Sure you can overheat anything... but in most cases a stock v8 can survive overheating and still take you home, unless you're in California and home is in TN

Honestly, alot of the 'boinger' is expected to be common knowledge amongst gearheads.. I learned alot of it in the shop with my dad, but as some of the import people are coming in with no knowledge whatsoever off the street, it's a matter of googling and you'll usually find a good explanation for pretty much any 'boinger' question out there, and if it's something really specific, you could put up a thread on most of the forums and get a good explanation.

At least I would hope so

 

I still have a rotary and considering the v8 swap. Dont get me wrong I love the high revving rotary, turbo spooling, blow off valve, throw u back in the seat, look back on the other car a wave feel.....but im on my second motor, listening for every kind of sound and hoping that it starts up without a problem the next day. I dont mind working on my motor and believe me ive learned a lot about it.....but my biggest problem is that there r no parts available unless u order it and wait a few weeks. Every time u go to a local mechanic to just look at the car he looks at u with a dazed and confused look or just wont touch it and do I dare mention the dealership.......MAZDUH. I would have to ship or drive my car 10 hours to get to Pettit the closest rotary speacialist.

As for the v8 everyone and their mother knows how to work on it....parts are all over the place and most of the time its in stock and like everyone says more bang for the buck. And u cant forget the $#it load of torque u get with the motor. I will miss the turbo and even although most of u guys dont like it....yes Ill miss the blow off. But if ur feeling frisky u can get the pro-charger or hinson has a single turbo kit for it.

Thats just my reason for wanting to do the v8 swap.

Oh and one more thing yes....everyone always says well why dont u get a vette or a camaro, My reply is usually 1. They r nearly twice my weight. 2. They dont have the body styling which is why I absolutely love this car. 3. Its something different 4. Its my car

 

The only time I overheated a V8, I lost a couple pistons. They stuck, and broke. Then all hell broke loose, bad things happen when rods start winging around unsupported

It overheated because I didn't set the timing properly in my hurry to get the intake back on and get it home. I had the intake off because I was investigating the valvetrain, turned out I had numerous circular cam lobes. (Car would still go over 100mph *easily*, flat lobes, lack of compression, and everything) Drove great until it started rattling. No temp gauge in that car, no idiot light. Didn't feel a loss of power beforehand, but it turned out the timing was about 30 degrees off!

My Isuzu, it overheated if you started it. Had lots of head cracking problems. Main reason I am not a fan of turbos (the minor reasons are all of my forced-induction customers who keep me well fed!), especially tiny turbos mounted close to the head.

My Subaru, it didn't sieze up, but it laid a cloud of blue smoke you could walk on. The pistons self-clearanced, and the heads cracked comprehensively. Still ran, sorta, but coolant poured into the oil, and out of the engine itself, as fast as you poured it in the radiator. Yeah, blowed that one up good.

Hmm. Screw it, on further reflection I'll keep a 13B in my FC instead of that boingy swap...

 

I love a 500rwhp rotary car just as much as I love a 500rwhp LS1 powered car. Cars like Lupe's FD and West TX RX-7's FC give me just as much of a hard-on as termin8r's Camaro. I'm just going to swap to an LS1 because I'm in college, and don't have the time or money to fiddle with the 13BT in my car right now.

 

im doing the LS1 swap because when i saw it years ago, i thought it was simply cool. i havent had a v8 for a long time, and im sick of driving small displacement motors. the rotary when i drove it, was fun. it was slow, but it was just good clean fun to toss through the twisties getting off of the highway. i was very frustrated, however, with the severe lack of torque. the hill going out of town just killed the fun plus, ive never done an engine swap before, so i thought it would be a good learning experience while building a future open- road car. one day, id like to utilize a rotary for a a small formula-type project. we'll see...

