These cars man..they get you sometimes. I still have mine (and i'm very happy about that) but i've been where some of you guys are...paying it off while it's broken, and spending more time/money fixing it than driving it.
As it is, in order to keep it, I had to make significant changes to it, which some people absolutely hate. I put an LS1 in it. I never thought I would do it, but when it came down to either getting rid of the car because of the rising costs of parts and certain parts just not being made any more, I chose to keep the car that I loved. Purists(even my family LOL) hate on me sometimes, but I don't care. I still have my car, and in a financial manner that i'm comfortable with. However, even though my car is faster than it was, I still miss the rotary. That car with 99' twins on 12-13psi, and all the bolt ons was just heaven to drive. Not the fastest thing out there, but so responsive. Pure.
I will never get rid of mine.
BTW, Montego, your car is gorgeous.

 

Someone who went to the dark side and misses their rotary, still a bit uncommon, but good! With water injection, people like riceracing are pushing 30 psi through these motors reliably so there is really no reason for a big V8 that WILL effect handling

 

An ls engine in an fd will NOT affect handling. I find it funny there's always that one guy in a thread that will just throw that out there when the subject of v8 in an fd is present.

It does NOT NOT affect handling. There were some cases the ls had marginally BETTER weight distribution.

 

thanks Vader, very much appreciated

 

Agreed. If the conversion is done right the weight distribution remains 50/50. If anyone doubts this go look at mdpalmer's album, there is a pic there where he had his car weighed after his v8 conversion. Yep 50/50.

Ok Ill bite... how can you get better than 50/50? You said marginally so are you talking about a couple of lbs? and is this comparison based out of a 100% completely stock (including precat)rx7? In any case this is a moot point because that statement is regarding such a small margin that it wont make any difference. It also implies that one cannot achieve the same distribution with a rotary, and with the plethora of aftermarket turbos, ic's, intakes, batteries ect.. we simply know thats not true. One just has to balance out the weight as the modifications pile on.

Basically what I am saying is if done correctly not one nor the other is better in terms of handling. So pick your poison gentlemen and enjoy YOUR car!

 

I don't know if that thread is here or I saw it in another article but yes modified ls fd had better weight distribution than a stock fd. Whether it was completely stock or bolt on, single etc I don't know. But when you think about it, a STOCK fd is not exactly on point 50/50. What is it? Like 49.2/50.8? Or some crazy number like that? Im on my phone so I can't search that info.

When I said the ls had marginally better weight distribution numbers was basically to point out how wrong people are when they say the ls affects the handling.

And that's completely wrong. It remains exactly the same if not marginally better. Whether its by 15-20-25 lbs whatever

 

a couple of my friend tell me i should ditch the rotary and go for a LS1 swap. i just tell them if i want the LS1 i can just get a vette instead. I bought it for the rotary not for its looks and being a mazda (the latest is not something good hate japanese cars normally, german cars are the way to go).

 

 

2 people today just asked me if I'm keeping my FB now that I got a FD. I paid 1600 dollars for my FB with tons of racing beat goodies and 5 way shocks. ARe they retarded or what? You don't sell your toys especially rare ones just because you get something new. I love old and new and couldn't imagine driving a boring as car everyday. I have a ES 300 that's my daily driver and it brings me zero pleasure. Would love to replace it with a 1991 Rx7 for my daily driver.

 

Man I just joined the Club hope ownership isnt what people are say if so, Man am I in a world of hurt.

 

FD's aren't bad if you do things right. Replace the stuff that is worn out by heat and age. This includes vacuum hoses, water hoses, and quite possibly the engine harness. Do the reliability mods and keep the mods to a minimum and you'll be very happy with your ride.

To have the most reliable non-hassle FD:

-Rad upgrade (fluidyne). Koyo is thicker and if you upgrade to a larger SMIC you may have fitment issues.
-Replace stock thermoswitch with a Miata one
-DP
-Delete the ast
-SMIC (the stocker heatsoaks like crazy). Notice I didn't say Vmount or front mount reason being is that SMIC’s are just drop ins. Therefore no cutting or relocating stuff is required.
-Get an electronic boost controller set to 10 psi no higher. All EBC’s have a boost display
-Catback
-Hi-flow cat
-M2 style intake or adamc's 'cheap bastard' mod
-Install a water injection system or periodically steam clean the engine internals to remove carbon buildup.

I’m not a fan of aftermarket gauges at least not anymore. To me they just clutter the inside and if you are relatively stock you don’t need to know everything that the car is doing. With a lightly modded street car all you gotta do is make sure you are not over boosting and the stock water gauge doesn’t move past center. As anything past center indicates a problem that must be looked at immediately because if you ever get to H your engine is done.

If you can’t get the sequential turbo system to work correctly or get tired of hunting for turbo related vacuum leaks just go non seq. In terms of responsiveness it sucks but you won’t have another boost related issue, ever.

If your turbos are smoking bite the bullet and spring for new ones. Rebuilding the old ones are a waste of time as in just a few thousand miles (< 5K) they will smoke again. Don’t buy used either the likely hood of them being bad or become bad very soon is extremely high. Just do it right the first time.

If you keep your car close to stock it won’t be a street monster but it will start up every time, doesn’t stink, no flooding issues, no worries about a bad tank of gas, you will NEVER worry about the car leaving you ever. Basically you just fire it up and drive.

 

It all depends on you(how much you know) and what condition your car was when you bought it... There is lot to learn, plenty on information here and few websites on how to keep it reliable. If car runs under all the right conditions then it should be very reliable.

