I just bought another 1979 ! I was thinking of useing parts from it on my other '79 but it is in such good shape I am thinking I may try to bring it back to life. I am subject to CA smog so that is a major limitation. Should I try to find a 12A and keep it stock or go with a 13b or a turbo and make it race only? Or possibly swap in a smallblock MOPAR or a new HEMI?
Dennis L. Cote
Delhi Calif.

 

keep the engine light if your swapping in a boinger.. think 1jz-gtte, lt1, 2uz-fe with a blower

even a land rover v8...

as for rotaries, if you got money to burn get that racing beat 48k$ engine.. you know, the 3 rotor alcohol turbo monster pushing 1kHP that we secretly masterbate to after our girlfriends go to sleep? yeah... that one.

 

Someone still needs to do a SR20DET swap!!

 

What is 1jz-gtte? Lt1 sounds like a chebby so that aint happenen, what is 2uz-fe? I know where I can get a Buick/Olds 215 cu in all aluminum V8. I believe this is the design that was sold to Rover. I have a vague recollection of the power potential from years back. Is there much new stuff available for this engine? I am guessing at around 300hp tops NA. maybe 450-500 hairdried. For the weight I am thinking a 2.5 Dakota block with the 2.4 SRT-4 head and a moderate turbo should yield 500 hp with less weight and cost. (Although I can get the 215 engine fairly cheap.) Both options would entail some adaption to mate a high performance automatic to them. Wow! $48,000 US is a bit more than I can burn!!

Rotor vs. piston is the SR20DET a production piece that could be sourced from a yard? What cars was it installed in?

 

dont be a fool. keep the rotary.

 

thats a good idea i almost bought a 240sx with that in mind. never thought of dropping one in an rx that would be pritty sick

93 BMW 325i lots of performance mods for sale. 3400obo ( to fund rx-7 )

 

i think u get an RX7 for a reason so i think u should keep it rotary i think thats best

 

I should have provided more detail when I started this thread.
I bought the car with no engine, no flywheel, no clutch.
I either need to find a good low cost 12A with the related flywheel and clutch or sell the trans to offset swaping in a different engine/trans.
For the pureists - my other 1979 has and will continue to have a 12A.
If the engine blows that would be another issue.
Why is it so expensive to rebuild a rotary? It only has 1/3 the parts of a piston engine and costs about 3 times what a piston engine would for a rebuild.
Is it just because of the small market so Mazda has us by the short hairs and few aftermarket parts are available?
I do have a 318 and A518 I could use, but that would call for major surgery on the trans tunnel and would probably twist the chassis the first time I launched. (dual turbo 800-900 hp) The weight could be balanced out by shifting the battery and useing the flush mount headlights, ditching the popup mechanism. Even the 13B seems to be about 250 lbs more than the 12A according to the specification charts I have found so with aluminum heads and intake it would not be much heavier than the 7s with the 13B. I thank all of you for your comments so far and I will say that I am drifting toward trying to find a good 12A with fw & clutch.

Cheers and keep them humming!

(others go boing boing 7's go hmmmm)

 

You pretty much answered yourself. In my opinion it is so expensive because there aer so few of us, compared to a piston engine, if I was to take a guess, we are at a 1:50 ratio, actually probably less than that. Also, there's a lot of precision time consuming BS involved with a rotary (or so i've heard.)

But, you can get parts from other places than Mazda, I've heard good things about the Atkins seals.

But for the sake of us all, stay with a wankel.

 

7mGTE, stock at 15psi you're looking at a easy 300+hp (not to mention huge torque) this is RWHP too.

however since both this and the 1j is inline say goodbye to weight balance. i'd still love to see it done though haha.

i own a '90 supra turbo and even the stock turbo was pretty nuts when boosted up a bit. they are awesome engines with some ARP headbolts torqued right they are almost invincible.

 

It all depends. Is the 79 you acquire in great original condition? If so, go with the 12a, or even the -SE 13b.

If you just want a power house motor, and keep it rotary, 13b-REW/RE/13bt swap it.

If you want to throw a boinger engine in, I would do the 2jz-gte(from the mkIV supra I think). Those engines internals can withstand ALOT of abuse. Plus you will 10's at the track all day while the mkIV meatheads scratch their heads thinking "WTF?".

Ooh, do a peri-port 20b!!!

 

2jz is about 10x the price of a 7MGTE. and 7M's still keep a lot of the basic strength for a much lower price.

however any toyota engine is going to weigh quite a bit, even the all aluminum V8's from lexus.

i was thinking maybe a ka4 from a s13 240sx, not a lot of power, but atleast its light and easy to transplant. the only thing i dislike about those engines is the torque band, its like driving a damned truck!

 

Stick a race built 2.35l Subaru engine, it'll set you back $68k but it'll make more power than you'll ever conceivably need. Light, 450+ hp/500+ torque, low CG... Powerband from about 4,000 rpm up to about 10,000 rpm, rev limit at about 12k rpm...

I'd say, do a 13BT. Or half a LS1/LT4 block (make it a V4). I dunno, I'm just going to stick a 12A with ceramic rotors into my 1979 when I get it...

 

I picked up a 12A for the 5spd 1979 RX7
It appears to be a 83-85 since it has electronic distributor and the beehive oil cooler.
What type hose and oressure rating do I need to delete the beehive and run the oil lines to the '79 fmoc?
Anyone got a front pulley FS? Or know where I can get an underdrive pulley?
Is there a listing somewhere for the size and thread specs for the bolts to attach the trans to the engine and the starter to the trans?

 

TII all the way

 

after I get the engine in and running I will possibly do a draw through turbo setup.