Hey guys, I've been looking into what my options are. I have a 12A which will definitely need rebuilding here in the near future. That being said, I don't mind getting a kit and tearing into it, but I'm worried about the housings being bad. So, instead of sticking with the 12A which, I know a lot of you love, I do as well, it's just very frustrating and troublesome, what about a 1JZ-GTE swap? Any information out there for me? Will it even fit? I looked at the 5.0 Coyote swap, and LS1 swap, but a 1JZ JDM with manual transmission is a whole hell of a lot cheaper. Would the shifter end up sitting back further than normal? Any information or links would be greatly appreciated.

 

So let me see if I have this right.

You want to swap a boinger for a wankel.

And I'll bet you're a Trump supporter as well. Duh duh make america great again.

All I can say is good luck, you'd be better off respecting history and competence.

I'd go with the 12A if I were you, rebuild or replacement, it is way better than a boinger.

 

you can find good 12a used housings and buy a rebuild kit a whole lot cheaper than swapping in a 1jz, 5.0 etc. you can even buy new 12a housings from rotaryengine.com | Rotary Engine Specialists | Mazda Performance | RX7 Specialties for 995.00 a piece

 

I've never swapped any engine. And, I personally prefer the rotary for the RX-7. That said, I've seen some very well done swaps that I think deserve respect. Good luck in whatever course you take. I realize that's not exactly helpful, but if you're able to do the swap - and do it well so it's not a butchered job and you're frustrated, etc. - then in my book that deserves respect, too.

That said, should my engine give up the ghost, 12a or 13b is what I'll be aiming for...but who knows what the future holds?

 

Well, in that case, could I swap the 13B turbo in there? Keep my transmission, just swap plates, (if need be), and put the turbo rotary in? Keep in mind, I want everyday reliability, with the opportunity to drive cross country on a tour.

 

13B is way better than a boinger for sure. The 13b's are pretty reliable, just not as much as a 12A.

 

Word. The 12A w/Nikki will probably be found as reliable transportation long after the world ends

 

I have a 12A w/ Webber 45 DCOE. I'll drive it down the highway at 85mph, pull into a parking and be cruising around 20mph, it'll stall and won't restart. No jump. Nothing. It has to sit for an hour or so, then it'll start again.

 

If it's not got a Nikki, I'm not interested.

 

I'm with Jeff, you need to get a Nikki...

Nikki, she's the best of everything.

 

It's too rich, it's literally putting the fire out. The FB's factory ignition isn't powerful enough to easily restart a flooded engine

 

Your carb is not setup well. Your 12A is probably fine.

 

So, I'm thinking about going with an MSD ignition direct fire system. I'm hoping that this helps with the stalling problem. When I got the car, it wouldn't idle at all. So I turned the jet all the way in until it was seated, and had my buddy jumped in and kept starting it while I tried to turnout the jet until it would idle. It's decent, but it's my understanding that the Weber's are hard to tune and frequently get out of tune quite easily. So, looking at getting it tuned by someone who really knows what they are doing instead of me in my garage... I'm hoping that those two options help out with it. Then it'll be on to "cleaning" the engine bay, upgrading the rear-end and going to disc brakes, followed by suspension then paint. Last item will be the interior. I think you guys had convinced me to keep the engine for now. I do love the feel.

 

That's good news DW, glad you are keeping the 12A.

Like Tim said, with a little TLC it will give you years of excellent service.

Try to get some advice from some weber guys about your carb, chances are you just need to tweak it some to have it working fine. That no start after hot is a fairly common problem, I had it with a nikki once. Some kind of vapor lock or something, just needs to be sorted out.

 

Hey, he said he was interested in a 1JZ, he didn't say he was pants-on-head retarded.

I mean, hell, even I swapped out from a 12A. 12A parts are basically impossible to find anymore, so I had to bite the bullet and put something that wasn't a 12A in my car. Reality bites.

 

Thanks PeeJay, I don't get suckered into political opinions or religious opinions on forums. I'm never going to convince anyone one way or the other if their minds are made up. The original post is just that, me being interested in it. There are a few 13b's that I've found, and parts a whole hell of a lot more available than 12a parts. I do like the rotary, it's a fun engine for the car, but I know that eventually it will go out on me. Everything I want to do now isn't directly for this engine alone. The MSD Direct fire will and can be swapped out to the 13b. So there's that. The rest of it is in the actual car it's self. Suspension, paint, the whole 9.


Or, the 13b will be EFI and I'll have to go with a F.A.S.T. System or learn to wire....

 

I... am less than impressed with FAST.

When I swapped out the 12A, I put in a 13B. 13B might as well be a 454 for all that it matters, either way it's not a 12A...

 

Peejay, how hard was it to wire up the 13b? easy wire job? How long did it take you? When I start looking at new ones, they don't come with any sort of warranty? Any suggestions on which ones are good or not? I've asked, most won't send or give a compression test.....

 

Pretty soon (hopefully) I'll have Fitech's unit in for testing on the 13B.

It's better than the FAST unit, and cheaper. But they are both TBI. Fitech has been talking with me about packaging a MPI system using the Fitech TB, computer, harness, etc. But instead of the TBI 4-8 injector it will have 2 rather large (huge) dynamic injectors usable in the factory location on the 84-up 13b.

No plans yet for adding boost to that setup, but they are totally confident in the TBI version handling 450+ hp on the rotary engine.

 

So, never heard of them before but looked them up. Definitely cheaper than FAST. A few questions though: Does it help wire and get an EFI engine running? It states that it replaces a Carb, but if I buy a 13B/tranny combo with an EFI on it, will it help to get it running? That's mainly what I'm looking for.

 

The Fitech TB is an EFI unit. The ECU, sensors, and injectors are built into the throttle body. From your end all you need to do is get high pressure fuel to it. They have a kit for that too.

If you get a 13B with OEM EFI you'll need to sort out where to mount all the sensors and components along with the high pressure fuel.

 

Perfect, that's what I wanted to know. Can't I get rid of most of those components that I don't need? We have no emission standards, so I don't need O2 sensors or anything, unless it's needed for the FiTech system.

 

I've only ever had Megasquirt on a rotary. The FAST systems I have installed and/or tuned were on American piston engines.

Megasquirt blows FAST out of the water. FAST was very very good 15 years ago, it hasn't progressed much since, MS has continued to evolve, and $1200 retail gets you a phenomenally good ECU. Or $400 gets you "good enough" which is still better than FAST for the things we're concerned with.

 

That said, A 13B will be much easier and will probably get done, unlike a Toyota engine.

Also, going from carbureted to fuel injected is gonna be annoying (I'm assuming the Toyota engine is fuel injected). Slapping a carb on the 13B and putting a 13B header on is super easy in comparison.

 

Having put various engines in an FB, Id advise against an inline 6 engine. Reason being is space and I suppose weight balance. The JZ series engines are long. the engine bay really isn't one you factor radiators and fans