I posted accidentally in the FC section, and the Mods are sleeping. So I am just reposting myself in the right area.

The day has arrived, time to start the Defined Autoworks 4-rotor build thread. Some of you may have noticed our signature 3-rotor track FD hasn't been doing much. That of course is because it was being built into a 4-rotor track machine.

Since this was a long term project, I was able to very very carefully plan the whole thing one end to the other. Every single piece of data learned over the years with n/a tuning has been put into this one engine. Nothing was compromised and its built to be my ultimate vision of naturally aspirated horsepower. Because of that, certain parts of the car wont ever be photographed and are kept in "area 51" for the time being.

This specific 4-rotor is unlike any other. Its in-house name.... D26R

-Here is a cheat sheet on the specs it was built to-

Three plugs per rotor (just like the 787b 4-rotor)
Aluminum front and rear side housings
4-piece custom eccentric shaft
5-main bearings for very high rpm capacity
9.7:1 rotors, extensively lightened
race bearings throughout
2mm ceramic apex seals
Full custom p-ports in all housings
custom high strength stationary gears
Variable length intake, servo actuation (also like the 787b)
Custom slide throttle setup
4x2200cc injectors
Custom inconel header system

I've been working on this for 2 years, mostly on sundays or very late after hours at our shop. (pretty sure I earn one day a week off to work on promotional cars )

I will start feeding in pics over the next week or so, its hard to get any free time with all the work going on at good ol' Defined Autoworks.

 

First up, the transmission. My old faithful T5 dogbox was not going to handle the 4 rotors power potential, so a upgrade was needed. Using our nascar connections was the obvious choice This is a Mid-valley engineering 4-speed unit. I tore it apart to inspect it..... okay I tore it down because I wanted to see how badass it was! Gun-drilled high strength massive trans shafts. All needle bearing support, internal oil pump, ultra lightweight gears, reem polished. This thing is a work of art!

 

Beginning of the new cage/tube structure. This is a superior design in terms of chassis stiffness.







The "tripods" as I call it, fully in place.

 

 

 

Coming together now







Sanded the whole engine bay, removed all the seam sealer.







Primer!



Gotta have my signature GREEEN!!

 

Bet you guys didnt think this was possible based off the beginning huh? I'm not a professional painter, but many guys who have stopped by think I am





This one goes to Matt, he came up with using a motor plate idea. I liked it, and started to fabricate using the dummy engine. This made the whole package so easy to install and remove





Now onto the 4-rotor! After all that is what everyone wants to see. 1st off the aluminum side housings. So light, so nice.





The ultra-light rotors



P-port all epoxy sealed

 

All the new seals. Too much time in clearancing side seals. I always dred it



Super lightweight rotor assemblies. 9.7:1 compresion, but almost 1lb lighter. Balanced to .2 grams of the counterwieghts. Needed for spinning possibly to 12,000 rpm!





The ultra ultra lightweight clutch and flywheel. 4.5lb flywheel and 9lb clutch. Alcon makes one sexy setup

 

[b] The IV-rotor housings next to the workhorse 3-rotor semi p-port housings.



And of course, the triple spark plugs.

 

Some of the machine work for the center stationary gears






I wanted to save weight everywhere possible, and also make our 4-rotor look more "factory produced". So I shaved the center irons, which took some time to do.




As stated earlier, there are SO many things inside the engine that I cant photograph unfortunately. The intake ports, the exhaust ports, internal cooling methods. All this made taking engine assembly pics impossible. Sorry guys! Here she is all finished and assembled.




I made a fast custom engine stand to assemble the beast. Took a minute to think of a good way to do it.





The drysump plate all bolted on and ready to scavenge some serious oil

 

Temporary waterpump installed, front drysump pulley, custom trigger wheel for the electromotive







Think that is enough mag sensors? lol

 

Coil mount finished (12 coils..... whew) And the slide throttle fully machined and finished. The slider is out, while I fabricated the intake manifold.





Does this look like a machine or what?? The R26b would be proud. Notice the very straight shot intake manifold. This was the reason for all that chassis modification.





Wanted a nice lightweight alternator relocation bracket, so designed this one. All cnc of course. The aluminum front irons do not have any bolt provisions, so mounting brackets are little more difficult.

 

This is an endurance engine through and through, so I had to think out extensive planning on cooling methods. Having 1.5 years timeframe, it gave me time to come up with very clean and creative ideas. Here is a pic showing all the coolant feeds, and oil feeds. Once nice tight package considering there is 15 lines there!



CNC oil port plugs. Had "DAR" cut into them. Defined Autoworks Racing of course



Had to go old school on this one, the ITB airhorns were anodized the same green as my very first 20b back in 2004.




Another challenge was the variable intake. Uses metals that cant be welded, so I had some split flanges cnc cut. Notice the counterbore, this gave 1/4" more travel on the intake.

 

Originally I had a goal of the 4-rotor being only 20lbs heavier than the 3-rotor it replaced. Once I started to weigh individual items I estimated 5lbs might be possible. The end result of all that work and special lightweight items?? 6lbs. That is correct, this 4-rotor is 6lbs heavier than my previous 20b, which is pretty damn light already! I'll post some weight scale pics sometime soon

 

The beast has finally arisen! How come you didn't go with the aluminum intermediate housings to make it even lighter? Love everything but your gonna have to at least share some info on that external drysump set-up. Mazda should be proud! Now we FINALLY get to see this engines max NA hp potential. What are you thinking it will make?

 

I worked with Jim at racing beat on that. With stationary gears being machined and pressed in, we were concerned of the strength and expansion. So all the centers had to stay cast iron.

 

seems very nice my friend. ..I hope u enjoy..

 

Good to know. I always wondered why I haven't seen all aluminum 4 rotors before. Makes since! I had some late edits above. My bad!

 

wow that is some amazing fabrication, feel like my jaw drops when looking at each picture. What is the power goals NA?

 

The famous n/a 3-rotor weight (same type 5.5" clutch, waterpump, lightweight flywheel etc. ) Impressive at 279lbs.





With t-5 dogbox tranny is at a low 376lbs.





And here is the assembled 4-rotor, 285 lbs. 6lb increase over race 20b.





And also weight with ultra heavy duty mid valley transmission. Still only 7lbs heavier.

 

Well anyone who knows me, will tell you I hate to go around quoting HP figures before it even hits the dyno. BUT I guess exceptions can be made once in a while

I am hoping to start out near 600rwhp, eventually.... after a good bit of tweaking... maybe up to 700rwhp. The parts and math are on my side, so we will see.

 

Damn, that is one nice engine and car Logan. Need to see it and Gordon's car at the next Modified Magazine event to be held in fall, probably in October.

 

Thanks David! Gordons car is getting wrapped up by end of next week, or close to it. The 4-rotor should easily be ready by then too, I like having lots of time with new setups, so October is how I would have done it!

 

Those weight differences are amazing. That damn 20b center iron is an anchor.

 

wow very impressive build. Keep up the great work