FD with pistons or rotors?
 

I wanted to get a rate of owners with either pistions powered FDs (LSX, 2/1JZ, RB) vs FDs powered by rotors. Poll will be added.

And post a pic of whats under your hood.

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...192a9d2b8e.jpg

I have rotors in my 7 but im not against pistons. I would probably go LS2 over anything else, maybe 2JZ. Here is a pic of my engine bay. Your pic made me not feel so bad about my dirty engine bay. We both need to take the time to clean lol.

what about "hampster" - i don't see that as an option...

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1274983745

awww just kidding. here's mine...changes in the works though:

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1274983956

I would take the time to go out and get a pic to post but. It's literally all stock so. use your imaginations. err. rather, memories.

bummer, no option for jet engine.


http://blog.makezine.com/Car_With_Tw...eBay_7.JPG.jpg

Haha I been so lazy. I'll do it one of thesedays.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...S/IMG_0573.jpg


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...S/IMG_0575.jpg

In progress.

:]

I've had both, currently in love with the V8
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...Tom5131029.jpg

I don't know why you you want a Nissan engine or Toyota (lexas, same thing) they are not any more reliable then rotary's. In fact I would not use either if I got them for free. Jaguar being owned by Ford would make sense, but their engines aren't know for reliabilty. Corvette looking verry similar to the RX7 seems to be a very good match especially considering a stock engine has the HP we've wanted to acheive with the now outdated rotary. The GTO engine is a waste in that extremely heavy Aussie body but works well in the FD.

We will see more and more of these conversions becuase the cost of the engines has doubled but the value of the car has decreased in half. Moreover, the conversion cost is about the same as I hate to use the stupid term of "fully built" (as opposed to a partially built engine?) so lets just say "fully modifed" single turbo.

Plain vanilla.

Single turbo rotary here. I personally dont like anything about american v8's. I dont like how they sound, i dont like how they are built. I dont like the lack of advancement in technology. I.E. the fact that they dont use coil on plug. They have single runner intake manifold designs, pushrods (seriously? still?), not very well balanced, not a very good hp/displacement. I dont like the power band. I.E. too much low end torque. Lots and lots of things. I picked this car because of how much character it had. Not how many pistons. And after all the r in rx7 stands for something and its not part of your brakes.

same here.

Don't be so quick to dismiss pushrods.
The design makes for a very compact motor with a low CG.

Don't get me wrong, I love my rotary, but dismissing the chevy small block because it has pushrods is a mistake IMO.

Also, the numbers are skewed because the 3Gen section in this particular forum does not represent the actual proportion of owners with different engines. This place is flooded with the Rotary (naturally, since it's the original engine).

Dismissing an engine because of push rods is like dismissing an engine because it doesn't have pistons. they both have their pluses and minuses.


I honestly don't care what people have in their FD. Have whatever the f**k you want. It's all the same to me.



FlaoFD, I think most people have rotaries in their FDs. It's easier to fix/get a rebuilt rotary than it is to fork up the cash for a V8 swap - and it's obviously beyond a lot of people's patience and technical abilities. I'd say that the results are on par with what I see at events and meets.

Somebody knows whats up...

I'm just trying to get a general idea and have some fun. So stop whining and vote people ;)

Single Turbo Rotary here..

I agree that your results will be pretty skewed. Most in this section have the rotary. Just like if you go on the V8 rx7 site most will have a swap.

Personally if I was entertaining the idea of a swap, it would be the 2JZ, or the RB26. Both are bulletproof and can create lots of nice, usable power. And I like turbos... With a turbo V8 you have gobbs of power, but it is not very usable. Traction seems to be a problem with the light chassis on the FD..

Rotary all the way
 

Here's a good under da hood shot.


http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...FEngineBay.jpg

only pic I have is when it was coming out of the paint shop

I've always been a rotary enthusiast, but here's the problem.

I'm active-duty Navy, stationed in San Diego. My car is in Georgia, and has been for over 2 years now.

