v8 swap into 85..
 

hey my friend is sellin me a 85 with only one rotor firing(or making compression) for 350 bucks, so im thinkin of swappin a 350 v8 with aa TH200 4r transmission in it using grants v8 swap kit, are yall familiar with this? since it only adds around 75-100 lbs and the front ride height would still be in spec, it wouldnt effect handling hardly at all.. any tips? thanks!

my goal is a stock lookin BEAST.. mid 12s..

Who wants to start first??:p:

..
 

what do ya mean? oh yea ive heard stories of yall bashin on ppl wantin to swap.. whats the big deal? not like its a ferrari.. siiigh, poor single minded ppl.

PM Winnipeg85GSL on the forum. Do a search through his threads. Much has been covered there during his V8 swap.

Ouch, I was about to jump to your defense before that last comment.

FWIW. I like the idea of a V8 in a first gen. I love the rotory, hell I have three RX-7's and 5 rotary engines in my garage, but nothing like a V8 in a light weight chassis. Ever heard af a car called an AC Cobra? Not exactly slouches on a road course.

Mike

yep
 

yea, of course i have! i love most all cars.. though i dislike fords, except for the new cobras!

oh yea the 1st gen rx7 looks badass to me, i love the body shape.. same for the 280z's those things are beasts, i got a vid with a supercharged 350 in a z car, and he was goin down the highway and all he did was mash the gas and started burning out.. crazy.. also raced a r1, so he was runnin low 10's or high 9's cuz he kept right beside him..

i like the idea too.. im all about doing the swap, my dad has a chevy 4.3 in his 87 rx7. its beast as hell, but they are 2 completely different worlds.. (my 85 gs and his)

but yea, if you do a search, there is alot of info. and if you go to www.grannysspeedshop.com they have writeups on what all is needed... goodluck

Ok, I'll chime in since I'm not 100% opposed to the whole v8 rx7 thing. Never in a million years will a boinger go in a rex I own, but if you wanna do it then go for it. This is definatly not the forum for you though, most of us are here cause we like the Rotary engine as much as the beutiful car Mazda decided to put it in, so coming on here and talking about putting some chevy motor or whatever in a car that should be rotary powered isn't gonna sit very well. A better site for what you wanna do would be: http://www.v8rx7.com/ That will be a much bigger help than us.

keep it rotary !!!!!!!!
keep it real!!!!!!

Don't mind them they are just jealous of the tire-smoke producing power. :p: My swap was done with a Ford 302, possibly easier because of the front mounted distributor and the lighter weight. A 350 is gonna be more than 100 lbs over stock unless you are using aluminum stuff.

Do it
it is a great project
go to grannys speed
engineswaps.com

o god, i saw that video of the 240... it realy almost makes me wanna do a v8 swap someday to a diff rex , but the rotary engine is what makes the car so unique... but a Super charged 350 crate..... in a lightweight car... cmon dont tell me that wouldnt be fun...

Yeah, in a 240Z.

~T.J.

PS - I have 3 videos of that car. One of him just revving it in the garage (you can see the R-1 he races later in the background), another of him racing the R-1 (or whatever the bike is), and the third of him doing the burnout on the road.

nevermind the chebby - put an Audi V8 Turbo in there and have a lightweight power plant with 346bhp and 350+lb/ft of torque - WITH a warranty! :drool:

rotary 4 ever......


PS SWAK!!!!


so many choices , its so simple ........rotary power!!!

'

would be nice.. but goodluck getting all that wiring :D

Plus, I bet the Audi transplant would be pretty costly.

Perhaps the most rational, logical reply I've ever seen as to why this thread is misplaced...this needs to become the standard reply to all the V8 threads that pop up...:cool:

yea
 

exactly the ones i have except the burnout and motorcycle race is one video for the one i have...

yea i know about all the sites just thought id get yalls opinions as well.. MAN i want that z..

i calculated it out for EVERYTHING to work and be perfect itd cost around 4k..

85 gsl-350
granny kit-1800
rebuilt 350-1000
th200 4r-250
trans kit-110
motor mounts-?
trans mounts-?
battery-110
wiring/ground-50
other-?

Thanks man :)

Look, I can't live with the idea of a boinger in a rex, but it's your choice, so... I just wonder why this time so very few people have been flaming :-) These guys are getting weak! Anyway, I also believe, since there's the same question all the time, some kind of sticky would be at place. Like: V8 swappers go V8rx7.com. Cause it causes heartache to be confronted with those who refuse to understand the Rotary is a major part of the Seven. And indeed, Manntis is right: if you do it, do it right, go Audi (or Lexus maybe?)

my dad spent around 3k on his.. and its probably pushing around 300hp (been bugging him to get it on the dyno) if your mechanically inclined and have no problem fabricating things.. it shouldnt be too bad. it did take about 6 months though..

