Are these "facts" correct?

[Spartacus]

Spartacus,

You only have to look on this page to see why I said this,

Sorry but to contradict but can you imagine the reverse of the above being said on an FD V8 forum :Hammer

Sorry, I guess I would have had to see the film:confused:

[Spartacus]

I just want to make an informed choice and have had good input from this thread so far.
 
Both options have their own traits which i need to look into and understand more. If any V8 owners can pm me some more specific info on what they did and how they did it etc it would be a big help.

If you want to go DIY have a read of my thread here to give you a basic idea. http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37480&highlight=hinson
To be honest the wiring was the hardest aspect but since I completed mine there are various guides/write-ups you can follow.
 If you want it done for you I would recomend spending some time talking to Tinker.

[DR SCHNITZEL]

Clive, i find it a little wierd that after being a club member of this club for 2 years and owning 3 FDs and loving the rotary engine. I feel i am being alientated soley for considering the pros and cons of a V8 engine conversion. I can still love the rotary and own a V8 FD, this church isnt so accommodating if rotary owners have to tread on eggshells.
 
I could be wrong: but you should realise you are taking sunscription fees from V8 "mazda" owners too so surely they must be accommodated for?
 
I have an LPG system which will knock the price of fuel down so i can drive to work everyday. meaning there will be a big smile on my face every day.  and there will be an rx7 on the road everyday.
 
Even with the most relible FD, i cant justify 25 quid a day fuel, 12.50 i can bear. surely you see my logic.
 
Both lumps have pros and cons,
 
Who has a V8? rx fd, please pm me.

[DR SCHNITZEL]

Whe i bought my FD five years ago it was for the look and beauty of the car and not the engine. V8 or rotary, its the owners choice but when the bonnets down they all look the same, stunning.

Yup, thats why i wont have a corvette LHD yuk

[clive]

Clive, i find it a little wierd that after being a club member of this club for 2 years and owning 3 FDs and loving the rotary engine.

I feel i am being alientated soley for considering the pros and cons of a V8 engine conversion. I can still love the rotary and own a V8 FD, this church isnt so accommodating if rotary owners have to tread on eggshells.
 
I could be wrong: but you should realise you are taking sunscription fees from V8 "mazda" owners too so surely they must be accommodated for?
 

This is actually a good thread that you have raised in a few ways but you must realise that people will get protective about the powerplant under the bonnet especialy here on Mazdarotarycluband as I have tried to explain this is the same across the world not just here on MRC.

I have been around many different forms of Motor Racing and come across different scenes within the car world and know that these feelings transpose across the same way elsewhere ,

For instance in America put a Big Block Chevy into a Mustang and to many die hard enthusiasts you have just lit the blue touch paper and even worse in Australia I recon if you tore an engine out of a Ford Falcon  and put it in a  Holden Commodore they would run you with a lorry load of Fosters.

As for subscription, on setting the club up I knew some clubs would not let you be a member unless you owned the right car, FDUK would Vette you (sorry humor crept in) unless you owned an FD you could not get beyond the front door and whilst this was their right I swore MRC would welcome anyone with an interest, indeed one of our first members only owned a Mitsubishi.


I will ask one question that seems to stay in the shadows concerning V8’s into FD\'s  is how much does it really cost, honestly .


One of my customers was Craig Winstanly and if my memory serves me right he said that his V8 conversion had cost him 17 and a half thousand pounds and I know from the other parts he brought that this was not the price of the car ,  just the conversion! .

If so that’s well beyond the realms of what most of our members could afford and a lot of Rotary rebuilds and fuel for 17.5K

[DR SCHNITZEL]

One of my customers was Craig Winstanly and if my memory serves me right he said that his V8 conversion had cost him 17 and a half thousand pounds and I know from the other parts he brought that this was not the price of the car , just the conversion! .

If so that’s well beyond the realms of what most of our members could afford and a lot of Rotary rebuilds and fuel for 17.5K
 
Thats the kind of thing i NEED to know. Surely thats a worst case scenario, but i am a memeber of the v8 club now looking at some builds threads, im more interested in the cost/viability at the mo. If its a huge outlay i will not be doing it and will stick to the rotors. Inded tinker told me 10k all in if he did all labour etc and i think that was inc. vat.
 
It is all about pounds per smile after all.

[DR SCHNITZEL]

Rotors and V8s sound good, what if i put a v8 in the back and a 20b in the front driving all 4 wheels that sounds more like 20k

[Spartacus]

Dr S, you might find it hard to fit LPG to a LS engined FD as from what I\'ve seen on LPG equipped Monaro\'s the injectors sit a fair bit higher than the inlet manifold, which in an FD is very close to the underside of the bonnet already.
Just a thought but I would say if you are intent on a LPG V8 FD that would be the first thing to check out.

