option E.....

[alxlaw]

.... sr20det, whole thing inc all ancillerys, uprated turbo, manifold, intercooler gearbox, ecu and much much more.. THE WHOLE KIT AND CABOODLE at my disposal..... tell me why i shouldnt give this and the fc to my mate n tell him to throw it in (as he\'s put it)......
 
and the fact it isnt a rotory isnt anexcuse not to do it
 
there are a few links to a few old posts that\'v dried up over the years but im fairly confident this could be a winner -
 
 
 
opinions welcome -

[m1tch]

Please don\'t infect your rotary car with pistons, it will upset the whole balace of the car, plus although its an uprated engine, you can extract more power, more easily out of a 13b than a piston engine, its up to you though, its a small engine compared to the v8s people put into the car. Im guessing that includes the ECU and full wiring loom as well as the whole drive train engine back?

[dthebuk]

apparently the sr20 conversions arn\'t to bad. There was a thread on driftworks in drifting chat and theres on on rx7 club. Personally i wouldn\'t bother, it\'d be cheaper and wasier to rebuild the thing yourself and whack it back in. The engines  arn\'t as unreliable as everyone makes out, you just need to treat them right.

could be a nice little project, but not worth the effort imo

Edit: V8\'s dont seem to upset the cars balance a lot so i doubt an sr20 would be noticeable, its only a 4 pot afterall

[TiddlesRX7]

Or sell the sr20det and put the money into rebuilding the 13BT. Honestly you\'ll love it once its done there is nothing like a rotary when its running right. Don\'t let the problems you\'ve had put you off.

[alxlaw]

...in theory - ....el engines work and work well.... and so does communism, there actually not to dissimilar both fairly oppressive lol!! - the thing is i cant justify spending upwards of 3k on a rebuild when its going to have a limited lifespan yet again and if i require more performance out of it im going to be reducing it far further than the equivalent sr20det, the fuel economy is that of an H1 - the ....el engine is what stopes my fc (personally) from being a daily driver - living in constant fear of its immenant demise is not \'the driving experience\' id always dreamed of... lol! - and im not one of these people who enjoy staring at a ripped appart lifeless corpse of a car stripped in a garage more than driving it - so continuing down the ....le route is going to have me end up selling on and loosing money - if i throw this low mileage redtop sr20det in then why would i ever need to sell it (bar kids/family)? finding the relevant information is proving difficult however i need to see an actual conversion in the process and a good few snaggs to overcome before i decide to go ahead - iv heard its not a massive ball ache hence the reason for this thread, i was thinking along the lines of selling it in favour of the ....le tiddles but again living in fear with a low resale price is not what its about, id rather do this an keep it FOR KEEPS lol! so - now iv offended everyone\'s political/engine views does anyone have any interesting sr20 conversion links (searching driftworks as we speak)

[Prof]

I use my rotary as a daily driver - it isn\'t the most economical on fuel I will grant you that, but the engine has suffered the failure of the original radiator, a leaking injector, a couple of boost/vac leaks, a failing alternator, a major and messy oil leak (it was actually 4 leaks), and 2 fuel leaks and is still as strong as when it first went in the car just before last year\'s JAE.
 
You get to know what feels right with these cars, and when to limp them home or come off the loud pedal and nurse it home to sort out what ever the issue is.   As fixing something cheap when it\'s a small problem prevents the cost of an engine rebuild.
 
Rotary engines will tolerate quite a lot of abuse, but will also let go when pushed too hard with failing ancillaries.  I\'ve been trying to work out for some time under what circumstances they do go, and I suspect more and more it\'s usually a combination of factors.  Running out of fuel because of a leak, or spark because of alternator failure will not kill the engine - as this is less likely to happen suddenly when you are on full chat.
 
What I suspect does happen is that fuel starvation due to vac leak / faulty or failing injector or mucky fuel / coupled with running higher than stock boost and with timing not retarded enough is what will detonate an engine.  I suspect that\'s what\'s happened with yours.

