Metallic_rock

So last night, I was picking up new spark plugs for my car... had to order 88 plugs for the 13b. The parts guy looked out his window and tried arguing with me- trying to show how much he knew. (check sig) I had to explain that it had an engine transplant in it and I needed the newer plugs. He then proceded to open the plug box and say "hey, man that's pretty funky looking, are you sure that's what you want?"

We got to talking, and one of the chicks behind the counter said "yeah, my cousin has a really nice 91... he put a 302 in it." *I shake my head in sorrow* ... Guy walks up behind me... "yeah, I put a Chevy 350 in mine, and it's a lot more reliable!! You should do that. I had 4 1st gen Rx-7's. I know rotaries have no power and are not reliable at all." *I fight punching him in the face* I proceded to tell him about my engine and IoTus's TII install... He told me he'd take the 350 rex over the turbo any day...

Oh, and he had the gall to say that the 350 only added 80 pounds to the car!!! Lying son of a bitch...

should have gotten his contact number so we could put the TII rotary against the 350. Oh, well...

Sorry, just had to get this off my chest.

WanKeL FD RX-7

iTrader: (7)

a lot of people say that rotary is not reliable, but they don't know what they are talking about. I think putting a piston engine in a RX-7 is question of choice but it's definately not a RX-7 anymore.

I always try to ignore these kind of stupid bastards that think they know all about cars, I like my rotary engine, it's pretty reliable, and it's a blast to drive.

About that weight, he's crazy, i can't see how a piston engine could add only 80pounds, it's a V8.

Just my 0.02cents

Kerry

He may be only slightly mistaken on the weight. My 5.0 swap added ~200lbs total, but sightly more than half that weight went to the rear wheels. So, if he only weighed the front (and maybe lost the air conditioner during the swap), that would be about right. But I agree, he probably didn't do it with 80lbs total.
Please don't judge all the V8 guys by one jerk. Everybody has their own personality.

Kerry

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

People never learn........Rx7's are sports cars not drag cars. A V8 Rx7 will NEVER handle anywhere near as well as a rotary rex. Simple as that. People swap V8's because they fear what they don't understand. It is easier to just say it is crap then to learn about it and its needs.

Metallic_rock

You are right, but what added to him being a jerk was the fact that I absolutely hate the idea of puting a boinger in an Rx-7. Putting a 350 in an Rx-7 makes it a Chevy-7 or a 350-7. It is no longer an Rx-7. I know, I drove one just for the hell of it one time. It was great in a straight line...

'85 GSL 302

Funny, I race rotory RX-7's all the time. I fully understand how they work and how to make power out of them. I also own and race a 302 GSL that is just plain awsome. It handles as well as any stock 1st Gen would with 300 ft/lbs and I autoX it on tight courses without any problems. Personally I have noticed very little difference in the handling, certainly not as much as you guys would want to believe. As for drag racing, this car is being built as an open track car. IE it's being built to handle, not accelerate. So far I've been more than pleased with it's performance and anyone near Clemson SC is more than welcome to come out and see the car for yourselves. I race it with the CSCC every chance I get.

http://www.clemson.edu/cscc

bliffle

I don't race my 7s (my racing days are over), but I love the smoooooth feel of the 7, and that I can cruise at 5000rpm, ready to jump, and iit just tracks fast around mountain roads.

B

85rotarypower

An RX-7 with a piston is no longer and RX-7. It's a PX-7.

I read someware that RX-7 stood for Rotary Experiment 7. If it doesn't have a rotary engine, how can it be a Rotary experiment. PX-7 stands for Piston Experiment 7. Get my drift.

That is another thing the light ***, heavy front PX-7 would be good at, Drifting. Only problem would be that the drift would soon become uncontrollable because the *** end of the car is so light.

Sterling

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO------HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Poor MetalicRock had a run-in with a jack-*** that wanted to ****-talk rotaries to boost himself. I'm sure he's quite pleased with his car, as anyone who goes through such trouble naturally would be. Afterall, it's our human nature to be pleased with an accomplishment even if others think it sucks...even if we know deep down inside that it sucks- We'll still love it to death.
But I doubt that it really does suck. But what made him a jerk was not putting a piston-pounder in his 7. He's a jerk because he ****-talked the rotary and thought it necessary to compare. (I trust you did'nt egg him on, Metalic! )

And then we get '85 GSL 302 to say that most all of everyones claims about piston-prancing rexs handling being **** are false! And it's ABOUT ****** TIME!!!- cause I doubt that most of you that make this claim in these ****-fests have ever actually driven one. Maybe even ever seen one!

