NeverDieEasy

iTrader: (5)

I bought my car with the intention of LSx swapping it immediately

NeverDieEasy

iTrader: (5)

double post

FDTC

here we go again... another Wankel vs v8 dispute! Does it really matter? if you love your car with a V8 or rotary engine then thats all that matters... the love for your car.

Von Hayden

When I crushed the front of the car cracking the rad, airbox,
Ac

Bumper

Rails

Rad support


= v8 time

funnyscreenname

iTrader: (7)

i first bought my FD thinking of building the rotary to be as reliable and fun as i could. i also wanna be able to daily the car if i decide. basically i just wanna unique, fun, & reliable car that can be DD if i want.

i don't know much about the rotary engines and friends have little experience with them as well. many of them have experience with different boost setups, engine swaps, v8's, v6's, and even 4cyl engines but not rotaries. the ones with rotary experience didn't have positive experiences. i love the thought of a nicely powered twin turbo'd FD but, i hate the thought of spending alotta money and something happening with the engine or one of it's components and the whole thing having to be pulled and rebuilt.

i wanna spend more time enjoying the car than building and then worrying what if. i want to be able to drive to and from the track, meets, and other events worry-free. for me, the LSx is more readily available and if i don't know the answer to an engine question, a friend usually does. most have done the mods i want to do and i greatly value their experience. for me, the LSx swap seemed like a better option for having a fun car i can drive for a long time to come. i can have the unique japanese styling with v8 power and reliability and still stand out from all the other cars in my area.

for those with the knowledge, talent, patience, and money to build high-powered rotaries, keep it up. in the end, to each his own. i enjoy modifying cars & seeing everyones creative builds.

uummm

For me, I bought my fc for the soul purpose of swapping it. They are pretty light weight and, for the route I'm going (4g63), inexpensive. I drove an '87 base for about 6 months before trading it for my non running '90 tII. I learned quite a bit about the rotary motor, however it is much easier (and cost effective) for me to maintain a 4g63 motor (I would say reliability could be another factor, but I know a properly taken care of rotary can last just as long as most piston motors). I'm not anti-rotary, it's just not for me. The styling, power to weight, and the handling/balance of these cars is why I was drawn to them.

AWD-RWD racer

iTrader: (5)

after my 2nd engine blew. then i weighed out the cost and for a stock ls1 i would have more hp and torque then i did with my rotary

sbnrx7

iTrader: (4)

I hate it when OP's don't finish/update their threads so I wanted to provide an update on which way I went....

What caused me to consider going LSX was the fact that my newly rebuilt engine (not by me) let go after 800 miles of no boost, engine break-in driving. After a year of trouble shooting misfiring, no secondary boost, and turbos that would heat up excessively at idle, I called a great guy named Dale Clark. He offered to take a drive over and help me find the problem. After a few hours of trouble-shooting with no answers he decided it was time for a compression test. Bad news. That's when reality hit. New rebuild required again after 800 miles.... The culprit was a side seal that bonded with the rotor (we found this months later when we broke down the engine).

After Dale left in his slick, black, triangle powered 94', I had to give it one last try. He kind of infects you with a rotor type of flu. He also offered to help me rebuild it which I took him up on. So here are a few current pics...


Side seal fail.



Stuck side seal



My rotor housing giving Dale a lap dance during re-assembly.



Ready to drop.






Vacuum after running 4 minutes at idle...ALS apex seals! Dale's building skills may have had something to do with it too...good mojo and what not.



How it sits after 24 miles of driving. Didn't want to get greedy by installing the hood.

drftinmx6

iTrader: (6)

you need to learn the limits of your motor and what "longevity mods" actually work. i bet if you had a set of ALS seals, an S5 rear iron and an xtreme rotaries, or even a turblown stud kit and a better tuner, you wouldn't have cracked your irons. if dowel pinning is not done correctly, then it is a useless mod. if you didnt have any studding or pinning done at all and your'e running an S4 motor then you should already know that it can't handle that kind of power. and if you're relying on water/meth injection then you should also realize that it's just another complex system with many points of failure that you have to keep in mind.

digitalsolo

iTrader: (2)

So, to sum it up, if you didn't have the most current magic gotta-have-its, your engine blows up. Of course, if you buy those and it blows up, it's because you didn't have the magic gotta-have-its that will come out in a few years and solve all the problems, or your tuner sucks, or you suck. Got it.