[m1tch]

My engine is on 87k miles and has compressions of 7ish on all the rotors lol

The thing with rotaries is that the more they rev, the more oil they get and the less carbon builds up unless its an early RX8 in which the missing oil injector (2 instead of 3) will doom your engine to an early grave even if the oil is topped up lol

[L18M]

well.. i\'d pref a rotary in there but end of the day its YOUR car!
I think the whole point of owning rx7 is for the engine.

whatever you choose, i hope it goes well and cant wait to see the end result

[m1tch]

Remember to take photos of it

[TiddlesRX7]

Mine was a daily car untill I changed jobs and got a work van. thats when the problems started (not major problems). These cars like to be used regularly. Mine is on 97k with a rebuild 35k-40k ago and the engine seems fine. Like Prof said its normally something else that goes wrong which then damages the engine. It all depends on your budget really though doesn\'t it. Dont forget though the sr20det arn\'t exactly bomb proof are they

[Brett]

...in theory - ....el engines work and work well.... and so does communism, there actually not to dissimilar both fairly oppressive lol!! - the thing is i cant justify spending upwards of 3k on a rebuild when its going to have a limited lifespan yet again and if i require more performance out of it im going to be reducing it far further than the equivalent sr20det, the fuel economy is that of an H1 - the ....el engine is what stopes my fc (personally) from being a daily driver - living in constant fear of its immenant demise is not \'the driving experience\' id always dreamed of... lol! - and im not one of these people who enjoy staring at a ripped appart lifeless corpse of a car stripped in a garage more than driving it - so continuing down the ....le route is going to have me end up selling on and loosing money - if i throw this low mileage redtop sr20det in then why would i ever need to sell it (bar kids/family)? finding the relevant information is proving difficult however i need to see an actual conversion in the process and a good few snaggs to overcome before i decide to go ahead - iv heard its not a massive ball ache hence the reason for this thread, i was thinking along the lines of selling it in favour of the ....le tiddles but again living in fear with a low resale price is not what its about, id rather do this an keep it FOR KEEPS lol! so - now iv offended everyone\'s political/engine views does anyone have any interesting sr20 conversion links (searching driftworks as we speak)

Not sure where you have gotten this kind of info, but its basically flawed I\'m afraid.

The longevity of the 13BT is good, and few engines will achieve stellar mileages when heavily tuned.  If a full rebuild is undertaken, using new housings, tips, good plates and is run in carefully then you will get a lot of enjoyment out of the engine for a long time to come.

Given the additional fabriaction required to fit a non rotary into the car I can see this being more work than you think, with a lot of complications involving the drive train, ECU  but if you have your heart set on it...

I\'m sure either option will produce good performance, but one option will be a ball ache... :wave

[alxlaw]

Not sure where you have gotten this kind of info, but its basically flawed I\'m afraid.

The longevity of the 13BT is good, and few engines will achieve stellar mileages when heavily tuned.  If a full rebuild is undertaken, using new housings, tips, good plates and is run in carefully then you will get a lot of enjoyment out of the engine for a long time to come.

Given the additional fabriaction required to fit a non rotary into the car I can see this being more work than you think, with a lot of complications involving the drive train, ECU  but if you have your heart set on it...

I\'m sure either option will produce good performance, but one option will be a ball ache... :wave

the fabrication of mounts and a prop shaft are the main issue iv come accross so far - iv found a few ways round this, my old 300zx sliding prop shaft has matching splines and may or may not strech/contract far enough for the marrying up, and the engine mounts we\'re going to fabricate ourselves - i wouldnt even try to attempt this without an expert on hand that where my mate come into the mix, we sit the rx7 next to the 200sx at his garage rip my engine out and stamp on it, then rip the 200 engine out and lovingly place it in and marry as much of it up as possible, then fabricate the lot, think we need to relocate the battary into the boot might also help with weight dispersal but mainly because the fmic pipe work needs lots of space - wondering if im gonna be using the fc gear box atall to be honest - if so wont need to mess around with prop shafts, either way got plenty of time on my hands and with the cost so far being half that of a re build and more likely to survive the year then a 400 quid second hand 13bt2 - which again will give me \'the fear\'.... cos lets say i get the rebuild done and a coil pack goes down, back to square 1 again.... so high maintenance!! i just wanna drive! - christ my cars had 17 owners in 21 years and its covered 63k..... not about living in fear of imminent engine death thats why they get shifted so many times, i love the look of the car now ital have the reliability too - just need to find more info on all this.....

[Moonwrap]

I don\'t think they get sold on loads of times for the reason you say at all

(Interestingly, I\'ve known your car through it\'s previous 4 owners too!)
 
Almost any performance engine can be an unknown quantity... they all have their quirks. I mean if you had say a Skyline you\'d be looking at loads more for a rebuild than an RX7. I\'ve been in Skyline tuners when they\'ve given quotes and nearly fallen on the floor! Your 200SX engine will too have it\'s vulnerabilities I\'m sure...

That said I always think it\'s interesting to do hybrids, but like you say you need to do a lot of research first.

[alxlaw]

http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=815509

done

[meddy]

Im not sure on the logic here I dont think the SR20 is any more reliable than a rotary. Infact I know more people who have had to rebuild them than I know of failed rotaries. Parts are cheaper and more readily available but thats the only attraction really. Also they sound terrible. :Giggle