Rx7 conversion

[Ceartsu]

I have an 87 Rx7 with a blown rotary engine. The apex seals are dead. This means I pretty much have to replace the engine. Sadly I have found that for the money rotaries dont have the horses that a V8 would give me for the same price. I simply don't have the money to stick with a rotary. So I'm thinking of putting in a small block V8. Advice would be apperciated.

P.S. Don't bombard me with "Then its not a real Rx-7" and the like. If i had the money I'd stick with rotary but my daily died so I can't. And for the horsepower/cost the V8 wins.

Thanks for the help.

[OneSlow5pt0]

$2k will get u a Turbo RX-7 front clip...please for the love of god dont ruin your RX-7..


i mean i understand,the Rotary is little diffent..i used to have a 91,but dont put V8 in it,sell it to someone that will keep it rotary,and get yourself a camaro or mustang...not trying to me mean,but i hate seeing this happen


p.s. Rotarys are one of the best engines to make HP..just look only takes a 2.6L to make 755hp all motor

[GTScoob]

Hinson Supercars is your friend. Ditch the POS rotary motor, if rotaries were worthwhile every modern car would be running them. Most every company tested them in the past at least at R&D stages and almost none made it into street cars, I wonder why? Because its a shitty design, they're great when left NA but unreliable when you try to make any power with them. Even NA, I'd take a weak honda motor over a 12A.

[OneSlow5pt0]

Rotarys are great engines when taken care of....makes tons of HP with no redline...im on the look out for a another ROTARY RX-7,i miss the sweet wankel sound everyday

[GTScoob]

Rotarys are great engines when taken care of....makes tons of HP with no redline...im on the look out for a another ROTARY RX-7,i miss the sweet wankel sound everyday

No redline? Even if the engine doesnt have a redline every rotating part has its own specifications on its maximum rotating speed. I'm sure you've seen the pics of the FC RX-7 where the flywheel separated from the engine doing ~12K rpms and cut through the driver's foot.

No redline is great, no torque is not. Again if I wanted a torqueless motor that liked to rev I'd go with a B16; I'd get high 20mpg, not burn oil, have VTEC ( ), and be reliable.

[OneSlow5pt0]

idk,im just a person that hates cross brand engine swaps...

the RX-7 is called Rotary Experiment 7 for a reason.

[David88vert]

Funny, out of all of the RX7s that I've owned over all of the years - only one has blown. That was a N/A race motor at Moroso, and that was due to overheating. Why did it overheat? Because the fan was manual, and was not turned on. NEVER have I had a rotary blow due to any other circumstances. I have had numerous rotarys over 200K miles.
Unreliable? My Mustang took over $6K in repairs last year to keep it going. My FD = $0.

How long will that Subaru tranny hold up?

[OneSlow5pt0]

foshizzle

[kfzemx3]

idk,im just a person that hates cross brand engine swaps...

Agreed, keep the motor swaps within the family of the car, if you dont like the rotory mazda has a few other motors that'll do.

I actually cant wait to see how the MZR motor handles now they are using it in lemans, though i do wish they would of been allowed to do a 4 rotor, ohwell i guess fair is fair, no foreign non piston motors ::grumble grumble::

[OneSlow5pt0]

well,if i had my choice it would be illegal to place apiston engine in a RX-7,but thats probbly wont happen,all i can say if u dont want the hassle thiers tons of high RPM cars,like honda....lol...and the 4 rotor 26B is the greatest engine ever in my eyes

[halfshaft5]

WEll rotories must be pretty good, there are about 29k airplanes in the world with a rotory in it, and if they blow then its hard to just pull off the road and call a tow plane, if built right and everything is done correct, then you will have a bulletproof motor. I think Kevin at Rotary Resurrection with do a complete rebuilt for under 2k if I recall, and if you take the motor out and take it to him then its even cheaper. Jsut my .02 worth

[Type-R]

Um anyone who says rotary motors are shit have no clue what they are talking about. It's people who beat their cars into the dirt, burn up clutches and don't keep up on regular maintenance that make motors shit.

