jeremy

iTrader: (1)

because this subject has never come up before macquire. we need to get to the bottom of this v8 vs rotaries smack down match.

Maguire

iTrader: (1)

you're not helping the matter.

And yes, we need more threads about this subject. Because I still dont understand how to change my headlight fluid.

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

HAHAHAHAHA

That does win the award for the funniest thing I've seen today. Nice one!

I think it's time to finish this thread. To each their own. Whatever makes you happy. I would like a V8 Rx7 to come out to southern california so we can play cat and mouse with my 260 fwhp 12a JBridgeport @ Buttonwillow or Willow Springs Raceway. Loser buys lunch. ALL for fun under the sun.

Gotta go back to work,

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

That was Hilarious..

TOUGHGUY

Well Brad, I for one would love to be in SoCal right about now but alas, it is not to be. Gotta work and the wife is due in July at just about the same time I get my holidays. However, I'm planning a road trip to San Jose maybe next year as I have a friend who lives in Valley Springs and I would certainly like to hook up for a little speed 'n feed. Hope your bridgeport can last that long! LOL. But I will only agree to a few laps at Willow Springs if you agree to a top speed run at any secret test location of your choice AND a trip to see who's car passes the smog test. Oh ya, and we get to swap cars at the track for a few laps to prove to you that a V8 in an RX7 does not upset the car's balance to the degree that everybody who doesn't own one thinks it does. I know I can make a believer out of you! And it won't be lunch, it'll be a freakin' huge spit roasted tri-tip for supper with a side order of Molson Canadian!

Unfortunately, you and I both know that there is a 1% probability of this ever happening so let's just say that since I've never been on a road course, you would maybe have an edge there but everybody knows that I'd spank you in the bomb run and at the sniffer! Thanks for the steak and beer Brad!

Toughguy

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

I can make a trip to Laguna Seca or Sears Point in the Bay Area but I doubt our calendars will hook up. Quite frankly a novice on a road course with lots of HP doesn't do very well. I've creamed turbo Supras and big blocks before on HP tracks let alone technical tracks! Skill and knowledge are very important when you have to turn and brake and not just hold the wheel and press the go pedal. I would like to drive a V8 Rx7 and try it out, I think all of us here have respect for V8's. U coming to SevenStock 6 this Sept?

Top speed contests aren't my thing, they don't prove a whole lot. Going 150mph off the track does not sound pleasant but to each their own.

As for sniffer I got way too much port overlap. Then again this isn't exactly a street driven car As you can see here:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...37110081jAVmJe

I do have friends with peripheral port 13b's being driven daily though. It IS doable. They beat rice crotch rockets!

I haven't bought you a steak and beer!

Later and best wishes with the newborn.

Ahhhh...... Molsonnnnnnnnnnnn..................

hornbm

and I wouldnt expect a stock 13b rotary to compete with a stock v8.

If I wanted more power, and wantewd to add weight, I'd go with a 20B rotary engine. People have made those things go past 1000HP, and they produce ALOT more torque than the 13b.

TOUGHGUY

Sevenstock 6, man I wish! Sept 27-28 no can do. I'm a computer tech for a school board. They kinda need me then.
They beat crotch rocket eh? Methinks you had a little too much Molson Brad. Most recent liter bikes are running mid tens in the 1/4, stock! That I would have to see to believe.
And BTW, that's a racy looking car you got there. I would jump at the chance to try it if the opportunity arose but I thought we were talking street cars the whole time. I like it though. Not alot of going on to make it look tacky.

Anyways, staying within the confines of a race track isn't really any proof of what a street machine is all about. Like you said, to each his own. I'll take my smiles at the lights and from squinting in the rearview!

Toughguy

P.S.- I'm having that Molson Canadian right now. That'll be $1.50 CDN chaching.

J Oliver

Man am I bored

edscholl

hehe... i'm just starting my conversion, but i'll be happy to take you on when i'm done. i'm right up in Palmdale, so WillowSprings is just a skip away.

