Thinking of possible engines I could put in my RX8 if (when) the rotary dies as I am not paying £3500 for a rebuild on an untuable NA engine, think I'd rather go with a 4 pot turbo so sr20 seems to probably be the logical choice, but are there others that would work well ? or be cheaper ? are there any conversions out there to mate an impreza engine with a rear drive box ? even thought about a turbo'd 1.8 mx5 engine as the engine and box can be got for peanuts but then I think getting up towards 300bhp from that lump is expensive !!! unless anyone can tell me better ? will a volvo T4 engine fit to any RWD gearbox ? any other suggestions ? this could all be a long time in the future as my engine might be absolutely fine for a long time but if I can decide on an idea I can start collecting little bits that I'll need right away.
yeah its an idea but what V8 would be worth the hassle ? an LS? is too expensive and all the Jap V8's are not very powerfull for the weight IE: 1uzfe, unless im wrong about that too ???
What makes you think an LS or a SBC is going to be more hassle than an SR? Neither of the engines or gearboxes are supposed to be found in an RX8, I dont know myself but theres probably broadly similar amounts of fab work needed to get them in. Putting an SR into an S13 is a good idea - its quick, cheap and easy. Putting an SR into anything else .......... I think you might as well consider some alternatives as they are all going to involve time, pain and money
There's a good reason why people use these... http://www.driftworks.com/forum/par...e-complete-turbos-loom-ecu-all-bits-bobs.html
I dont think an LS would be more hassle than a SR20 but they're mega expensive for the engines and box aren't they ? basically 300bhp would be fine so Im tring to think what the cheapest engine (thats a good engine and fairly reliable) that would work well in the car would be ?
yeah 1jz has crossed my mind too but seeing as the rotary engine sits so far back and low in the engine bay, im not sure what effect the massive long 6 pot would have on the handling of the car, which is why also I've not just decided to deffo go SR20 as its a tall engine, I've thought a flat 4 might be good as they sit low in the bay or some other engine might work better ???
Work out your budget first then work from there, Try to be as comprehensive as poisible so you know exactly what you need of corse there will be some inforseen items you can't price for but just try to work out best you can. Then look what's in your price range. This should narrow Down your choices a fair bit then you can make a infomed decision. Hope that helps Al
My budget could be whatever I think its worth spending and if it means the car has to be off the road for a while whilst I save up what evers needed then so be it, a rebuild would cost me £3500 so Im happy to spend at least that on a better more powerfull engine but I suppose £5k absolute max for the whole job done would be my maximum and if its possible to be less then all the better, which is the reason I've started this thread so I can get some ideas then start to work out what it might cost me.
The 13b fd engine or a 20b would be my choice as there light and powerful and the spool the 20b can give is amazing
Rotary- Expensive (esp 20B), and a pain in the cunt when things go wrong, and not as easy to fit to an RX8 as you might imagine. An engine swap seems a whole testicle load of work on any car just for 330bhp TBH. Surely better off just buying a different car.
Mmm. 5K + an RX8 is pretty much Monaro money, and p[resto hey - youve still got your 4 seat Coupe but youve got an LS in it
Normally I'd totally agree with that Stav but I've finally got a car I'm pretty happy with and which ticks most of my boxes and don't mind spending some money on, the only things I dislike about the car is the fuel consumption for the power and the lack of torque (which will both be solved with an engine swap), Im hoping by the time my engine does fail I will have fitted most of the basic drift mod's so it'll sort of be a sensible idea to fit a decent engine, I could just buy another car but the only other cars I'm interested in owning are a jzx90/100 or a c35 laurel which would set me back to the begining (modification wise) and I would have to import etc where as I already have this car.
yep that is another car I'd love to own but I just wanna drive the arse off and modify the rx8 now till it dies then make it even better, if I actually had £5k in my pocket and a running RX8 then yeah I'd probably just sell the rx8 and use the money to buy something awesome but if I wanna build a cool car I've got to start with some sort of base car, yep s14 or something would be far less hassle but Im bored to the back teeth with them. so yep Im aware of what I could do or what I could buy with the money so there's no need to disscuss that, what I want out of this thread is to take it as a given that Im 100% going to do an engine swap so I want idea's and opinions on what engine I should do and why ? bearing in mind a big factor is I'd quite like to do it as cheaply as possible and 300-350ish bhp with similar or more torque is my eventual goal.
fair enough but a 1jz will still sit further over the front wheels than an SR + be more expensive to buy, tune and maintain so I think an SR20 or other 4 pot is a better choice in this instance as Im not going to be chasing massive HP figures.
Mate TBH if ever I personally needed an excuse to pick an engine, that picture is it. That's my engine of choice when my 13B-MSP goes pop. Plus a straight 6 sounds better than a 4-banger.
