Perhaps its time for a new front cover. The best place for the water
 rad is
 turning out to be on the spark plug side of the engine.
 Unfortunately that
 complicates the pluming somewhat because the water pump inlet and
 outlet are
 on the other side of the engine. Perhaps we should take a page out
 of the RX8
 design and make a new front cover incorporating the water pump
 housing with
 the water coming out and going in  on the other side of the engine.

 Another problem is the pump should be mounted as low as possible so
 any drop
 in water level will not cause the pump to cavitate. We built some
 remote
 pumps a few years ago that used the stock Mazda pump cartridge. One
 other
 point is the pump would be more eff. if the water came stright into
 the
 impeller.  Here are some shots of that remote pump.

 I am looking for feed back here. Does anybody else have an ideas
 they would
 like to see incorporated.

 Paul Lamar



If a new front cover is in the works, perhaps it would be a good time
to incorporate the alternator system too, like the AeroVee.  It would
help the up and coming one rotor crowd a lot, in terms of weight.

Chris Cosman

That is not a bad idea but I think we need a lot more power than can be
provided by a built in alternator. However perhaps a outboard motor type CD
ignition would not be too much trouble.

Paul Lamar




Paul the alternator idea sounds good. There are diode and internal
regulator kits for the delco alternators used in the 1970's etc that output
120 amps. We would need a shaft extension on the e-shaft as there is no
unused space on it's length to accomodate the rotor of the alternator. The
stator should be easy to adapt. It would need to be on the outside of the
proposed housing away from hot oil and for cooling. The relocation of the
belt sheave can be coordinated with the water pump relocation since that is
about all it would be driving unless a dry sump is used. The alernator rotor
and a bearing behind the belt sheave would likely add 4" to engine length.
As an alternative location, the space between the dish shaped flex plate and
the rear iron might be used. Remember the model T ford generator was done
that way with permanent magnets on the flywheel.

george grimes