should i go old skool?

[jimmy-turbo]

just a quick question, i have a s5 uk cabby with a good rebuilt engine and was looking at putting this engine and turbo into an rx4 ( just seen the blue one that needs a new engine on the rotaryart website) how hard would this be? and is it possible to put my engine back to n/a if its to difficult to install the turbo setup? ideas would be appreiciated as im torn between an old skool bridgy or spending the cash on the cab.

[dubber91]

first question. Yes. Go oldschool.
Second question: you cant really run a turbo II motor without the turbo. The compression ratio is low and givin that compression ratio is directly related to the efficiency of the motor, the power would be very low.
In terms of fitting the engine there is no difference between the turbo motor and the NA motors of the time. Just clearance for the turbo in the engine bay.
Good luck with the wiring though! Not impossible to do, but hard to do neatly.

Hope this helps

Steve

[travellinbob]

Yes you should do it!!!!!!!! ahve a look around on Ausrotary as there are almost hundreds of RX4\'s with this engine swap done and it is great! Because the 4\'s engine bay is so big you dont have to cut it up to do the install so reverting the car back to stock would be easy enough if so desired.
 Good luck, michael.

[jimmy-turbo]

i think an old skool mazda may be one for the future:(  i havnt really got the space to do the conversion.

Antniuk has got a red turbo II that im trying to get in touch with him about, its the spec i wanted my vert to be but without the hassle of building it:D

[metalhead]

It\'s a simple enough conversion.  You will need a front plate off an earlier model engine, and then it will bolt straight in onto the standard engine mounts.  After that it\'s just a case of sorting out the exhaust and wiring and converting the fuel system over for injection.  Also, you can run the turbo block n/a with a carby, it will make less power than a standard block, but not heaps less, as a temporary measure until you hook up the turbo I see no reason not to do it.  Many people do it here in Australia.

[elford_tim]

IMHO, given the rarity value of Gary\'s RX-4, it would be a shame to modify it. If it was my car I\'d simply get a nice rebuilt engine for it and run it w/o a turbo...

[dubber91]

I agree,
If you look about you can pick up relatively sound 13b NAs for about £250 too......Wouldnt take a lot


Steve

[jimmy-turbo]

was all set to have a trip down to essex today to buy antnicuk 460bhp turbo II, but he changed his mind about selling it, so the old skool rx4 might be still on the cards.
ive never done an engine swap but i presume a na 13b would be as easy as it could get, not sure if i could live without modding it if it didnt do any perminant damage to one though,it would have to end up with the turbo.
could you do a blow through turbo setup on a carb? would be a bit of a different way of going and i wouldnt have to mess around with any electrics

[Ray]

Hi,

Drop me an email if you want to come and look at my RX-4 and discuss the engine options and practicalities, I\'m not too far away (Crewe). I also know of one the same model as Gary\'s which is probably available...

Ray

ray@classicmazda.co.uk
//www.classicmazda.co.uk

[metalhead]

If you space the radiator back and fit the intercooler where the radiator was there is no need to cut anything to fit the 13bt, the rx4 has quite a large engine bay.  I suppose they\'re a lot more rare over there than they are here, so I can understand why that might be a concern.  As I said, with a front engine plate from an earlier motor, the 13bt will bolt up to the standard engine mounts in an rx4.

As for the blow through carby - it can be done, but when you have all the injection gear why would you?  It will be inferior in every way - harder to tune, possibly worse reliability, worse driveability, probably less power (due to difficulty in tuning) etc...

[jimmy-turbo]

does anybody have a rough idea how much it would cost to get the conversion done as i havnt got the space to do it myself, and having never done any sort of engine transplant before i would feel a bit happier knowing it was done properly.
or the name of a place where they would do it for me.

[banned advertiser]

Nearest guy to you would be WGT in Cheshire, has worked and raced old skool

[MikeLMR]

engine swaps are lot of work, especially if you uprate everything else to suit, most are usually done DIY as it\'s such a lot of labour charges. I have no idea how long it would take someone like Pip to do the swap (bare in mind there is far more to it than just swapping the engine if you want a decent amount of power lots of things could do with uprating)  I think we worked out that the last rally car we built would have cost in excess of £90K in labour @ £50 an hour.(but we work slow )

[jimmy-turbo]

have already sent pip an email, but like you say diy would be better if i had the space. should i even be thinking of breaking up a uk tII cabby thats not rotten just for the engine, we need some future oldskool cars too.