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After a number of years away from the Wankel scene, I've managed to pick up two RZ's.....one a 98 roller that had been molested with a 1JZ (great engine - wrong place) and a 2000 RZ that had met it's demise courtesy of a recent single turbo conversion and a culvert.
The plan is to piece the two together - have had the donor 13B PPRE refreshed, ported and stud kitted all set for the EFR8374.
This forum as already been a great resource so figure I might as well contribute where I can. Fun times ahead.
Chris
Last edited by ChrisNZ; 05-14-18 at 05:28 PM.
Reason: Attempting to upload images
And here's the driveline donor. A 2000 RZ in pearl white - one of only 175 made (assuming the interweb is correct).
A VERY rare car that I had real reservations not repairing, but that would have required 2 chassis rails, 1 strut tower, door and a right rear 1/4....and that's without investigating the thin layer of filler along the left hand side as well - so unfortunately its had a hard life and was already missing loads of correct parts. So with that aside I've set about bringing another not so rare RZ back to rotary life in the form of the black 98 in the previous post.
Build thread to begin once I get posting rights...
Welcome! My opinion is that I would take the part that you wanted from the white car and sell it as a roller to someone that will fix it. They are quite rare and someone will buy it and restore it to a usable condition.
The black FD looks like it would be fantastic to build. Bringing it back to a rotary engine is the right thing to do and I applaud you for that. Keep us updated on your progress!
Thanks! Yes I'll definitely hold on to everything until the build of the black one is near complete, as see what attention the leftovers get over here.
Having spent the good part of decade toying around with LS based stuff, it was tempting to slot in an LS7....but I just couldn't do it. Again, you can't deny the LS/LT are a great family of engines - just in the right setting.
The plan is to keep the exterior as OEM as possible - with a few exceptions. I have an original hood, new OEM headlight covers and front bumper - oh at some Advan GT 18 x 11's which are carefully being metal sculpted to fit all round keeping true to the original body lines.
I'm trying to avoid turning this into a build thread......but here's the the front right fender roughed out. You'll see from the first pic in the thread, that the previous owner seemed to struggle with the concept of buying wheels that fit.
His attempts to make the Work's fit made a mess of both fenders and rear lips, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to massage slightly for some extra rubber.
Nice work on the fender! I do agree that the LS based engines are fantastic engines and even more so in the right setting. I'm one of the guys against putting a V8 in an RX-7. I have always felt that way due to the car being designed for the rotary engine and for it being unique because of the rotary engine.
05-14-18, 01:05 AM
