I'm just curious as to what point did anybody decide to drop in a V8 in lieu of the rotary. I think I'm getting close to that point. I can only spend so much money and post so many threads trying to solve my RX7's problems.

 

Dude, go LS1. end your troubles and go with an engine more reliable with better modding possibilities. sucks having a car your scared to drive because you know something will go wrong.

 

You would have better luck posting on a v8rx7 forum.

 

or crushing your car.

 

This post is not for another forum. I've been a member here for several years and have met, and received great advice from, some fantastic people on this RX7 forum. I'm just getting to a point where I'm asking myself when is enough, enough? I love thought of keeping my car a rotary but the cost is starting to get out of hand.

 

If the car cost is getting out of hand, you should re-evaluate your financial priorities. I'm not trying to be an a$$ but the car only costs whatever amount of money you put into it.

If the RX is too expensive for you to own atm then SELL IT. A LS swap isn't cheap and will not solve anything.

 

Lol put the guns down.... i really just meant youd obviously get a better response in a community that soley focuses on v8rx7s. Reality is 7club for the better part is still rotary dominant.

Its never "enough" piston or rotary. The cost should be the last concern, its still a 90s sports car, things will break and it will always be financially demanding.

 

I can see why some do it, for example if you live in the middle of nowhere with no good shop for hundreds of miles that would ever be the only reason for me to do it but. ive never had any motor issues with the 3 rotaries that i owned so i will always have one in my car. the V8 has never an never will be an option for me if i wanted one i would sell the FD and buy a C6 Z06.

 

When people lose their ***** . Sell the car and buy a mustang or corvette. No offense but it seems like the individuals that have the most trouble with these cars (or any car for that matter) is the result of the owner. It's kind of like when someone owns a disobedient dog or child...it's a reflection of the owner/parent.

Maybe you bought the car like this, well then sell it and buy a lower mileage well kept FD. Or have a respectable shop such as IRP build your motor. Most people buy these cars with a motor built be Joe Smoe no name BS shop and wonder why the motor fails after 5,000 miles. It's hard to come by a shop that's a 100% competent when building these motors or working on these cars...sad but true.

Fact is this car is a sports car and will take a certain amount of money to maintain and or upkeep. These cars are 13-15 years old. Regardless of what the car is, at that age it will need financial TLC.

I suggest you analyze your financial situation and read this in its entirety:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/making-case-rotary-powered-fd-fix-806104/

Good luck

 

I think most on here have a breaking point and it seems when some break they sell the car to another rotary enthusiast or they go V8. Personally I don't think I could ever put a V8 in mine. It is really a part of why I like the car so very much. Like posted above, if I wanted a V8 I would have purchased a vette. I grew up all around vettes, and I love em. But I did not purchase one b/c I wanted something different.

I think after a few motors in a short period of time would drive most on here to ask the same question you are asking. V8 or give up and sell it?? That is the question. Really if you lived somewhere it was difficult to get help or a good motor built or a good tune it would make that decision easier. BUT you live in an area known for having reliable options for both (FL). If you keep having problems then I would just get the car to someone experienced, have them fix it (cheaper than a V8 swap) and then just maintain the car and have fun driving it. If a roatary is set up correctly and maintained properly, you should be able to beat on in for years.

I keep hearing wonderful things from DavidHayes here on this board about a shop in Orlando. No matter where you live in FL, Orlando should not be much more than 4hrs away. Contact david and get the name of the shop. The shop also does engine conversions so maybe you can discuss that with them as well.

For the record I think you should stick it out with the rotary, or buy yourself a great little vette.

 

Hi

I read this and i have to say that in Portugal there are no shops that can do an engine rebuild and give warranty and a friend of mine that has one FD Rx7with 350 HP, has an engine problem few years ago and what he did was ship the engine to USA and them the shop send it again to him....

how many miles is between both countries?????

If you like your car, you will do anything to keep it like that and rotary is unique.

Thanks

Filipe

 

Do some research, there are a ton of threads discussing the pro's and con's to it. Search on the V8 forum and you will get bias towards doing it, search on here and you get bias the other way. I am glad I did my swap cause it better suits what I use the car for and my year to year budget for my racing addictions. I still love the rotary and wish I could just buy an almost stock one and just drive it on the street. But for tracking, the V8 has suited me very well.

For those saying to "just get a vett" if you want a V8, this is just a dumb argument due to the fact that vett's are fugly, heavy and interiors are still set in the 70's. It really sounds like you are putting down the looks, handling and just absolute uniqueness of the rx7 by saying, buy a vette if you don't like the motor.

 

The problem is, you can do everything right and still have issues. Plenty of members have been down that road, including myself.

I am doing the swap out of curiousity mainly. I didnt really reach a breaking point, just wanted to try something different. For the money, there isnt a car that compares to an fd. So if i can add some realiability to the awesome body lines of the car, then its a bonus. Honestly im worried that i wont like the v8 swap once im done. Nothing can replace the feel of a single turbo fd power band.

-Austin

 

Rotaries are generally reliable if they are setup correctly in the first place (No corners cut) & well looked after.

I would never go V8 - You couldn't pay me to

 

I couldn't agree more.

