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Hello club. Been coming here a long time since I bought my first 8, 4 years ago. This forum has become my go to hub for information and help whenever I had problems with my 04 rx8. I now own a 2011 R3 and have come into quite the dilemma. When I owned my s1, I had to have the engine rebuilt at 135k miles. Before my original engine blew I had been able to procure a 20b(engine only, no tranny) from an old friend in jersey and had planned to swap the engine once it died.(much to my ignorance at the time) well the engine died and after learning the cost of the swap had chose to just rebuild and port the old renny as it would have been cheaper than swapping in the 20b. I ended up losing that s1 when my insurance totalled it out and spent the all the money I saved to rebuild the 20b that I'm stuck with to purchase the new R3. Once again I'm stuck with this beast of a motor and no money or means to do anything with. So my question is this, should I keep this motor sitting in my garage for another 3+ years in the hopes that I can keep sinking money into it to eventually swap it into my new s2(28k miles when I bought it) or should I finally let it go and try to find it a new home. I know I'm looking at an almost 18-20 grand project to put this in. I'm just wondering if it will be worth the next couple of years worth of cashflow to keep this dream afloat or just enjoy the newer 8 I just bought and give up the 20b dream.
Worth is subjective, if it's worth it to you to spend the money and go thru the aggravation of a 20B swap then it is worth it. No one else can make that decision but you.
It's all came down to what you want and what can you afford. Swap can be expensive and very time consuming. My buddy have 8 with 13b-rev swap and he paid around 7000usd for the car itself and around 15k for parts,tune and swap. 20B can be great but probably you'd need to but ECU for that and there would be plenty work to install. If you have the cash and you know for sure that that 20B is healthy - do it but in reality it may be more expensive than you think and more time consuming than you think. If you really can affort this i'd wait and start to assemble necessary parts like ECU, parts needed for swap itself etc.
Also the very important part is if you have good rotary service that could do a swap plus tune etc.
Yea I guess your right 9k. I just wanted to get some thoughts from the community and ppl who probably went through the trouble of the 20b swap. It's an expensive and from my research troublesome dream. Plus I wanted some insight from ppl who know rather than the constant banter from family and friends whos only argument is "it's a waste of money".
Well only a handful of people have done a 20B swap and 95% of them had the skills and did it themself and still spent a boat load of cash. My buddy locally did one ten years ago and recently sold the car but it was a beast and I loved it, the sound of a 20B is insane. But he is a rotary expert that has been building them for 30 years.
Currently another buddy is going this route as well and just talking about it stresses me out, The fabrication needed alone is overwhelming.
My suggestion would be to sell it and go the 13B-REW route as it is much cheaper and the "kits" are constantly improving so it is a way easier swap. And my buddy with the Turbo 20B made a safe 455WHP, you can easily do that with a REW as well and rebuilding an REW is far cheaper should something go wrong.
It's all came down to what you want and what can you afford. Swap can be expensive and very time consuming. My buddy have 8 with 13b-rev swap and he paid around 7000usd for the car itself and around 15k for parts,tune and swap. 20B can be great but probably you'd need to but ECU for that and there would be plenty work to install. If you have the cash and you know for sure that that 20B is healthy - do it but in reality it may be more expensive than you think and more time consuming than you think. If you really can affort this i'd wait and start to assemble necessary parts like ECU, parts needed for swap itself etc.
Also the very important part is if you have good rotary service that could do a swap plus tune etc.
Lol the engine has been sitting my garage for almost the 3 years and the tranny almost 2. I would need to rebuild the whole Motor and probably the tranny as well for the time it's been sitting. Obtaining them costed me about 8.5 grand altogether. I know a pretty reputable shop that can help with the build as well. My only reason for concern is that I just spent my start up fund for this project getting the R3. It would take me another couple of years before this project would get off the ground Again and I hate just letting this motor sit there staring at me every time I get in my car to go to work. It's a terrible dilemma and I just looking for more professional insight on it from ppl who don't look at me as completely mad for putting this absurd money down on our car lol
Yea I guess your right 9k. I just wanted to get some thoughts from the community and ppl who probably went through the trouble of the 20b swap. It's an expensive and from my research troublesome dream. Plus I wanted some insight from ppl who know rather than the constant banter from family and friends whos only argument is "it's a waste of money".
Do you know any local tuner that can do that mod ? Maybe he could tell you more about it. Generally it's not waste of money if you are passioned about it
If you want do do it right it'll be time consuming. Do you know what is the current compression of that 20B ?
That 8 is your daily driver ?
Edit
I know 1 guy that will swap 20b into 8 but he's doing it very slowly and he's doing much more than just 20b swap.
One more thing - keep in mind that if you swap that motor to 20b your mpg can drop to 9mpg - a least mu buddy now have that mpg with 13b-rev but he's got now 400hp
My suggestion would be to sell it and go the 13B-REW route as it is much cheaper and the "kits" are constantly improving so it is a way easier swap. And my buddy with the Turbo 20B made a safe 455WHP, you can easily do that with a REW as well and rebuilding an REW is far cheaper should something go wrong.
I don't know if swap to 13b-rev is that good either. Yes 13b-rev is little bit tougher than renesis and easier to tune. BUT you'll also put plenty cash for mod. The best idea wold be to sell 20b and turbo renesis. With a reasonable tune it will be safe. You wouln'd need to buy ECU - it can be done from stock ecu through mazdaedit.
The 13brew swap and turbo routes crossed my mind too. 4 years ago I was looking for 500+hp out of my rotary. After a good deal of money, age and stupidity I've become a little more realistic in my goals. Nowadays I'm perfectly ok settling for anywhere in the 300-350 range. And 9k that swap looks so clean and gorgeous. Ugh I remember seeing all the threads I looked through inspiring me to do it. But after driving a bridged 8 as a daily for the past year or so and now going back to a stock one, I realize that I may not need THAT much power under my hood. Still hope to drive a 20b or even a 26b one day at least once.
The 13brew swap and turbo routes crossed my mind too. 4 years ago I was looking for 500+hp out of my rotary. After a good deal of money, age and stupidity I've become a little more realistic in my goals. Nowadays I'm perfectly ok settling for anywhere in the 300-350 range. And 9k that swap looks so clean and gorgeous. Ugh I remember seeing all the threads I looked through inspiring me to do it. But after driving a bridged 8 as a daily for the past year or so and now going back to a stock one, I realize that I may not need THAT much power under my hood. Still hope to drive a 20b or even a 26b one day at least once.
Yeah i'd love too drive 20b For now you have R3 so i'd go that route - not 13b-rev. turbo with custom fitting, radiator and stock ECU with custom tune won't be that expensive. My mechanic is preparing for that configuration on his 8. You really don't need to buy dedicated ECU that will cost you 2-4k.
That turbo should give you ~250-300HP on the dyno. It'd be good idea to also do streetport. Don't do bridgeport for a daily driven car.
Yeah I have been turbocharged (renesis) for four years, I love it. The REW swap is not cheap either but it is a lot easier to do than a 20B swap. But any engine swap in an RX-8 is expensive and time consuming, that is just the reality. Unless you want to half *** it, then anything can be done. But for a full factory function REW or 20B swap you are looking at 15-20 minimum.
I thought there was a place down south - TN Maybe? Doing Turn-Key 20B conversions for something like $15-20K. Anyone remember who is doing that? I think that might be the way to go. The conversions will get better as they get kinks worked out, and you get to keep a few years worth of weekends open... Plus you can say it was done "professionally" when you go to sell the car, and likely recoup a higher percentage of your costs...
10-16-2015, 12:32 PM
The fabrication needed alone is overwhelming.
