I love these threads! To bad I just found it, all the good stuff's been covered.

I noticed earlier that weight was of discussion. My '87 TII, '00 LS1 / T56 car weighs 70lbs LESS in front NOW.

My front end actually raised up just a bit, causing a re-alignment.

I did my conversion because I got tired of screwing with keeping my 13b alive. Sure, it was running some boost, and 850cc secondaries, exhaust, cold air and more,but.....

Now, I have a boatload more power, better mileage (27 on Interstate), cleaner exhaust, and gets mad crazy attention anywhere I go.

 

If you have turbo and it is a convertible like your post says then it is not "perfectly street legal in CA" as you have stated because in the USA, the convertible RX-7 did not come from the factory with a turbo option and all non-factory engine modifications that do not have a C.A.R.B. # are illegal.

The only way it would be legal to have a turbo RX-7 convertible in California is to have the car certified as an "engine swap" by C.A.R.B. (California Air Resource Board).

 

AMEN BROTHER!!!!

You're preaching to the choir

 

That sounds good but what does that mean?

Are you saying I’m hurting the car’s feelings?

Let me ask you this:

Did the guys in southern California in the 1950’s that were hot rodding ford model T’s disgrace the souls of Fords?

Did Shelby disgrace small English cars by putting in a ford V8 and then call it a Cobra?

My point:

The only thing us V8 RX-7 guys are doing is building modern day Hot Rods in the same spirit of those in the 50’s who did similar things for the same reasons. We are using a great car that are plentiful and cheap and then we are sticking in domestic V8 engines because they are powerful, plentiful and cheap. If we thought RX-7s sucked why would we be sticking V8s in them? so what is the problem?

 

My car recently thanked me for the transplant. It was getting tired of going under the knife so often. After one big operation, it's all done for quite a while.

Its soul is much happier now. Do you know how many RX7's go to the junk heap just because they don't run anymore? A LOT! Most V8 RX7's are either saved from death, like mine, or brought back from death.

At night, I can hear my '87 LS1 RX7 telling my '88 'vert how much better things are now, stories of all the attention it gets, races it wins. Listen closely, and you'll hear, "little brother (only 1 yr age difference) I only hope that when your soul gets tired, you get as lucky as me. I love dad for this final heart transplant. I owe him my life, and will do anything to make him happy."

A man does that car make me happy! I drove it as a rotary since '90. Beleive me, it's soul has not been offended!

 

LOL There is no replacement for displacement. I love my 7 and I love my V8.

 

Whoah...I just played around with some numbers...

an 87 Rx7 base model with an LS1 swap and a Vortech intercooled SC will run 10s!! Well, you have to add a T2 rear end and some sticky *street tires*, but right that combo is good for 10 sec swaps and - get this - will be CA smog legal! I challenge anyone to come up with a 10 second car that will pass CA smog, be somewhat reliable, can be built under 15k, and look cool as well. This is on a stock engine with *just a SC*.....nothing else. I know what I'm gonna do when my engine blows.

Smog is a big, big, BIG concern to me. Mostly because cops in Cali love giving out tickets for non CARB equipped equipment. U get caught with a non-approved turbo, no cat, etc and it's a BIG fine.

 

god what an overused expression! come on, there are other ways of making more power other than just more cubes for god's sake! intelligence, tuning, those are replacements. however, what happens when you add those two together? hmmm......
btw, anyone with an ls1 in their 7, how much that conversion cost total? that could be interesting when i get older and need a quieter car.

 

yes ....Mark @ Thewrongmotor.com

 

Intelligence? Yes I think I use that, after travelling with the CART series for 8 years and the SCCA's World Challenge series for the last 3 I've seen and worked on just about everything. I didn't want to bring technical jargon nor seem overly fluent technically in this laughable volley of posts.

 

i guess i took that a little too seriously, and judged too soon. although this thread is a little "laughable," as you stated, i think some of the points were rather good and well thought out. i was not trying to insult you or your experience, it's just that everytime i hear that statement it's been said in an absolute sense and without much consideration of other ways to make power.

 

I think this is a first ...... we finally got someone to call "all of us" idiots

 

our meager minds pale in comparison to such an unrelenting, powerful intellect. wow, i need to put the thesaurus back!

 

Everyones comments should be taken in a light-hearted tone, point taken and understood lol

 

Great thread guy's... really enjoying it, so I thought I'd add my 2c.

