Practically Classics Forum

There was a front wheel drive Rotary engined 13A R130 Luce. However it is extremely rare, making the gearboxes difficult to come by.

There is a rotary engined Mini somewhere in NZ. It's coupled to a Toyota Corona JDM Import gearbox. I have seen pics but I can't find them now.

EDIT: Over on Ausmini there is a guy putting a 4EFTE Starlet GT Turbo engine into an ADO16 Morris 1100.

The 4EFTE into Mini conversion is a well-trodden path in Aus now. You can buy a subframe off the shelf if you have the folding.

I have rellies in Nelson, so the idea of building something special out in NZ often pops into my mind... If only for me to tour the country when we come out on holidays I've been looking for a decent excuse to add an ADO16 to my fleet, too. Next time I'm there, I'll have to keep TradeMe up as my homepage!

Getting a rotary in the UK isn't that easy a they never caught on in Huge Huge numbers being
a) A Rotary
b) A Mazda

Great idea mind you

Now how about a twin rotor in the arse end of a fiat 126....

As for a Morris 1100, how much does shipping run to from the colonies back to the home country?

OOOOO I like that! Never been a GM fan really but I could happily live with that.

Can I ask about the Elford turbo? I thought that it was only a UK thing, we had Elfords the Mazda dealer here in Bournemouth, and I remember the RX-7 turbo conversions they did, but never thought they got over to the Southern Hemisphere!

Nice work on getting the beast road legal.

I bought Fast Fours and Rotaries Magazine from the first issue right up until the mid-90's. I probably still have that issue in a box somewhere. They once featured a LC Holden Torana (basically a restyled Viva) with a 12A Rotary and Gemini/Chevette dashboard grafted in. It was very understated and rolling on steelies, much like your Viva.

In the mid-90's the FF&R editor changed and it started featuring primarily new cars with silly wheels, a bodykit, four amps and 16 speakers.

yoeddynz wrote: Do you have any further info on the elfords at all? Not much info on them out there. I would love to get in contact with the original engineer they contracted in to design it all.

I don't I'm afraid. I used to go to school just round the corner from the showroom, and one of the teachers had an RX-7 but it wasn't a turbo one. Used to see several of them about though.

I've trawled google for a pic of their place as it was, but all I can find are these




which were taken before Elfords opened there. The garage forecourt shop was a regular stop for us school kids.

Today, the petrol side has gone, was revamped sometime in the 90s, and today looks like this.

http://g.co/maps/nkxzt

Hiya Alex...... we have to stop meeting like this!

The designer of the orginal Elford setup was Malcolm Cole,an ex-Janspeed development engineer of AutoMarine Turbochargers in Christchurch, Dorset.

Everything I know about Elfords engineering is here....

http://www.rx7fb.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=35
.

I forgot about this!

Pentons, the Citroen dealer that took over the Elfords site have moved to new premises, the site has just been bulldozed and there is no trace of anything anymore.

Sounds like you had a good time, NZ looks great

Nick

yoeddynz wrote:EDIT: for some reason this forum has chopped that image. There should be 6 of them...

Don't panic, click on the image and they're all there.