26B PP Cosmo

Kiwis have become known as those to go to for building quad rotors, and ever since James Parker heard ‘Mad Mike’ Whiddett’s ‘BADBUL’ competing in D1, he’s said he will build his own. That plan eventuated earlier this year with the purchase of a ’92 Eunos Cosmo (JC). It arrived as a rolling body, originally housing a 20B, and only has 68,000km on the clock.

The first task was to strip the interior, which included no less than 50kg of wiring and computers alone, before converting the body to accept a manual transmission — using an FC master cylinder and an RX-8 clutch pedal.

The engine is a peripheral port (PP) based on FC components, and will remain naturally aspirated to avoid any muffling of that screaming note. The 9.7:1-compression FC rotors have undergone light machine work, while the centre and end plates are from a Series 4 and 5, respectively, and the PP housings from a Series 5.

The eccentric shaft, is a Precision Engineering unit, and it’s one of the few bits that James hasn’t produced himself. He even produced the adapter used to mate up the Tex Racing T101 box — which has a magnesium case, meaning that it will weigh in at about the same as a factory RX-7 equivalent — as well as the dry-sump pan and associated pump mounts, which keep the Peterson four-stage R4 oil pump tucked away safely, with the idea of maintaining enough pressure at the targeted 10,000rpm. EFI Hardware individual throttle bodies dominate the induction system, and the entire shebang will be tied together by a Link ECU.

It’s still very much a project in the works, but, with the quad rotor now assembled and many of the necessary accessories fitted, we expect to see all the mechanicals chucked into the Cosmo body in the very near future.