I can envisage a nice quad rotor mounted transversely in the back of Mk8 Davrian...

I found where you can buy a 3 rotor crank....a snip at $4000!

They also sell aluminium side plates. That should make it super light.

I have been meaning to make a tow bar/bike rack for ages. when we have travelled out somewhere in the Viva for mountain bike rides the bikes have gone inside, one in the boot with all the wheels and one on back seat. This is annoying and had to be stopped.

I didn't want a big tow bar and ball sitting out back when its really just there for bikes so i built a rack that slides into a bit of box section hanging below a nice neat bar hung between the rails.

The rack is simple and works well. its the same one I had built for the rx3, then bolted to front of truck.

Its gonna be so good being able to put the bikes on quick and easy for bike trips out of town. Plus I made sure it suits our older commuting bikes. Sadly no photos.

No worries Keith. Hopefully sometime if all goes well you'll get to drive it one day.

Mini update. Well not a mini. A Viva update...

After having parked the Viva up for 2 months while away in the UK and India I thought it might not start- usual doubts about batterys, stale fuel, gremlins in the ignition eating wires etc etc. Went to start the car and it was all a big non event- it started straight away first turn of key. OK so this isn't a biggie for people out there with moderns but it always makes me happy when an old faithful car continues to be faithful.

Thought 'hmmm...I'm sure there was more fuel in the tank?..in fact I know I filled it up before parking!' turns out that the tiny drip from the tank outlet lost me about 5 litres over 2 months of dripping. damn.
Then I thought..better take car for a quick spin to remix 2 stroke oil in tank. good excuse. IT was so nice to drive the Viva again after having spent much time in the last two months being drivin or driving inferior cars..well except for the trip in bastardchild's lush 7 series bmw to shelsley hillclimb from RR gathering- that was nice. 8)

Viva smells soooo good. leather, vinyl, petrol... all the smells that a car should have. We packed it up and fitted the new bike rack in order to take home the old classic Bontrager mountain bikes we had bought in blighty for the India trip. They looked great on the back. So handy it is to finally have a rack on the back too. A fantastically chilled smooth trip home and as its that bit warmer now the car ran perfectly smooth. Sadly over the Whangamoa hills between Blenheim and Nelson when performing a very fast pass to show the rude modern that not all old cars are slow it pinked again with me having to back off slightly. Its only under heavy load at high revs so I must continue on my search for a 12A turbo dizzy with its ignition retard vac pots or make some of my own to suit. The fueling is pretty good- its just too much advance while boosting. I keep expecting the poor old engine to blow, so loud is the pinking- detonation being the main killer of rotaries under boost. But still it soldiers on. Such a bloody loose old engine - I'm amazed how well it goes and if it dies at some point I wont be sad or surprised. So long as I don't break a tip from detonation and destroy a housing.

I think the turbo seals need attention soon. Its been slowly using more oil. It doesn't smoke much at all but I think when I shut the throttle, say like on a downhill and the turbo is still spinning it is starting to suck oil through past the old seals. This is always more pronounced on draw through turbo setups hence you always need a turbo with full 360 degree seal(usually carbon?) which this has but I think getting tired now.

I was planning on getting some nice photos of it in the hills now we have a proper camera (not just the phone) but I forgot to as the driving and music was so good. But I took these before and after.

unpacking and assembling the bikes in hot Blenheim sun...



Bontragers- sweet classy early 90's steel bikes. Now added to our huge fleet.



Home sweet home. Grass looking good and plenty of little daisys about..

would you mind giving me the isbn's of those 2 turbo books?