It's also very complex and it should be trimmed down IMO, single turbo?... but that costs.

Montego explained very good what you should do to make it more predictable in the stock form.

Go from there enjoy the car, drive it as much as you can... but when you start modding... it will be in your garage more then on the street

 

I've gone to the dark side as well. My FD race build has transformed into a LS1 build and I love it. Much more exciting & I feel more confident about the motor. The questions about the weight distribution are funny because adding a big slug to a rotary adds more weight than a LS1 any day of the week.

 

Given that a turbo rotary is 50/50 and an LS1 FD can also be 50/50:
how do you figure that by adding the slug to a rotary adds more weight than an LS1 any day of the week?

I'm curious about your background. From what I can tell you have only had your car for two months and prior to that you had a vette. So basically what I am asking is what qualifies you to make that call about confidence of the motor and weight. I'm not picking I'm seriously asking what your rotary experience is.

 

A V8 will effect handling little boy, in this way: the inertia of the pistons, not the weight difference - plus that the mass is not as well centralized.

 

Ultra 300x nailed it...

It may still have a 50/50 distribution...

But how much further is the weight...

Yes a 13B REW and all stock extras weighs the same, but everything fore the front towers or 'axel' if you will, weighs less they all the comparative weight froma LSx swap...

Yes the total weight might be equal, but how much more is hanging over the front 'axel' and effecting handling...

Maybe not much, but it does effect it...

(that point does not take into account larger non FD rotary motors, (20b, 26B) as I have get to see someone go from either of those engines and perform a LS swap...


J.

 

Have any of you ever weighed a gt40 setup? You mean to tell me adding weight to the front half of the fd won't throw off the weight distribution? This whole 50/50 arguement is bs anyways because what really matters is corner weight. The ls1 doesn't weight much (430lbs) to be exact, compared to the 13b tt, when you install long tubes you drop another 30lbs. How is that for weight!

 

You compensate the weight in the front with the t56 behind it and 8.8 rear end. It's all relative to the power and torque that the engine produces.

 

The inertia of the pistons? Did you actually say that? I never argued that the v8 wont affect handling but it has nothing to do with "piston inertia", I have to tell people about that. It's mostly about the deck height of the motor and the ls1 being a bit further out in front of the axle. All of which can be taken care of with a corner balance.

 

Piston inertia
rofl
You must be a comedian

 

You don't compensate for weight over or in front of the steering rack you just have less steering feel and will be dealing with bump steer kits etc..... This is the compromise you make for having a more reliable engine that some may argue about.

 

From the builds I've seen the LSX is approx 50lbs heavier. I'm amazed how light the engine is because the 13b block is less than 200 and the trans is about 90.

I'm still skeptical though and I'd love to see an equal power equal build at say 400 rwhp with no PS, no AC but everything else equal in both the LS and rotary car.

Unfortunately I've never driven an LSX FD but one of my complaints with vettes is how brutal the power is and I can imagine this being worse in a lighter smaller car. It hits hard and then goes flat, shift, repeat. The 13b builds slower similar to taking off in an airplane it has a linear type thrust which is a super sensation for me and it would be a big compromise to switch to a different feeling drive line.

 

Is the T56 lighter then a stock FD trans...? I don't know...

And how about the 8.8, does it add or subtract weight...



I'm talking nearly that say roughly 1/3 of the LS is over the front axel... That 1/3 of it's weight, now effects its handling... Because it is in front of the (for lack of better term) 'pivot point'


If you took a wheel and spun if freely, (say a roulette wheel) it spins nice and easy, easy to start, easy to stop...

Now add a weight half way from the center to the outer rim (representing 13B power plant weight), and spun it, It would take more energy to start spinning, but because of the increased mass, it would sin longer...

Now move the weight to the outside edge (representing LS swap) and the wheel becomes harder (more energy required) to spin then without the weight, or with the weight halfway. It also will have a more inertia then the other tests because of the weight on the outside...


I hope that somewhat clearly explains to those who are confused what I mean when I say it effects the handling..

It must not be much (as people claim no change, or properly cope stated with suspension setup)...

But shifting that weight foreword over the front axel will effect the handling of the car...


The way a person can prove me wrong, is by taking the required measurements, weights of all the peripherals (13b has intercooler, plus piping etc...) (LS swap has more weight, radiator etc...)

And compare the numbers...


Sorry for any misspelled words or **** eyed phrases, this and the last post were typed on my phone...


J.

 

I just came in to say that from an engineering stand point I have problem with the following statements:

The force induced by the said 'inertia' is minimal, peperdicular to the ground, and is nullified by how an engine sits on the bay.

That is band aid fix. The closer the mass is to the center the better a vehicle is engineered, so do it right the first time for best results.

If the weight is distributed evenly (50/50) then the corner weight falls right in line.

 

On a race car, we do not build our cars based on the 50/50 principal like the original manufacturer. You would be correct if this was a stock rx7 swapped with a LS1 but it isn't. So when you add or remove parts, you are distorting the weight and by corner balancing the weight, you get to perfect corner balance which is more important.

With a 13b in the FD, by removing the smog pump, cats, and putting an aftermarket exhaust you're altering the 50/50 balance so everyone's argument makes no sense at this point. My FD has one seat, no windows, no A/C, no heater, etc. I want to get close to 50/50 but I will not kill myself if I don't get it right. I can add weight in certain areas to get it right but it isn't priority.