Hey guys I'm just posting this to see and hear you guy's opinion on a project I'm going to do to my 04 RX-8 AT. I'm going to be doing an LS1 or possibly and LS7 engine swap and change the AT to a MT for my RX-8. The reason i'm going to be doing this is because I'veb been researching on modding the Rotary engine and the RX-8 engine quite frankly there isn't much you can do to it to gain a substantial amount of power out of it. You'd spend alot of money modding the engine and not really gain anything out of it. I know I can possibly put a 3 rotor or a 4 rotor in it but the amount of money it would cost to do all of that would be ridiculous. So I just decided to just do an LS1 OR LS7 engine swap and just be creative with the RX-8. I've be watching alot of videos of the LS1 RX-7's and I just completely fell in love with the sound and power of the LS1 RX-7 and decided it would be fitting to do the same to the 8. I know you guy's might flame me for even considering this but I don't care, Its my car my money i'm not going to make you guy's influence me on what to do with my own car. I'm planing on doing the swap around mid June ish and i'm going to document the entire process. Me and one of my battle buddies is going to do it because at ft Stewart we work in the same motor pool and he's an absolute guru when it comes to anything mechanical. We just finished rebuilding his 305 small block engine for his 82 Z28 camaro. I Know we are going to need alot of fabrication to complete it but its going to be worth while. I always liked the import cars body style and at the same time loved old school muscle cars so I think its going to be a perfect match. Again let me know what your opinion on the project and i can't wait to kick start it.

 

You can drop a 13B-REW.

But I will that pros give you the info on this one.

you can search here its been done.

I don't recommend it unless you have deep pockets.

 

all I see the original post is blah blah blah blah blah blah.

 

TL;dr

Cliffs: everyone is "going to" do a LSx engine swap.

For the most part, no one does. Or doesn't finish. Or ends up with a semi-functional, cobbled together mess.

Come back when it's done.

 

Exactly.

 

Too much to read...

 

If you hit the enter key after you type a period (.), people will be able to read your posts better, and not get all internet gangsta on your feeble posting skills.

Try it sometime.

Even I didn't bother to read your block of text, and that's saying something.
Probably has something to do with the subject. Boring and played out.

BC.

 

Oh god another dreamer...

 

Just an FYI here, a turbo 20b swap is probably around 2/3rd of the cost of an LS swap.If you are paying a shop to do either, the 20b swap will start around $20k, the LS swap will start around $30k. Remove the labor cost for each assuming you are doing all the work yourself, and you still have the 20b costing less. A 13b-REW would be half or less than the LS swap.


But as mentioned, "everyone" that is new and unsatisfied with the power says they are going to do one. Very few have even started, and less than 5 appear to have ever been completed. I think just 2. See my modding thread, the section on engine swaps.


And yes, we do mean "everyone":
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...8-swap-225118/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...ent-me-233342/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...1-swap-220651/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...8-swap-225118/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...-intro-207961/
https://www.rx8club.com/tech-garage-22/ls-swap-151489/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...s-home-230059/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...e-swap-230742/
https://www.rx8club.com/tech-garage-...6-swap-223503/
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multime...0b-one-206695/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...felter-110283/
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...x-swap-215341/
LSX/T56 Swap Build Thread..Pics inside - RX8Club.com
https://www.rx8club.com/major-horsep...ap-ls1-108457/

This was just with a quick google search... I could keep going. No, none of these were completed, though one is getting closer.

 

It almost feels to me like people don't actually drive the car before they buy it.

As a more rational individual, I've decided on a Viper swap.

 

It's scary but we have a had a couple of local newbies that literally knew nothing about the car when they bought it and never went on a test drive. A couple even had no clue how the rotary was different than a piston engine. I think the ones who do drive them prior mostly have never driven a fast car before so the RX-8 feels really fast to them.

But then when the get walked by a RAV4 or something at a stop light they get deflated and then try and compensate with mods and then just become more deflated when their RX-8 is still "slow".

Heck we had a local guy who got an RX-8 tattoo after owning the car 6 months and now doesn't even own one anymore. he showed to us all thinking we would ooh and ahhh over it and we were all like, "Oh, UM, that's dumb dude."

 

I still dig mine even though it can't keep up with a lime green Eclipse. It's a cool car, I need a back seat I can get to, and everyone seems to think their Evo is made of gold.

 

Dude, V8 swaps are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO last year

I'm doing a Veyron W16TTTT swap

 

Poor choice Slidin. I mean, 8 liters, 16 cylinders, 4 turbos, and they only got 1,001hp at the crank?

Tuner shops can get that power at the wheels with exactly 1/4th of that.


So if your 8 isn't putting out 4,004whp, you will be considered a complete failure.

 

I will have adjustable powerbands on each cylinder..........................

and a typhoon electric intake

4004hp? NO PROBLEM YO

 

i would much rather a 20b turbo in my car over a chevy v8

 

V8? I'm thinking inline 6 turbo diesel.

 

I am guilty of not knowing what I was getting into. I was impressed about the body style and how my car handled when taking corners. I thought about the LS1 Engine swap, but this would change the wighing distribution. This means no more 50/50, and that is why I bought my ride in the first place. I was thinking about rplacing it with the Boxer engine when the time cmes. The 13B REW sounds interesting. Good luck on the swap!

 

So you want to put arguably one of the most unreliable piston engines into your 8?

would it even fit? boxers are very wide

also do you even spell-check?

 

I guess what would concern me the most is the weight. No idea what a renesis weighs but an LS1 is 400+ lbs. I'd be worried that the heavier engine + most likely having to mount it farther forward to clear the firewall would = a car with an awful weight distribution. At that point i would wonder what the point is?

 

Maybe look up the weight of the Renesis then? Before you get overly concerned about it.


Yes, a LS is a bit heavier, but not by much. The bigger impact is actually that the weight is farther forward and higher up. Plenty of people don't see that as a problem, plenty of others see it as a big problem. It would still have superior weight distribution compared to most RWD V8 cars.

 

That would be a problem only if he put it in the front.

Ken

 

keep finding turbo REW engines for sub $7k and i get tempted... but its the doubling the cost on everything else involved that keeps me happy stock

 

did you ever do it?

 

Bringing it back from the dead...


This is what I have been trying to find out. An LS1 (Aluminum Head, Aluminum Block) is about 400 pounds dressed with no flywheel. From what I found the RX8 motor is 218 dressed? I can compensate the weight by moving the battery to the back, No A/C, converting to manual steering rack, No power steering pump, Washer fluid relocation, and other various underhood accessories, and I can get pretty close to original....


But the point you brought up is what worries me the most...The fact that the V8 sits up higher and further forward. And having just done a complete ground up chassis that stuff my motor back behind the axle, I have to add 250lbs+ of weight in each tire to compensate, so I know it can make a drastic difference.


If anybody has actually tracked a V8 RX8 and a stock RX8, I would be extremely interested in hearing about your experiences. If I lose the wonderful handling of the RX8, then swapping in a V8 is utterly pointless.