When I first bought the car with a blown motor, I traded my (at the time) Tech2Motorsports 2JZ Swap Kit (Worth $2,500+) and paid $1,000 in labor for a 13B-RE.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3..._1824small.jpg

Turns out, the wastegate diaphragm had a small hole in it, causing the car to overboost to 18psi during the initial dyno-tune. The motor blew the next day even after the diaphragm was fixed.

I didn't even get to drive it!!! :[

So 6 hours and $1,300 later....
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3..._1876small.jpg

Finished product:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3..._4287small.jpg

I made 326hp/296tq @ 11psi and 387hp/251tq @ 15psi on 93 octane.

The motor blew during my New Years visit, and THEN I got scammed out of $500 in trying to buy a replacement engine.

THAT'S why I'm now at the "You know what? F*ck this..." state...

That, and my brother is my star mechanic in Georgia..but once I get the car shipped out here to San Diego, I won't know any mechanics, and I don't know that I make enough money in the Navy to afford another engine or two...

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

That's quite a tale of woe, I can understand the frustration level. I've been there, this is my third motor, but so far three's a charm: it's been flawless. You have to be sure the motor itself and all the supporting components are 100%, you cannot skimp or cut corners anywhere with a turbocharged rotary. Once set up properly (with reasonable boost) they can take a beating.

V8s know their own tune, and I hunt Mustangs, F Bodies (and Porsches) only with a rotary powered FD. An FD with a Chevy motor is a novelty I suppose, but I'd just as soon have something like a Mallet Sky instead, or even a C6. A V8 tune coming out of the single tailpipe of an FD is just wrong.

Oh, and inline/V6s know their own tune as well ;)

I really, really love smacking down 350Zs.....they're like flies here

Toyota makes great engines & Nissan has a few winners.

To say they are no more reliable than a rotary, but add a turbo to the rotary and it's a whole different ball game (I don't like to admit it)

but everyone is entitled to their opnion.

I've got rotors, my first one had rotors, but I'm not opposed to pistons.

Yep there are those that keep rebuilding rotarys or keep installing used engines and yet never pin point what made them blow in the 1st place. The supporting commonents 99% of the time are the cause. I know of an sequential turbo 330+rwhp Fd that got rebuilt at 90k. This same engine is still running perfectly and chassis now has 180k on it. The car was built and maintained by Rotary Performance in Garland Tx. As you said "Once set up properly (with reasonable boost) they can take a beating" ;)


I agree 100% It just doesn't sound right comming from the Fd.

There's just something to be said for an engine that with only bolt ons (heads ,cam intake, exhaust) can make 475whp NA all day every day and get 28mpg on the highway. I was always a proponent of japanese engines, still am actually. The only American engine I'm a real fan of is the Chevy small block variants. But damn, you can't beat the bang for the buck of the LS series engines. Throw a turbo on an ls1 and you've got stupid power with very low boost levels. And I also hate that super loud monster truck sound that alot of those engies make, but you can make them sound much better if you put the right catback on it.

i got the rotary, with 90k when i did gt35r single turbo conversion...and i just broke 100k last week and engine is strong as ever...never rebuilt or ported.... and with my tune i got over 600 miles on one gas tank... from columbus OH rx7store to rochester NY...

Jason did relay good job tuning it...

i made 346 RWHP and 290ft @ 12psi on 93 pump gas with 4x850cc injectors

recently i raced with dsm eclipse that was running 22psi same turbo... 40mph roll and he couldn't get in front of me he was keeping up i couldn't pull away.... i let of at 130mph
...
i do not think any stock corvette would keep up or any rx7 with stock ls1 swap...
i raced rx7 with ls1 60mph roll when the car was stock and we where even

and my car is not setup for drag racing:egrin:...

so i do not see any point in swapping out the rotary for a v8:icon_tdow...

