Engine blown in my RX7, rebuild or V8?

[Kash_]

well mine was only touched by specialists first engine went pop and second one had crap compression after rebuild..never thrashed allways warmed up and cooled down finally had its 3rd rebuild in 4 yrs by carl
never got a chance to test that one as was too scared to go on boost personally i wish i had known about tinker 27 as i would have saved myself the grief and plopped a v8 in there
a v8 will not go tits up as long as u dont overrev it
instant torque good economy near identical weight dist bit of a no brainer really
as opposed to the paper mache rotary
please tell me whats so good about a car that will need regular rebuilds even in standard form
assume average 15000 mile mileage after 4 years compression will be down and nearing rebuild time..they are crap for fuel/average co 7% on idle
even rebuilt ones still go pop i would say the tuners workload is 70% rebuilds
now they do look good but the engine is poo to any prospective buyers do ur self a favour by a bucket and get the v8 in asap then do it up

Shouldn\'t you be at the scooby doo forums as you now own one? All you ever do is moan about the rotary engine...  blah blah blah... fair enough you\'ve had a bad experience, maybe the rotary simply isn\'t for you, or maybe the rotary doesn\'t like you? this is a rotary forum so if you dont like it dont come here :2Mad

[rx7veilside]

entitled to an opinion..and if it helps give a balanced view of the pitfalls to anyone then i will give said opinion
as i say the rx7 is a great looking car a great handling car it just happens to have a crap engine
can u honestly say a engine that has an expected lifespan of 60000 miles tops and will loose compression well before then and poss water seal failure as well
does tops about 16mpg in urban if u stay off boost has an alarming failure rate even in rebuilt engines will flood if it doesnt catch right can destroy its own ozone layer just on tickover is a good engine
i like rx7s for their looks their handling etc i just happen to think a rx7 with a v8 is a better package
you wont destroy the planet you will get the same handling and weight dist you will get stunning performance you will get 25mpg more on a run and a engine that sounds better than anything on the planet
put tinker 27,s car or craigs car or any other v8 7 up against a rotary and they will more than hold their own and still drive home

[Hi RX7]

I have e-mailed one of the big engine conversion specialists Hinsons asking for the price of an LS1/T56 engine and gearbox combo this is a new crated engine. So as soon as they reply to my e-mail I\'ll put the details on this thread.

[Hi RX7]

After reading Niick\'s articulate ramblings I now feel like the Ludite agent of engine replacement by pulling out the delicate heart of the rotary and replacing it with Frankensteins cousin in the form of a big unsubtle V8.
Ahh who cares bring it on!

[rx7veilside]

itll be the best thing you do for the rotary:mmmm:mmmm

[DRAGON]

entitled to an opinion..and if it helps give a balanced view of the pitfalls to anyone then i will give said opinion
as i say the rx7 is a great looking car a great handling car it just happens to have a crap engine

B0llocks, to dismiss it has a crap engine is completely unacceptable. And I struggle to understand why you hang around here if you have that view. The rotary is a unique, fascinating and great piece of engineering, with phenomenal possibilitys, how can 1000hp from a 1.3 be crap?
The reliability issues you speak of are overexaggerated, the rotary will only work in fine tolerances and to keep within in them it needs to be well looked after.
How people expect to get a used £36,000 sports car for 4-5k and presume it to be perfect is beyond me!
I dont personally mind people installing a V8 in a RX, I just dont like deluded, uneducated, ignorant, bitter slagging off one of the best engines ever made.

[rx7veilside]

best engine ever made now that is plain daft..do a poll how many engines have gone pop and also rebuilt ones
i am merely giving the view that a rotaryv8 is far more reliable than a tuned rotary engine
the whole 1.3 is a bit of a myth as well its not really a 1.3 is it
as i said i love the looks/handling of a 7 but come on to say the engine is fragile and tempramental would be a huge understatement
i understand tuners have a vested interest in extoling the virtues of the rotary but people need to understand the pitfalls with these cars i only used tuners to work on mine never touched it myself and still needed 3 engines in 4 years
i never thrashed it it allways warmed it up warmed it down only used recommended tuner parts culdnt have pampered it more
i merely am offering the non rose tinted view of the rotary then people can make their own minds up

[DRAGON]

An engine rebuild is irrelavant if there is an ancillary causing the engine to go pop in the beginning. If this is not addressed the engine will blow again. So you cant always blame the engine.
Many other performance car engines blow, skylines, evo, imprezas etc.

