Are these "facts" correct?

[600gaz]

Good debate . I can see the owners point of view with his several blown engines in a short space of time but never believe V8 hype from Americans . There\'s no way an LS V8 is the same weight as a rotary install and there\'s no way an LS V8 is better on petrol either . :Nono!

[Hi RX7]

David please see my post above.

Sorry I did start the reply before your post but got distracted then pressed submit reply.
 
I do not want to inflame the situation and as a guest member I fully appreciate the very open manner in which this forum is run, it is just unfortunate that on nearly every occasion it turns into nothing short of a playground spat. I was rather hoping people would actually see the funny side of my Little Shop of Horrors comparison it was not made with any intention of causing offence

[raceralexuk]

You walk into a pub that only sells and attracts Fosters lovers and you tell them all “Oi, you don’t want to drink that rubbush, you wanna drink Carling” then see if you can get out without a black eye, or worse.

That, my friend, sounds like an awesome new sport. Maybe we can beat the Aussies at it :rollin
 

The Corvette that had the Rotary fitted (I\'m not sure but I think it was a factory job) was quite simply one of the most desirable cars I have ever seen pictures of it I think are at the Hayward Rotary opening if you can find that thread.

I can imagine it would be quite cool, but it\'s soul would be rather altered. I was actually wondering what the American V8 lovers would think to it. They\'d probably regard it as sacrilege! That is however a whole different debate..
 
Excuse me if I\'m being ignorant, but why has the thread starter\'s train of thought been
 
"I\'m fed up of rotarys but love the car, so it\'s getting a V8"?
 
Why not;
 
"I\'m fed up of rotarys but love the car, so it\'s getting a Cosworth YB Turbo"?
 
or
 
"I\'m fed up of rotarys but love the car, so it\'s getting a Nissan SR20VET"?
 
Surely it doesn\'t have to be simply 13b OR LS-XYZ. There are a huge number of engines which produce similar power, torque and fuel consumption values, why be so narrow as to just look at a V8?
 
Granted, there may not be the "kits" to drop in these engines, but if the V8 kits are £8k, you can sure thing get a Nissan SR20VET dropped in for that cash, with change!

[Spartacus]

To the OP if you really want to know the ins and outs of the conversion without poking anyone with a pointy stick I would recommend pm\'ing the guys on here who have done it. Simples:Thumbsup!. However, I do find it mildly amusing that it\'s been pointed out by some people on various occasions that this is a Mazda rotary club only, and yet there doesn’t seem to be the same sort of hostility on a thread about a rotary engine transplanted into say a 6R4 metro which if my memory serves me correctly wasn’t built by Mazda:Nono!

[Hi RX7]

Yes there are other alternatives available in fact there is one still on Pistonheads with a Skyline engine producing enormous power and according to a number of people on the Hampshire Jap Car Club its the ultimate engine in one of the best looking cars produced now as far as I\'m concerned that particular car is a waste of money I wouldn\'t touch it but each to his own.
From my somewhat limited research the later LS series engine are light and can produce enormous power in a reliable package and you can buy the bits virtually off the shelf from the States so it makes this particular conversion obtainable and proven, guys like Tinker 27 although I\'ve never met him or spoken to him personally is quite obviously the man who knows all about this conversion.
Someone else on HJC is putting a twin turbo Toyota in an RX7 and again I\'ll be interested in the results of that when finished. I\'m still going to stick to the V8 because out of the box I can have a new engine and gearbox and in running it in can get to know how what differences in the driving characteristics are there (if any) before I make a pillock of myself and wrap it round the first tree.

[Timmy]

The reason being weight and weight distribution for choice of engine.
A straight 6/8 is to long and would put the weight to far foward not to mention they\'re genraly cast iron blocks. Tho there has been some 1jz/2jz conversions done.
Boxxers probably won\'t fit width wise.
I think the sr20 has been done on a drift car can\'t see it being better than a 13b.
V8\'s kind of make sence but need to be ali to keep the weight down to aceptable this leaves you with an LS lump because of price and power.

[clive]

Good point,

One thing thats been overlooked that compensates against the argument the other way around  is that the thing that sets "us" apart is that our cars have no pistons and dispite the detractors on this thread, this is what makes our cars so so special,

This view is not insular either as I know this "Rotary" view is shared all around the world.