There seems to be a lot of comparison between a modern alloy V8 and a 10 to 30 year old rotor here. Fact is the piston engine has had light years more R&D put into it than the rotary. So if you want to replace a Wankle engine that hasn't changed much since 1973 with a current light weight V8, then go ahead it makes sence.... but you'll never catch me doing it .

The Renisis is the best we have for putting the latest technology in the RX-7. Tuner shops in Japan are already building bolt on turbo kits that take it to over 600 HP!! No idea on reliability yet, but If I were to replace the 13BREW in my RX-7, it would be a Renisis and it would out perform any current V8 for power and weight.

Cheers

 

Not hardly. Someone driving that LS1 doesnt know how to drive. There is almost no possible way an N/A could beat an LS1 Z in an all out race. Maybe...with a 100 shot of juice, full bridgeport, every modification under the sun the N/A might have a chance.....

 

Your Camaro must have had "special problems."

 

I agree 100% with you .... but now lets take this one step further....

take that same LS1 and stick it in a car that is 500 lbs. lighter than a Camaro. then you can start to understand where us V8 RX-7 guys are coming from

 

if you put a v8 in an rx7, you loose 50/50 wieght. So why not leave the v8s in the camaros and mustangs.

 

Simple 13BT engine swap. Perfectly legal in CA and easy to get the CARB cert for it, if you can show you still will meet the emissions and the motor is the same year or newer, and by retaining the stock layout of the emissions controls.

I drove a NA vert for several months before I swapped motors. I found the HP actually to be quite decent in stock form. Very simular to the Miata. I built my 'vert to be comparible to a new S2000 or Z3 or Boxster.

I drive a sports car for the balance. I don't drive a Shelby Cobra and frankly would not ever own one. It is one of the worst balanced sports cars out there. yet it has your 300+ HP and Torque. Same thing with the M version of the Z3. Poor vehicle dynamics because of the Goobs of HP. If you have driven one you might understand why the majority of professional drivers and car reviewers came to the conclusion much like myself that the M version of the Z3 to be a worse handling, less balanced car than the 2.3 versions with a hundred HP less.

I don't rule out HP... I rule out unbalanced, over engined cars.

And no, I haven't driven a V8 RX-7... But I have driven now a GNX engined one in Texas a couple months back, so I am assuming it has very simular dynamics and power. I was radically disapointed in the loss of balance, even though the owner claimed (like you do) that the motor is lighter, further back and lower than the 13B would be.

But your car and tastes are different than me. It appears that you like the raw HP and straightline performace, while I find a car with HP balanced to its handling and traction to be the ultimate. Nothing wrong with either, except it sounds like you would find my car too slow, and I would find yours too unbalanced.

Note: as I comment on balance (as I have many times on this board) I refer to the overall package, of the engine, body, suspension, all equally working together in harmony to provide a entertaining to drive package. Great examples of this are the FC GTUs and Sport, the Z3, the Miata, the 993, 96+ 3 and 5 series BMWs, the Toyota AE86 and Mk2 MR2. Poor examples of this include the Shelby Cobra, the Mustang, the GM Fbody, almost all lambos.

 

you have learned well young grasshoppa

 

Icemark,

I understand where you are coming from, and I respect your comments about what “you” want out of “your” car. However, I just grow tired of these threads calling us V8 RX-7 owners idiots just because our opinion of the perfect car differs. To be honest, if the North American RX-7 convertible came with a turbo as a factory option, I would probably own one. Even yourself have acknowledged that the N/A convertible RX-7 is underpowered due to the fact that you converted yours to a turbo. I also considered a turbo swap myself but what it takes to convert a N/A to a Turbo II is almost as much work as a V8 swap.

I hang out on these RX-7 forums not to “advocate” that anyone should rip out there rotary engine and install a V8. I hang out on RX-7 forums because I like RX-7 regardless of what’s under the hood and about 50% of the topics/threads are still apply to my car.

 

my V8 RX-7 convertible with me in the car weighs 50.5 front and 49.5 rear (I had it corner scaled) and yes I have heard all the arguments about how the weight is placed differently and higher and blah blah etc. Maybe that is true but my car is still lighter and better handing then any domestic V8 I could buy. I like domestic "V8s" but there is not a domestic "car" from the mid 1970's to the mid 1990's that I like.

 

you know, all these v8 swaps are getting me thinking. why stick with just domestic v8's when we can go foreign. forget weight balance, handling and blablabla. how about a ferrari v8, or a m5 engine. what about a tvr straight6? so many choices, so much money! just to let you guys know, i don't think any of you are idiots, and respect how well-mannered you've stayed throughout this thread.

 

And I'm sure all those engines are stupidly expensive.