What motor is in that AH Sprite?

[Garry Bopp]

Yesterday, I had the coupe out for a drive and stopped at the local gas station to fill up. A fellow pulls up next to me in a Bug-Eye Sprite, one that I had seen driving in the local area for many years. It had an unusual sound, did not sound like a Sprite at all. That's because the motor was a rotary out of an RX-8! 210 hp in a 1,300 # car ... that matches the power to weight ratio of my coupe pretty closely!

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/theboppshop/spite.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/theboppshop/sprite2.jpg

At any rate, he was probably one of the first guys to do this particular conversion. I've seen RX-8's and Miatas with small block Ford or Chevy V-8's, but never using the rotary as an engine swap candidate. Pretty cool dude!:cool::cool:

[PhyrraM]

Cool! I've always had a soft spot for the Sprites and MG Midgets. The 1.3 liter Rotary motor is likely a very good match.

I have also considered the 1.3 liter DOHC from the long defunct Suzuki Swift GTs. 100HP@7000RPM (8000 redline) all aluminum winger. 1.3 liters matches closely the original 1275cc of the later cars.