Anyone out there with any knowledge or experience in dropping an RX-7 rotary engine inside of a Porsche 944 please get back to me. If you know anything about these Porsches, you know that they can weigh almost under 1500 lbs. with a lightweight rotary as a powerplant with some other minor lightening procedures. With power to weight like that on a real-wheel driven, transaxle car, I should be able to get some pretty interesting performance enhancements. But anyways, if there's anyone out there with some knowledge on how to make moulds for conversion bell-housings, or, if an aftermarket company exists for what I want, where to steer me to. Or if you just want to tell me I'm nuts, feel free to do so.
Thanks,

-Clayton Stanley
dru3m1r1
clayton_t_stanley@hotmail.com

 

1500 lbs? I hate it when people guess the weights of cars and state them as facts.

A friend of my up the street owns a 86 944. There is no-way that it is that light. The first mini-coopers were around there give or take 200lbs and that 944 has to weigh at least 2100lbs or more yeah I can see a striped down one could come close to that figure. But what are you basing that number on.

Give me one magazine articule or valid car websites that state a curb weight of the car not there guesses and I will shut up. Hell my corvair weighs 2300lbs and that is its official curb weight and its air-cooled! I hve 2 friends that know nothing about the acutal weights of their cars and make blind guesses and stick behind them. One lives next-door and says that his integra sedan, sedan LS weigh "1500lbs" what a load of BS! And my other friend thinks that because his saturn is made out of plastic it weighs "1300lbs" What?? I have never seen a stock saturn under 2000lbs, and especially a 1994 model.

All I can say is that this is a hairbrained Idea becuase the 4 cyl in the 944 is more than competent for that car.

and about the weights next time get real facts they go farther than guesses. File it under

 

ok,
instead of flaming the guy, lets give him some help instead and let him make his own decission on what to do

here is a good place to start. your conversion has been done before. you are no pioneer to this area, so help is out there if you need it.
http://www.kennedyeng.com/

what are your goals with this car?

 

Yeah are you going to do this yourself? or pay someone to do this? Do you already own a 944?

This will take at least a fair amount of mechanical knowlage (I wish I could spell) how much experience do you have with engine swaps? And what series rotary do you have in mind? (12A 13B 13BT 13BT2 13B-RE 13B-REW 20B-REW ?Renesis?)

give out a less vague build plan and we'll help.

 

why not just get a FC? Similar styling and a rotary motor. Cheaper too.

A nice LT1 would do wonders for that car if you insist on swapping the motor: http://www.renegadehybrids.com/944.htm

 

I'm sure it could be done, but that would be alot of work. The transmissions are in the back on those cars, so making the engine mate up to the clutch, which is up front woud be difficult. I never really cared much for the 924/944 styling but that could be a pretty cool car if you do it right.

 

Hey, im bringing this one back... I didn't know it had been done before but I wanna do it. I have my 87TII as a parts car. It has a streetported 13BT w/S5 turbo in it and some other goodies. So the clutch is in the back of this thing eh?? I wanna find out ALL the details about doing this before I do it. This would be an extremely fun project to undertake. I have all the time I need to do this and plenty mechanical knowledge. I realize some of the stuff would have to be fabbed ex: motor mounts, exhaust, etc... that website to the Kennedy Engine place would be able to mount the engine up to the porche tranny, but could that tranny hold up to some pretty hefty power? ANYTHING you might find relevent, please tell me, except for flames

Thanks

Aaron

 

If you put a rotary in a 944, you gotta go bridge port, twin turbo. Its a Porsche for petes sake! Its got a reputation to live up to regardless of whose hampsters are running in the cage. I had a pontiac Fiero, (no fair comparison) and it has the engine in the trunk. if you don't have a 944, look at the trans axle in that to get an idea of how a mid body engine mounts. It may be difficult to get a rotary to mate up to a transaxle because of the engine shape.

 

Don't waste your time!

 

project85 a 944 has the engine it the front of the car you're thinking the 914.

