Um. NO.

AC Cobra Came from a small European company called AC. the car was called the Ace before they teamed up with Ford. It came with an underpowered 4 banger. Handled really well but had no power. Sound familiar?

The lotus Esprit originaly came in a four banger. They put put a V8 in it years after the car was designed

The porsche 928 is based off the 944. Again a car designed with a 4 cylinder under the hood.

Care to try again?

Your right a V8 won't make it a porche or lotus. More than likely, if done right, it will be faster, better handling, and cheaper.

But then again, I'd rather have a porsche or lotus than a V8 1st gen anyday.

When I read these threads it really makes me want to build one of these cars just to prove everyone wrong. There is a guy in the second gen forum that has already done this for them. Maybe I can do it for you guys.
Hell I already have a good GSL-SE sitting in my garage. It would make a nice home for a mildly built 302.

Mike

 

You're right about that, but the Lotus and Porsche V-8 cars had Lotus and Porsche v-8s, as the other poster said.

Lotus put in a V-8 when GM bought them (GM can't understand the concept of a small displacement engine pumping out over 200hp - they know V-8s, hence the swap) and Porsche put in a V-8 when their largest market, the US, wasn't buying as many Porsches anymore. It wasn't until the 911 redesign and Boxster came out that they actually turned their fortunes around, but the V-8 in the 944 was an effort to cater to American tastes whether or not it made engineering sense.

 

What exactly would you be trying to prove? Everyone already knows v-8's can make shitloads of power and it probably won't affect the handling much if done right. The only thing you'll prove to me though is that you have no taste.

 

 

My father use to have a 64.5 LE Mustang (only 500 sold) with a 289 that was strongly based after their race built 260. With some good placed mods, and some dyno tuning he had a car with over 400 RWHP, and that reved to 9k without breaking a sweat.(It was actually built to road/track race, so the suspension was probably just as good) That was 1974....I know that their is power in V8's no need to prove, cause its been done over and over again for generations.

As for V8 RX-7's, no need to prove either. I know you can get one to handle well, but it requires far more engineering, time and money than most are capable of dishing out. V8 swaps seem to be popular because its cheap, while comprimising perhaps other aspects of the car - handling being only one. So if you got the money to do it right, please don't let me stop you. But as a voice of warning, if you don't.....

 

I'm putting a V8 in my fc3s convertible......yahooooo!!!

 

Oh, and your point about the companies that made those cars and put V8's in them.... I know (perhaps not as well as yourself) the history. The point I was making is that it was never a one-off job, but rather backed by a company that had the expertise, time, and money (read above statement) to make those cars balanced. They in all cases re-designed the car around the swap.

 

Exactly...the only V8 swap I would respect would be an all aluminum, dry sump affair that involved cutting the firewall to bring the engine back to restore the 50/50 balance. Dry sump so the engine could be hugely lowered to restore the correct CG. And stick a WRC rally straight stick in it for bling bling points. Otherwise, don't cheaply cobble some abomination together because you have the parts lying around...you'll just prove Manntis right...

 

thats your opinion.. taste? its a damn rx7, and a first gen at that(the one i was talkin about), not a vette hehe..

anyways i looked at it and it was a POS so the whole idea is a drop..

 

whats the big deal with teh 50/50 distro anyway? i guy did a v8 swap with grants kit and had it weighted, it was like 51.xx/49.xx

yea im sure that makes a big difference!

 

Doesn't matter if you win by a quarter of a mile or a quarter of a fender, winning is winning. That one percent you dismiss so easily is the quarter fender, believe it...

 

I thought I read that a Porsche 911 was 36/63 or something and they seem to do fine....

 

The Porsche is designed and engineered by men who dedicate their lives to perfection. They design the engine and chassis and sheetmetal to work as one to accomplish their objective with a virtually unlimited budget. No one here is even closely comparable. The RX-7 was not designed for a V8.

 

I have to agree. A new Porsche is the ****. A neighbor of mine has a 2002 Porsche 911S4, and has always been coming over to check on the progress of my Project Kramer.