I have a '85 GS with a V8. I used grant's kit, but put a T-5 transmission in it. If you want to ask any questions please email me or PM me anytime.

ditto I have a 85 w/ a 5.0 and aod . find me here or
torquecentral.com

Re: yep
 

ford is the american freindly mazda

I think im just gonna throw a 302 in my truck instead.

its a ranger 1991, and if I go over to ranger power sports forum they will still love me and give me help because its a perfectly sensible thing to do.

of course a truck will never handle like a rex but I want at least one car with that unforgetable v8 raw power,
and an automatic.

I drive a descent amount of new cars in my line of work and even when i drive a new olds alero with the 3800 it makes me sad because here is this car with the smoothet throtle response and yet still will knock you right back in your seat when you punch it, but is still sensible and quiet.

then I get in my car and it seems soooooo slow because the exhaust is loud and I hate to wind out the gears.
so then I punch it in my car for a breif moment just to redline once then look around in a panicy kinda way to see if i attracted any of the wrong kinda attention.

I can see where the v8swap and a good exhaust job would come in handy here in the city

we will see how things go on the truck.

its hard to resist flow masters on a v8:D

p.s. quite is key to a "stealth sleeper"in the city

your car aint so stealth when your shakin the fuckin doors off the car next to you at idle:D

you are defiling your name on the boards, dave.

nah, thats why i said I will do it to the truck instead.

i think i will go 13b in the 84rex

The way I see it is if I wanted a corvette I would have bought one..lol

Amen Rotor13B, Amen.

long live the v8!!..i say put a v8 in that 85!

lol, instigator

The V8 has lived long..... and it still is nowhere close to the power vs. displacement, and power vs. weight of a nice wankel turbo.

It just seems so sad to me to use a big old bulky engine for a car that was built to be quick and light. I understand the exhileration of low-end torque, I've driven a good number of V8 endowed cars, so I can see where you are coming from. but in all honesty, if you want to destroy the simple purpose (and uniqueness) of the RX-7, stick a V8 in it.

I've read the claims of retaining the 50/50 weight balance, while only adding 150 lbs to the car. I could see this, if you were able to use all aluminum parts. Hell, if you could stick a LS-1, even I would be impressed, as this engine only weighs around 350 lbs. Far less than the old heavy steel 350's that "most" are sticking in their cars(Ford 302's are much lighter as well). Without serious additional weight added to the rear, i'm sorry but 50/50 is going to be unrealistic.But even if 50/50 was attained by adding more wieght to the rear,it is still going to have a noticable effect on the cars handling characteristics. In reality there was alot more engineering behind the '7' dealing with suspension than just the 50/50 weight balance. The center of gravity of the car will undoubtably be higher, so roll, and yaw moments will be much worse. Not to mention that without a complete suspension workover, your going to have no traction, and poor braking.

I love the fact that granny's uses a purely race built car, that probably has $$$$$ in it, to show that handling isn't affected. We'll sure, duh.... if you spend enough on anything you can get it to handle well.Get two drivers of equal skill, and hand one an RX-7 with a turbo making similar power as the other, with a V8, that have the similar $ invested in the car overall, and while the V8RX-7 may have its way with the 13BT in a line, the true RX-7 will eat its lunch in the corners.

There's no replacement for displacement! :D

actually they have put ls1's in and kept the 50/50. this is starting to become pretty popular. i just like rotaries. i'm wondering if it rasies the front roll center though. no one has answered this yet.

The truth be told, I would never put a V8 in and RX-7, cause I hate the untold numbers of Idiots/rednecks that I see/deal with on a regular basis. To me it's project that lacks ingenuity/creativity.... its like :

Hey, cous' I'll bet ya cou'd stick a (insert big V8 here) in that them there car and it'll be real fast...

:shudders: well duh, if I could strap a jet engine to it, it would be fast too, but I'll try to be a bit more subtle with where I'll get my power, thank you very much.

Its just the mentality that bugs, sorry...

ls1 I guess would be the way to go, if you had the cash,

of course if you didnt then good luck,

and I love pulling my engine everytime I have to chenge the spark plugs "just another thing to think about"

so not only do you need serious cash to get the project done, but your also going to need serious cash anytime the engine needs to be serviced, included a simple routine plug swap, "which takes me about 6 minutes flat on my 12a"

you cant even get the plugs done in a f-body camaro for under $100.00 "labor only"
could you imagine with 2/3 the working space

:confused:

Your mentality bugs me. You think just because you put a V8 in a car your a red neck? Why don't you open your eyes. People have been putting V8's small, great handleing car's for years. Look at the AC Cobra, Lotus Esprit, Porsche 928, ect. All of wich will hand any RX-7 it's ass on a road coarse.

I'm so sick of this "the rotary is gods gift to cars" attitude. Yes it's has it's advantages, But believe me, There are several V8's out there that do EVERYTHING better than any rotary. Weight, torque, milage, power, reliabilty, cost, maintenance. You name it. I think the only thing that the rotary has on any V8 is size. and thats not by much.

