HWO

Very well said. it all comes down to not doing things in the right order, rotary's are just a lot touchier than piston engines.

ARD T2

iTrader: (22)

This topic seems to be way to personal.

I too have contemplated doing the V8 swap into ONE of my THREE RX-7's. I love the rotary and always will. The only reason I considered it was for cost and ease of rebuilding.

BUT, after talkin with Mark a long time ago, I realized that I did not have time for a long *** garage project car. The manual labor involved is immense and requires accuracy and a good memory. If you got the tools and the know how I would probably do it, but the cost to pay someone to do the swap would nearly equal or exceed the cost of the parts.

POSITIVE SIDE: IT COULD BE A SMOG LEGAL 11 -12 second car. Can't say that about either of my two GT-X's. I gotta remove all the cats and do a full 3" system before I can see any significant power increase. If I had a buddy to do the swap for me, I would jump on it. Then I would spank my modded T2 while pulling into the $28.95 smog check station at the local gas shop. HEHE.

NEGATIVE: IT would be called a Mazda PV-8, not RX-7.

GNX7, if you know of a shop prepared to do these swaps, I could have a bit of business for them.

Oh yeah, how much is the ECU.

Thanks, RIshie

LUV94RX7

iTrader: (3)

Good one. I'd like to see a rotary with sticky tires drop the clutch at 2k rpms. It will probably stall, no torque. Note, I said sticky tires.

Brother's '87 TII with Chevy V8 drops the clutch at 2k rpms and gets 1.7 60' times. Why, nice torque.

I'm a rotary guy, but I'm smart enough to know the shortcomings of the rotary. Why does Ari dump NOS in at the launch? 650RWHP car and get 1.5 '60 times with sticky tires.

You guys can knock a V8s all you want. Until you drive a light car with lots of torque at the low end then tell me it is not kinda neat. I've been there and it is really neat. Screw this dumping the clutch at 6+k rpms with sticky tires and breaking stuff.

Ken

BogusFile

I just think its funny how people that have no actual expereince with the swap can draw a conclusion about the difficulty and results of it. Oh well, the car is going to be so fun that I won't care what anyone says.

BogusFile

BTW I drove the car yesterday, and I can tell you from first hand experience that there was no noticable difference in handling. Granted I didn't take the car to its limits, but that doesn't matter since I most likely never will on the streets. The only thing that I am going to have to get used to is the tranny, and the gas pedal. Im not used to all of that low end power.

gnx7

iTrader: (10)

Rishie-

As you know the swap takes quite a while to do. However it isn't as hard as I think you are making it out. There are engine/tranny mount kits available that make putting the driveline in very easy with the angles already figured out. Also the necessary driveshaft is available for sale. IMO the most difficult part is the wiring and getting the slave cylinder to work if you have a manual transmission.

A muffler shop can do the exhaust with ease and if need be an auto electrician can figure out the wiring.

The ECU comes with the engine/trans you buy initially. LT1/6speed is around $3.5K with medium mileage. LS1/6speed (all aluminum) fetches closer to $5.5K with low miles.

Aftermarket universal LT1 wiring harness with all wires labeled costs around $600. Makes the swap easy.

Griffen 19x27.5" aluminum radiator and used Ford Thunderbird electric fan or you can buy nice Flexalite dual 10" fans.

With the way my work is going I may offer to do some conversions. Email me Rishie if you have some local CA guys interested in doing the swap.

Later,

MC

rx7_ragtop

To spool the turbo!

Quote:

You guys can knock a V8s all you want. Until you drive a light car with lots of torque at the low end then tell me it is not kinda neat. I've been there and it is really neat. Screw this dumping the clutch at 6+k rpms with sticky tires and breaking stuff.

Ken

It all depends on gearing. A motor making 300 ft/lbs at 2000 rpm and one making 150 ft/lbs at 4000 rpm will produce the same effect if geared properly. (The high-rpm motor needs 2x the gear ratio) They would both produce the same torque at the wheels in that case... both put the same stress on the axles, etc.

Brad

rx7_ragtop

A quick P.S. to this:

I'm pretty sure he DOESN'T use NOS at the launch now. Ask him and see.

Brad

rx7_ragtop

This is the most realistic post from a piston "fan" that I have seen on this subject. Now, let's add up those numbers:

$5.5k for a low mileage engine. $600 for a wiring harness. $200 for the radiator (and the Griffin is nice!) Close to $2000 for the "complete" swap kit from Granny's. (I think this has a driveshaft and everything... not sure about headers....)

$8300. Now... with a 19x27.5 radiator, you have to cut the frame rails... and no A/C! (The frame rails allow a 26" width radiator max, and that is modifying or removing the A/C line that runs along inside the frame rail on the passenger side at the front!)
You also have to fabricate mounts for that radiator. (I have a 19x20 Howe in my car. It's not hard to do the mounts... just keep it in mind.)

Again, over 2x what it costs to build a relaible 400+ RWHP daily driver with a freshly rebuilt motor instead of one that you really DON'T know the condition of.

Brad

gnx7

iTrader: (10)

FYI- I have a $189 Griffen 2 core aluminum radiator that is 19x27.5" in my car. Yes it sits vertically but no I did not have to cut the frame rails. I used a 5lb sledgehammer and literally just smoothed out the area to be flush with the rest of the framerail. A few smacks on each side and you can't even tell. Can you keep a/c? Yes!

Anyway.... that is my contribution for today about the rotary/piston argument.

I love the rotary.... but when pushed to its limits to make big power.... I do not like the questionable longevity of it.

GNX7