[D1 WTF]

i only used tuners to work on mine never touched it myself and still needed 3 engines in 4 years
i never thrashed it it allways warmed it up warmed it down only used recommended tuner parts culdnt have pampered it more
i merely am offering the non rose tinted view of the rotary then people can make their own minds up

I went through 3 engines in 10-11 months as a few people know.......... bit of a pain in the ar$e and disheartening but there was an electrical fault with the car.    these things happen, i am very much on the hunt for another rex now as have got bored of evo\'s etc.

What other engine can you simply wack a turbo on with a rebuild and treble the power the engine arrived with?  
Trying doing that with a skyline and you would have just spent £40k as suppose to about £5-6k

I am not against V8 conversions, think they are really interesting and have their place but the rotary engine is well up there with one of the best designed engines of all time.

[BlitzBoy]

put tinker 27,s car or craigs car or any other v8 7 up against a rotary and they will more than hold their own and still drive home

Luv to, tell them to bring their cars to the Jap Show Finale and I will happly go against them up the quarter mile
One guess who is going to win, In terms of performance bang for buck my little rotary is going to win.

[Nik da Greek]

After reading Niick\'s articulate ramblings I now feel like the Ludite agent of engine replacement by pulling out the delicate heart of the rotary and replacing it with Frankensteins cousin in the form of a big unsubtle V8.
Ahh who cares bring it on!

Ha ha, most kind! I just thought I\'d try and bring a different perspective to the discussion. I obviously can\'t comment on the effect the transplant has on handling and performance because I haven\'t driven both, and I\'m not about to hold an opinion on something I have no experience of (an attitude a few people might be advised to try once in a while lol ). I\'d never accuse anyone doing the transplant of Luddite-ism-ishness! I\'ve never seen one in the flesh, but have read mag articles and seen the build-up threads, and the quality of the engineering seems excellent, I\'ve posted to compliment the builders on their work before. So please don\'t get the idea I\'m having a pop at the guys who build and run v8s, cos I\'m not. I was merely saying that from my point of view, an RX-7 with a v8 just isn\'t an RX-7 anymore because it no longer has that which makes it unique.

But, hey, dude, it\'s your car, you do what you want to it! You asked for opinions, but I wouldn\'t expect anyone to give mine much credibility :Giggle. I do sometimes get tired of the reliability whinges, though. Like I said, if you\'ve actually had an engine blow up, then fair enough, you\'re entitled to a grumble. It seems to me, however, that a lot of the "unreliabilty" issues that are placed at the feet of the rotary are in fact nothing to do with the engine itself, but ancilliary problems that could affect any comparable piston engine, such as vaccuum line issues, solenoids failing, wiring problems (often caused by exposure to extreme turbo heat) etc. These are not unique to rotaries, but someone has boost issues caused by one or all of them, and posts up "bloody unreliable rotaries", and it sticks. Like Dragon says, to get the sort of performance we do out of even a standard 1.3 litre engine is phenomenal, and probably should not be under-valued as a feat of engineering!

[sadgoth]

I can\'t help thinking this is all down to comparing like with like. A big block 6 litre V8 is unstressed producing 400bhp so it is reliable. A 1.3 litre rotary (and yes it really is 1.3 litres in displacement) is more stressed to produce that level of power. I\'m sorry, I look at the rotary engine as one of the best pieces of engineering in the automotive arena. Run around in a 1000bhp RB26 engined skyline for a few months and see how many times that needs serious engine work, it would be comparable. Take an LS1 or LS7 engine up to 1200bhp and see how long it lasts!

At te end of the day it\'s horses for courses, like Ross I am not opposed to V8 conversions per se, I wouldn\'t do it myself as I think the rotary engine is the heart of an RX, I am a purist I suppose, in much the same way as sticking a 427 Hemi in a Porsche 911 would be seen as not the right thing to do! I also believe that voicing ones opinion is perfectly valid, but it is an opinion and should be seen as such, there are many people on the forum who have owned rotarys for years without problem, there are many FDs in other parts of the world which last significantly longer than the 60k that many believe is the engine life here. As Ross said, there may have been any number of reasons for an engine to go, remember we are talking about cars which are now up to 16 years old, ancillaries, wiring, fuel lines, hoses etc are as old as the car. Many high performance cars start suffereing as they age and if you buy a car for £5k that was nigh on £40k new you will still have repair bills and runnings costs that are associated with a £40k car not a £5k one.

[Kash_]

as i say the rx7 is a great looking car a great handling car

how would you know? you said yourself you never drove your car hard :rollin:rollin

[connor66]

Just as well these threads don\'t always deteriorate into rotary versus V8...

[Nik da Greek]

"dis\'cuss v.t. Examine by argument, debate; hold conversation about"