A while back a 4 Rotor BMW set very very quick strip times in Aus and it made news in the Rotary world all over the world, small Rotary Datsun\'s also always make big news if you get a real quick one out of Puerto Rico, Aus or NZ.    

You may get real attention if you strip a V8 Trabant but had this been a Mazda with a V8 you wouldn\'t have got a mention further than your back yard:WaveBye

I have found that the bottom line is with Rotary enthusiasts that they love the Rotary and not having pistons.

I am certainly not anti V8 indeed people close to me know the sport thats my passion is NASCAR and you ain\'t going to see a Rotary there are you.

I understand there is a forum for Mazda\'s with V8\'s so can I flip this around now and ask how it would be greeted if people joined that forum and told them " you wanna get that crap V8 outta there and get yerself a Rotary under the hood"

Me thinks that would be just rude to go on a forum and tell its members their engines are rubbish and yet we are putting up with it,

We are indeed a broad church  :Hammer.

[clive]

On a different note that not many people would ever know is that Glenn and myself actualy formed Mazdarotaryclub because of the engine and not specificaly the car itself,

Why,

Because we both realised that a lot of people were scared stiff of owning our cars because of the Rotary engine and felt that by forming this club we could at least gain knowlage to assist owners and potential owners of these cars from all around the world,

[tommy18]

Thing is guys im on the verge of jibbing my rotary and going with a V8. Spent too much, time and money, 4 engines blown, 3 years, 15mpg ave.
 

i must admit, this is a bit much and i\'d be considering other options if it come to this, but surely somethings wrong here 4 engines in 3 years!!!
were they fresh rebuilds by a approved engine builder??
my engine was rebuilt by wgt 5 years ago, its had 3 owners in that time 20k+ miles put on it and still going strong, ok, its time will come but i shows you\'ve just been incredibly unlucky or had some poo engines!
good luck with whatever you choose to do:Thumbs-up

[Spartacus]

I understand there is a forum for Mazda\'s with V8\'s so can I flip this around now and ask how it would be greeted if people joined that forum and told them " you wanna get that crap V8 outta there and get yerself a Rotary under the hood"

Me thinks that would be just rude to go on a forum and tell its members their engines are rubbish and yet we are putting up with it,

We are indeed a broad church  :Hammer.

To be honest Clive I can\'t recall any V8 engined Mazda owner on this site who has said anything of the sort with regards to the rotary engine. From memory we have just tried to inform those who may be interested in the conversion from our own experiences of what they can expect, good and bad.

I think you have done a fine job of promoting vehicles equipped with a rotary engine but this club is built upon it\'s members who when I requested their opinions before I started my conversion build thread voted with a vast majority that they were indeed interested in seeing details of the conversion.

Personally I am interested in all things automotive and have read with interest threads on rotary rebuilds along with rotary conversions into other vehicles. I just can’t comprehend the attitude of some people who seem intent on baiting others for simply having a slightly different interest than themselves and attempting to prevent a congenial exchange of information to those who request it.

It’s not as if there are a great many 100% original unmodified examples around which I could then understand would be a shame to alter. But especially in the case of the FD it must be one of the most modified cars around, so it seems a little hypocritical to me at least to focus solely on the engine and not even the whole engine as it seems fine to modify that with single turbos, altered porting etc etc without upsetting the morals of some.

Maybe I should have kept my rotary engine for a little longer to fully understand the complex spell that it places on its owners:2Confused.

[clive]

I have conjured up this image from the Little Shop of Horrors film where the rotary owner is the Bill Murray character and the Tuners are the Dentist just give me the pain of a rebuild please and no Novacain.

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

[davyv]

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.

[Hi RX7]

Didn\'t anyone find my comparison funny? I must have a really weird sense of humour if not.
I consider my RX7 to be a pretty good looking example of the marque and as such have picked up the odd award/cup/piston? when I have shown it, it gets a lot of interest and I always point potential owners towards this forum and in the 100\'s of people who I have spoken to about the car or posted replies on forums not once have I ever called the engine rubbish nor do I think it is.
I am and remain a fan of the V8 alternative and really hope that an informative debate can be conducted each time this subject comes up to enable people to make their own informed opinion over the matter.

[clive]

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.

Hi davyv

What you have described is exactly how ownership starts, Rotary interest tends to come later  :Viking

[DR SCHNITZEL]

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.