Is there a forum page that is best suited for discussing engine swaps? I have driven every generation rx7 and a couple of rx8s. I love the way they drive, but am not crazy about rotarys. I am a decent fabricator. I have a lathe, Tig welder, tube bender and am not afraid of swaps, having built a few road race cars and sand cars. I know about the V-8 swaps and was really thinking of somethin lighter. 4cyl or V-6 perhaps. I saw a picture on the web of a 2nd gen rx7 with ans2000 motor and 6spd in it. I could live with that. Who out thereknows about what has been done with reasonable success?

 

There have been numerous V8 swaps, and S2k swaps. A lot of people put an LS1 into a 3rd gen. I hate it personally. I am a rotary person. Don't expect to get that amazingly crisp handling after you put in one of thos eneignes though. A V-8 FD drives worse than the american cars the engines come from as the weight balance is shot. The sheer size of the piston engines push way out over the front wheels. Now worth it IMO, unless you only want ot go in a straight line and look good doin it, the overall performance is not pleasing. I'd get and older F-body if I were you. Now somehting you'd be happy with and I would approve of was that someone took a 13B-T Turbo II motor from an S5 2nd gen Rx-7 and put it into a very basic first gen designed to house a 12A engine.Did tuning to the fuel system, stand alone, and turbocharger then removed things to get the car to weight a mere 2,400 pounds. the thing ran low 9s at the track on Race tires and smoked Buick GNX and Grand Nationals. the best part, you could take it home, then to a REAL track the next day.

 

I agree with you totally on the V-8 conversions for all the same reasons. I have nothing against horssepower but not at the expense of handling. Still not a rotary guy though. Even though I have never owned one I have had some experience with them. I was a volunteer driving instructor at portland International Raceway for about 20 years. I got to drive an rx3 race car. All three generations of 7s and spent a day teaching reps from the area Mazda dealers how to drive their new rx8s. Not bad motors for the track, but not for me on the street. So, tell me what you know or who to talk to about the S2K conversion. With an aluminum block and head it would seem that it shouldn't be much heavier than the rotary plusI could modify the firewall to move it back a few inches for better balance?

 

im not sure but i kno that the 3-rotor 20b engine is one of the best engines out there...it was the only engine other than o normalcylinder engine that has wone the Le Mans Series racing and is also able to be used for raciing on the strip...