vg30dett

Hi everyone,
I'm a newbie here. I have a question that I haven't been able to find a sufficient answer yet. I own a '91 300ZX twin turbo and a '87 MR2. I use the Z as my daily driver and the MR2 as a beater. The MR2 is a fun little car, an absolute blast in the twisties; however, it just doesn't have enough power. I really want to get some more grunt out of the motor, but finding aftermarket parts for it is next to impossible. I have always loved the RX7's (used to own an '85 RX7), and I was wondering how feasible it would be to swap in the motor from an '89 RX7 turbo into the MR2?
The reason for that question is that my brother is giving me his RX7 next week because he is picking up a 2005 Corvette (lucky bastard!!) and I really like the idea of having that motor in the MR2. As I said, the MR2 is a beater. I have stripped it down as much as possible to save weight, and the rotary appeals to me because it offers a huge power increase without adding an excessive amount of weight.
What problems/obstacles will I encounter in performing this swap?
Will I need to have a driveshaft fabricated, swap in the RX7 rearend, intercooler piping rebent, custom engine mounts, etc....? Also, what about price? I just sold my bass boat, so I have a little money to put into this as long as it is reasonable, but I don't want to go overboard on a car I only drive once or twice a week.
Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.


P.S.- Great site, by the way. Anyone here own or considering purchasing an RX8? I just test drove one last week. What a car. Not as fast as I hoped it would be, but it took the corners with a passion. What really stole my heart was the interior and the paddle shifters. Mazda is practically giving those cars away @ $28K or so.

jenkin

iTrader: (2)

isnt an mr2 a transverse mid engine with a transaxle? you would have some serious mating probs getting the bellhousing to match with the block, i would suspect. but then again, anything can be done if you want to throw enough money at it.

vg30dett

Yes, it is a tranverse mount engine. Actually, I don't think the bellhousing would be too big of a problem, since you can drill the bolt patterns to match the block. It's the transaxle and the rest of the mess that I'm not sure about. As you said, anything's possible when you put enough money into it, but I really don't have the budget to get too sophisticated with this project, so I'm trying to see if anyone has any ideas on how to go about this in the most cost efficient manner.
BTW, regarding the engine, I plan on swapping in the RX7 motor and the transmission as well, so that's why I was asking about the driveshaft and rearend.
I guess what I'm really trying to find out is this...can this swap be performed in completion for $2,500 or less?

lopedl

iTrader: (1)

With that kind of swap you could pretty much throw the handling in the twisties that you like about the mr2 out the door. Because what your saying is you want to turn your mr2 into a front engine rwd car, when it was never designed with that in mind.

FD Rey

Ha! For $2500 or less?! No way man, all the custom work it would take, it couldn't that cheap. For the $2500 you'd spend ruining a perfectly fine RX-7 let alone your car.... I'd spend $2500 on suspension mods to the RX-7 and you'll have yourself a bad *** handling car period.

2Lucky2tha7

iTrader: (3)

^ummmm............what are you THINKING?!?!?
He's talking about swapping engines, not putting a rotary engine in the front of the car!!! LOL!!!! Sorry to say it, but you just set yourself up!!!!!!

FD Rey

you must be talking about lopedl right?!

Jaiyurai

iTrader: (30)

why take the engine out? I would sell off the MR2 and keep the 89 RX7 TII.

I doubt your 1G MR2 would give you the same overall performance as a 89 S5 TurboII.

Funkspectrum

iTrader: (5)

It's a good idea, but probably not worth the hassle. I would keep the rx7 and build on that. You'd have a much more enjoyable car all around. I'd dump that 2500 into suspension, exhaust and intake mods (including FCD and such.) For good info on building an RX, check out ReTeds site www.fc3spro.com .

Don't get me wrong, MR2's are fun little zippy cars. I would personally love to own one as a beater. But....just a daily driver beater car for me.

If you want a good writeup on how to soup up one of those 1st gen 2's, pick up the latest issue of Grassroots Motorsports Magazine (GRM). They have a pretty good article on the 85-89 MR2 buildup.

Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

i really don't understand why?? also for 2500???

good running engine, turbo, and tranny might cost that much.. My next question is, are you proficient at welding and making custom parts.. If not, don't do this!

Also, I just can't picture how t2 tranny will fit?? you might want to go with something else.. maybe 911 tranny or something.. I know thats how 3 rotor delorian was built. I've asked them about how they did it and the adaptor for the 3 rotor to 911 tranny was 2k..

