i did a motor/transmission swap on my rx7 because the motor blew, at first i had and automatic 89 13b, and i just swapped it with a 5 speed 87 13b. i bought an 87 rx7 thats body was shot to **** but the motor and tranny ran like a dream. so me and my friends ripped all the good parts out of the 87 and put them in my 89, but were havin some trouble with some of the parts. im havin a lot of problems getting the brake pedal out so i can get the clutch/brake pedal in. were also havin trouble with the wires and vaccum lines gettin those back together, the driveshaft and tranny mount need put back in also. the hood of my 89 was in bad condition so i want to put the hood of the 87 on my car, but i want to make sure it will fit. right now my rx7 sits in pieces in my friends garage and im missin it bad, should i continue and do this myself or take it to someone and get fixed who knows a little more about what theyre doin than me, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Do you have any pictures? The FSM has vacume hose diagrams. I know if people could see some of the things you are talking about they can probally tell you where they go or what you need to do. Pictures are worth 1000 words, sometimes more...

 

i will get pictures as soon as possible and post them, but does anyone think i am outdoing myself on this and that i should take it to someone else that knows a little bit more about this than i do or continue on this myself

 

i just dont know if its gonna cost a lot if i take it somewhere

 

Putting that 87 motor in an 89 car is not a good idea, really. You wont be easily able to pass emissions tests (if you need to), teh car will not run very smoothly at idle, andyou will have to modify a small spot of the rear of the block for the 89 intake to fit on, as well as swapping over each and every 89 part onto the 87 block except flywheel. The 87 motor is lower compression ratio, and plug timing is slighty changed as well. Oh, youll have to swap the front cover (behind crank pulley) from teh 89 onto the 87. You have to use all the stuff that came in the car, on the new engine.

IN the end, youve done all this work for a poorly running car with slightly less power, instead of putting the right (89-91 nonturbo) motor in it in the first place. I advise against it strongly, but it can be done and be a decent car, just that it'll never quite be right again.

BTW, if you'd like to sell your 89 core engine (I am a rebuilder and buy blown cores) let me know. hypntyz@charter.net

 

I think your misreading him or maybe I am.

I believe he means he is doing a whole swap,niot just parts of the '87.

Atleast he's doing a full swap and not a frankenstein half assed one.

The engines between Series 4(86-88 and series 5 89-91) are different. The 5/6th ports on the S4 are actuated by exhaust pressure while the S5 is done electronically. You may have to swap that segment as well. I don't know if you can keep the electronic style.

As for vacuum hoses and such,check out the Factory Service Manual(FSM). It has almost every part in detail.

You are reducing HP though. The S5's were heavier but had more HP. So the S4's were ok with that engine.

Kinda sucks doing the AT to manual swap. You might have toget the supports from the 87.

I'm no pro at this though. Definitely check the FSM.

 

Ok, you guys should know that wiring and electronics are really different between the s4 adn s5 cars. So, you cannot put an s4 engine with it;s wiring, manifolds, accessories, etc. into an s5 car, or vice versa. The only way to pull this off properly (if you call it that) is to take all the "stuff" that used to be on the original engine (in this case 89) and put it onto the replacement engine block (in this case 87) to fool the car into thinking it still has an 89 engine. It wouldnt much know what to do with an 87 engine...multiple sensors, wiring pinouts, etc. are either changed or totallly revised between series.

The only other possibilities are a) splicing and cutting wires and hoping it works or b) changing every wire and part in the 89 out with that of the 87...for little/no gain.

 

As Kevin has said, you've created a lot of extra work (or cost if someone else does it) for yourself by trying to fit the wrong engine. My advise would be to sell the 87 (including motor) and either buy a 89-91 motor or get your old engine rebuilt by Kevin.

 

well thanks, im not sure what im going to do now, but as soon as im finished with it i will tell you guys and send pics if it all works out, but thanks for all your help and suggestions

 

i talked to my friend who's helpin me with the swap and he said that the wiring and emissions and all the parts needed for this swap is taken care of and squared away, the only thing we have left to do is convert it to mass air then put the small things together and then it should be on the road, i also talked to a rotary guy about the tranny mount and he has one from an 86 that he says will fit it

 

How do you plan to do that?