I think something along the lines of a "two sides" type of deal:

A) This guy really likes the particular V8
B) This guy has a string of misfortunes and gives up

I honestly think there are guys who continually break the car due to being a cheap-*** and eventually give up.

 

Spoken like a real true thrifty guy.

 

I have had 1 and am swapping another one at the moment. In my first car I had a 14k Virginia Speed 402 that was built to make 1200rwhp. Not everyone is happy with 500rwhp, shitty power curves and laggy turbos. My car lost 112 pounds after I swapped it and took weight out of it. The weight distrabution was 49/51 so don't say I screwed that up. It ran bottom tens in the quarter mile on the motor and ran circles around everything when I autox'd it, I dont know how to drive either lol.

 

A lot of people like the lines of the RX7 more than the rotary itself. To each his own. I didn't buy a vette because I liked the look of the RX7 much better; I didn't buy a vette because I wanted something different. I did the swap because I wanted something even more different. Don't get me wrong, I've had two RX7s with rotaries, one with the stock twins and one with a single T60-1. I will admit, driving under boost is an experience no one should be deprived of at least once in their lifetime. At the same time, if you've never driven a 2800 pound car with the torque and power of an LS1/LS2, you really can't compare. It's retarded to compare a heavy mustang, corvette, or GTO against a V8-powered RX7.

This is an old and tired argument. If you haven't done the swap, or at least driven an LSx-RX7, you don't have the necessary experience to make an informed reply to the OP. He's not asking what the benefits/drawbacks are since there are hundreds of other places to get that information already. He simply asked for personal experiences with breaking points. If you haven't reached a breaking point, you don't need to reply because saying "I would never do it" adds nothing useful.

To answer the OP: I had a pretty decent rotary setup (street port, T60-1, FMIC, PowerFC, MP, DP, etc). However, being in the military, I move around so much that it's hard to find a good rotary shop in so many different places. As the majority of places I can be posted to are in the south and get extremely hot, cooling was an issue for me (Six weeks at FT Bragg, NC in July/August demonstrated just how difficult it would be to keep the temps from spiking). I had about 10k on a rebuild when a coolant seal popped. My car sat for a couple years while I was deployed. When I got back, I wanted to enjoy DRIVING the car more than constantly tinkering with it. If you really love to tinker with your car, the rotary is perfect. I love working on my car and am constantly improving it, but I like to be able to drive it even more. That's when I decided to go with the LS2. Now I have a six-speed with 383 rwhp (and PLENTY of room to grow) with much better low-end torque and handling that is just as good as before (battery to the back, AC deletion, no turbos/FMIC, etc).

I don't mean to sound confrontational; I don't care what anyone does to his/her car. There are some things that are quite outside my taste range, but I don't take it as a personal insult to my own car based on what other people do to theirs as some people seem to do when they hear about LS swaps. What I don't like is the use of faulty logic and arguments that insult my intelligence through the assumption that I'll actually buy it. The whole, "I love my rotary because it's unique and will never swap because of that" is moot because my LS2 RX7 is even more unique than your rotary RX7... not being a dick... I'm just saying. The weight ratio argument is equally insulting as it's been disproved as well.

 

Well put my friend! Do what makes you happy!
I love my rotary, but my next move will be an LS2 swap!

 

I dont know what that stuff means, sorry mate. If you were taking a stab at me for calling the other guy `thrifty`.. well i didn't get it ;-\


I think the only "domestic" thing I know, in terms of lingo, would be "holly double pumper".. Outside of that - I honestly couldnt follow a domstic-only conversation in terms of brand names or jazz like that.

 

I said what I said because not everyone does the swap for thrift reasons. A rotory guy arguing with an ls swapper is equivalent to an Ls guy arguing with a Big block chevy guy about how much power the powerplants can make. At the end of the day the Big block will make more power without leaning on it as hard because it is Bigger!!! There isn't very many guys going that fast with rotory's, there is definitly some out there but they are scarce.

 

+1.

 

I also agree with you. I also build, tune and only work on rotarys. This is a very good NON BIAS/ROTARD comparisson of the 2.

 

i would rather have a ls1/ls2 just a cam and other bolt ons and tuned,, it be in the 10s and still be reliable and get 26mpg in city.

for cost to make rotary go fast will be fortune
THIS IS A EXAMPLE
an average lets say in example $10,000 all tuned 13b any port ,and make 800hp runs like 10sec. it wont be streetable

in a ls1/ls2/lm7/lq4,etc,, u spend $10,000 on that motor and make 900hp and **** load of torque and be in the low 9sec and even 8sec and still be streeable with a/c and still get around 24mpg

id rather drive a car and dont worry about it,,, then seeing it in the garage and driving it in the weekends.
how i see its cost vs. power and depenabilty.. just my .02 cents

 

Initial cost will be about the same actually. However, if you keep the car for a long while, the V8 will end up being cheaper to maintain.

My car runs 10s with the rotary and I drive it to costco and to work. Its totally streetable to be honest. Yeah, I get like 10 miles a gallon but who cares about gas milage when you're making 500whp.

You're exaggerating a bit but I know what you mean. The V8 superior in almost all aspects.