scerbina

Hi,

This is going to be a controversial topic, so let me start by stating that I am a huge fan of a rotary engine and RX-7s in general. But ever since I bought my house and changed jobs, I had very little time to enjoy driving either.
The biggest issue is my daily commute which is close to 200km round trip. It pains me to put that kind of miles on a rotary, not to mention the impact on my wallet. Fuel is not cheap here in Quebec, Canada and call it a personal deficit, but I can`t drive an RX-7 economically. The other small issue is that none of my FBs have AC. (Not a problem for a weekend drive, but a huge one when it comes to daily convenience).

So an idea I had for a while, is to take a 1984 GSL-SE parts car that I bought over six years ago after it had spent close to a decade parked and make it into a summer daily.
If I go down this road, I would want to swap the 13b for some sort of piston engine. This is however where I am stuck as I am not sure what small volume engine (max 3L) would work well for this project and if it would even make sense to spend all this time and money just to have a daily FB. Or if I should go the crazy option and drop the power train from a front-wheel-drive into the rear of the FB ...

Has anyone here gone down this road before or know of any good engine for the swap or other option and opinions?

Thanks in advance.

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

Sell the SE to someone that will restore it and buy a car that is already front wheel drive and has a piston engine in it. It is controversial because there aren't a ton of SE's left and many people feel as though they should be preserved. It would save you a ton of time and money to just buy a daily like most of us do and put money into your 7's as you are able to.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

i'm in the same boat, although its not as big (60km round trip to work), and i bought a 1992 miata. i get 30-35mpg, its small enough that it fits in any parking space, etc etc.

this lets the Rx7 be the fun weekend car, and it doesn't need to be very practical anymore.

although a GSL-SE will get 22-25mpg if its running right, and if the engine is good, we used to see them with 300,000 miles on them all the time (the best one went 240k miles on the original clutch, died in an accident)

so really the GSL-SE can be easy on the wallet if you let it.

scerbina

Hi,

My goal is not to get a daily driver, I already have one, or two What I wanted was to get some daily use out of an FB without feeling bad about running down the engine. Yes, fuel consumption is a factor, but as you can see in the below list of my current car garage, it is not the principal one.

I got the GSL-SE as a parts car as it had all of its mechanics in working order, but was rusted out and I did not see a huge point of restoring it as it would involve A LOT of work, and I had use for some of the drive train parts for another project that I ended up selling.
My original plan, when I stored it, was to take the engine out of the SE, rebuild the body and drop either an S4 turbo or an S5 NA into it with a wide body. And although these two options are still on the table (I still have the engines and most of the parts needed for the swap), the idea of converting it into a rear engine car sounds like a lot of frustrating fun and would give me a car that I don't already have. Plus would justify the work the body and frame currently needs. Even if it would be a multi-year project that would not necessarily result in a better car (if it will not ruin it all together).

I do not want to sell it as I love the look of an FB, but at the same time, I do not want to invest the time to restore it to have another FB that I more or less already have. All of the RX-7s I have kept have either some sentimental value or offer a unique experience compared to the rest of my fleet. Plus, I doubt I would sell it. If I decide to go that road I will strip it down and most likely scrap the rusted body that I doubt will retain its form after being stripped down.


As a final note, I am right now just trying to figure out what I should do with the car. I am in the middle of emptying out the 4000 sqr foot barn that the RX-7s and their spare parts were stored in over the last couple of years following a roof collapse, so I can start the repairs this summer. This kinda forced me to take stock of what I have and to figure out what I want to do with what I have as my other garage is not big enough to store all of the cars, and I will have to make temporary shelters for the ones that I decide to keep whole.

Before this happened, I was in the middle of shopping for a new car wanting to get a PHEV or pure electric, but moving the cars out of the barn has rejuvenated my love for them and I want to daily them even more than when the idea for the project first came into my mind some years ago.

To be honest, the 84 GSL-SE is the last project on my list right now, as I will most likely start by doing a refresh on the other RX-7 that had been stored, getting them back to the condition they were before entering the barn as most of them have small things that need to be done.


So in conclusion, what would you do? Strip it for parts? s4 turbo? s5 NA? A crazy and perhaps stupid project of puting an engine in the back?



My current fleet:
2006 Escape (Winter car)
2004 Golf (Main Daily)
2004 Grand Prix GTP
2002 Frontier
2000 Windstar
1999 Durango
1995 Park Avenue
1991 RX-7 Convertible
1990 RX-7
1984 RX-7 GSL-SE (parts car)
1984 RX-7 GS
1983 RX-7 GSL
1982 RX-7

Qingdao

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like you've got rotary covered.

3.5 Ecoboost… Just do it.

Or 4 wheel electric. Get a prius engine and put it in the back and get two hub drive electric motors and put them on the front hubs.
I wanted to do this to an MR2, but I haven't the funds or the drive.

But turbo the engine you've got: that's what I would do and that's what I did.

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Sell it and find yourself a MK1 MR2 N/A. The 1.6L 4A-GE will easily get high 20s low 30s MPG, it's already got the engine in the back, it will be easy to swap a better, more fuel efficient motor later, it has r&p steering that is razor sharp, and they are a hoot to drive. Several websites offer affordable replacement parts and you can ground up restore even the worst example for under $10k. I know this, because when I'm not wrenching on my 7, I'm working on the MR2.

Toruki

I always liked those.

cpt_gloval

iTrader: (1)

I dunno, the NA 13b isn't anything special, I wouldn't hesitate to run miles on one.