Junia

Man, this post is going haywire. Whats the big deal about the V8 swap?? It's just something different. I've seen FC's with the RB26,AE86 with the SR20, S13 with the VG30,S30 with the V8,510 with a CA18, and other swaps but where I'm from, this is normal. Why go around bashing someone trying something different? Its just an engine, its not that big of a deal. People are treating the rotary engine like its the holy grail or something. Me personally, If I wouldn't drop a V8 into a seven but If I was to, I would get a twin turbo kit and try to get more power out of it. Its not wrong to go with an engine thats didn't come with the car. Its all about personal preference. Someone might want to drop in a V8 because he/she might know how to work on one and don't really want to spend the time to work on the rotary engine. Me personally, I'm gonna go with a 13b with a 6port bridge with a Holley carb because despite what everyone says about the 6 port motor I know that it works(people keep saying its a waste of time bridging a 6port motor). I've seen it before and I'm having the work done by a mechanic thats been working on rotaries forever and I've seen his work. I've seen him do things to his seven that would have people on this forum flame the hell out of me claiming that its not right like removing the oilcooler all together because of him not needing it at all. The bottom line is that there are no right or wrong when it comes to modifying your car. If people would keep an open mind about things they might find out something usefull that they could do to their cars that they would've never thought of before. How do you know that mazda isn't going to go with another engine other than the rotory in there future RX's? Yes it may mean Rotary expierment but to the people who don't know any better when they here RX anything it just means that its mazda's premiere sports car. People never thought that nissan would ever drop anything other than the straight 6 into their skyline but they blew everyones minds away when they drop in a VQ engine. What is the big deal anyways??

Bern

Hey Brad and Ed.. can I play to... I think this would be fun. Hopefully, I'll have my rear-end set-up and big brakes done by then. Ed, how much longer to go on your ride?

ymm, yum.. we can go to the Mexican rest. at the airport!

-Bern

hornbm

i've been told doesens of times that its imossible to get more than a smal street port out of a 6 port rotary.

However, if you have actually seen a bridged 6 port, I'd be really curious to see it for myself?

Could you get any pics from the shop owner and post them for the rest of us?

Junia

Well, Once this war is over and I'm back in the states, I'm going have my car worked on. I will take pictures of my car and some of the other cars that he's worked on as well.

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

Oh Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttt now Bern wants to play too. His turbo B motor will introduce torque into the equation. Sure thing Bern, we can all hook up @ Big Willow but we'll have to do a rematch @ Buttonwillow so I can utilize my nice suspension.

Just might have to put Tom's big brake kit on the MasterCard to help even things out.....

Yeah, it sounds like a kick. this summer? Or is that too hot for forced induction?

Later Bern. Oh, and I got a 74 REPU I'm restoring, should be ready before SS6. I'll be able to go to club events rotarystyle again!

Might be a good push to get SS @ a racetrack so we can all go on track and walk the walk whilst talking the talk.

MRGSL-SE

yeh ha... simple question simple answer.... takes 5 pages to answer

TOUGHGUY

The cold hard fact is that hardly anybody buys an RX7 with the express idea of putting ANY other kind of motor in it. Nobody who buys an RX7 with a good running rotary is going to pull it in favour of a V8. Most likely, the car was purchased with a blown engine or no engine at all. The cost of putting in a completely stock rotary is more than the V8 swap because rotaries are expensive. Then you have the guys who have had several good rotaries because they were naive and kept rebuilding or replacing them but eventually got fed up with forking over the cash and decided to do something different.

I like rotaries, two-strokes, four strokes, gas turbine you name it. If it make noise and makes power, I'm into it. But there are some motor designs that are just more suited for the different kinds of things we want to do. If I was building a 1st gen street/autocross car, I would be stupid to swap in a V8 because I would be forced to run in E-Mod where it would get eaten alive by race only full tube frame RX7s with V8s in them! No, I would build a ported rotary car and be willing to accept that it might not have the best street manners and that reliability would be compromised. If I was into the drag scene then I would backhalf the car and drop a highly tuned and juiced LS1 into it. But I want a street car. Something that will handle well in the twisties, have an edge at the lights, and be able to idle smoothly through the parking lot at cruise night. Something that is not neccessarily easier to maintain, but less expensive to maintain and opperate. Something with enough torque that I don't care about losing 15hp because the AC is on or that it has an auto that sucks up 15% of the available crank HP.

