It doesn't feel good and 3 motors in 1 1/2 years really hurts your pocket.

 

this discussion is so stupid. btw im still trying to make up my mind...

 

Tell me why someone could just forget the 13brew and even the LS1. Stay within the family and upgrade. Go Renesis . Anyone know if it's been done or if it's even a good idea?

Horseys: 238 @ 8500 rpm
Torque : 159 @ 5500 rpm
Redline: 9000
Displacement (cubic inches) 1.3L

On top of the engine, I would take the neat leather bucket seats with the Rotary Emblem thingie in the headrest

 

I will tell you why....because those numbers are ***.

lol

and those horseys you mention...seems the rx8 guys are dynoing more like a buck ninety.

can you say...no low end torque at all? thats what happens when ya make some big ports.

believing the newspaper and magazine ads will get ya nowhere. heheh


j


j

 

artguy,

Would you seriously get off the entire "no low end" crap for atleast a couple months?

I know you like to race "light to light for pink slip" but some of us actually bring our cars to a track where we keep the car in it's appropriate power-band in addition to downshifting in preperation for a change in speed.

Face it - you just want to punch the gas pedal and have instant torque to "put that M3 driver in their place" rather than downshifting for the torque and faster spooling. I am curious as to why you don't just go buy a Z06 or Mustang?

 

nope. I sure wont.

I also enjoy taking my car to the track to homie. so add me in to your "some of us" list there. haha. It's a blast. However, of the 100k on your car or so in terms of milage...how many of those miles are from the track? my thoughts exactly. almost none of them....what? maybe ten? The rest is spent on the street.

a track only car is a one trick pony. shifting doesnt change that one bit.

I wouldnt get a mustang. EVER. lol. junkorama. I have a 2003 explorer sport and it has the same interior pieces as the 2003 mustangs. That aint right. I prefer the fd's looks and interior. sure, the mustangs have decent low end torque but ya know they are also battle tank heavy so that loses the point.

the point of my posting in this thread was simply to say that for my applications an ls1 would be superior to a single setup. I feel like the fd was meant to be responsive, nimble, and a general terror on the street. a single turbo setup only fills two of those three parts of the equation. the ls1 fills all three.

I would love to get a z06 if my fd went under. I bought my fd before that car came out. It still runs like a champ and thus I have no need for a new one, especially after reaching a good balance with my modifications...anyhow, my fd will eat em up well enough for my current tastes.

cheers


j

 

this should just be a poll.

LS1

what can I say, v8's own me, and the ls1 has proven itself to be a nice v8.

 

Until you've actually driven an FD with 300ft/lb of torque at 1500rpm vs the piddling 100 the rotary makes you really have no idea what you're talking about.

It's night and day.

 

No I put an LS1 in an FD because the Mazda motor was a complete POS that should have never made it to production.

Many corners cuts, many stupid assumptions made.

I agree with the comment on the F-Bods, the only thing good in the whole car is the powerplant.

 

artguy, you sound like me now.

Glad to see you came to your senses.

 

Nice you've totally bought Mazda's marketing literature. Hook, line and sinker. Sucker.

If Mazda really gave a rats *** about that **** outside of the marketing literature they wouldn't have included that monster cast iron pre-cat and put the battery high and to the front.

Look at what they do not what they say.

 

Wings- This summer, it would be fun to meet up at Woodburn dragstrip. By then I should have my single setup done in my 3rd gen. It would be a neat comparison, and I'm shure the forum would love it. Please don't take me wrong. I'm not looking to pick bones, or be a ***, just go out have a good time.

But I must say, I think we should race in street trim. No slicks or drag radials anything like that. Not to mention, I don't have any. CJ

 

tbielobockie, it's called federal DOT regulations.

Personally, I'd take either one.

 

Personally I'm a chevy guy(just look at my username), and I've debated the LS1 alot. The rotary is what makes these cars unique though. If you are interested in the power envelope only, the V8 is your plan. If you are interested in having a custom car that might be alittle weird, but different, the rotary is your plan.
Both are great, and fun in two different ways. This comparison of RPM to RPM is dumb though.
You have a 5500RPM Redline compared to a 8000RPM Redline. Both shifting in their sweet spot. You need to compare sweet spot to sweet spot. I made my decision because i was so far along in the rotary build up that it was a pain to start over with the LS1.
Basically you have about 10+K for a single done right.
About 400-500rwhp and that's close to 550-600 crank hp. A little behind this link of a Supercharged Z06
http://www.procharger.com/2003newsle...e.systems.html
My point is that you can't compare a stock LS1 swap to a single. Singles will put you in the high 10s low 11s range, and for an ls1 to do that you will need a nice aggressive set of heads and cam or a supercharger. Either way costing nearly an additional 4-5+K for your conversion. Next you will push the envelope some more, and get a low 10 maybe high 9 out of the V8 by spraying the hell out of it. Granted it's faster on the track, but anyone that has driven a 10 sec car on the street knows that anything less than 10.99 with radials is worthless. Yes the V8 has a better power envelope, but there is also a point where a car just doesn't need anymore power on the street. Run 20+psi, and a 50 shot on a little 1.3L motor upto 120MPH, and then tell me that you need more power envelope. With my average single, I'm actually really attentive in 3rd gear roll ons because I'm afraid the 335's might light up at the top of the RPM range. Now if that isn't enough power on the street something is seriously wrong, and I haven't even sprayed it to get the intake temps down yet. I'm all for the conversion, and maybe someday I'll do what Fritz is planning and buy one to sit next to my Single, but either way both setups are equally nasty on the street in my opinion.

