I recently thought of purchasing a low 90's model rx7, everyone is selling them for $20-30K wtf is going on?????? 15-18 year old cars people!!
is the rx7 the new supra?

 

Uh.....say what?

Here is a billion of them under 20k.....and good luck being a rotorite I had one popped a seal with a filter and exhaust!! Any engine that needs to be tuned that perfectly to be call halfway reliable has serious issues. I am not a fan of a boosted rotary at all!!

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...=1246490881411

 

First mod should have been a wideband and a tuning solution. Fail.

 

Rotarys are way overrated, there like hondas, no power down-low and they have to rev to the moon to make any power.. For them to be somewhat reliable you have to have a NO-KNOCK tune, and even after that they overheat and blow up.

 

Man you guys have a lot to learn about rotaries. Rotaries can be as reliable as any other engine, you just have to know what your doing. My first gen ran 12's all motor. if you guys think Puerto Rico puts out alot of fast Evo's you should see their rotaries. This month team Puerto Rico will compete against team USA in Englishtown. I suggest those who haven't been to this event should go check it out. Every Rotary in Team PR is a 7 second rotary. Imagine that!

 

This was 10 years ago when that was considered normal. When it was any 2 bolt on mods then you must tune and that's it of course now we know better. It just proves my point any motor that has to be that perfect sucks!!

Yep!!

What do Alcohol fed 1800lb cars have to do with reliable 500whp pump gas rotarys? For every one rotary you show me that lives 10K miles at 500whp I'll show you 3-4 that blew up.

Go look how many have shoved other engines inbetween the shock towers and would never go back!!! I'm talking diehard guys that in 99' 2000 would have bleed apex seals are now running a FD with a Chevy under the hood!!

Rotarys have the highest specific output around and are equally the most unreliable around to boot!! Dee K. doesn't even run a rotary any more

 

The best mod you can do when it comes to a rotary is ripping the damn thing out and dropping an LS motor in it's place.

Reliability, light weight, better sound, torque.

 

That's one option, or you could go with the 2JZ!

 

I'd rather have the LS.

 

I'm sure you can find a blown up one for a lot less. You're going to build the motor anyway. An RX-7 should not be your primary or even secondary mode of transportation IMO, so buying a broken one just might be the way to go.

 

Sorry but a I have never seen a FC sell for that may be a FD but not a FC.

 

Like you said, that was 10 years ago. Apex seals are made of Carbon or composite material now. Any 12a - 20b can be made to run at 500 whp and last just as long as any piston engine. Further, there aren't too many stock block imports that can run 500 whp with the exception of the 2JZ or RB26.


LS swaps are common but that doesn't change anything. Everyone does engines swaps to their prefrence, SR20DET's in 240's and 510's, Just like they put 13B's in Datsuns and Starlets. It's all to each its own. If you want a reliable engine, rotary or piston you have to get it built. Rotaries parts keep changing for the better, and what was common in the 99' 2000, is an issue that is no longer a problem. Just like any other car, you have to pay if you want to play.


Yet the're are so many others that do

 

You can say what you want the fact of the matter is you need the perfect tune, the perfect build, to have a 1/2 reliabe 500whp rotary. Those is the facts of life and you know it.

You can count the top Rotary tuners with 1 hand and all the capable ones with 2 hands what does that say about that engine. The amount of swaps says another it's not style, fads, or preference it's performance.

Do people swap out the LS motors, 2JZ, for Rotaries?

Ernie T. great guy never met him has been through 5 motors in 8 years. Only tuned by the best build by the best at that time. Whoever the guru was at that time is who built/tuned his motors and yet they still gave out. Granted these are 600-730whp 13B's, but still.

Rotaries are fast as hell, loud as hell, unique, have a cult like following, but reliable they are not, in boosted form!! Lastly there isn't some super duper Apex seal that is making everything great nowadays. Most are still using 2mm Mazda seals as of 3 years ago maybe in the las 3 years something unbelievable has come out, IDK? The problem has always been that rotaries cannot tolerate any detonation and since they run so stinking hot such high EGT's that pump gas has always been playing with fire when you turn the wick up. In a piston motor you can detonate a little and still be okay in a rotary it's over that fast!!

I still go and visit Rx7club from time to time to see what's going on it's a cool engine just a money pit of one.

 

Unfortunately you have to pay alot more to play with rotories with the same or less satisfaction than a piston engine.

 

rx-7 are waaaaaaayyyy over rated, they are nice looking, but NOT reliable whatsoever, i had a 93 and i rebuilded the engine 3 times within 70k miles, and this was done by a performance shop specialized in rx-7. The problem i kept having was that after a few hard launches or pulls the seals would go bad and bam there goes the engine, btw i had a single turbo conversion in it too. Yeah there are fast ones out there, BUT not street driven not alone daily driven.