And before you question my loyalty, I own 3 RX-7's, have 5 rotary motors in various states in my garage, Crew cheif for a front running ITA 1st gen Race car, and I'm building a turbo 1st gen as we speak. I love the rotary engine but I know enough about cars and motors to realise that they are not the best engine out there. They are just different.

as far as handling, Go look at the stats on some of the best handling cars in the world, like Porsche, BMW, Ferarri. You will find that they RARELY have 50/50 weight distribution. As long as a car is close it will handle well with the proper suspension set up.

As far needing suspension mods for the V8 powered car to handle well, Try driving a 300 HP turbo rotary first gen with no suspension mods and tell me how well it handles. I have been in a 350 RWHP 1st gen with almost stock suspension. It was pointless. No traction.

There is an old saying at the race track. "Horse Power sells cars. Torque wins races"

Mike

The dude w/ the 240 has a website. It's www.darius240z.com He has some guys on there doing some really sick stuff on motorcycles. Oh, and to the guy who wants the v8 in his car. I wouldn't do it, but it's your car and I can't stop you. LAter

Alrighty, I feel I have to step in here again ...

Here's a good rule of thumb... If you don't have anything to say that will help a guy (or girl) say nothing. Bottom line, regardless of personal feelings, it is the owner's car, and they can (and should) do with it as they please. If a V8 is what the guy wants, let him be. If ya can't help him, just move on ... there's no need to sling stereotyping into the mix ...

Thanks

Please don't put a 350 in that car. A 302 is lighter and if you can find the scratch, a 302 with aluminum heads is lighter than the stock rotary. Besides .40(Mazda)=Ford.
And also Auto in sports car=Buick Reatta
I think there were something like 400,000 1st gen cars made so it's not like you're cobbling an R1. Way better to see a V8 in a 7 then for another motorless car to rot away in somebody's back yard. Oh and don'y paint it yellow.:D

thank you someone has a feakin brain around here!:D

I have just about finished my v8 first gen, it is about 310rwhp. lemme tell you the stock tires and suspension on a gsl-se are flat out dangerous at this point!
I love rotarys had and rebuilt/ported my 12a i had before i sold that one to someone on here.
Fact is they just aren't all that! They are great engines until you get past a certain hp/tq point. I'm not saying this to be proud or some bs. It's just when you compare other's experiences with what i wanted to risk I decided for my goals to go v8. No it isn't easy, neither path is.

Speaking for the vast majority of us at torquecentral.com (v8rx7site), we just don't get why most everyone at rx7club seems to believe their car (a machine) has a soul! Sure I love cars, but i know some big $$ cars i could love even more, imagine that. Most of us just want to get the best deal for our money.

I mean if rotary engines make you feel *special* everyday you wake up or start your car , great. Don't let me take that away from you.:confused:

I experience that problem, when you can't get 5.0's to race you then there is a problem with the noise level. :(

Personally, I love V-8's. I've had a few...'69 442 with a 455 and I have a built 350 in my work truck but....your handling will suffer if you put a SBC into a 1st gen. The mouse will weigh about 100 lbs more (on average) but the weight will be farther forward and higher than the original rotary...can you say understeer...push... Maybe you should buy a Z car if you want to put some American Iron in a Japanese car...they didn't really handle very well until the previous gen came out in the early 90's so theres not much to screw up.

hey you can do whatever you want but i got a good question why use a damn automatic? yuk autos were ment for damn trucks, if your going to swap a v8 in use a manual.

Listen, I'm not bashing V8's in general. I suppose I am bashing on all the rednecks, I know locally that have a V8 mentality just like the "rotory is god" mentality which say that if its not a V8 its not anything.

As far as the cars, AC Cobra, Lotus Esprit, Porsche 928, ect. These are factory designed cars built around the V8 powerplant that they carry. Don't compare apples to oranges. We're talking about a car designed around a 12A, and sticking in a much larger, heavier, much higher sitting engine, and expecting similar handling results..... I don't think so, a V8 won't make it a porche or a lotus, I think we all agree.

I'm just warning the person that started this thread, whose question was concerning the change in handling, that without significant thought and money, its not going to handle well.

Autos are nasty IMO as well, but I understand that it masks the traction problem slightly, as the same time it saves the diff from the shock load of all that "race winning" torque.

my car feels exactly the same as it did before. sits the same height. oversteers slightly like before, really no significant difference besides that i really need suspension work now.
If anything, it just has a rediculous amount of torque now. Do not touch gas on short corners!
I like how all the rotary ppl don't believe us , even though they've never driven a v8 one. I've driven the rotary version for years, like i have one single reason to lie to you ppl. like yall are just going to go convert your cars or something lol. As though I would care what you do with your car. It like you guys need to justify why the rotary is better, even though my engine is clearly entirely behind the front wheels and has a lower cg. Like i even need to mention power.:D
the 5.0 first gen converts are very good cg, if you use alum heads. I'm gonna lmao when i weigh it, even though im not the first to try and *prove* something to you guys.
Yall can speculate all you want, when you actually want to know something do it for yourself.