piston engine in an rx7

[george1984]

im sure im going to piss alot of people off here but hey ho. i love the look of the rx7 buti dont like the idea of the rotory engine, its to expensive to run and maintain. i have been looking and a few american sites who do a chevy v8 conversion, this for me is still to expensive to run, would it be possible to fit a six cylider engine or a turbo'd four cylinder engine? i would be looking at fitting it myself and am not a mechanic but am quite handy with a spanner an have willing mechanic mates. so i am asking if anyone has done this and what would they recommend and some rough guide prices would be good too. cheers all.

[mr2-turbo-gar]

try www.2jzswap.com

enjoy!

Edited by mr2-turbo-gar on Saturday 16th May 01:05

[David Wiltshire]

I have a re-built rotary in my RX7 and I can assure you if it goes pop again I am putting one of the LS series V8's in it, if you go to the MRC website I started a thread about it and there are some interesting comments on there my name is the same on there and there are a lot of other threads as well.

[Panayiotis]

The rx7 is one of the sweetest handling cars out there, party due to the engine weight and size, but moreso due to engine positioning. If you are going to change the engine, and want to maintain the handling, then I would stick to a 4 cylinder like a sr20det or a 3sgte...actually I would stick with the rotary.

Edited by Panayiotis on Monday 18th May 12:47

[Wadeski]

a fully dressed rotary is actually pretty heavy, but its true its mounted very far back. Its not a huge shift to have a different engine in there though, and V8s are wide rather than long like an I-6

[papercup]

Wadeski said:

a fully dressed rotary is actually pretty heavy

do other engines not need to be fully dressed then?

[Wadeski]

as in with the turbos, intercooler etc.

[chuntington101]

LS engine have been done alot, and for good reasons! i think it depends on what you want.

How about a built 2.3ltr durtec turbo?? would be nice and light (95kg i think for the Duratec) and they are really good engines. also you could use the Mazda version to keep things in the family! lol

Chris.

[David Wiltshire]

There are quite a few people specialising in the LS series V8 conversions in this country. There are an extensive number of specialists in the States Hinson do a turn-key package complete with gearbox and all running gear the weight is not really that affected 50 kilos was a figure I read somewhere whilst doing my sums, don't bother with any other engine the LS is the engine of choice with some conversions pushing out 600+ BHP

[GravelBen]

I seem to recall some Jap endurance racers dropping SR20DET's in them.

[chuntington101]

David Wiltshire said:

There are quite a few people specialising in the LS series V8 conversions in this country. There are an extensive number of specialists in the States Hinson do a turn-key package complete with gearbox and all running gear the weight is not really that affected 50 kilos was a figure I read somewhere whilst doing my sums, don't bother with any other engine the LS is the engine of choice with some conversions pushing out 600+ BHP

yeah i hear its a pretty popular swap now. 600bhp is pretty easy with a LS7 or any other LS pushed out to or over 7ltr. however if you give them a little bit of boost they make BIG power!

Chris.

Here is a pretty special Twin turbo RX7..... http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-forced-inductio...

Edited by chuntington101 on Monday 18th May 13:28

[David Wiltshire]

I found out that there is a company here in the U.K. selling brand new LS series engines and a choice of gearboxs. But a member on the MRC website (Sparticus)I think actually got a breaker in the States to send him a secondhand low mileage pull-out as they call it and that was a reasonable price plus they sent him a video of it running prior to taking it out. You need to buy all the conversion kits from Hinsons though because they've been doing it for so long although another company called Grannys do one as well. Not too sure if I've got that name right but there is a site in the States dedicated to this type of conversion.

[philwhite]

Come on guys whats wrong with the Rotary they came with! They can be reliable if looked after (he says while touching wood!) and an RX7 isn't an RX7 without its rotary heart!

(Although i'd love to try one with an LS!)