2Lucky2tha7

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, I was definitely referring to lopedl

rmriggin

It would be possible, but you would have to make the motor front mount, make room for trans, custom make driveshaft and rear end. It would be a lot of work. It would be hella unique though! If you are interested in making some power with the mr2 and still want to keep it around then the only other option I can think of is getting the supercharged version of the mr2 engine and bolting it in. That would be the easiest, cheapest, and biggest performance gain swap you could do for that car. I would personally just keep the rx7, mod it, and sell the mr2 for more money to further mod the rx7. If you care anything about gas mileage then you should do the supercharged mr2 motor swap.

vg30dett

Actually, I was thinking about finding a junked supercharged MR2 motor and going that route a few months ago, but even that motor only puts down about 143 hp, and I know that won't get me where I'd like to be as far as performance goes. Plus having a unique setup is part of the appeal, to be honest.
But everyone seems to think I should spend the money on the RX7, and now I'm seriously considering that. It would make life much easier than trying to swap motors, not to mention that it would also free up the money to go into further mods.
So now, I'm really not sure which way to go with this. I'm not looking to make a trophy car to show off, all I want is a fun little toy to play with, and won't be bored with it a year down the road (like with the MR2).
I can't really sell the MR2 because I have torn everything not bolted down out, including the A/C, so I'm stuck with it no matter what.
I'm going to look into the price of some parts for the RX7, then take it from there.
Does anyone else here own an '89? Any suggestions/preferences on where to look?
Thank you all for your input, it has given me a lot to consider.

lopedl

iTrader: (1)

Hey dumb ***. He said he was going to use the rx7 driveshaft and rear end, unless you didn't read that part. How the hell could he use the rx7 driveshaft without having the engine mounted in the front? So I wasn't setting myself up, I was just putting his information to make a conclusion.

Besides what your thinking is rediculous. Just build up the mr2 motor with the $2500, or use the $2500 and fix up the rx7 I'm sure it would be much easier.

lopedl

iTrader: (1)

You want to know the easiest way to complete your project. Unbolt the mr2 shell and mount it onto the rx7 chassis.

kenn_chan

Now you are setting yourself up both cars are unibody, and there is no "unbolting the mr2 shell and mount it onto the rx7 chassis"

doesn't work that way sport, maybe cut the shell off of car "a" and weld it onto car"B" but not bolt, and not those particular cars, wheelbase/track is too radically different to mate them up.

kenn

PhoenixDownVII

The short answer is: Anything is possible, so yes.

Longer answer: Very tough project. I know the 13b is small, but its mounted to a Transmission thats long and set up to fit in the "middle" of the car in a FR setup. You'd have to do tons with custom welds and mounting brackets and somehow match a 13b to a very short tranny (Like a 911/Porsche one, as someone suggested). The work is NOT worth it, IMO, especially for a beater.

What I do want to know is, however, what car do you drive in the winter?

I have an FD and an Integra, and despise the Integra's lack of handling as a daily driver. I wanted to replace it with an Mr2 (i've owned 2 before) or a Miata, but I'm not so sure I'd have the time, space for a third car to be the winter car...meh. What do you do in the winter? (Saw you're from PA)...

2Lucky2tha7

iTrader: (3)

What's with Lopedl?!?!? What ever happened to common sense????It is 50x simpler to just put in a 13B in place of the stock 4AGE Toyota motor as compared to swapping bodies of the 2 cars!!!! I can't take reading his posts anymore, LOL!!!!!!

lopedl

iTrader: (1)

Hey man,
First off,
I just want to apologize for the name calling that was just unproffessional on my part, I don't ever do that well except for yesterday. No excuses but it was just a bad day four me.

But what I was trying to point out is he did say that he wanted to use the stock rx7 driveshaft and rear end. What that implies to me is that he would only be able to utilize a stock rx7 driveshaft in his mr2 in FR setup.

Yes I know the shell swap was a rediculous statement, but to defend my statement shell swaps are not far-fetched. I personally know a couple of cars mostly old bomber customs that have had a shell swap for instance a 1950ish buick mounted onto a couger chassis and frame my grandfathers car. And there are several drag cars built in this fashion as well.

Yes, the mr2 shell is much smaller than the rx7 not to mention the tiny front of an mr2 so yes it was a smart *** statement, and I had no intentions for it to be taken seriously.

