Ok this post is going to disturb the purists….. If you are a person for whom the notion of an engine swap from a different auto manufacturer is the stuff of nightmares then please look away now…. 

This is an argument which has gone on for decades, even into the early hot rod years. For some people the notion of a Chevy engine in a Ford Hot Rod is a show of poor taste. …Same goes for the wave of Honda S2000 engines which are finding their way into AE86s… Horrid! Sacriledge! Sin!….. V8 into a S13 drift car? Argh!!! Noooo!!!!

Well, from what I can tell, in New Zealand there seem to be a lot of people who think differently. They seem to take great pleasure to install offbeat and unexpected engines into their automotive builds… let's have a look at some examples from Saturday's "V" 4&Rotory Nationals show.

The most prevalent engine swaps were the Rotory converted Mazda 323s and 626s….

There were many clean examples of these cars on display…

A lot of these cars had retro style Modgie wheels, but many also ran large alloys… I can't say I totally like this look tbh…

…. I am of the camp that thinks older cars should have wheels which suit the character, size and era of the automobile… In my mind, a large alloy better suits a newer car…. Go on, call me a traditionalist…

I do have to commend the builder of this car, for the clean engine bay… The car looks absolutely mint.

So I don't think the purists would have any issue with adding rotary power to an existing Mazda yes? We are all in agreement about this?

Well from this point, things start to get a bit more nutty… it seems like there is a quotient of Kiwis who take great pleasure in dropping rotary engines into all manner of cars… Take this Mitsubishi for example….

If Antonio was in a grave he would roll over now…. Yes in the heart of this Corolla beats rotory power….

Same goes for this very clean Celica…… oh the pain!!!

Datsuns are not exempt from the rotary treatment…. The rim style on this car is typical of this part of the world…

This is one clean AE70 Toyota Corolla engine bay…. The car is owned by a friend of Mad Mike's… you may recognize the digital camo from Mike's previous FD livery….

Unfortunately for me the overall effect isn't working as well as it could. Sorry to be a little critical as this build could be so strong with a few changes…

Let's just quickly compare to a similar model of car from the Tokyo Auto Salon… Here we have a different philosophy of wheel type….

For me this is a question of proportion and scale…… you should also factor in visual modifications which carry the spirit of the particular car's era…. Agree? Disagree? Am I out to lunch in my assessment?

Of course, rotory transplants are not the only type of engine swaps happening in NZ. This is Fanga Dan Woolhouse's Nissan RB26 powered Holden Commodore drift car…  That's a bit mad no? Normally you'd expect a V8 to be powering this type of car.

This drift spec FD bucks the rotory transplant trend with a rather surprising engine swap…. this RX7 is powered by non-other than a 2JZ straight six… This perhaps seems a little illogical to my mind but there you go…. Perhaps the owner wants big power more than the weight handicap from this engine type.

Twin Turbo Lexus engine in a Mercedes? No problem!…

Now that I've suitably offended the majority of our readership, let's get back to the rotory transplants and the ex-Mad Mike Rotary "808" wagon…. to my eyes this was the most successful and integrated conversion style car at the show.

The front has been converted to a RX3 face to match the rotory transplant….

Mike says it develops around 350 hp or so…. I'd love to see a video of this car doing a burn out competition…. anyone have a youtube link they can share?

One thing that interests me is to see how governments in different parts of the world deal with car modifications… The New Zealand system looks similar to Germany…. you modify the car how you like, then take it in for government inspection to register the upgrades. While Germany issue papers for the car mods, NZ goes one step further and gives you an official plate. You can see the overall specs of the car here…

1976 RX808 model…. you can see the face conversion has been registered as well as the chassis upgrades to house the rotory engine…. and he is running 7X13 inch rims….

This is much better than the California system don't you think? Heh heh heh….

:R