I'm tired of wasting money on rotaries. If I would have done the V8 swap three years ago, I'd have enough in the bank to build the new garage I want. Instead I squandered it on streetports and half bridgeports and IDA carburators, etc.... Maybe I'm just not as good a rotary mechanic as some others, but I sure as hell ain't gonna go broke trying to learn how. People like me weren't made for rotaries or vice versa. So because of that I should stay away from one of the best looking and handling sports cars of all time? I don't think so. Instead of getting completely frustrated, I adapted to the RX7 and adapted the RX7 to me.

Most of you guys are too young to remember this but Detroit used to offer many different combinations of engines and powertrains in there cars. Depending on what your style was, you got to choose what suited you best. Well, Mazda (actually most Japanese automakers) never did this because they were about making money, to be competitive in the world market and now most American automakers are following that trend. This car gets this motor and that tranny and nothing else. Cookie-cutter cars. The RX7s were such cars as well. What I'm doing is just what the factory should have done from the start, offer a choice of engines. But they didn't do it because the rotary was the best engine for the job, they did it because there wouldn't have been much demand for the rotary powerplant if a piston engine of comparable performance would have been available.

You must remember that Mazda only adopted the Wankel rotary because in the 60s the japanese government wanted to merge all the automakers into one mega conglomerate in order to have a bigger presence on the world market. Mazda thought that if they could have exclusive use of the Wankel rotary (and they could have under japanese law) that they would be able to retain their individuality on the basis of being the only car manufacturer to offer it. In part, that decision helped them to create an image all there own and the rotary today is Mazda's symbol of uniqueness among all carmakers of the world. Too bad it sucks farts and sounds like one too!



Toughguy

'85 GSL 302

I actually bought a perfectly fine running RX-7 with the express purpose of doing the swap. Mine was a case of having a great 302, and finding the best platform to swap it into. I spent months and decided that the FB RX-7 was the best deal, and most capable. I passed up Z cars, Sunbeam Tigers, and even some more exotic posibilities. I settled on the RX-7 because it's such a capable chasis. If anything, it's a testimate to how great a car the RX-7 is. Do I feel a little guilty for taking a perfectly running RX-7 and bastardizing it? Sure. But ask me how much I'll care when it's done. I'm actually a huge RX-7 fan. As I said, we race an 81 GSL in our club, and it's a fabulous car. But bottom line, performance for price get's me going, and this just can't be beat. Sorry guys, face it, it's a great swap with hardly any downsides and none that can't be overcome. I still haven't heard anyone try to convince me that the V8 isn't a great idea.

TOUGHGUY

Ok, one guy! LOL.

Toughguy

Arcknight02

I also bought a running rotary with the single purpose of the v8 swap. In face I have a perfectly running rotary sitting in my friends back yard and know what? Im not gonna sell it. Im going to let it sit there and rot because that is what I think of that motor. I origionally thought rotaries were really cool, but the behavior by the members of this board has influenced my actions and now I will let a 'piece of automotive history' die a slow miserable death just to spite you mwahaha. (actually the real reason is that I cant get it from my friends house because I dont have a truck and I dont really feel like going through all the hassle of selling it and shipping it lol)

TOUGHGUY

Ok then two guys! That my final offer!

Toughguy

Arcknight02

oh yeah, and about the fastest cars being v8s, I DO believe that many if not all top fuel dragsters have blown 426 HEMIs, if thats not one fast v8, then I dunno what is.

MosesX605

Someone close this thread for God's sake.

edscholl

of course you can come out and play! i'm hoping to have it done this year- i've just pulled the engine. =)

but if i get it done next year, no sweat. the stupid things been off the road for close to 2 years anyways.

hey, are you the bernie from the socal7s club? mmm, carne asada...

rx7_ragtop

What you don't know obviously is the rules... we don't flame other users... this is your first warning.

Brad