we will see, i will put mine on a scale after i am done and we will see how much the distribution is off. who want to put there fc on a scale with it?

 

the 50/50 weight distribution wont be an issue seeing how I have nothing but an engine in my engine bay. and the ls1 is all aluminum and pretty light. I'll be sure to have it weighed though

 

Ya not sure about the LS1. I was refering to to 5.0L in the pic. I don't need a scale, I can see it.

 

It'll sure rip the tires I bet, especially with the weight dist change. Just take you rotary fc and throw 10 cinder blocks in front of the rad and take her for a tire smok-in rip, lol. Still looking forward to seeing this thing run though.

 

any mods to your engine 84stock?

 

well for mine i dont think that it will be THAT bad. i dont have any options in my car like ps, ac, or anything so i think that will help. the batery is going into the far back of the hatch. once it runs and i have killed at least one set of tires i am going to put some afr heads (the best head around for the motor and all aluminum) that should help a bit to.

i know that the 50/50 will be off but i am hoping after all the work is done that the front end wont be much heavyer then a loaded t2.

i am also going to bring up the fact that IF the car ever gets on the track i will be driving it and i wont lie about my lack of track time or experience i have (i have none) so will the 50/50 really make that big of a deal? i dont think so. and hey it will sound really cool and all the parts to rebuild it are found at the local napa store.

 

When you factor in the wieght of a big turbo setup, piping etc, I don't think there would be a big diff between a v8 swap and a big turbo fc

 

my opinion is that the 50/50 would be more beneficial to the guys that compete seriously in autocross and it wont make a difference on the street, unless you like to push how fast you can take the on ramp.

 

As far as putting a V8 in a RX-7, I'm not a fan. I bought the RX-7 for the whole point of having a rotary engine, without it I wouldn't even bother picking one up. If I wanted a V8 powered car, I would have got one in the 1st place.

 

but thats the difference you bought an rx7 for the engine, I bought it for the chassis. most v8 cars dont have the handling capabilities of the rx7. So saying if I wanted a v8 car I should've bought one doesn't address what I wanted at all. I wanted a light chassis with good structure and handling capabilities... and torque. the rx7 had 2 outta 3 and a good info base on getting that third objective. I think its very close minded to think the only reason of having the rx7 is for a rotary engine, its obviously the main contributing factor but theres more to the car than that. what do you think about the rotary engine swaps into other vehicles? You probably think they are pretty sweet. I can't blame you. I like all engine swaps as long as it is beneficial to what the owner is looking for. swapping a sr20det out of a 240 to put in a lame *** 1986 305 sbc would be very gay in my opinion.

I wanted a small V8 powered import. couldn't find one so I made one.

This post is to long, and I dont think rotaries suck, there are a lot of sweet builds. I'm just saying what type of car I wanted

 

Sorry double post

 

This is the comment that drowns the V8 swap guy's everytime, and you fell into it as well. You bought the car for the chassis, and it's benefits, then jammed a motor in it that negates any advantages the chassis had? Doesnt make much sense does it?

If you wanted a V8 in an RX-7 that's cool but using that arguement to prove your case is counter intuitive.

 

So, when do we get to go for a ride?

 

i will give rides once mine is done, it is no ls1 but should still be cool

 

I know where you coming from. You want the best of both worlds and figured why bother with the finicky rotary engine that requires too much work when I can put a simplistic trouble-free V8 in it. I really don't care either way about engine-swaps, 20B in a DeLorean or F20 in a AE86 or RB26DETT in a Silvia.....doesn't do much for me as it's a very personal choice to be doing swaps of that nature. Of course I do appereciate the work that goes into a well done swap, such as a certain E36

The V8 in a FC really hits home because I really enjoyed the 2 RX-7s (GX and a TurboII) that I have/had and a big part of that was the rotary engine in it. You take that away and I dunno....I probably would have sold my cars a long time ago.

When I purchased my GX RX-7 back in 97, I looked at the whole system and decided if it's right for me. I'm not going to buy a Mustang and think of changing out the antique dead-axle system because I was unhappy with the handling......I wouldn't have bought it in the 1st place. Same for the RX-7. If I was unhappy with the power, I wouldn't have bought it. Sure I would have loved more power (who doesn't), but I was happy with it had along with the advantages of the rotary and if I wasn't I would passed on it. That's just me of course, I'm not looking at it in terms of a project car like you were. Just like if I was into high-revver motors, I wouldn't have looked at the Mustang and said "hmmm, the low-rever V8 sucks, let's put a Honda 2.0 F20 in it".