That's why I have a piston engine.

apsolus

iTrader: (2)

nice

b16eg

iTrader: (2)

like mentioned above, it shouldnt matter on what engine anyone wants to put in their car...its the fact that they love their RX7, and the way it looks. i think it is one of the sexiest cars made. its the passion for the car that matters, if someone wants to be unique and have fun with a different swap, let them

Todds94FD

I actually bought the car with the intentions of swapping. Roughly within a week or so of owning it, I had the car almost completely gutted preparing for the swap.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

In my 15 years of ownership I have come to the conclusion that is the owners that mainly **** these cars up (myself included). If I could do it all over again I would just have the basic boltons, keep the boost at 10 psi and steam clean the internals every 10K miles. Yeah the car would not be a streetmonster but it would be a car that I could beat on just as hard as any piston owner claims.

People like you are just as annoying as the rotary die hards. Rotary engines die for a logical reason not just because it is a rotary. If your rotary goes and you don't fix the root cause then guess what? It is gonna go again...


The big question is: Why did it fail?

digitalsolo

iTrader: (2)

First off, you apparently failed to gather the sarcastic overtone in my previous message, but regardless, you have to see the humor in the fact that you stated "if only you had used these parts, your engine would have been fine". I've been in this scene quite a while, and much as I would assume you have, I've seen the latest thing that will solve all the problems come and go, over and over.

I never stated the engine died because it was a rotary. I was tongue in cheek commenting on the fact that there is always another "fix" for the engine. Do you know what you fix on an LS1 to make it withstand 450-500 RWHP? The level of gas in the tank.

I still think an N/A 3 or 4 rotor is one of the best road race engines ever to exist. They just flat out take abuse, and are very well suited to that purpose. Turbocharging an engine that is so heavily sensitive to detonation will never sit well with me, but kudos to those that do and enjoy the challenge.

Don't mistake some playful joking for meaning that I dislike rotaries, and don't assume that simply because I don't build them that I'm not mechanically capable of it.

FWIW, this entire thread is mostly harmless bantering back and forth, which is why I leave it to exist here instead of deleting it. As long as it stays that way, it will stay unlocked.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

Fair enough, apparently I failed to catch the intent of your original post.

digitalsolo

iTrader: (2)

Vader

I decided to go LS1 for lots of reasons. I saw parts going up in price, and getting more rare. I also wanted a motor that more people (including myself) could work on. I wanted more longevity out of a motor. But really, the defining thing for me, was that the faster I made the car, the less fun it was to drive. Personally, I just realized that I couldn't deal with even the smallest amount of lag, and this is a personal preference. I also didn't like the fact that the power band was getting smaller and more intense. Plus, it ran dirty, and didn't even smell good while running dirty.
Now, while it's not the distinct rotary sound, my car sounds like a beast. It gives off that old school muscle car fuel smell. I have a really broad power band.
This all being said, if I had it all over to do again, I might have left the car rotary at that 300rwhp area, with the twins running sequencial. For me, every step i've made, takes the car away from the original amazingly responsive, well balanced identity it had.

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

I guess I will add something.

During my single swap a few years ago I really considered moving into an LSX. There really is something about the engine that I like. I spent $9k in parts to go single and didnt even rebuild the engine. Later, I wanted to turn up the boost on AI. Because I was running a 3-piece seal JDM engine, I needed to upgrade the core. Another $3500. Now, I am reaching my setups limit at 454whp@ 23psi but not quite satisfied with power. Time to upgrade again.....

I do forsee going LSX in the future, but not with my current car. I can see myself picking up a roller and giving it a try one day. The MB is my first FD, and it will always remain a rotary.

