Mazda does not always use new housings in their remans. Now and then you see a new housing, but usually whatever is within spec, gets used

 

Oops, sorry I forgot to add that to my above post. ^^The man speaketh the truth!

 

a 100% brand new renesis shortblock from japan is $2200.

 

then you need what? 4k worth of electronics and manifolds to make it work. yay

 

Someone put the Renesis engine in a FB. I remember seeing pics of it in the lounge awhile back. I'll have to see if i can find them again.

 

Some guy also put a 13B in his 8 and sold the Renesis, you can find them for sale periodically at rx8club with harness and other goodies.

 

From what i've read there have been a good number of people who have had problems with the rx-8 tranny. I've heard of broken driveline parts from launching a totally stock rx-8. I'm not saying it's a bad car it just that it seems that for the money you'd have to spend you'd might as well do what has been suggested here and either go with a brand new motor or a ported rebuild. 13b's can make just as much if not more power than the new renesis, and as far as reliability and gas mileage they are really near the same and in my opinion the tii tranny is stronger. Ohh yeah and if your gonna spend all that cash go 20b

 

The only thing I could possibly find appealing about the renesis swap would be that you have 225(ish) hp with stock ports all motor. I personally am not a big fan of turbos(though I am planning on turboing my n/a next spring) so that kind of n/a power is lovely. As for the mazdaspeed rx8 ,an episode of Magrack mentioned that it will be supercharged and not turboed. Something to do with the way somethign was designed, ports maybe makes it so the turbo wouldnt be very efficient.

 

It's still worth more in the engine and electronics versus the whole car itself!
Has anyone actually done it versus just talking about it?


-Ted

 

well judging by the fact that many people on this forum are usually looking for the most cost effective way to do things, it seems that all that money and work for only 230hp is just rediculus. for that money you could probaby find 2 tii motors and have one for back up if the other one blows, i mean the renesis is a great motor and all but i really don't see the point

 

I cant imagine anyone here has done it yet, if they did it would be big news for all of us. the renesis motor is cool but the RX8 is less of a sportcar compared to RX7's... sure the renesis has a bump in power but since its modern the renesis design achievements are mostly about clean emissions. whoopdeedoo. it really is too bad they didnt release a really impressive 3-rotor renesis wth gobs of power... wtf! why not?! hopefully someday they will, I'd like to see that.

you know that I sure wouldnt drop $5000 on a renesis crate motor, plus more $$ for the 6speed tranny, plus fabrication time to do your own mounts... when you can do an LS1 v8 swap for the same cost but have double the power... and no its not an iron block motor and no you dont have to cut the hood for a big oldschool air filter.

 

I think you sum'd up that conversion pretty well.

 

wait for this years rx7 (as long as it's released when they say it will be)

 

A RX-7 coming out this year? I think not. And who says it'll be released this year?

 

from all the reading i've done on this forum the general vibe is that maxda has not actually released and info about a new rx-7, most of the pictures floating around on the internet are old rx-8 concepts

 

Honestly I don't care what anyone says, the renesis has more potential than the regular 13B. The intake on that thing is awesome, theres a 5 stage type VDI ducting system that makes it extremley drivable and powerfull at the same time. The compression ratio is also 10:1, running only 5lbs of boosts yeilds 70 horsepower and there would be virtuall no turbo lag with that high of a compression ratio. You won't be making 600hp with one, but you'll make an extremley fast and streetable 400hp one.
Does anyone have any long block prices from japan? read on page 2 that it was 2200 for the shortblock.. also any prices on the 6 speed tranny?

 

hmmmm what if one were to throw a weber on that thing....

 

lol, the mazda engineer who designed the renesis would be freakin out thats for sure. It wouldn't be a renesis really without the FI

 

Then you totally lose that three-stage intake which produces a lot of it's torque.


-Ted

 

It was never meant to be a replacement for the RX-7, nor was it meant to appeal to the same people who bought RX-7's. The market for an entertaining and practical 4-door sports car is much bigger than the market for dedicated and very pure (read compromised) sports cars.

Because it would be expensive, so not enough people would be able to buy them to make it economically feasible. Welcome to the real world where high-school pipe dreams seldom get made.

 

Okay, it seems alot of people question the practicality of a Renesis swap into an FC or such, but lets face it, nobody would be doing the swap because they were looking to save money. Its all about the bragging rights! Besides, who owns an RX-7 for practical reasons anyway, especially the 2nd gens. They are terrible on gas, have electrical gremlins up the ***, and new parts are expensive as ****. My FC is getting to be pretty beat, but I still love it to death. To own an RX-7 is to love the theory of the car itself. A unique powerplant, 50/50 balance, advanced for its time, only 2 seats, and the fact that nobody even knows the virtues unless they own one themselves.

If I had money to burn, and a front clip RX-8, I would be working on the swap. And nobody except the people on this board would give a care except me, and thats all thats important.

-Ryan

 

Well you'd be an idiot to do this for 'bragging rights'. it will cost some $ but it would clearly be for performance.
Alot of people say that the renesis is not all that great, but we all have to remember that its new and things are being developed as we speak. Like I said before, I think that it has alot of potential, maybe even more potential than an FD engine in terms of racing performance and not high end HP.

Mazda made the renesis for a reason, they developed it into a better engine than all the previous models. If it were not as good, then they would have scrapped it before its launch and just used the FD engine or something else. But the renesis was developed and chosen.

 

the rx8 is heavier. if you put the renesis engine in an fc chassis, i bet fuel economy would go up.

 

A lot of great replies and I see good and bad on both sides.

Master-rx really says a lot of the same stuff I think about the swap.
Spending money on my cars doesnt really bother me. I see it this way.. I bought one of my second gens, an 88 gxl, for about 2700.00 . Its in great shape and runs like a champ.
That $$$ is absolutely peanuts in the world of sports cars.

I have no doubt that purchasing any decent 86-91 Rx-7 is the best value for the dollar. Figuring the quality level, and combined engineering genius that went into these cars, spending 3 - 5,000 for a good one is the best deal on earth.

Spending an extra 500 or more here or there for what i want, i dont even care.
People spend over 50 grand on a new vette, I can line up 10 really nice rx-7's for that. I wish I had 10 of these cars haha

Im about 40 years old now, and have my life pretty well set up, so spending whatever on the engine I WANT is what will happen. 15 or 20 years ago, I didnt have money for mods or engine choices.

A new 13b or renesis {someday}are both the best choices. If a renesis package someday is 5,000, that is still a great deal, for the $$ in the world of reliable sports cars.

I read where mazda has already sold over 200,000 rx-8s worldwide.
If I begin to look long term, down the road 10,15 or 20 years, I see the used 86-91 engines becoming ultra scarce and less and less dependable.
I see the rx-8, renesis engine becoming the standard in any second gen rebuild.
I think eventually it will happen.

If I do a rebuild on my turbo, I at least want new housings. New new new, im stuck on it haha
These people who design and build these cars, renesis included, have nothing less than pure genius.

 

if you really wanna do it, i'd love to help.
only problem is i'm in california, so it would either have to be done at my shop, or maybe i can swing out for a weekend or so.

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