[clive]

Never said I was a stranger to putting "other" engines into cars,

I have carried out engine conversions for myself and also helped a mate with a V8 into a cortina however one little difference is I wouldn\'t have then expected a red carpet form a vehicle specific owners club :Giggle,

Here we go here\'s a couple of observations,

Unfortunately many here would need to pay a company to carry out this conversion as you will need considerable equipment plus fabrication skills etc, etc.

Two of the problems with a transplant into an FD I can see is, one you need to fit a different diff assembly and need to fabricate a cradle to house the new diff, yes you could fit a 9" axle but a solid axle is not going give suspension anywhere near as good as an IRS.


Also because you also lose the powerplant frame you need to support the back of the gearbox on a car not designed to support weight in the center of the car, easy if you start braceing off a full roll cage but not if you want a stock interior.

I know 20 years ago people were fitting Big Blocks into FC RX-7 in the US which is a much easier way of fitting a V8 due to the size and shape of the engine bay, plus its easy to mount the gear box as the FC has conventional mounts

[Spartacus]

Here we go here\'s a couple of observations,

Unfortunately many here would need to pay a company to carry out this conversion as you will need considerable equipment plus fabrication skills etc, etc.
Not true, I did it with basic tools apart from a very small amount of seam welding I had done via a chap who came to my house, 15 mins max.
Two of the problems with a transplant into an FD I can see is, one you need to fit a different diff assembly and need to fabricate a cradle to house the new diff, yes you could fit a 9" axle but a solid axle is not going give suspension anywhere near as good as an IRS.
Also not true, the FD diff has proved it\'s self quite strong enough once it is located to prevent excessive movement. You can of course upgrade the internals and drive shafts like you would for any very high power FD should you need to. The diff mounts are now readily available in the US for easy bolt on fitment.

Also because you also lose the powerplant frame you need to support the back of the gearbox on a car not designed to support weight in the center of the car, easy if you start braceing off a full roll cage but not if you want a stock interior. There are also easy fix\'s for this which have been extensively tried and tested off the shelf leaving the interior as Mazda intended.
I know 20 years ago people were fitting Big Blocks into FC RX-7 in the US which is a much easier way of fitting a V8 due to the size and shape of the engine bay, plus its easy to mount the gear box as the FC has conventional mounts

Hope this answers some of your observations, happy to go into more details as and when you start your conversion Clive

[tinker-27]

hi all craigs car was about 17grand but that was for a full built 6.8l stroker motor,race clutch etc,and lots of other work to convert it to a time attack car so not a normal conversion, this subject has been done over and over and i thought we all co-habit on here now ? most if not all "us v8" owners DONT diss the rotary but we get lots of abuse which is fine as its nothing we havent heard before.

[clive]

hi all craigs car was about 17grand but that was for a full built 6.8l stroker motor,race clutch etc,and lots of other work to convert it to a time attack car so not a normal conversion, this subject has been done over and over and i thought we all co-habit on here now ? most if not all "us v8" owners DONT diss the rotary but we get lots of abuse which is fine as its nothing we havent heard before.

Craig, you have never been any kind of problem on this forum indeed as you know I had no problem with people seeing what you had under your bonnet at Rotorstock ,

I think I even said to you "pop the bonnet"

[clive]

When you say not true, sorry you have made this sound like 15 mins of welding and away you go;),

What about the fabrication work to make this possible like engine mounts exhaust let alone wiring etc etc,

Good on ya that you have the skills to do this but as I say, many here even considering this will need to pay people just to disassemble let also fit something that shouldn\'t be fitted in as standard,

As for the Diff and gearbox, if you get serious with a V8 the torque is going to rip these things apart, blimey a good Rotary will break a diff with no where near the torque of a V8  

I thought the whole idea was to produce something quicker than a Rotary, sorry if its putting up with this it can\'t be being driven very hard either that or its a very soft V8 as you would know just because its a V8 it doesn\'t mean its got power in this emission strangling world,

If its all being done for economy and it\'s never going to be driven or launched hard then maybe a 4 pot twin cam ford is the way to go, not meant to be offesive, just puzzled because "if" I did this I would want it to rip the tarmac up just like other stuff I\'ve owned.

I spent a year wining with a Mustang that we had trouble keeping the axle fixed in the car, this is why me no understand that you have no real diff

[tinker-27]

the std diff is plenty good enough really, you can brfeak them normally due to axle tramp, mostly while drag racing, craig (winstantly) has ran a std diff in his car for 3 years doing over 50 track days and a time attack series, it did break finally when he ran 315 slicks  but 335 888s were ok, most people change them for gearing not strength,

[clive]

Thanks Craig, I was going on the fact that the Rotary kills diffs and not just due to axle tramp, or more presise diff tramp in the case of the FD.

Us Rotary owners are obviously too aggressive when pulling away, either that or we find more traction