A couple of months ago he asked if he could drive my car when it was finished. Of course, I laughed and said, "no." I told him it was going to take me a while just to learn to drive it, much less let anybody else drive it.

He then told me that he'd let me drive his Porsche, if I let him drive my 7. After about 2.2 milliseconds, I agreed.

I got in his driver seat, and immediately fell in love.

I took it out of my community slowly through the speed bumps, getting used to the clutch on an all-wheel-drive Porsche. Once I left, I made a right, and punched it in second gear. - "Oh My God", is the response I said to myself.

The car does not spin tires, grips like a freaking cat, and goes to 130 mph in the blink of an eye. I have driven many fast and modified cars (including other Porsche's), but the instantaneous throttle reponse on this car was amazing. The car has 2 personalities, On and Off. Under 3K RPM, your grandma could drive it all day long. Over 3K RPM, and hold on to your ***.

I drove it on the street, in traffic, & on the highway I really opened her up. Then, I took her to a "huge" parking lot (where they do Auto-X on some weekends) and began to mercilessly flog this Porsche. I looked like a commercial.

You know what? The freaking car never complained. Never made noise, never lost control. Even the owner sitting next to me couldn't believe it. He had owned several Porche's in his life, and had never seen one driven as hard or as well as I did for that hour+.

He was quite suprised as he didn't know his car could do all the things I made it do. I told him a Porsche is a real sports car, and needs to be driven as such. It shouldn't just be used by older guys to cruise at 2500 rpm, just to be seen in it. I explained that Porsche's need to be seen as a streaking blur too!.

Well, Anyway - I don't think there are many (if any) cars that could beat this thing to about 70mph - The AWD system with traction-control is just too amazing. I think when I finish my car, I will be faster overall, but not to 70mph. Also, my car won't be a nicely finished, handle a s well, or be as beautiful either, (but I didn't spend 100G's either).

I could only imagine the new Twin Turbo Porsches with AWD standard. This car already changed my opinion on Porsche, as it truly is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Anyway, sorry about the long post, but I had to share.

So, yeah, a V8 RX-7 would be just like that.

 

so? it wasnt designed to be modified either, who cares, a real car enthusiast or hot rodder doesnt do what its designed to do, he does what he wants..

 

Unfortunately, the enthusiast or hot rodder has to realize that there are immutable laws that govern physical bodies. Nothing we do can out-step the reach of the laws of physics!! So if you have the budget, and the mind set, and a good understanding of the effects on the suspension geometry of putting 2x engine weight, higher and farther forward, and can reverse those effects, go for it!

 

hate to say but the rotary engine isnt that light and like i said before, a v8 swap will add about 75-125 lbs(i think thats what i said).. that will hardly effect it AT ALL.. if so ill just fill up the gas tank and add a bag of sand to the back lol.. if you want to get technical then EVERYTHING changes once your moving, friction, centripetal force whilst in a turn, wind, every minor thing you can possibly think of effects a cars handling, so the weight distrobution while sitting still, or a 1% difference of really doesnt mean ****..

 

It's not WHAT you add, it's where. If the weight is added up high and in front (like a poorly mounted V-8) don't expect the car to handle the same.

 

its both, and the majority of the weight in a chevy 350 is at the bottom of the block and the crank.. problem solved... grants kit isnt a poorly mounted designt.. problem solved..

 

still havnt answered my question, why a automatic ? manuals are so much better unless you plan on towing your trailer along with the rx7

 

This has already been disproven by Pele...it is more in the order of 150 to 250 lbs....if you had an all aluminum mouseblock, you might pull off a 75 lb. difference, but then you'd be deep in the $$$ No iron block will get close to that 75 lb. guess....

 

My guess---------------->

So he won't have to deal with tricky linkage and also because of the torque multiplication advantage of a slush box...on the street, torque rules, not HP...

 

automatics are much easier to install than manual becuz of the clutch cylinder.. plus a 3spd auto w/ratcheting shifter is quite fast.. hehe

 

well i still think its still the same amount of work, but i could be wrong. 3 speed oh man i got one of those you can have 3 on the tree in my work truck. tops out at 85mph

 

are you at least swaping the stock gears for something that will be a little more tolerable with no OD?