therotaryrocket

I found a bad *** (my opinion) Mazda RX-7 online, I have a link i'll post in this thread. I'm not really sure if this is the correct place to post, but I saw a 'V8 kit for $100' thread which with my analogy would match pretty well. There's probably gonna be plenty of conflict over my posting, but i'd like for everyone to remain skeptical and ask questions about EVERYTHING, and don't make assumptions, that way people can make an opinion of there own. I wish someone would have posted something like this back when I was into racing rx-7s and driving crazy and polluting, it's an alternative that meets the needs of about 85% of americans with not many disadvantages (well I guess that is determined by what a disadvantage would be to each individual, that's excluding the factual advantages/disadvantages). I would have kept my beatiful 1988 RX-7 turbo II in which I blew the original engine if I would have known better in the past. Someone will also probably say it's a waste of an RX-7, but then again most people probably choose a car with a blown engine in the first place. Besides a lot of people on here have more than one rx-7 and/or have another (bigger?utility?) car for long distance, and a custom hybrid system could be constructed so please don't immediately rule out the chance that it can meet your needs. I'm also not claiming this to be better or worse or anything, just another option that I think should be strongly considered by some. I may forget to come back and check on this thread but maybe it will educate someone (not saying i'm smart or anything, it just makes sense to me). peace, zach

http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/120.html

DeRFmAn

Yeah Its a waste, but I still think its cool.

Lee Lyons

does 0-60 faster than my car right now...but probably costs more than sticking in a huge single turbo 13b

Naegleria_Fowleri

I'm with Lee. For that much money I would much rather get that single turbo 13b. To each their own, though. Better than a V8 in my opinion.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Interesting, but a bit pricey for the 60 mile range.

DriftFB

Interestin, but not for me.

Naegleria_Fowleri

Holy ****. I didn't read how much the guy put into it. That would be enough money to make one hell of an astonishing FB. $15,000. What couldn't you do to your car with that much money? And I agree with Trochoid (no suprise there), way too pricey for a 60 mile range.

Stanello

iTrader: (1)

Actually its 40miles.

Curb Weight 3,105 Pounds (1,411 Kilograms)

I don't really see the point.

Yellow '79

pretty neat, would rather have a rotary thow

notveryhappyjack

iTrader: (4)

what would limit the range to 40 miles ?

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

I am sure Zach is right - most people who do V8 conversions or other swaps start with a car that has a blown motor, many of which would be scrapped or parted out. And I doubt you will find many people with a V8 RX-7 who don't have another car.

As for the electric power, lets be realistic - this is a hobby project, really a research project, and you would have a hard time doing this on a shoestring budget. Give the guy credit for accomplishing something intersting and unique. My personal goal on something like this would be 100 miles, even at some sacrifice in performance. If you can't drive it 100 miles, the utility is extremely limited in my view.

A lot of us do projects that don't make sense to other people. Most guys who race spend much more than their cars are worth just to make them go fast on the track. That would not make sense to most people.

My custom built convertibles were all built from wrecks that would have been scrapped, and they certainly took more time than just rebuilding a wrecked Miata or other convertible. Some of us get satisfaction from owning something unique that we created.

www.cardomain.com/ride/646433

Viich

iTrader: (1)

The crappy batteries and inefficient motors he used.

More money for better batteries though, and there's some efficiency/power tradeoffs that he made with the motors. Personally, if I were to go EV, I'd use an AC drive.

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

Nothing wrong with it.... not everyone is striving for HP #'s , but to do something different is what makes them tick..

But if your going to brag about what an electric car can do then......

http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1

therotaryrocket

0-60 in 6.4 secs are good numbers in my opinion. And i'd like to point out that although the initial investment might be high, the cost of maintance and electricity are much lower than a gasoline powered vehicle, even when factoring in the battery replacement every 3-4 years (if using lead-acid batteries), and the components should last 1,000,000 miles or more easily, i've seen an EV made in 1980 with all original components except batteries. Besides it's not all about the money anyways, there are many other advantages. You know it's bad to start a rotary engine (or any Internal Combustion Engine) and drive 1 mile and turn it off while it is still cold, but it won't hurt the electric motor. I saw a mention of the 'inefficient' motors used in this particular electric conversion being a DC system however it is lower cost than AC system (which has many advatages), the DC might be 85% efficient while the AC maybe 92%? efficient, either way a gas engine is usually only 15-25% efficient (so it uses 15-25% of the energy in the gas). There are many other factors as well like the efficiency of the batteries and charger, but even when everything is factored in electric is still more efficient, the limiting factor being the batteries which wouldn't be limiting at all if they were mass produced and people were investing in this type of thing. The Tesla motors car is a bad *** electric vehicle, i'm glad someone posted that link. That convertible RX-7 in stilleto's avatar looks really nice too, i'd love something like that and your cardomain page is the ****, that last page has a very cool creation. These responses were much different than I would have thought, in a good way. Peace, Zach
btw, there are other rx-7 ev's online I could find there links to or someone could search or w/e.

therotaryrocket

I guess this isn't too much of a hot topic right here and right now, seems kind strange considering the american economy's dependence, how much gas costs, and how much of a problem pollution is becoming. Oh well...

Bochek

google search "maniac mazda" 11 second electric rx7

- Bochek

therotaryrocket

yea, i've seen that one too, it's really bad *** and does a wheelie like crazy, a pic of the 'maniac mazda's "engine"(more like motor) compartment is on my desktop.
I'd like to build an EV within the next few years, I might use an RX-7 who knows? But i'd rather have range than speed unless I save a lot of money and get both.
Price of batteries are going down, so keep the ev idea in mind because it's only getting better as more and more laptops and cell phones are sold with lithium ion batteries.