Paul,  Are the alum parts available to replace the irons?  Thinking
    someone was manufacturing
             those.
              David

    Yes they are but they are expensive at around $1,500 each.
    That adds $4,500 to the cost for a weight saving of around
    75 pounds. If the aircraft is designed for a six cylinder
    the CG will be OK with a 3 rotor.

    --
    Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

Are the aluminum irons manufactured here or are they coming from Japan?
David


They are made here by Racing Beat as far as I know. There is an all aluminum Mazda 16B rumored
to be coming  which is a larger displacement 2 rotor. It is equivalent to 3.2 liter piston engine
but it will probably not have a whole lot more power. Due to its larger displacement
it will weigh about the same as the current 2.6L  2 rotor. The rotors are actually narrower than
the current engine so the p-ports will be smaller. The RPM red line will be lower. The only
advantage I can see is there will be more low RPM torque for car use. Airplanes don't
fly on low RPM torque. They fly on HP at 7500 engine RPM or 2700 prop RPM.
It may be a couple of years before this engine appears or it may not appear at all.

In my humble opinion Mazda would be much better off building a turbo compound RX8 engine.
That holds the promise of 20% or more lower fuel burn.

 http://www.rotaryeng.net/turbo-compound.html