I don't get it.....why would you be against this swap? The swap would give you a small V8 powered import that handled very well when it had the stock engine in it. A stock SR20DET out of a S13/S14 is not a lot of power, certainly comparable to a 13B-T. Yeah I know, North America only got the KA24 engine, but say Nissan made a "Turbo" option that came with the SR20DET. Putting a V8 in place of the SR20DET is gay then? So if you were in the market for a 240.....would you then just buy the "non-turbo" 240SX model and put in a V8, or would pay some extra $$$ and get the SR20DET engine that has some potential?

 

So the wieght distribution change is a good thing because now you can smoke the tires easier? Interesting............

 

Really I don't see what the big deal - there are plenty of Rx-7s with dead motors out there that people are unwilling to pay to rebuild those motors. Unfortunatly with the price of early Rx-7s it just doesn't make sense financially to throw $3k of motor into a $2k car. The rest of the car might be in great condition so why not swap another engine in? Then they have a budget car with super performance.

 

You need to do a bit more research. an ls1 swap doesnt add much weight and really with all the stuff I removed it should be lighter than it was originally. there isn't much engine in front of the strut towers, any extra weight is mostly in the transmission which is right in the middle of the car. I do think that comment makes sense. I am able to understand your comment if it is in regards to cast iron V8's and you make a good point in that sense, but most guys that swap in a big ol' engine care about going fast in a straight line and wanted something light.

I used the 305 (not a 350) as an example of a bad engine. Its a lot heavier and not as powerful as a sr20. therefore it would not benefit the car and would need a lot of fab work, thats why that swap would suck. I dont care what engine you swap into what. If it makes the car perform better than the one you pulled out then I'm all for it. If I swapped a 13b-t out and put and 13b n/a in then that swap wouldn't make much sense would it? thats all I'm saying guys, I had a n/a rotary with over 150 000 km on it that I swapped out for a 500+hp corvette engine. I was going to keep the rotary and do something dumb like put it in my little john deer, but I thought selling it was a better deal.

So please dont flame me when I'm really not trying to get under anyones skin. I was honestly just stating my own opinion and I respect all your opinions. and I will take you guys for rides if we have a barbeque. even if we dont, when its running I'll let you know and anyone that wants to can come take a look.

not trying to flame/bash/rant or any of that cause I dont see a point in it. Just wanted to share my project with some fellow calgarians.

 

Oh I wasnt flaming. It doesnt matter to me what engine you put in. I was just saying, that the arguement you presented wasnt the most effective one for your position.

 

Just a suggestion, while the LS1 swap apparently can be pretty weight neutral compared to a big turbo 13b, where the weight goes isn't so much - ie, almost certainly more ends up past the front axle, giving the car a higher polar moment of momentum, meaning it is more resistant to changing direction. Moving the battery to the back would help offset the weight redistribution out front, but I would put it as close to the centre of the car, ahead of the rear axle, as possible, or else it while it will balance the car F/R more, it will also contribute to a higher polar moment.

 

I dunno, go back and take a look at the pic from the side, the engine isn't much further infront of the strut towers, and being all aluminum its not much weight, the bulk of the weight is the transmission. the original transmission I could pick up no problem but the 6 speed must be at least 40-50 pounds heavier. any excess front end weight would be neutrilized by the removal of the head lights and replacing them with flush mounts, the flip up lights are decently heavy and quite a bit in front of the axle. just my .02

 

Noooooo, it's just a comment on what he could expect. Personally, I would rather be able to hook up.

 

It makes sense if you're going to keep it 10 years and want something reliable.
My $900 pick-n-pull FC now has close to $10K invested in it. OTOH, there's
not much left to break so it should last me many years. And it's a damned sight
prettier than the jelly bean cars they make today.

 

Yeah and just think, after investing all that in your $1000 fc you now have a resell value of $4000.

 

that is the same with any car though.

honestly unless you find some "sucker" you will NEVER get the money out of a car you put into it... not even worth selling them

i need a bigger garage