Very odd 914 sighting yesterday...., ...with a VERY odd-sounding motor! Options

[horizontally-opposed]

I was having lunch with an old 914 buddy in Novato -- the guy who built the silver 914-6 3.8 that keeps popping up for sale -- when a gray/silver (looked like that old-school silver that isn't so bright) 914 went by. Too quickly to collect all the details.

Fairly stock looking (I think it was still on four-lug wheels), but it sounded like it might have had an inline four, like a Honda S2000 or Toyota motor, but I am sure that's not it. Could it be?

If that was a Type IV, I want to know what was done to it!

This was on Wednesday March 9 on Bel Marin Keys Blvd @ 1:00 pm or so....

Anyone here know this car?

pete

[lapuwali]

QUOTE (bd1308 @ Mar 10 2005, 04:51 PM)

now wait....the only reason for thier knock-resistance is because mazda or wankel crammed that thing with anti-knock sensors (AKA Microphones).....

No, the knock resistance is an inherent property of the design. The combustion chamber doesn't get nearly as hot (well doesn't retain its heat) as much as a piston engine, so volatile fuels like pure hydrogen are less likely to be lit off early. Technically, this is "pre-ignition", not "detonation" (which always happens after the plug fires). Getting the mixture lit in the long, thin chamber is hard enough that all rotaries have to have two plugs per chamber, timed to light off in succession rather than simultaneously.

They may well be putting knock sensors into recent engines, as they've pushed the limit pretty far (140hp in 1985, 250hp in 1991 with a turbo, 250hp now w/o a turbo), so perhaps detonation is now happening. Given the shape of the chamber, this actually isn't all that likely to be a problem, but I'm not as familiar with the recent (post about 1990) engines.