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Date:         3 Mar 1995 10:05:01 +1000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "King, Robert" <king@tanelorn.aod.dsto.gov.au>
Subject:      RE: V-6 Buick into..(rotary)

While on this thread a few more details on fitting a rotary into a bus as promised.....

Basic components on bus side are flywheel, bellhousing, clutch and pressure plate and starter. On rotary side is engine, engine mounts and alternator...

OK, there are a couple of bit you may have to 'take out' to have machined but that is it. The first thing is that the VW flywheel has to have new holes drilled (and the old filled if you're tidy) so that it can be bolted up to the rotary crank - it 'sits right on there' and bolts up with no worries.

The second thing is the adaptor plate. This was manufatured from 1/2" plate and having it machined out by 1/4" so that the VW bellhousing sat in a 'spigot joint' seemed to get everything right in terms of spacing (ie clutch action, starter meshing on flywheel teeth properly).

This all bolted together nicely and then all we had to do was fabricate a front engine mount - we ran some plate up to the 'normal' chassis holes and welded the standard rotary engine mounts onto a bit of 2" X 1" tube running between these plates.....

As I said, run two pipes the length of the bus to a radiator mounted in the front connect with some bits of universal radiator hose and that's it. The rotary water pump has enough push to keep everything cool. We removed the front bumper and cut out a section of the 'bulge' so as to mount the radiator as close as possible to the front of the bus. We then cut a smaller section out of the bumper and put it back - the whole thing sits behind a bull bar and it's a neat job but probably offensive to the purist (but it's not a split right?)

It is an 'easy' conversion. I think I read on this list some time ago that there is an engineering place in the states (California?) *Kennedy Engineered products? Thanks Thom* that sells kits for all sorts of conversions and rotaries were mentioned - you may be able to pick up a conversion kit off the shelf for a reasonable price?

Rob K.

_________________________ Robert King king@tanelorn.aod.dsto.gov.au

72 Mutant Bug 76 Bus 62 Microbus (long term relaxation project)


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