 

but your forgetting something. I dont care. I am happy with the car the way it is. it has MORE than enough torque and im NOT going to upset the balance/handling of the car by putting a V8 in it.

 

I don't know why i would start an engine conversion of any kind at this point, as i've got a well-running ported rotary with virtually all the bolts-ons, fuel upgrades, and engine management to support a single turbo... all i'd need is the $3000 turbo kit... and could even sell some of my bolt ons like the intake, downpipe, and y-pipe to offset the cost.

The big thing is that I was able to add all of these items piece by piece as funds became available, with little downtime for installs. If i'd done any sort of engine conversion, I'd have needed virtually all the money up-front. You can't exactly put an LSI in piecemeal if you want a running car throughout the process...

So the "gee you coulda woulda shoulda just "dropped in" a X and such motor for the same $$$ and had 18-gazilion ultra-reliable horsepower" arguement isn't really valid for me.

Over the years i've been able to mod and tweak at whatever pace my situation has allowed, have virtually always had a running car to enjoy, have hit the track for HPDEs, and can beat a Z06 on the street. My car passes VA rolling emissions tests, and i feel confident that it could be stocked back out with minimal effort if i wished to sell it.

So can I have that single turbo now? :-)

 

It doesn't upset the balance or weight.

How god damn thick headed do you have to be to not accept the multiple corner weight tests done on the converted FDs.

 

How thick headed do you have to be to realize that while the weight may remain the same, there is no way you will have the center of gravity that the FD currently has. The engine sits back in a front mid layout. You iwll not get that with the LS1. With the LS1 the engine is higher up.

You can debate that all you want, show me someone that autoX's an FD with a V8 in it.

Thanks.

 

Blah blah blah.

The LS1 crank and flywheel are lower than the ecc and flywheel in the rotary as is the transmission and all but half of one cyl sit fully behind the front axle. And really, who cares...

A few pounds in a less than ideal spot really in the grand scheme of things doesn't matter one little bit. The instant throttle response of the v-8, the tripling of low end torque, and the linear and instant throttle response negate and effect the shifting of a few lbs from here to there might cause.

Really what this comes down to is Mazda's marketing BS. And the fact that you bought their bullshit hook line and sinker. If they really cared about balance and ideal weight distro versus using it ads to sucker people (like you) they would have done something else with the battery. Further there are plenty of examples of great handling cars with a portion large piston engine sitting in front of the front wheels ( or in the case of Porsche behind the rear wheels) For example the M3 and Viper both have very long and heavy engines both are great handlers.

The shocking thing about the M3 (e36) is that it's larger, has a trunk, vastly better brakes than the FD, a back seat, it rides pretty nice and has that long cast iron I-6 engine and still handles better than an FD stock for stock. It's called good engineering vesus marketing bullshit.

Don't believe everything you read. Esp when the writer is making money from the "advice" he is giving you.

 

according to SCCA http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/Lists/2003/stockc.html :
The FD is in the top catagory ABOVE the M3 and handles better. Nice try though.


Super Stock
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CJ, no problem there. I plan on taking the car up to woodburn and getting kicked off at some point.

Jeff Hoskinson and I have tentative plans to codrive my car at the icebreaker event for this years upcoming autocross season, so we'll have a baseline comparison (between his mildly modded FD and my car) with a good driver at the wheel (him). It should be interesting.

If you want to hook up sometime before your car is done just drop me a line. I didn't replace my wankel because I couldn't make power with it. I did it to do something different and have something fun to work on (mission accomplished), that would make big power without much risk of catastrophic failure (again mission accomplished). I actually flipped a coin between the gt3540 and the ls1.

I'm always amazed at the people who say things like "if you don;t know how to take care of the rotary then just go ahead and put the v8 in." I mean, come on, if I'm mechanically inclined enough to replace the entire drivetrain, don't you think I could take care of my rotary and all of it's little "needs"?

 

I own both cars I know better. The RX-7 changes direction better (like for auto-x) but overall handling over real roads the BMW will own the RX-7.

 

yea your not bias, of course not.

 

actually i might know what tbielobockie means about the m3 handling. FD's a quick as ****, but in stock form they have a hasty snap oversteer. while the M3's are *suposed* (ive never driven one) to be really predictable- yet not quite as quick.

handling is pretty subjective.

 

id have to go w/ the ls1. i dont drag race, and i have never tracked my car, though id like too, so basiclly the only driving i do is around town on the weekend. i think it would be pretty neat to have a loud v-8 rumble in my fd. it would most certianly turn some heads at wot, or while revving at a (*insert your favorite car to race) trying to get him to race rotary engines are awesome, just wish they were a little more reliable. but what can you expect when you have 1.3 liters and 300+ hp...