V8 Rx7?

[Don Pamponi]

What a shame I didn\'t sell the car before it lost a tip.  I doubt id even get the cost of the wheels & tyres back if it sold as is.

[Don Pamponi]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10414&item=2496164773&rd=1

I can get that fitted for about £750 all in.

Why do we pay such a premium for a rotary engine?

Scarcity value?

They are comparitivly simple, small & light.  Loads less work to remove & rebuild.

[antnicuk]

go for it.
putting one in a 3rd Gen FD is one thing but the first Gen isnt as refined and \'sublime\' as the FD.    

As for your steering, all first gens were SH*T, the mk2 was a little better but its the steering box that causes it. After a few miles its a sod to keep straight.  

You might want to have a rack and pinion put in while the engine is being done, it makes a massive difference.  My FB has rack and pinion to miss the turbo, its the best thing about the car.

As for which V8, go Yank, with 5.7 chevy, it will have about 100 more BHP than a stock range rover lump, but for cheapness the rover will do the job.  

Regards
Tony

[clive]

Hi Don,

Huge commiserations about the loss of your engine real shame as l remember your initial enthusiasm and had been looking forward to seeing your car at shows etc.

Could l ask how you lost a tip ? and it\'s odd to lose Gen 1 engines  throu tips as they tend to wear out from high mileage, even elfords.  

As for the piston route, l have been around Rotary\'s for quite a few years now and have witnessed people go this route before and been disappointed.

One l remember was a Guy called Steve Irons who \'lost\' a couple of pip\'s engines in his Black Gen 2 and after being a Rotary enthusiast for a few years \'dumped\' a 4.5 Rover lump in it, yes he had a lot of power and it made a LOT of noise but soon after he sold it as he quickly realised he now had a car that didn\'t handle but more than that he realised he had tore the heart out of his car and sold it on after just a short time !!!!.

Couple of things, as Mike points out comparisons made to the Pinto really aren\'t good, the damn thing is a boat anchor !

One year when l raced in National Hot Rods l brought a Barry Lee pro-built car that had been built for a \'Kent\' engine but could not afford the £5k needed to keep the original engine so l put a \'Pinto\' due to a rule that would let me have more power cheaply, Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, never did dial out the understeer due to the extra weight, and went from winning races to a best result of third for that season,    nuf said !!

As for it\'s all O/K now l have pistons thing, if you put a piston in it you will probably be very disappointed if you fit a Land Rover lump in as these are real low comp engines so you will immediately need to start off down the tuning route again !

Also if you go this route before parting with money as from memory there are lots of different Rover V8 engines and not all are desireable.

And as l have found many times a badly or wrongly tuned piston engine will die just as quick as a Rotary, for instance years ago l raced in a Mini Formula and due to a bad tuner/ engine builder who l made an agreement with to let him supply engines for me on a one  season contract, l went from winning lots of races and being the previous years champion to not even finishing most races and consuming 5 engines along the way, so l do understand engine blow up problems intimately !.

Yes the Rover lump will go in the Gen1 as we have seen one at the Pod running mid to high 13sec 1/4ers
( hardly earth shattering ) but as sadly there are now very few of these cars left all he has archived is \' bastardising\' a good handling sports car!

Sorry for me engine \'sermon drivel\' but it\'s sad to see someone who had so much enthusiasm be down and all l am saying is not all is always Rosy in the world of pistons either.

I\'ll get me coat now! and wish you well in whatever you decide.

[Carl]

Originally posted by antnicuk
go for it.
putting one in a 3rd Gen FD is one thing but the first Gen isnt as refined and \'sublime\' as the FD.    

As for your steering, all first gens were SH*T, the mk2 was a little better but its the steering box that causes it. After a few miles its a sod to keep straight.  

You might want to have a rack and pinion put in while the engine is being done, it makes a massive difference.  My FB has rack and pinion to miss the turbo, its the best thing about the car.

