Decision time... rebuild or V8...
 

Pretty sure my car is going to need a rebuild. The car is starting to lose coolant. Now, if it isn't the coolant seals, this is moot. However, I'm almost certain that the seals are gone. The car doesn't overheat though... maintains 84C. Going to pressure test it later this week...

Now on to the debate:

If the engine is bad... I'm looking at rebuilding or going LS1 or LS2

My plan was to upgrade the turbo and such later down the road but this is a huge speedbump and the thought is I can upgrade to LSX and sell most of my rotary parts to make up the difference....

Thoughts?

BTW, I've owned RX-7s for the last 10 years... so I'm pretty diehard rotary.. just trying to see what makes the most economical sense right now. Either way this project will have to be put off until the Spring of 2010 if it is bad engine..

coolant seal problems are cheap to rebuild, you don't have a blown rotor and housing usually

yeah usually, I would to the rebuild myself, I've done one before... just would replace everything inside anyways...

I mean, I'd just rebuild the engine and go ahead and do a single turbo conversion. An LS1 seems like much much more work, and much more money. Wiring is also a pain in the ass =P

Would you be doing the swap or a company? FYI, Hinson charges like 9 grand to do the swap and that is without motor or tranny. If you can budget it, I would go the ls2 route.

you can rebuild the rotary for less than you can buy a LS1 longblock, t-56, and ECU. If you're saying that it has to wait until 2010 I'm assuming it's due to budget concerns....so I'd say go with the rebuild since it's cheaper. Keep it simple, don't try to go single at the same time, don't try to go crazy with a ported motor that you don't have supporting mods for. Just get it back on the road and enjoy it. You'll thank me later when it's not still sitting in the garage in 2015 with "big plans" for it.

If you are concerned about reliability go with full non sequential. You will make as much power as a relatively unmodded LS1 and as long as the tune is good you shouldn't have to worry about the motor failing.

Stick with the rotary :) Rebuild is dirt cheap when you have coolant seal failure as long as you dont let the engine sit for more than a month without throwing some oil into the rotor housings and turning the engine over.

heh thats why I think my option is to keep driving the SOB and filling it with coolant every once in a while... I don't want it to sit.

Guys, I should have been more clear, I am already full non-seq and have all supporting mods, PowerFC, etc. I just don't have the fuel upgrades or single turbo. Other than that, I'm starting to lean more to just rebuilding and porting the engine.

The reason for waiting is I'm in the process of purchasing a house. Money truly isn't the problem.

You don't want to haev to change your name now do you? lol

Stick with the rotary.

And you know this how?

Obviously I'm biased towards the LS swap but, since you're buying a house, I'll just say this. I would not consider doing the swap unless you have the workspace to do it - a garage etc. Also, unless you are a complete wrench-a-phobic, I would not consider paying a supplier like Hinson to do the swap. PM me for more info.

Do some searching and question-asking over at http://www.v8rx7forum.com/ and then make your decision.

If the only problem is your coolant seals why not just replace those? If you have a coolant leak the worst thing you can possibly do to the engine is let it sit as it will turn into one big piece of rust. It's also the cheapest alternative, and the one with the least amount of downtime and unpredicatable expenses that you will have with a LS1 swap.

Easily solved by draining the coolant...

In the short term, the LS1/LS2 swap is going to be more money & time. The swap really isn't that bad and there are some pretty nice mounting kits now. It is probably going to cost you 7-8k when said and done. Up side, reliability and easily 400-450 RWHP with heads and cam. Plus it will be pretty streetable.

Downside... rotaries are cool and the T56 is just a big clunky trans. (loved the fd's 5spd). I think it really depends on what your plans are for the car. If you can rebuild it yourself and money is tight, stick with the rotary.

BTW- I have a ls1 FD... I track it and just got sick of dealing with the rotary. If I could have two cars, it would be a LS1 track car and a stock rotary for the street.

Yeah well I know that I plan on getting a bigger turbo, and all the rest if I do a rebuild... so my other option is to go LSx and just do that, sell the rotary parts...

I'm really torn but I have a lot of time to worry about it lol. I think I just need to drive a V8 RX-7.

Big and clunky > hot and grindy

i have one and this is true

stay with the rotors, just replace the coolant seals and it will be all good to go again.

You need to look at this long term too. Let's say you spend the money and rebuild the motor. What happens if you blow a seal a couple of months later, it is inevitable, at some point you will need another rebuild. This could be before or after you sell the car, but it will need to be rebuilt and from what I see here, it is single turbo cars that are be rebuilt more often. One bad tune and bam.

Now, throw a lsx in there and it is done, no need to worry about rebuilding the motor or dumping more money into maintenance. Plus, if you decide to modify the lsx it has these benefits:
1. torque
2. Easy to find parts
3. Plenty of good tuners/mechanics everywhere in the nation
4. Nitrous, turbo, supercharger - lots of different possibilities
5. Some nice power gains for the money.
6. torque

Just some food for thought. If I keep the fd long enough, I will be throwing in a ls6 or ls7, just need to find a company to do it as it is a bit beyond my mechanical reach - and I refuse to pay hinson 9 grand for essentially labor.

Yeah, I plan on holding onto my car, I love the RX-7 to death. I've owned this one for the last 7 years... and a couple preceeding this one.

I can do the rebuild labor myself, I can also do the LSx swap myself. I hate wiring, but I did wire up my silvia with a friend's help.

I've been battling that same thought PureRX7... Money short term vs. long term... I love turbo, I love rotary, but the car now has 118k miles on it and it would going to its 3rd motor... I just want a reliable 400-450 rwhp. Each has its benefits, but I worry that I will end up rebuilding the rotary over and over again, and I will slowly lose the ability to have that time on hand for such efforts.

My RX-7 is one of 3 cars I own and so it doesn't matter how long the car is down. I also plan on picking up an NSX in the near future, so the RX might be on hold either way...

If you are going to pick up a NSX, why not sell the FD, and add those funds to the NSX fund and pick up something really nice?

If you have the money, time, and are going to keep the car for a while, go V8. It seems that you are going to go single turbo later, which will cost you almost the same in the long run.

I built and tuned my own rotary and love the engine, but Im sorry, the LSx is just a better platform - for *many* reasons.

If I could go back a year, I would have gone with the LSx.

Want LS1, Get an Z06. Why waste time when you could go buy one thats out of the box 500HP and modern interior and chassis design for the engine.. I heard more people with issue going LS1 and personally, not much different than buying 02+ Z06 (which now a days maybe cheaper option then conversion). I looked into 06 Z06 and they go for mid 30s to low 40s... Which isn't bad for what you get.

I just feel that people who want to do the swap usually uses 'reliability' and 'headache' as an issue... So, Z06 resolves both of those.. Why spend several month doing the conversion and spend thousands and hundred+ of man hour?? Seem more of a headache to me... And might be easier to just go back to rotary..

1 simple reason, I like the way the FD looks. In my opinion, it's one of the worlds best looking cars. It is MUCH nicer then the Z06. It's also very unique.

Now, I could see what you are saying if the owner were in incompetent. I once was like that. I even tried to blame the rotary for blowing when it was my own fault. I now have a full understanding of the rotary and would still go LSx if I could do it again.