 

i'm with 85rx7gs on this one ...

they already did that ... it's called the Gen II car. no, but seriously, i think it would be better to choose another car altogether. stripped cleaner than a turkey at Thanksgiving, i don't think a 944 would weigh in at just 1500 pounds. weight-wise, it's at least similar to the T2, but my guess is it may be a few hundred pounds heavier.

mounting the engine and tranny is going to be a nightmare!

getting a rotary to make power is not a problem, with enough money. but to be honest, i still don't think you're going to match of exceed the performance package (as a whole, not just the engine) off the 944 with a 944 Turbo or 968 swap, and it will be significantly less misery, though it may be the same money.

i'm really not trying to **** in you pot, but that's just the way i see it.

 

944's and 928's have the clutch at the back of the engine, just like any other car. The power is transmitted to the transaxle in the rear via a drive shaft, which spins on bearings, in a torque tube. The shaft always spins at engine RPM when engaged, so it's essentially an extension of the input shaft, but it's not a part of the tranny.

I agree diabolical here in saying don't do it. For the money, it would make much more sense to go with a V8 if you really want power in a 944. Even the turbo engine can be made to produce as much horsepower as the stock LT1 would, and it WOULD be just as reliable. If you start with a 944t, the cost would probably be the same for all your options, if you expect them all to produce the same numbers, say 350hp.

And, I hate to say it, but the FC, as much as I love it, is really a 944 clone to start with. Anyone arguing this point should take the time to read up on how Mazda came up with the design.

Now, a 914 with a rotary, THAT would be a great idea. They are MUCH lighter than the 944, and since the engine is mid-mounted to a longitudiunal-facing transaxle, it should be a breeze. In my opinion, that would be a much cheaper, easier, and more fun project.

Ren
former 86 944t owner, now FC addict

 

Don`t waiste your time just go and buy a turbo 2. You`ll
save alot of money in the long run . You can sell your porche so you wont really come out your pocket for to much for say a 88-91 mazda rx7 turbo 2 or even a non turbo rx7.

 

The guy who started this thread has never replied.

He has either seen the error in his ways or is throwing a hissy fit cause we don't agree with him.

Come on dru3m1r1 reply and prove us all wrong by showing us you know what you're talking about.

 

I have the unique perspective of owning an example of all three of these cars.

Pictures of my current rides:

My 1973 914:







My 1989 944 Turbo





My 1987 RX7 Turbo








My 944 Turbo weighs in at 3200 lbs, my RX7 Turbo weighs 3100 lbs and my 914 (with no engine or tranny) weighs 1400 lbs. I am considering a rotary for my 914 but think I will go with an LS1 instead. I was originally wanting to stay all Porsche but the cost of a Porsche six engine and rebuilding one to get the same 350 hp the LS1 engine puts out kind of put a damper on things. On top of that the LS1 weighs only 100 lbs more than the Porsche six.

Now as for the original question I would have to agree with everyone here. The 944 NA will only weigh 1500 lbs in full race tube frame form without an engine in my humble opinion. Stock I would think it would be close to 2700 lbs. I believe the 944 makes a poor choice for an engine swap like this. Why not save the money and hassle and get an NA RX7 instead? It looks similar, weighs the same and comes stock with all the parts needed for a rotary engine. On top of that there are not many who have done such a conversion so you would be on your own (P.S. I believe the Kennedy Engineering kits are for the Porsche 914 or 911 Transaxle and not the 944)

The 914 is another story. It just begs for more power and almost every imaginable swap has been done. I just saw a supercharged rotary 914 sell on E-Bay the other day. With an engine in place you would be looking at around 2000 lbs for a fully dressed 914 with a rotary engine. To get 1500 lbs you would have to go carbon fibre and tube frame which will eat your pocket book in a hurry. Just my $0.02

 

LS1 the 914...to the OP that is such a crazy idea go with the 13b-rew or renesis...or LS1..

 

03?