Twin-Engine Fish Nautique #2

There are tons for 4.3 V6s out there that's what the rest of the twins had for power. couple thousand you would be like it is supposed to be , Not some JET BOAT engines. Their is nothing cheap about trying to refresh engines that are in there.

There is plenty of room for normal engines. My other twin-engine Fish Nautique has the V6 engines, and I know of another one that has twin 454's.

Tim D wrote: Is there room for a pair v6 or v8? Looks like the little 70 cubic inch rotarys have it full. I wonder what that think sounded like at top end. Those things will rev. My sister had a rx-7 and one of my good friends had one. He took the little stick off the tach gauge and could wrap the rpms past 9000, all the way around back to 2000. The clutch couldn't hardly grab on to that. The one thing that made those engines strong is that on each rotor, all three sides were doing a different step of combustion at the same time.

Ah the power of the mysterious “3”. “3” and it’s square root is what makes the world go round. Kinda surprised Rotarys didn’t get used much.

Orlando76 wrote: Kinda surprised Rotarys didn’t get used much.

Mazda started pushing them hard in their regular cars right when the first gas crises hit. They never recovered the stigma of lousy mileage.Sitting in line for a couple of hours waiting for gas was not fun. That was in the days when a VW Beetle could sometimes luckily hit 25mpg with 50hp.
Mark I was under the impression that the 1970's rotarys had 4bbl from the factory.
The Mrs new car has 350hp and gets 25mpg at 70+. First car in many years that I actually enjoy driving and need no excuse to take a spin

Gary, I think you are correct about them running a 4bbl but my friend Brian installed a larger Holley to go faster.

Did the Turbo rotaries have better efficiency?
They were small and powerful, I remember seeing an MGB with a rotary engine swap, small size with more power than the original MG 4 cyl engine.

They consume oil because it is injected in the chamber to keep the seal from drying out. And they will barely run on diesel. Mys sister put diesel in hers back in the 80's when they first started putting the diesel pumps on the side of the gas pump instead of a separate pump off beside kerosene. Man, that thing was smoking and backfiring, but she made it home. The real power plant was the three rotor engine they built for racing.

Still unsure what the props are on this boat, but they'll certainly have to be swapped out no matter what I do with the engines. They are clearly too close to the hull, and one side has already burned/chipped the gel down to the glass. Can't imagine why anyone would have installed these like this.

Wonder how long that fishing line has been on there...

So, here's the problem with this %$&*#@ site.

I read about a guy thinking of restoring a Fish with twin rotary engines.
I start discussing why he should keep the rotaries, or at least look into it.
I remember I used to drool over RX-7's.
I go on Craigslist and see a really nice RX-8.
I buy the RX-8.

Yes, pulled the trigger, brought it home Monday. Incredibly fun to drive, not all that fast but handles like crazy and the engine will wind up to the 9,500 rpm redline so quickly as you go through the gears, to my ear a really great sound.

So Jeff, I'm blaming you for this!

Dave

Stay away from the thread where there's talk of Pintos and Pacers and Wienermobiles.

Just tryin' to keep you out of trouble

Congrats! You're right next to Loudon. Get some good tires, brakes, and brake fluid in the RX8 and then sign up for a student day with COM!


https://www.comscc.org/

Gary S wrote: Dave needs an intervention!

Dave's a Killer

When that rotary stops working look into the LS swaps that are being done into that car.
An RX with an aluminum LS 5.3L makes for a really powerful car that still handles very well.
They are a fun car, enjoy your new toy!
A buddy of mine signed up for the driving school at Sears Point Raceway, they were driving small open wheel race cars in this class, powered by 4 cylinder Ford engines.
Formula Ford class?   After instruction and the first day on the track, I think this was a 3 day course the instructor was ticked off because the class was not following instructions. Each of the class had recored their best lap times for the day and they were all lousy.
The instructor jumped in his Mitsubishi Montero, a 4wd small SUV, ordered all the class to pack into that car.
With 7 people in the Mitsubishi the instructor went out and raced around the track. He beat the best time recorded by the class that day in the open wheel racer.   My buddy was a passenger, he said the Mitsubishi felt like it was going to roll over on every turn, scared the heck out of him but after the lap the instructor told the class they were slow because they did not listen.
Tomorrow you will listen.   He made his point.   My buddy has progressed since then and now races his 2006 Porsche 911 frequently in club events and has a lot of fun with it.
He still says there are guys in the club that can jump in his car and go much faster around the track than he can. It is a learning curve.

I know, today they call it Infeneon Raceway, Sears Point should always be Sears Point.
Sounds like you had fun back then. I agree, Laguna Seca is a special track.