 

 

You hit the nail in the coffin with that statement. I personnally don't like the RX7 especially the 86 and up body's a rotary pushing around 2800+lbs just doesn't appeal to me. I drag race so I opt for a lighter body I've had a '74 Toyota Corolla, '73 RX3, '81 Starlet and my current car is a '71 Datsun 1200. All these cars striped down are under 2000lbs the Datsun 1200 and the Toyota Starlet being more in the 1600lbs range. Just like anything there is a time and place for it and I personnally don't think a rotary should be in anything that weighs over 2000lbs. Reliability of a rotary well let me say I've haven't had any more than I have had with piston engines. Yes they are a bit more finicky than a piston engine but like with anything it's all in how you take care of it. I just noticed that alot of the V8 swaps are into FC and FD and I don't blame you guys that own them for doing it hell they do need a V8 to move them. But to say rotarys are junk well that's just a matter of opinion. I'll keep building and racing rotarys for a long time.

 

Rotary engines are as reliable as the person who maintains them. Stock 12a's have gone way past 200k on stock motors same with n/a 13b's. They are great motors, takes about 1/2 a day to rebuild one completely. I own turbo convertible thats awesome, no problems so far, and reliable as a biotch. I also own an 85 gsl which is soon to be getting a 302efi swap. I love pistons and rotaries, I figure why not have both. But if you want to run some good times for cheap, v8 swaps are the way to go. Mine is the 13sec car for $1000 project;got a wrecked 88' stang for $200 that runs perfect, so I'm on track so far.

 

It's ironic that the only real smack talking in this thread is by the rotary guys, though it's still low key.

RX-Heven, I'm officially using that as my signature. That's the best quote I've seen in a long while-

 

Don't make me go kill babies, I'll do it, don't think I won't.

 

My friend beats on his damn ford 2.3 turbo every day overboosting that tiny IHI until it glows like a hot coal and knocking intermittently racing every ricer he sees and hitting WOT until redline at least 20 times a day, and its fine. Infact he overheated several times and while he did crack the head, its an irrelevant one.

I know a guy who beat on his 2.3 for 270,000 miles detonating, overrevving and boosting past the boost gauge in his cabin's ability to measure and when he tore it down to rebuild it was fine... complete with crosshatching.

Ive personally pinged a v8 for uh... months and the only thing that happened was a little problem with compression... and it was @ 300K.

Yes, stock or mild N/A rotaries can last a long time, but they dont exactly have high BMEP and the rotor inside never goes over 3K rpms unless they go over 9K measured @ the e-shaft... show me a turbo rotary that can last like that and I'll buy it up if its not too pricey.

They hate overheating and pinging! Not that Im going to not take care of a car id get but I dont want a slipup, mistake, busted hose, fuel starvation in a high-G corner or a bad tank of gas to require a rebuild

 

What do you LS1 guys think about the car sound wise? I love the sound of the rotary, so I wonder if I'd miss it too much. What are your feelings on it? Do I just like the sound because I'm used to it and I'll get used to the LS1 growl, or do any of you miss it at all?

 

I think it can be safely said that most of the guys in this forum LOVE cam lope. It's a sound that just exudes horsepower. Also, properly configured, the exhaust tone from an LS1 will sound basically identical in an RX7 as it does in a Vette, which is certainly quite tolerable.

 

"I think it can be safely said that most of the guys in this forum LOVE cam lope. It's a sound that just exudes horsepower."

That is the part about this whole thing that only a gearhead can understand. If the sound of a V8 with a lumpy cam doesn't make you smile, then you will never understand what motivates some of us to waste hundreds of hours on a project to create what is really a poor imitation of a Corvette! Back when a lot of guys were tinkering with Hemis and GTOs (the Pontiacs, not the Ferraris), I was tinkering with TR-3s, Alfas and XKEs. I only acquired the twisted mind of a hot rodder much later in life.

I have two 1st gen RX-7s, one with a slightly warmed up rotary and the other with a Ford roller cam 302, and yes it has a very lumpy cam and a 3 inch exhaust. Whenever I drive into a parking garage I always set off about half the car alarms, and even in outdoor parking lots I often set them off. Obviously I am in my second or third childhood.

www.cardomain.com/ride/646433

 

V8s with a wild cam are one of the sweetest sounds out there. Even 'mild' v8s sound nice when theyre in the upper rpms roaring around. Its also (IMO) a lot easier on the ears than the higher pitched, raspy sounds you can get from smaller high spun engines.

Seriously. The sound of a v8 is addictive as hell. I have DREAMS about them, ok? LOL.