And BTW, you can get a good motor for under $1,000. If you want to have a RX-7 with balls then pick up a 20b.



If you want a REAL test, see how long you can drive a blown rotary vs a blown piston motor.


Piston motors were never ment to be in a RX-7, it should stay that way!

[OneSlow5pt0]

[QUOTE=Type-R]Um anyone who says rotary motors are shit have no clue what they are talking about. It's people who beat their cars into the dirt, burn up clutches and don't keep up on regular maintenance that make motors shit.

And BTW, you can get a good motor for under $1,000. If you want to have a RX-7 with balls then pick up a 20b.



If you want a REAL test, see how long you can drive a blown rotary vs a blown piston motor.


Piston motors were never ment to be in a RX-7, it should stay that way![/QUOTE]

[Boosted FC]

People that don't know, always has some shit to say. I guarantee he has never owned a rotary in his life.

[Frög]

Then its not a real Rx-7..

[kfzemx3]

Well then what about putting rotories in other cars? Is that acceptable, people have been racing rotoried powered 323s for awhile

[Frög]

Well then what about putting rotories in other cars? Is that acceptable, people have been racing rotoried powered 323s for awhile

then its not a real 323 now is it?

[GTScoob]

WEll rotories must be pretty good, there are about 29k airplanes in the world with a rotory in it, and if they blow then its hard to just pull off the road and call a tow plane, if built right and everything is done correct, then you will have a bulletproof motor. I think Kevin at Rotary Resurrection with do a complete rebuilt for under 2k if I recall, and if you take the motor out and take it to him then its even cheaper. Jsut my .02 worth

Hmm, so I can put a built rotary motor in my car and it will be indestructable? Its still going to get 12mpg and burn oil. I really could give a shit what airplanes run considering they have completely different mission profiles when compared to automotive uses.

I've never owned an RX-7 but have numerous friends who have in the past and they've never really impressed me. The cars are just over-engineered and overly complex. Whats not to love about a V8 in one of these cars? Weight reduction, improved gas mileage and reliablity?

The rotary motor was a great concept but newer technologies for piston engines make it obsolete.

How long will that Subaru tranny hold up?

Touche, I, like every other WRX owner with a bigger turbo am on my 2nd tranny. The thing with replacement trannies is that you dont have to worry about carrying extra tranny fluid in the car for road trips when you'll be burning a lot of fluid, or having tranny seals fail and kill the entire unit. If I misshift and grind a gear I might hurt the tranny but not like a single detonation count on a rotary. I dont see this tranny blowing up until I'm upwards of 400whp; I guess if it was a rotary I'd probably be looking at new rear end options at that power level anyways, probably porting the intakes as well as adding thicker apex seals.

[OneSlow5pt0]

Rotary are very simple,and they have less moving parts than a piston engine...i mean its ok if people dont like rotaries,but dont ruin a RX-7 just cause u dont like the eninge,y not just get a V8 mustang or camaro..and with a v8 u throw the 50/50 weight all out of wack...and the rotary was good anuff to get banned from le mans,cause they said it was like cheating...so its good in my book

[David88vert]

Actually, most of my rotarys have been pretty much indestructible. I've had a LOT of high mileage rotarys and have raced them without any mechanical problems.
They do not get good gas mileage, but most performance based street cars and race cars do not, so that's not a big deal. If I wanted good gas mileage, I'd get a Prius.
Rotaries are designed to inject oil into the combustion chamber. So do 2-strokes - do you think that MotoGP 250s are slow? :-) I can drive to Miami and back and not need to carry fluid. That's good enough for me.
BTW - On the motor that I killed at Moroso - I drove the car back from Moroso - and drove it around town for 2 weeks after that. I've also driven another blown RX7 race car back from Moroso on 1 rotor. Both had no problems coming up the Turnpike at 100+. Think you can blow a tranny in a Subaru and drive back from south Florida without fixing it first? My RX7s have not left me stranded, and only once have I had to pull out of a trackday session in a RX7 (leaking coolant line).