+ rotary was one of the reasons i got the car in the first place....:nod:


http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/61/8...00418-0016.jpg

http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/61/8...00523-1616.jpg

Rotors, and will never have anything different. I've already owned a Z06, so if I wanted to have an LS in my RWD car, I would have just kept it. The V8 swap doesn't make any logical sense to me. Rotaries are as reliable as anything else when treated right. I understand people get frustrated or just don't comprehend the rotary, but there are literally thousands upon thousands of Corvettes, Mustangs, Camaros, etc for the same or cheaper price than a FD, so if you want a V8, just skip the swap and buy one of those.

thats right :icon_tup:

That's about 34 mpg. I'm throwing the bs flag.

Edit, I looked this up on yahoo maps and it's 395 miles in reality....more believable, I've gotten 320-330 miles on a tank freeway cruising with occasional boost

Im not giving you any crap and I am not against rotories but come on" Rotaries are as reliable as anything else when treated right"... You rebuild your engine and I'll rebuild my v8 and let's see who's lasts longer:burn::burn:

That's just my opinion

no bs man.... i drove the car my self ... from OH to my home one gas tank....
i was thinking my level Sensor was not working ...:icon_tup:

I've routinely been getting 360+ miles a tank driving between SD and LA. That's at 85mph, AC on and driving aggressively. I've achieved 24-->26mpg on the same trip while driving 'nice'.

I don't know think one is any less reliable than the other. It seems likely that it is highly dependent upon usage and how the engine is maintained.

I've built and raced V8's for years and over time I've embraced the rotary as being generally more reliable and needing less attention, at least for my style of driving. I like to do a lot of high RPM & power shifting and you will eventually kill the valvetrain in any piston motor with a lot this. Valve train components and valve springs in particular do wear out and eventually need to be replaced to maintain best performance. Float the valves a few times, especially with roller tappets, and see which motor is more reliable.

Another myth is that piston engines are immune to detonation. Untrue, they just don't necessarily show damage right away (and it is cumulative). Collapsed ring lands and piston skirts are very common; enough pounding and you'll pound the rod bearings out and/or walk the main caps. A few weeks later, when you start it up and spin a bearing or have chunks of a piston falling out for an unknown reasons--you will likely never attribute it to the detonation that caused it.

That's not an apple to oranges comparison. The LS1's have double the displacement of the 13b and therefore are half as stressed for any given power level. There biggest advantage is having more power in the low end. You don't have to drive them hard to get decent performance out of them. I've notived this with my 2000 model BMW M5.

Oh and FYI where not going to turn thread into a hp per liter dispute. 13b breaths like a 2.6 L engine and that's a fact. That's why I said it's virtually half the displacment of an Ls1. Displacment wise, an NA 4 rotor would be a more fare comparison.

fair

Your slipping because I also mis-spelled displacement the 2nd time around also. ;)

A lot of money into my rotary, wish I had gone LSV8.

DAMNIT!
lulz, good catch. fair/fare is one of my biggest pet peaves, as is you're/your, there/their, etc... dunno why I didn't catch displacement tho.
/grammarant

ANYWAYS
here's mine almost a year ago, I blew it up a month and a half ago
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/q...1/IMG_5654.jpg
and here's my friends
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/q...1/IMG_4288.jpg

and another friend with a v8 in his FC just blew it up...

Wow, i'm all for cool projects but that looks like a gigantic PITA. I think that picture is giving me indigestion right now. I have to go.

I have nothing against other people sticking another engine in their car...

Modified rotaries can and are a pain...
[

I love my rotary and I love forced induction, it has been super reliable and takes everything I give it. I'd love to have a 3 rotor over any v8/2jz/rb swap.

I will probably never run more than 480-500whp with the 2 rotor simply because I dont wanna worry about the transmission every time I give it the business.

When I want more than 500whp Ill probably go with an LS swap and a procharger/turbocharger and run 600whp all day and never have a worry in the world.

Work-in-progress
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/9639/tth.jpg
MMMMmmmmmm....taste the rainbow...:blush: