My FC had a blown rotor when I bought it and my FD had no motor at all. I saved them both from the junkyard. It was simpler, cheaper, and more interesting for me to put V8's in them. I bought them because I like RX7's, not because of the fact that they had a rotary. I could care less about "heritage" and I don't keep anything I own stock. I want a car that will make ME happy, not something that should be an a museum.

To each his own, that's the bottom line. I don't care for vertical doors and I think a convertible FD would look like ***. But that's my opinion. I don't expect you to change yours, and I won't tell you that an FD was always a hardtop because that's they way it SHOULD be. You're welcome to tell me to STFU too. I don't mind

 

the reason i dont go to 7club meets...

 

Luckily, the group that we get together around here every month is pretty cool. I have heard a few "I could never do that" comments but nobody has ever said something bad about either of my cars. If anything, I'd say most of the group has basically said "Bad ***!" and given congratulations on the "coolness" of the idea.

And I really don't think those who have said they wouldn't do it have said so for reasons of "keeping the god-blessed rotary" in there. More likely, the majority don't have the time, space, tools, knowledge or the desire to make the change. It's not for everyone, and it's not THAT easy. It takes dedication to follow up on all the details (I still haven't worked everything out on mine).

When you're done though... it definitely gets attention. And you're glad you did it.

I have total respect for those that can keep a rotary running and healthy, especially those that answer questions that I have about them. If I were better with rotaries maybe I'd still have one, who knows?

 

I am currently looking to do the same conversion and plan to do it myself. Some people dont like change or evolution. The RX7 went out of production because of price vs reliabilty. The twin turbos were overly complex to say the least. A LS1 powerd RX7 whether FC or FD is a better balanced and more powerful car. Take any RX with say 350 HP vs a LS1 w/the same hp and that LS is going to win that race. Thats straight , auto x , road course , dead stop or from a roll. Its called torque and the rotary has none. I say to each there own but if you're a purist then you do no mods at all and leave her stock. Realistically you never get back the money you in mods when selling them. Its all about enjoyment , personalization and speed. A fast RX is a fast RX no matter whats under the hood !

 

Question for you:

Cost of swap?
HP and torque output?
Did you justify handling at all?

I would love to do a V8 swap. You have one torque monster RX-7, and one highway monster RX-7. Best of both worlds!!!

 

Mine is a bad example if you want to know what it would cost for a "whole" car. I bought a rolling chassis missing a LOT of parts, and I did a few things that most don't have to do.

I haven't put the car on the dyno yet, but with the cam I've got it should be in the neighborhood of 375hp/425tq to the rear wheels. I also have a NX nitrous kit that isn't installed yet, but should bump those numbers by 125 or so once it's in.

For handling, all I really can say is everyone that's done the LS1 swap has said it doesn't change at all. Several cars have been corner-weighed and show a 51/49 bias, and one swapped car pulled the highest g-reading on a skidpad in the Sport Compact Car Challenge a few months back.

Here's a rough outline of cost so you'll have a better idea, but check out the V8RX7 section of torquecentral.com and you'll find several threads dedicated to this topic. You can see that a huge amount has nothing to do with the engine swap so it shouldn't really be factored in for what you're asking.

$3500 -Rolling chassis

4699 - motor, trans, accessories, PCM, wiring harness, driveshaft
500 - HPTuners software/cable
150 - driveshaft modification
1400 - Hinson engine/trans mounting kit, radiator, fans

300 - replacement hood and door
150 - replacement fender
200 - replacement taillights
139 - battery
59 - battery relocation
400 - Autometer gauges
3150 - full paint job
895 - headlight conversion kit
1400 - wheels/tires
350 - assorted missing interior parts
400 - drag launch kit (diff bushings and trailing arms) - installed
100 - RE turn signals
140 - R1 front lip

800 - new camshaft/valvesprings installed
250 - nitrous kit (not installed yet)

 

MAN, Joey, you've got some good deals on a lot of those parts :p

 

Joey,let me know when you want to dyno the car.Brian at eld is getting one put in the new shop right now.We can get in there and play on all you want--lol.

 

If I ever get the wiring cleaned up, the nitrous installed, the clutch adjusted, the bushings that will hopefully show up sometime before summer, an alignment, the throttle cable adjusted, the missing interior parts replaced.....


The list is long and my garage is packed with boxes. No clue when I can get to the car and actually accomplish anything. Hopefully soon though.

 

That's actually not very bad. And those hp/tq numbers are all motor. Yeah, yeah, don't tell me about displacement, I argue about it all the time!