But it's funny how these threads just invite everyone out of the woodwork to hop on the "Purist-Wagon-To-Nowhereville".
What the ****?
L E T I T G O !

All you people bitchin about perfect rex-dom - Should'nt you be out there cleaning / polishing / fixing something on your own damn cars?

-Buncha preachy bastards!
"My rex-**** handles better than yours!..."

rotor vs. piston

SEE SIG, it handels GREAT

MarkPerez

I own two rx7's and have been on this forum for a couple of years, i've read alot of threads about V8'ed
rx7's. And it seems that these cars CAN handle an american V8 with ease. Not a big block mind you, but something small, say a 5.0 is perfect. A 1st gen's weight ratio's are NOT 50/50 so the V8 may balance it out some. The 2ed gens are 50/50,,,,perfect. Me i would love to put a 1969 1/2 ford boss 302 in a 1st gen. Let me tell you guys as soon as i can find a boss engine, that bad boy is going in one of my 7's.

dozzle

You know what's fun to do with the auto parts people who think they know it all.... Ask them if they sell camshafts, crankshafts, piston rings, or some other such piston part.... whey they say yes, tell them you need on for your RX-7 and see how long they search through the computer or refrence books trying to find one...
Although that doesn't work so well with someone who actually knows about rx-7's :-)

hornbm

yeah the main reason why people say rotaries are unreliable are because of the problems the 3rd gen had. Its what is fresh in most peoples minds. Hopefully, the RX-8 will shut those jackasses up.

Manntis

Nope - according to Mazda, they picked 'RX' because it sounded cool, just like XR7 (ford), CRX (honda), etc.

Richard Miller

on sunday I had some old ****** at my work tell me I don't want a rotary engine, when I asked why he could not answer me any better than

"They are unreliable"

the early 70's cars I can see. My understanding is they figured out the right tricks in the RX-7 for the internals of the rotary so it wouldn't die at 60k. My arguement is lets see how many piston engines (espically from the early-mid eighties) have 200,000 plus miles on the clock, have never had any engine work done. replacement of timing belts, adjusted lifters, head work, ect. That runs as smooth as a rotary. Most Japanese cars from that vintage sound like the only thing that holds it together is the varnish gummed up in the block. In 1984, ford offered a V8 with 160 hp.
the same year the SE came out with 130hp(?)

just something to mull over in your mind.

I have to add this, Put a V8 in what ever you want. I would like to put a 20b in an older full sized truck. But if you do please do it right. Alot of v8s I have seen are mainly late 70's though 80's wich ar readly available. the alure is Cledus can pull his Ford V8 out of his F-150 (there are a lot of ford trucks) and have an engine that he can work on, so it makes it reliable) A car ceases to be reliable if you need to bring a third party into it. I just havent meet to many gentlemen who put a worked V8 into a 7 chassis. maybe they will get headers and a new carb,

lets see here,

engine from auto store 800.00 from like napa or schucks
a carb and manifold last I checked about 400. tring to stay cheap
200 for headers, and the 250 or what ever it was for the grannys kit. Do we need a tranny also? you get the idea.

rotarys are unreliable my ***. I have been running the same engine since '97 what I got with high mileage anyways...

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

For an REPU perspective.

I've been running the same 4 port 13B in my REPU since I got them both in '97. There have been problems along the way that would come up and I'd fix them. They were all chassis-related being from '74 and all. The 13B itself was rebuilt in '95 and ran in a different REPU before I got it. It's never left me stranded. Talk about reliable!

It's got some restrictive little exhaust ports ('74 rotor housings have 12A sized ports) and has always been too gutless for my taste. So I pulled it from the REPU on Monday to go into my rotary MG Midget after I get another flywheel. I'm also building an R5 13B with some decent porting for my REPU at a fraction of the cost of rebuilding a V8.