[Tuner_13BFC]

Actually, most of my rotarys have been pretty much indestructible. I've had a LOT of high mileage rotarys and have raced them without any mechanical problems.
They do not get good gas mileage, but most performance based street cars and race cars do not, so that's not a big deal. If I wanted good gas mileage, I'd get a Prius.
Rotaries are designed to inject oil into the combustion chamber. So do 2-strokes - do you think that MotoGP 250s are slow? :-) I can drive to Miami and back and not need to carry fluid. That's good enough for me.
BTW - On the motor that I killed at Moroso - I drove the car back from Moroso - and drove it around town for 2 weeks after that. I've also driven another blown RX7 race car back from Moroso on 1 rotor. Both had no problems coming up the Turnpike at 100+. Think you can blow a tranny in a Subaru and drive back from south Florida without fixing it first? My RX7s have not left me stranded, and only once have I had to pull out of a trackday session in a RX7 (leaking coolant line).

every one who complains about the MPG is due to the fact that it is a 12 gallon tank when you run it all the way down 10 when you hit Empty so it gives you the feel of a gas guzzler when its really not. so don't try to hate on it for the MPG cus if you want good MPG get a HYBRID

[Twinnos]

i hear people complaining about the rotary all the time. when i first got one i was a little worried until i did my RESEARCH. and as long as you take care of it, it will take care of you. thats why i dumped money into the engine to get it going right and safely, especially since it has had a few previous owners. i drove it today and will probably drive it the rest of the week. its a good feeling to drive a rx7. no complaints here. the only other thing im gonna do is get a fan temp switch.

[teggy 2nr]

i get over 20 mpg on my n/a and thats with a major exhaust leak......by the way anyone know a dependable shop to get a tII engine swapped in my n/a?

[David88vert]

Yes, I do, but you will spend more than just buying a good TII and selling your N/A. PM me if you are dead set on doing the swap.

[teggy 2nr]

then someone needs to buy my car!!!!!!!!!

[olivertwist]

Actually, most of my rotarys have been pretty much indestructible. I've had a LOT of high mileage rotarys and have raced them without any mechanical problems.
They do not get good gas mileage, but most performance based street cars and race cars do not, so that's not a big deal. If I wanted good gas mileage, I'd get a Prius.
Rotaries are designed to inject oil into the combustion chamber. So do 2-strokes - do you think that MotoGP 250s are slow? :-) I can drive to Miami and back and not need to carry fluid. That's good enough for me.
BTW - On the motor that I killed at Moroso - I drove the car back from Moroso - and drove it around town for 2 weeks after that. I've also driven another blown RX7 race car back from Moroso on 1 rotor. Both had no problems coming up the Turnpike at 100+. Think you can blow a tranny in a Subaru and drive back from south Florida without fixing it first? My RX7s have not left me stranded, and only once have I had to pull out of a trackday session in a RX7 (leaking coolant line).

I would like to say ok i know that rotaries or good and you need to keep them in good conditons but a v8 dam: ok you out of the guest list if you have a old scholl rolla and stick in a 13b then that would be the best sleeper of all and kill rx7 becouse of weight and power .

[David88vert]

I would like to say ok i know that rotaries or good and you need to keep them in good conditons but a v8 dam: ok you out of the guest list if you have a old scholl rolla and stick in a 13b then that would be the best sleeper of all and kill rx7 becouse of weight and power .

I disagree. I have a Mustang also. With its mods it is still no faster than my stock FD. It also costs a LOT more to maintain than my RX7. My rotarys have been much more reliable over the years also.
I like my V8s in my piston cars, and my rotarys in my 7s....

[dayton]

I disagree. I have a Mustang also. With its mods it is still no faster than my stock FD. It also costs a LOT more to maintain than my RX7. My rotarys have been much more reliable over the years also.
I like my V8s in my piston cars, and my rotarys in my 7s....

AMEN!!!