But I do sure like those LS engines

onefastrx7turbo

iTrader: (5)

I was sick of spending 5K to rebuild the engine with the same parts that failed to begin with. Lets face it, there is no magic key to having a reliable high HP rotary. They inherently fail because of the design. I love rotaries but you don't hear corvette owners saying "well I've pushed the motor up another 100hp so I'll be building a spare engine and then once that is done I'll save for the next rebuild". I want my money to go into mods, not buying engines every 30K miles.

mdpalmer

iTrader: (24)

doube post! whoops

mdpalmer

iTrader: (24)

I forgot about this thread lol. I posted earlier in here when I was planning my swap. Now that I've done it and the car has plenty of hard miles on it, track, auto-x, canyons, hwy pulls, you name it.... I absolutely love the car. Even more than before when it was rotary. It's everything I hoped it would be. Been almost 2 years since I got it running with the v8 (Feb 2011).

But like I said earlier, the best part for me is the instant and broad torque you get from the motor. Just goose the gas and the mf'er goes.... I love it.

You should see the looks I get from people and comments at gas stations and stoplights, and auto-x, and the track, car meets, it's hilarious. Some people actually recognize the rx7 body and they're like wtf... it sounds weird lol. Just the other day I was on the freeway in traffic and this huge lifted truck in the next lane over with a couple of meathead (not being a dick at all about the stereotype but they all looked like weight lifters or MMA fighters lol) looking guys said, "sick car bro, that an FD?" I said yup... so I rapped on the gas and they're all like wtf... I told them it had a v8 in it and I got a blank look back... then he goes: "that is so f'n badass. sick car bro."

I love my car

thethingthatshouldnotbe

Long story short; power to weight ratio. I have 375 to a 2700 pound car or 375 to a 4000 (my old T/A). To me it isn't about what v8 or what engine configuration.

automationLED

iTrader: (5)

i got my car last april, never drove it, dropped the motor out the next day, and sent it off to the bodyshop to get painted

last week, i found a local guy parting out his LS1 swapped FD on craigslist, met him at my friend's shop and threw it on the dyno for 2 baseline pulls, made 425whp and 370wtq, never test drove it, i said i'll take it and he dropped the motor out the next day

it's been almost 1 year since i got the car, i've never driven a FD or a LSx powered vehicle, i just know what i want haha

frijolee

iTrader: (1)

Oldie but a goodie... Right on.

Rotaries may not have many moving parts but they have a great many failure critical systems.

I decided to go v8 after I realized that I was having less fun with my car simply because I didn't trust the rotary to take a flogging day in and day out. I had to wait for it to fully warm up and wait for it to cool down. I was always waiting for a oil line to blow or a vacuum leak that would screw up my tune. A rotary makes you paranoid. There really is something to be said for the "keep it simple stupid" build methodology. I wanted to have something that I could put away wet and not think about.

I don't miss the rotary. IMHO, it was an interesting science project and the animation is still mesmerizing.



Yet, if you want to make it move out you have to go turbo (more failure points yet) or else exotic (20B etc). My first RX7 was an FD with the full M2 engine setup at 14 psi on stock twins. I've also driven cars with stout single setups. They can be fast, some very much so, but it's frustrating to step down on the go pedal and then wait while the power swells up underneath you. Can you learn to drive around it? Yes. Is it still a gutless tiny little engine down low? Yes.

At the end of the day, I wanted to make good power with a relatively stock engine and keep it naturally aspirated. The v8 was the best means to that end I found. N/A anything is a great way to de-complicate your car and end up with a nice flat power band. I'd be curious what an N/A 20b feels like, but that's one expensive engine to only make 250 or rwhp stock. No I never wanted a crazy bridge port.

FWIW I never did blow a rotary but I have lost an LS1 to an oil starvation problem on a road course (maintenance errors can kill any engine). That said, I also have driven events with a v8 that I never would have trusted the rotary enough to even try. Dropping in the LS1 I quadrupled my displacement, tripled my horsepower, and my gas mileage went up. That just seems to violate the laws of nature but it's true.

The crux is this: you go v8 when your frustration, envy, wallet, or logic tells you you'd be having more fun and/or going faster with pistons. The most telling argument is that no one ever goes back.