Originally Posted by FD3S2005 (Post 7522124)

sell the car if you think about going ls dont ruin a good car.... also pettit racing engine does hold really strong.. a friend of mine has a motor by pettit and he drifts his car which is still holding strong and he has a ic with no ducting and still runs great...

Originally Posted by XxMerlinxX (Post 7522425)

I really tormented myself over what to do once my engine was blown. It came down to all the things that nagged me about the rotary.

1. No torque. Low to mid-range, it's just not there.
2. 3k hesitation. I didn't enjoy the dip I got every once in a while. Definitely didn't enjoy the bucking.
3. Vacuum Tubes. The rats nest is a pain in the ass no matter what you do to it.
4. Transmission. The car really should've come with a 6 speed.
5. Parts. If something broke, I'd have to wait on the parts to come in, there's nothing readily available.
6. Repairs. Nobody near me really knew how to work on it. I don't have the space/time to learn everything I need to know so that I could work on it myself.
7. Coolant Seals. I was always worrying about them.
8. Apex Seals. I was always worrying about them.
9. Tuning. If the tuning isn't spot on, there are plenty of more problems that can crop up on you, many of which lead to a new engine.
10. Boost leaks. Not always easy to find.
11. Boost problems. There are so many and lots of them have the same symptoms. Can also lead to a new engine.
12. Heat. You could use the engine bay as a pottery kiln if you wanted to.

And then it also came down to all the things I hated about the V8.

1. It's huge.
2. It's American. Nothing against American products, but this is a Japanese car. No, not just a car, a legend. Just doesn't feel right putting that in there.
3. It's redneck. Dag gum bo, whatchew got in thur? Won of them thar camaro engines! YEEEOOOOP!
4. It has a deep exhaust note as opposed to a high pitched japanese sound. Not that I really enjoyed the sound of "God's Chainsaw", but still.
5. It'll attract just as much attention as the rotary, but probably more so from the domestic crowd.
6. I have to learn about conventional piston engines again.
7. Now when I'm at the gas station and someone asks me if it has a V8, I'll have to say yes.
8. It doesn't rev to 8200rpm. At the moment it doesn't, maybe some day it might.

But then I contrasted the two.

1. The V8 has a lot more horsepower in stock form than the rotary.
2. The V8 can make a lot more horsepower in a more reliable way.
3. Won't take much work to get it into the 400-500hp range while staying N/A.
4. Will be able to use 150hp shot of N2O to get it into the 600hp range.
5. Cheaper to work on.
6. Easier to work on.
7. Parts are a lot easier to find.
8. Weight distribution won't be off by much, if any at all.
9. Torque.
10. No Apex seals.
11. Will run for a lot longer than 100k miles before needing a rebuild.
12. Good gas mileage.

So it basically comes down to what you want to use the car for. I'm mainly doing it for the reliability and the power/cost ratio. I fully intend to get another FD some day and keep it in stock form, but until then, I'll have this. I understand the argument that what makes a rotary unique, is the rotary, but that's simply not the case here. The FD is unique for many other reasons, it's handling, it's looks, it's feel. The engine really is only one part of the whole and I love the whole of the car, not just the engine, so I wanted to keep it instead of getting something else.

Originally Posted by MrNizzles (Post 7523063)

1. No torque! yah, thats what everyone says :lol2:
2. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
3. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
4. 6 speed, you're kidding right?
5. I hear Ray Malloy at that Mazda Dealership can get it all, fast and cheap too!!
6. Lots of people here know how to work on them or if its just a motor rebuild you need, pull it, ship it, get it setup with NS and put it back in.
7. Proper Maintenance = less worry. dont be a woman :)
8. Proper Maintenance = less worry. dont be a woman :)
9. It's not rocket science, just get good information.
10. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
11. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
12. no pottery lessons today. Ceramic coat a few goodies, put in some air ducting for that shiny new radiator and a quality oil cooler probably wouldn't hurt. alum ast,
13. don't overboost and run lean.

Sounds like you want to run at the track allot, so simplifying it will remove most of what you complain about.

Originally Posted by MrNizzles (Post 7523063)

1. No torque! yah, thats what everyone says :lol2:
2. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
3. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
4. 6 speed, you're kidding right?
5. I hear Ray Malloy at that Mazda Dealership can get it all, fast and cheap too!!
6. Lots of people here know how to work on them or if its just a motor rebuild you need, pull it, ship it, get it setup with NS and put it back in.
7. Proper Maintenance = less worry. dont be a woman :)
8. Proper Maintenance = less worry. dont be a woman :)
9. It's not rocket science, just get good information.
10. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
11. UH, get some BNR's and go Non Seq OR go single.
12. no pottery lessons today. Ceramic coat a few goodies, put in some air ducting for that shiny new radiator and a quality oil cooler probably wouldn't hurt. alum ast,
13. don't overboost and run lean.