I've seen one V8 Courier swap once. It was a spaghetti of header pipes and plug wires going every which way (some through the inner fenders... yuck!). I'd much prefer a 20B or a supercharger, or both, or a turbo 2 swap at least. That-is, if I needed more torque. So far, I don't.

The V8 swap into a rotary engine bay is ok for some people, but it is something I can never do.

smnc

Hey, if people want to put V-8's in they RX-7's, then I say more power to 'em.
It's their car, they can do what they like.

BUT, what pisses me off is when they start telling me how much more reliable it is. Why people who know nothing about rotaries would try telling mehow crappy my 13B is, I have no idea.

Personally, I would never but a boinger in my car. I do have plans to superchange my car.

dole2000

I buy the RX-7 because they are reliable and inexpensive to maintain. Few cars are more reliable and as fun to drive.

85rotarypower

Sorry Manntis. I could have swore I read that somewhere. Anyway, Forget that post!! My mistake.

God I make myself sound stupid sometimes.

White84SE

I've actually had MUCH better luck with piston engines than these "funny spinning triangles" as I've heard my engine described. A LOT of the reliability comes from how previous owners took care of it. I've got a Chevy Celebrity with 277k on it and the engine has never had a valve cover off. We've owned it since 36k, though. My Mazda crapped it's 12A at just under 70k miles. Now, the previous owner babied it all the time (his eyes lit up when I got tire shifting into 3rd gear on the test drive) so that may have contributed to it. Yes, earlier rotaries (RX2 and the ilk) did have problems with sealing issues bnut that went away and it all boils down to how well the care is taken care of. And used the way it's designed to be used.

--Danny

theloudroom

But if you actually look at it objectively, isn't say a chevy v-8 more reliable?

People can make statements about how they don't have any trouble with their rotary. Great. If you want to make any kind of OBJECTIVE comparison, you need to look at the MTBF of the two different engines.

Chances are, the v-8 will win.

Rotaries have some awesome characteristics about them. I originally bought my RX-7 almost certain I was going to do an LT1 or LS1 and T56 swap. Now that I've been driving one, I may just keep the engine that's in it (maybe add a turbo). I'm starting to really like it.

However, if my 13B ever dies, a v8 is definately going in. Make all the silly claims about weight you want, plently of people have already done the swap, and dealt with small amount of weight it adds.

smnc

I'm not talking about intelligent people making detailed analysis of lengine reliabilltiy.

I'm talking about jack-asses who don't understand rotaries, and who just KNOW that my engine will blow up at 200 000kms.

Secondly, my GSL-SE has 222 000kms on it, and the engine is still strong.
My base model has 199 000kms and no problems.

My Dodge Colt Wagon blew a cylinder at 236 000kms and had problems for a long time before that.
Factor in the fact that the Colt never missed a maintenance checkup, and I know the SE was porrly maintained by previous owners...

Now I'm not saying that boingers aren't reliable, I'm just saying I wish that people who don't know rotaries wouldn't act like they know what they're talking about.

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

Don't feel bad 85rotarypower. I have heard the same thing. They even said once on Monster Garage that RX = Rotary Experiment. I am not sure if that is where the name came from or if it just sounded cool like Manntis said.

Kent

Metallic_rock

Sterling- No I didn't egg him on.. I did answer his questions about reliablity and such. Then he wanted to talk about reving high, and how his built 350 redlined at 7 just like the 12a. I proceded to try to explain that if I did as much work to my engine as he has done to his that I could get just as much power, I'd have a lighter car, and it would rev higher... I gave up and told him to have a nice day when he followed me out the door, took a look at my car and said- "Nice car, but it would be better with a V8".

NOTE: I haven't had a single problem with my rex aside from a slight idle lobe (fixed by cleaning carby and replacing ignition parts)... I did notice that he drove his wife's honda to the parts store.

Kerry

I had some fun with a guy at a parts house a while back. As I was putting a vacuum advance canister on my 5.0/ RXwhatever-you-want-to-call-it in the parking lot, this guy came along and complemented my car. I asked "Hey, do you know anything about rotaries?", trying to sound like I needed help. He proceeds to watch me and tell me he knows all about them 'cause he had an MX-6 with one. Just like the one in my car. Right.... I just finished what I was doing, closed the hood and left. Laughed all the way home.

Kerry