[David Wiltshire]

Exactly I love my rotary engine at the moment as its only done about 2000 miles since a proper re-build. But if it goes pop again thats it I'm straight for the LS3 conversion no hesitation, hopefull by selling all the very expensive bits on the engine I may re-coup some money but I ask myself should it be called a 'Jank' after the conversion?
I'm no expert but I would have thought that the LS V8 is the only way to go on this one and I'm sure with a bit of searching you could source a pull-out from the States and get it over here for a couple of thousand.

Edited by David Wiltshire on Monday 18th May 21:46

[chuntington101]

/\/\/\/\ Dave there are a few guys in the UK that could sort you a monster engine out if you wanted. Boosted LS1 on here could build you anything from the mild to the totaly wild. Also i think the guy with the 427 ls1 engined RX7 fetured in PPC mag is on here.

Chris.

[cocopop]

philwhite said:

Come on guys whats wrong with the Rotary they came with! They can be reliable if looked after (he says while touching wood!) and an RX7 isn't an RX7 without its rotary heart!

(Although i'd love to try one with an LS!)

Don't be silly. They explode every few days, drink petrol and oil, and are just a bit crap. Everyone knows that

You'd have to be mad to actually own one.

[300bhp/ton]

george1984 said:

im sure im going to piss alot of people off here but hey ho. i love the look of the rx7 buti dont like the idea of the rotory engine, its to expensive to run and maintain. i have been looking and a few american sites who do a chevy v8 conversion, this for me is still to expensive to run, would it be possible to fit a six cylider engine or a turbo'd four cylinder engine? i would be looking at fitting it myself and am not a mechanic but am quite handy with a spanner an have willing mechanic mates. so i am asking if anyone has done this and what would they recommend and some rough guide prices would be good too. cheers all.

Can't see how a tuned V6 or turbo 4 pot would be any cheaper to run TBH. Might be easier to build in the UK, but even that's arguably.

My LS1 in a heavy Camaro does 22-25mpg with an auto box and air con. Sure it'd be better in a lightweight smaller car. WRX's and ST's don't do any better on fuel and I'm sure most V6's wouldn't either.

Besides a SBC will give you an easy 350hp without needing to do anything to the engine.

[David Wiltshire]

Thats why the LS series V8 is so popular most owners say the car is better on fuel if you think about it the RX7 weighs in at 12-1400kg depending on model has 50/50 weight distribution so all you are adding is say another 50Kg which is nothing to an engine pushing out an easy 350-400bhp.

[papercup]

David Wiltshire said:

Thats why the LS series V8 is so popular most owners say the car is better on fuel if you think about it the RX7 weighs in at 12-1400kg depending on model has 50/50 weight distribution so all you are adding is say another 50Kg which is nothing to an engine pushing out an easy 350-400bhp.

Its more than 50kg (you don't actually believe yanks on forums do you?), and some of it is north of the front axle. Lets not pretend it will weigh the same, or corner weight the same. That may not matter to some of you, or as a road car, but its not 'apples with apples'. The rotary engine is further back and lower and thats the advantage.

There is no RX-7 that weighs 1400kg. Standard Type R is 1250, Type X Touring is 1280.

Do you just make this stuff up David? You got burnt, sorry, it may not have been your fault but you bought a pup. My rotary has been making north of 400 horses for 4 years now on the same engine.

[David Wiltshire]

Thanks for filling in the details of the weights most helpfull, Just to get things quite clear I did not get burnt, I say to any potential owner of an RX7 on any forum ensure you have a sum of money spare in case of an engine re-build and if you look on the main website (MRC) you can draw your own conclusion. Well if you think the information on the American website which deals with the V8 conversion is all rubbish then fair enough the figures for corner weights etc are all there and I can't really see why they would give false information the only thing I can suggest to anyone is if you have any doubts go to the American sites and look and draw your own conclusion.
The American website is V8RX7 Forum. Just for further reference if you go to the MRC website and check under the various topics count up the number of re-builds required according to posts relating to this per month!

Edited by David Wiltshire on Tuesday 19th May 20:46