ASH8

Careful M8..

And it is RotAry

Alibro

LOL, Your words not mine.
I have the engine stripped apart already and most of it is toast so no way anybody will rebuild it for £1200. Looks like the tip seals on one rotor disintegrated leaving nice deep scratches everywhere. Depending on what is required seal kits alone cost £650 to £1200 unless I'm mistaken and then the replacement engine bits mean parts alone will be over £1500
I was thinking a VAG 1.8T would fit nicely, can be easily upgraded to over 200hp and up to 300hp, would be suitable for the missus to use for popping down to the shops (unlike a rebuilt rotary) and worst case scenario if I can't get the damn thing to work I can sell the lot for more or less what I paid for it.
I know it would be a big project, not cheap and I know the clocks/steering are issues but if it was easy everyone would do it.

T4XJS

I'm sure Martin on passionford has done that conversion.. not finished as yet though last time I looked..

http://passionford.com/forum/restora...bo-engine.html

Alibro

I've read his thread and any others I could find too. Doesn't seem to be many people have done it successfully. In my case I will be doing it with my son so I will enjoy the process enough to make it worthwhile whatever the result. Will make a great excuse to buy a new MIG welder too.
I know the rotary is great in the right hands and I would love to have rebuilt the original motor and taken it out for track days where it would really shine, but is too temperamental to use as an every day driver for the missus to pop down the shops, and two thirds of my engine is scrap metal anyway so I need to buy a replacement regardless.
I just watched your videos and was well impressed you didn't wipe it up against the wall. Was going really well right up to the last corner.

T4XJS

yeah cool.. I'm sure you'll enjoy building it..
We had rx8 out at knockhill lastnight.. another good track night..
What a difference compared to std 192/231 rotary engined rx8's on track... and this saab engined one cost probably half as much as one of them...



great fun....

Alibro

We have taken my wee MGF VVC to Kirkiston (in County Down) a couple of times and had great fun but wee Ruby was a bit under powered. Really looking forward to bringing the RX8 there some day (once we get it up to the 300ish hp mark that is )

Couldn't help thinking the 13B would have been good in the MG though

Planning to call in with a local scrappy on Saturday to try and find a suitable donor engine. I'm hoping that for the price of a rotary rebuild we will have a very nice 300hp every day/track day car.

Alibro

Quick update
We got a 2001 Audi A3 1.8T MOT failure and have the engine, ECU, Wiring loom etc out of it. Just waiting for an adapter plate to be made befoe moving on.

T4XJS

Cool.. you'll need to start a build thread.. rx8 with audi 1.8t, more reliable...

Alibro

I plan to start a thread once we have it far enough along to keep the Trolls away, there seem to be a lot of them in these parts.
In the mean time I am documenting as we go.

kickerfox

You let them win? The best thing about build threads is watching it from the start and seeing how the builder solves various issues. If you wait until it's done, it's just showing off and isn't a build thread anymore. How would Orange County Choppers be if they started a show with a built bike? Ignore the trolls. Some people just like to argue.


If 1.8L why not BP?

Alibro

You might be right about that and I will start a thread soon but have a few issues I want to get past first. This will be a long slow one.

BP???

kickerfox

Mazda's 1.8L from the 2nd gen Miata.

Alibro

The engine we got is cheap and already turbo'd, much cheaper than the equivilalant MX5 (as we call them here). I guess it might have been nice to use a Mazda engine in a Mazda car but I'm not sentimental about that and i don't think it woud make it any easier.
We're still in the process of getting the engine mated to the gearbox, so very slow progress for now.

fjc

So much hate for this engine swap I see, however its still going strong and using it as my daily the now. A local breakers yard near to me had 8 RX8's in lastweek and all with engine failures. This RX8 still handles really well with this conversion aswell

T4XJS

Probably the best reliable Rx8 out there.. and just running a mild 310bhp

suicide-racer

Not had the chance to see this out at knockhill yet. I'm building a 1.8t 20v rx8, hope to have it out at knockhill early next year.

Cheers John

kickerfox

Until I'm done.

suicide-racer

Just found your thread will need to have a read through that.

Cheers John

kickerfox

Best of luck. They had quite a bit of fun with me in there. Slow build though but it's getting there.

Osator90

I have one question.
What you did with this part ?

T4XJS

Well Osator90.. I use the B204 and B234 turbo engines which don't have that part fitted..
Have you got a B205 engine to use then, they aren't the same internals, loom etc as the B2x4 engines..
You can get blanking plugs to replace that unit though, some B2x4 engines run the dizzy there others are blanked off..

Eric Sauvageau

Was looking for ideas to swap a b234 and came across your RX-8. It's great! Scrap yards have plenty of RX-8 with dead engines! From your experience the b234 should fit as good as your b204? Living in America, we don't have any Omega... I'll need a plan B for the manual transmission. Maybe Tremec have something that could work out. Need more research on that. Did you kept the original differerential? Great write-up, thanks for sharing!

T4XJS

Morning Eric,
I was lead to believe by all the cynics on here that there was no issues with the rotary engines.. hmmm but we know best eh..!!
Yeah the B234 is same as B204 really, you can get an engine adapter easy enough to fit RX8 box to B2x4 engine..
I fitted a Jag getrag box to B234 in my Omega.. I made my own adapter plate for that..
Yes you can use the RX8 diff, not had any issues with that..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Saab-Rx8-...oAAOSwGXpa3HaH

Good luck with your..

Louis Andrews

Hi there, really interested in attempting this swap, and want to use the rx8 box with an adaptor plate and cut the firewall instead to move the engine back. Do you think that would be easier than using the omega box and remounting the steering rack?

Also wanted to know if you had any issues with the wiring and how you got around using the rx8 ECU for the abs etc.

Flash635

Are you still on this forum or have they hunted you down and killed you?
How did the swap go? I tried that ebay link but it was long gone.
I have a 1998 900S that you can't kill even with an axe and it starts every time unlike the many RX8s I
see for sale that have flooded.