All right. I have been thinking of off-beat, kind of "cool" engines to replace the not-all-it-could-be waterboxer, and one I keep coming back to is a Wankel 2-rotor, from Mazda. The later ones were fuel injected, so no carb worries, and I figure the high RPM needs of the engine could be met by putting it together with a Deisel gearbox, and its 4.86 or even 5.11 (or so) final drive. It is low on torque, which is an obvious bad point, but if you let it rev, which it surely can, it should be quite happy at 5500or so RPM on the highway at cruise. Lots happier than our regular engines would be at thier regular cruise RPM of 3600 to 4000.... Anybody wanna poke holes in this (ok, crazy) theory? Evan Mac Donald "...in the absence of facts, myth rushes in, the kudzu of history." -Stacy Schiff |
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