the way i did it was i installed a taller gearbox tunnel, then sat the 12a in with a series 1 rx7 5 speed (because of shifter position, needs to be a forward shift otherwise the shifter hits the handbrake) and made up custom engine and gearbox crossmembers. the engine mounts were mounted on plates which were welded to the chassis. i also used a rx7 radiator and oil cooler and i modified the radiator support to fit it. car drove good and stayed cool, real fun to drive. it's a worthwhile conversion because the 1200 motor standard is dead and you can pick up whole rx7 fairly cheap.

Umm, yes. Everything was modified. I can't really advise you on what you need for a 1200 because mine was a 1600.
It depends on what motor ur putting in. If its just a standard 12A or something, u could just see how long the diff lasts. That might give you a few weeks to decide what diff you use.

Hey when you did the conversion did any of you modify the diff? any thinke else like that..

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I have found the opposite....you can abuse the hell out of them without damaging internals. I've even dropped an apex seal in a burnout comp, but still entered the drags in the afternoon, won my class, and then drove the car an hour to get home. It became smoky after the burnout, but I didn't know what the problem was till I pulled the engine down and found the damaged seal and a large groove in the rotor housing. That was on an engine that took constant abuse, overheating, over-revving, everything for 4 years before it finally went. I was pulling somewhere over 11,000rpm when it went.

The reliability problems are more to do with them needing to be perfectly tuned, and not wanting to ####ing start!!

i think its that rotors are very tempremental (spelling?) that gives them the bad name..

ie.. if you overheat it... starve it of oil.. if it leans out..etc youve probably done damage to seal and will need to rebuild not long after

basically you need to keep the maintainence up... and need to keep an eye on things..

a piston motor can handle such problems and still be fine after the cause of the problem is fixed... a rotor cant..

i guess thats why people who own rotor's generally have their head under their bonnet after each drive..

and if you've had a rotor... you'll have a chuckle and agree with me on that one!

Not so much oil changes, just every 5000 is fine. You'll go through a few (a lot) spark plugs (expensive ones, not standard $3 ones), depending on how wild your motor is. It won't be too bad if you're motor is basically standard, but the more power you're putting out, the more often you'll have to replace stuff.
Its just like any performance engine, the more stressed it is the more things will break.

What sort of maintenance are you thinking.

Very very regular oil changes?
Very regular spark plug changes?

I've had this rotor idea in the back of my mind for a little while - so have some interest but not enough to hit the books for research as yet.

The very first rotors released suffered engine failure due to cooling problems, thats correct lobster.

But they still aren't reliable. Its mainly fouling that stops them from going, as they are basically a 2-stroke. Another problem is oil starvation of the rear rotor. If you want a rotor be prepared to do the maintenance that comes with it.

But the rewards are certainly there!! A properly built rotor is the most awesome thing to drive on the street....bar nothing!!!!

I thought the whole reliability thing with rotors was a bit of a beat up....
Didn't some of the first ones have problems and it has tarnished the name ever since?
From what I have seen they appear to be just as reliable as any other performance engine...

Omg. noone has bitched about a rotor in a datsun yet...
How amazing is that?

the biggest no no that most ameture rotar owners do is rev the nuts out of them when they are cold. This is what kills them as the seals wear prematurely, so when seals fail then down comes the compression.

Other then that as long as you frequently check and clean/replace your sparkplugs they are very reliable and very powerful!!!

I tried the 13bt route but EVERY engineer said NO!!! But if anyone in QLD can put me onto a engineer that would pass it and make it legal for street use please LET ME KNOW!

thanks

Damo