The gas weld with that rod is surely a nice way to go, given the other limitations. It won't be brittle and the penetration will be decent. Your idea of a braced bushing will be sufficient, I'm sure.
You really got me thinking of building a race version with a built 13B rotary. A properly set up mazda will put out just as much hp as the ford or bmw units. Where did you get the plans for the chassis? would you be willing to sell me a set? Sell me a body? the molds and parts look pretty nice. You can contact me at
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As a street car, your b-16 quad 4 will be a blast. Just be careful of those suv's and pick up trucks! The Swenson brothers (PBS Engineering- big Fiat Abarth guys in the 60's/70's ) built sports racers based on small displacement fiat mills. One of the coupes was used as a street car, very similar in size/ shape to the B16. It was totally dwarfed by a datsun 510 ! At 800 lbs, 50 mpg was the norm with close to 120 mph top speed