As for which V8, go Yank, with 5.7 chevy, it will have about 100 more BHP than a stock range rover lump, but for cheapness the rover will do the job.  

Regards
Tony

Not all the 1st gens had bad steering,the Mk1 had excellent steerring.
Kind regards
Carl

[Don Pamponi]

Funny - Tim at RX Motors said my car had really good steering for a 1st gen (ie: most are much worse, what was I moaning about?).

I still think it\'s poo compared to every other car I\'ve driven, and most have not been powered.  Rack & pinion is a MUST for a sports car.  What the crap were Mazda thinking?!

Gen 1s need more torque & a rack.

Here\'s one for ya:

I just came accross an 115bhp HDI lump going cheap.  Now they\'re torquey

Oh, a cast iron chevy lump would weigh more than 2 or 3 RX7s!

Yeah, I thought it weird (& very disapointing) that it went bang rather than slowly fading.  Not that its had a chance to, only having done 100 miles since the build.

Mind you, who\'s to say it ever got put new tips in?  Clive said he did but......still shoukdn\'t have gone bang at 60K either way.

Looked at it today: got all the sparks, got fuel, it starts & runs unevenly, will drive but has NO power, as if someone swapped the engine for a 1200 beetle lump.

That & the pinking followed by graunching noise says tips to me.

[Carl]

As a more direct comparison you really need to judge like for like...
What I mean by that is have you tried to buy a secondhand 12a just like a Rover V8?
You should be able to get one  for quite a small amount of money.
If you were to get a Rover V8 and reconditon it fully then the price would still be on a par with a rotary in a 1st gen.
Have you priced up a used engine?
Kind regards
Carl

[Don Pamponi]

Nope, but I think I might know where to find 1.  Any ideas?

I\'m considering getting the parts & doing it myself.  Don\'t want to risk another big bang tho.

[Carl]

Originally posted by Don Pamponi
Nope, but I think I might know where to find 1.  Any ideas?

I\'m considering getting the parts & doing it myself.  Don\'t want to risk another big bang tho.

Are you up to taking the engine out and putting it back in?
That would save some money.
I may be able to help on the engine front.
PM me about it.
Kind regards
Carl

[Don Pamponi]

Oh yeah, no problem.  Big hammer, crowbar.  Should be fine.

I\'m sure I could take it apart & replace the tips, but I\'m no expert & wouldn\'t perhaps be able to tell what damage if any was done to bearings & such.

Mine I suspect blew up because of 3 factors:

1)No retard solenoids/vacume bleed valve

2)higher than recomended boost for a mile or 2

3) Amature engine build

I can remove the first 2 factors but not the third if I attempt a rebuild myself.

So, watcha got?

[travellinbob]

hey Don, and here i was thinking that it was just a nasty rumor going around that you were considering a v8 transplant.
 Dont give up the ghost just yet buddy. Listen to Carl. Why not go down the route of a decent second hand lump (12a) and give yourself some time to think it through.
 If you were dead set on a piston jobbie then how about a twin cam mx5 one? Their smallish, rev quite well and perform not too badly. But only if you must. I reckon that there must be some 12a\'s sitting around out there on peoples garge floors that may only be worth about £150-ish?
 cheer up, and remember that the world goes round and round, not up and down

[MikeLMR]

I have a spare 12a but I reckon its properly goosed Its going be stripped by me so I can have a play but I doubt it\'ll give up any usable housings.

a nice ally twin cam would go quite nicely in an rx ... the K series jobies are very nice and much better than the ford zetecs that people harp on about so much.  The new Duratecs are nice engines ... but then they would be as Mazda had a hand in designing them.

[MikeLMR]

having another V8 argument on a rally forum and found some good links to engine weights. appart from the small size the weight isn\'t that low for the rotary.

http://www.bacomatic.org/~dw/engfyi.htm

[Carl]

Weight is not everything though,where it is located is pretty important too.
Kind regards
Carl

[MikeLMR]

exactly ... thats why I said the size is important