Oh I'm loving this. Long story long...

The 8's trans is 29" from the motor to the shifter.
The Solstice is 34" from the motor to the shifter.
Solstice bell housing is 7.25" long.
Isuzu bell housing is 7.75" long.
Solstice trans on the Isuzu bell housing is 34.5" long.

Subtract the 8's trans from 34.5" and that puts the front of the Isuzu/Solstice combo 5.5" further forward. I estimated the front of the 8's trans to be about ~4" behind the firewall. The Isuzu/Sol will be 1.5" in front of the firewall. PERFECT!! This gives me 1.5" of clearance!

THAT my friends is why I was hell's bent on this Isuzu engine.

Cleaned up very nice.

EDIT - A little more good news... CLUTCHES... Trooper 10.5"OD 1"x24t spline. Solstice 9"OD 1"x23t spline. Dodge Ram/Duster/Challanger/Etc 10.5"OD 1"x23t spline. It has the OD of the Trooper with the spline of the Solstice. WIN! SACHS BBD4163 Meaty disc. Oreilly has it for $68.99 and it's a 6-spring. http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...1344&ppt=C0015 Aftermarket available also.

 

Do you have the engine already? Could do yourself a favor and get the 3.5DI out of an axiom and have less issues and more power. Kudos on getting everything rolling.

 

I haven't bought the engine yet but I'm looking for the '02-03 3.5L. I'll run a 3.2L Rodeo ECU because it's easier to find a manual Rodeo but I also need to figure out the fly-by-wire years and if/where it was offered in a manual.

I'm not a fan of GDI. The intake valves muck up quickly. The engine is already fairly resistant to detonation so maybe some GDI pistons and a head swap? Wait...what's all this NA talk about?

I'm guessing with the GDI engine there's isn't the need for boost fuel pressure regulation so maybe that's a plus. GDI also makes the intake a little easier to fab but I can't run 10.1:1 if I plan on FI in the future.

 

Seems like all the Hj naysayers are getting there info proven wrong. I bet you can do a 20 b swap for way less they state it will. I dont see how it adds up to 20k

 

i have wondered about those prices also....

if you can get the parts cheap... and are capable of doing your own fab work those numbers just seem high...

 

Could just be the rest of rx8 club finding excuses to not do anything new.i dont see how that stopped the rx7 guys

 

If you dropped a car off at a shop and had them put in a different engine, I can easily see some serious figures adding up. I spend a ton of time searching for deals on parts and wandering junkyards. Shops don't have that luxury. $20,000 is joke though.

I'll easily recover my cost on the Solstice trans when I sell off the old parts. I spent a couple hundred more then I intended on a trans but this particular one will save me a lot of fab cost and time on making a custom shifter. I just got lucky and found it cheap. It's in the back of the car now and I can't wait to get it home and fit the Trooper bellhousing to it.

Here's another good pic of the Isuzu engine.

 

The engine alone costs more than $12k. The ecu another 2k.
That's provided you can rebuild it on your own and you're using good new parts. If you just want to swap a shitty 20b from a japanese junkyard that's another story.

I did the math for my car and the cost of a complete NA build was around 20k, without labor. That's assuming you didn't half-*** anything.

 

I'm looking at $2000~3000 for this Isuzu swap to get me 230hp. Maybe another $500 in plumbing to boost it to 300~350hp. I already have the turbos. Paid $100 for those a couple years ago. If I want to lay down any serious power out of the Isuzu I'm probably looking at custom crank which can cost 2~3k alone plus rods, pistons, injectors, and engine management. Another $2k. So maybe $8,000 in total for ~500hp+. For that price I could have done a vanilla LSx but that's not as original or as fun imo. I like the challenge.

Found another Isuzu engine here in Mi. for $300 but I don't have room to haul it. Hopefully I can come back for it in a few weeks.

 

12 K...right.

 

have you priced out a good 20B rebuild?

 

Many of the 20b's for sale on 7club are going for between 14k and 20k. It's expensive just to get an engine but I'm glad you have enlightened me with your extensive knowledge of rotary prices. We have all been fooled into keeping the engine that came with the car.

 

http://www.jdmenginedepot.com/jdm_engines/Mazda/

Didnt you search..i dont stick to forums ,even though its out of stock Im sure you can source one from puerto rico but im sure you know it alls knew that already.

 

THAT would be the JDM junkyard engine he was referring to that still needs a rebuild.

 

why the hell would you spend all that money on a 20b swap when you could drop in an isuzu v6 to make less or the same power as a renny?

 

Thank you for proving my point and not knowing what you are talking about. The ones I found are ready to go. I have a plug-in chip I will sell you as well that makes 30hp.

 

13b v6

...and you know it. At 1500rpm I'm making more torque and burning less fuel doing it. Probably as much oil though.

 

silly me i forgot you haz tq curve and graphs

 

Haha cool story loser you didnt prove anything. An engine is an engine if you want to spend 12k on an engine you didnt build then your a bigger disappointment Then the crucifiction when it comes to doing anything to your car "yourself" then again this isnt an rx8 enthusiast board just a bunch of idiots that say nay to any hard work and just buy there way for shops to do work then criticize criticize and criticize.

In my head 20b 4 to 5 k ecu 2 for the work and 3 tops for a rebuild. Didnt know thats 20 k and why pay someone to do thw work..oh yeah most of you are just able to wrench a aem filter and exhaust...go figure

 

No sh batman but a rebuild doesnt add up to half
Of the value of my car.

 

Kicker, you're all Torque man

 

my vote for best post on this thread .

 

3.5L > 2.6L It's 33% larger. You don't need graphs to understand that. I have no idea what the volumetric efficiency of a renny is but it's not 33% more then the 3.4L. The only replacement for displacement is to increase the VE of the engine (aka supercharge it). The renny may have another 2000rpm on me but the Isuzu will surpass the renny's PEAK torque MUCH sooner. Much, as in, below 2000rpm and that's what I want. I want to feel the car pull without reving the shot out of it.

A weedwhacker motor at 100,000rpm makes the same horsepower but what are you going to do with it? Mate it to a 50-speed gearbox?

Listen, the RX-8 is NOT a fast car as far as acceleration is concerned. It handles well and I find it comfortable but it doesn't impress me. I test drove one in '04 and it was a disappointment then. I waited for a turbo version and it never happened. Life went on and my Miata kept me entertained. This 8 popped up cheap so I nabbed it to do as I please. If the Isuzu unlikely winds up being another disappointment, so be it. At least it's not a $20,000 loss.

 

"Claimed" 20,000

 

U mad bro? With your math your up to about 10k, and still don't have a way of mounting your engine, no driveshaft, no differential or axles. Unless you plan on trying to use the stock ones. It's possible to do it for under 20k, I've seen it on an FC and an FD. More like 12-15k depending on skill level, and ability to make parts.