I'm working on my son-in-law's 1988 RX7 convertible with a bad engine which is non turbo and a manual trans. I have the opportunity to swap in a newer non turbo generation 2 engine. I understand the 88-92 motors have more horsepower than a 86-88 but is it still that easy to do?
Or is there more to it like different electronic controls? Any advice or guidance is appreciated. I've tried a search but don't know the right keywords.

Bill

 

The electronics and wiring are completely different. The simplest way is to take only the S5 ('89-'92) keg and re-use all of the rest of the S4 parts. (manifolds, TB, sensors, etc...). You would also need to swap front covers to retain the mechanical oil metering pump. There's some info here: http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...o_s4_swap.html. The downside to this is that you'll lose the S5 intake manifold, which is the source of the S5's power gain. If you choose to retain it, you'll need to modify a number of things to make it fit.

The hard way is to re-wire everything that connects to the ECU. The plugs are different shapes and the wires are in totally different orders.

There's a link here w/ some info too: http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...o_s4_swap.html