Sounds like you want to run at the track allot, so simplifying it will remove most of what you complain about.

Originally Posted by XxMerlinxX (Post 7523313)

1. They say it because it's true.
2. I don't want to spend $7k-$8k, make 400-500hp, but still have the rest of the problems.
3. Refer to #2.
4. Not kidding at all. Many people agree that it should've had a 6-speed.
5. Still takes a week or so to get parts from Ray, though he's definitely the cheapest.
6. In California, sure, but not around here.
7. Even with proper maintenance, they can still let go on you.
8. Refer to #7.
9. Tuning for a stock or near stock car isn't hard. Tuning a fully built single setup or even a fully built sequential system is.
10. You still get boost leaks, even with BNR's or other singles.
11. Refer to #10.
12. Never had a chance to run ceramic.

I went LS1. Greg's finishing up the car right now, we're just waiting on the radiator and fan, then we'll have to take it to an exhaust shop and we should be good to go after that. It's got a new cam, ls6 intake, and underdrive pulley. I'm shooting for 400 to the ground to start off with, but I'll probably make a smidge under that. With new heads, headers, and a small shot, I should be able to easily make 600hp.

Originally Posted by 3rd Gen Jeremy (Post 7517950)

Steve Kan tuned it. Hard to argue with his reputation.

Originally Posted by GoodfellaFD3S (Post 7524156)

I'll be curious to see if all you guys are happy with your camaro-engined RX-7s a year from now. Keep us posted ;)

Originally Posted by 3rd Gen Jeremy (Post 7517900)

Ok so I bought the car in October of 06, the previous owner tells me that the motor was rebuilt 5000 miles ago ( I know I know) and I built the hell out of the car, rebuilt the sequential setup (it was non-seq), put new turbos, fuel system, PFC tuned by Steve Kan, etc etc.

I had it tuned in February and so begins the racing season in the midsouth. It survived the season, for the most part, and did pretty well for me. On the first day of a 2 day autocross event, the last of the season, I chipped an apex seal. The car still ran great at the top end but idled like crap and had no low end power, not like it had much to begin with. Did the compression test and the front rotor has a chipped apex seal, the turbos were unaffected as they still show the same boost pattern at the same rpm and don't have any problems.

The point of this thread is that unless someone can convince me otherwise, I'm gonna put an LS1 swap in it. I really had my heart set on a ported motor from Gotham but now I'm wondering if even that would hold up to the racing that I put that car through. I've got about 8 - 9k in aftermarket parts under the hood so the swap would be an excercise in breakeven accounting after I sell my rotary stuff. The ported motor with all the options would be 4k. In order to stay rotary, I would have to fork over 4k plus have a motor that nobody can guarantee will get me through any more than 2 seasons (I drag race, road race and autocross).

Just contemplating it I feel like I'm ripping the soul out of my car but it just makes economic sense in the long run to put the ls-1 in it. In the short run I'll have more power with the rotary but in the long run I'll probably make more power more reliably with the v8.

I'm asking you to convince me to keep a 13B in the car.

Here come the flames... I'll go put on my Nomex right now!

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

Originally Posted by joe-c (Post 7524339)

i feel your pain cause i got my car and it had a reman motor in it with 5k on it then i drove it for 1k and all highway miles. then started smelling that sweet smell from the exhaust. then when i pulled the manifold off coolant came out. car was bought from fritz flynn.

Originally Posted by RX7 RAGE (Post 7518018)

keep it real, keep it reliable, keep it rotary ;)

Originally Posted by 2FAST7S (Post 7524307)

Yeah, why buy an RX-7 if you dont want it????? Hell, why do we get such a hard time? Stress the hell out of any engine and have a variable ify and what happens? IT BLOWS UP JUST THE SAME!!!!

So piston engines endure a bit more detonation than we do, gimme the same amount of cash for r & d and I'll beat you...yes its that simple!

LOL

Originally Posted by txturbogs (Post 7524563)

then it goes to Hinson cause I gotta pay to play, LOL.

Originally Posted by RotaryResurrection (Post 7524603)

Hope you're ready to wait...like a year. Let me know how that works out for you.