Honestly I don't see a problem with the rotary engine being mounted in the car, the only real barriers is if it can fit properly and be positioned so it can some how be adapted with a plate to the stock mr2 tranny. But like Phoenix said it would take a lot of custom work, which will probably be very expensive.

onebell

Ok so you take your mr2 and then you take your rx-7, then you put the both in a garage with some candles, couple of quarts of oil, and play some Barry White to set the mood. Hopefully in a few months you'll have a strecthed out MR2 with a kick !@# rotary engine. Seriously your question requires a group of people for a solution. A Rotary mechanic from Redline, Mazdatrix, a pro welder, and a suspension specialist O' and a financilal consultant. My suggestion: Take your new gift ( TURBO RX-7 ) and put a custom sound system. Hatch backs always hit hard on bass. You'll be bumping so loud you'll forget all about some MR2 clown car.

PEACE

fcdrifter13

If you still want to do the swap there at one time was a place that made mounts and everything to do this swap kinda expensive if i remember right. But the alternative to doing trhe swap is to talk to the guys on club4ag.com they know there yotas. And if you have the 16 valve motor in your car the $age motor is a good platform for upgrades and there should be plenty of mods for it. but if you have the single cam motor parts are hard to find and the motor origanally only has like 90HP(single cam). But the Twin cam motor has like 140hp. and is good reving. If you have the single cam motor then you coulld import a twin cam one for like 1500 and should mount up fairly easily. But i would really talk to the guys on www.club4ag.com if you want to know more.

Tech_Greek

www.mr2oc.com is the best place for MR2's...

I used to own a MKI White 85 MR2 and for the nay-sayers that say they don't have any power, that's when you bolt in the 3SGTE MK1.5 and turbo charge it, instant power, instant fun in the turns with boost making your tires come out of control like you wouldnt believe.

My MR2 got stolen...lucky bastard whoever got my car.

- Tech

edmcguirk

There is a thread about putting a rotary in an MR2 on MR2OC but you have to register to see the thread:
http://www.mr2oc.com/showthread.php?t=50958

I don't think anyone has ever done it and so far as I've heard, only a few rotary engines have been put onto FWD transmissions in New Zealand or Australia (see the pictures in that thread). They don't say which transmissions will work, most starter motors are on the wrong side of the flywheel. I think the MR2 turbo tranny looks compatible.

Or you could cut up the MR2 and use a VW bug tranny. There are adaptors available for that.

Adding a supercharger to the stock engine could be good for around 160HP (the stock supercharged 4AGZE is 145HP stock but easily boosted to 170HP just by changing the pulley)

The NA rotary might be lighter than the 4AGE but HP would be around 145 unless you port it. I don't think you have too much hope of trying to put a turbo rotary on a FWD tranny. The halfshafts would have to go pretty close to the exhaust ports.

ed

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

just FYI ... the 3SGTE is a turbocharged engine.
yes, try looking at the MR2 board listed here.

your swap can be done. i've seen a 12A mounted in a Honda Civic, i don't see why you couldn't pull off the same with an MR2. however, 2 thing bother me about your original post. the first is that you said there is no support for the 4AG and the second is your cap of $2500.

there is a lot of support out there for the 4AG, you just have to know where to look. the MR2 board is a good resource, as are several other Toyota-based boards. you need to know what you want from it first. $2500 can get you a very HOT 4AG with just a little downtime.

if you want turbo, then $2500 can get you most of the parts you'd need to turbo your 4AG. functional CT26s can be had for just a couple hundred bucks these days and a stock SW20 intercooler should be fairly cheap as well, leaving you most of the money to work out fabrication, fuel and some crude tuning.

unless you ABSOLUTELY feel the need to swap the 13BT and you know how to do all the metal work needed, plus you can source the engine/transaxle interface for next to nothing ... your 13BT swap will be much, much more than $2500.

1

Tech_Greek

Indeed,

To swap in a rotary is not the hard part, the engine is actually smaller, it's swapping the transmission, mounting a radiator (note: mr2's were air cooled via the vents on the side of the car and a little pipe in the front that runs to the back) and you'll defintley have to add two electric fans to the trunk hood because rotary engines put out more heat than the regular engine in a MR2.

All in all, if you're looking at putting it in as an easy swap, don't think about it, it's going to cost money and a lot of down time.

Stick with the engine that came in the car or add a turbo to it, you'll be having a little rocket in no time, even the stock engine that actually has close to the same hp/tq of our cars (if not a little more) is pretty fun to drive, it just doesnt have the TQ curve the rotary engines have.

- Tech