13bRew Swap into 05 Rx-8
 

Has anyone on here ever done a 13brew swap into a rx-8??? Im interested in doing this what do u guys think?

A local shop here has done 3 or 4 One forum member is Dethwalkin I think. Maybe talk to him for some details....

Or contact Forcefed Performance Abbotsford BC...there was some talk at one time about doing a kit to make the motor mounts and stuff...not sure if that ever came to fruition or not

20B or go home:yesnod:

Deathwalkin's car is sick. Search.

^+1

deathwalkin's car = my dream

It's do-able if you have the money for it. There's a local guy here in NY and he has a REW motor in his 8. I asked him how much for the swap and he said "a lot" lol

Here's dethwalking's thread

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-major-horsepower-upgrades-93/13b-rew-swap-finished-161226/

I have my engine pulled out and i was thinking that option and spoke to my mechanic about it.

Here's what i remember:

Pros:
1) He said that the engine has lower compression because it was built for turbo, so that's obviously good.
2) The rx8 tranny fits right in so you get the 6 gears as well.
3) Um.. there were a few more but i'm getting old sorry.

Cons:

1) Price. rebuilding and repairing the rx8 motor costs a lil over 4k. (I'm paying like 6.5k cuz i had him order me a new R Magic bumper, change the location of the esmeril wastegate, and some other things) He said putting in an rx7 motor in would cost around 8k-9k. (this is cuz he would have to do additional work cuz it's not like direct replacement)
2) EMISSION EMISSION EMISSION. he said getting to pass emission will be hell. you'll have codes firing from everywhere and although there are some tricks to get rid of some, he said he has yet figured out a way to get it to pass NY inspection.
3) The value of your rx8 will drop he said. If u plan on keeping the car for the rest of your/its life, then this won't bother u.
4) If you blew your tranny, many people go with the rx7 tranny and then you lose a gear.. not the end of the world but still =)

So that's what i remember and i chose with street porting the rx8 engine, reinforcing some parts (ie. stronger apex seals, add support to the manifold, and etc) and run with it.

I even asked about the 20b and the price was well out of my budget. (Had to try and inquire at the least lol)

He even suggested going v8. he said i'd get much better gas mileage and we just both laughed and left it at that...

I hope i didn't misinterpret any information and hope some of this helps. good luck!

ps. dang, dethwalking's car is sick though. im hoping to have numbers similar to his... (crosses fingers)

If you are going to think about doing a 13b-REW swap, I would just save and try to go 3-rotor N/A. Its definitely worth the extra money. Save up. It will be WORTH it. Along with swapping the engine, you are probably going to have to do a bunch of other mods that will make up some of the difference for going 3-rotor.

Think about what you get with a 3-rotor N/A car.

-Awesome torque curve
-Awesome sound
-Uniqueness
-Reliability
-Reliability
-Reliability

After some experience with a 13b-REW, I'd have gone 3-rotor N/A from the beginning for my goals. I'm happy with what I got and my setup is reliable but it will never be 3-rotor N/A reliable, 3-rotor N/A unique or 3-rotor N/A fun.

Thanks guys you've all been helpful! 3rotor swaps are tooo damn expensive and i really dont have the time nor money to dump into my daily driver like that. So another?,what can i do,other than turbo to get some decent power out of the renesis?

How much did u spend on ur initial 3rotor build?

The problem with the 3 rotor TURBO setup is that the initial cost is not what you have to really think of. What im trying to say is, you might be able to swap a 3 rotor in ther for 10-15G's depending on your brand preferences in turbo, BOV, wastegate, etc ( it can be a LOT more also), BUT and theres a big BUT. With a 3 rotor Turbo setup you will eventually need to upgrade every single part of your powertrain. Ive put well over 50G's in my car. Maybe 5 or 6 trannies have broken, single, twin and tripple disk clutch ets have gone, axles, rear end, ETC.

3 rotor N/A is a whole diff story, and I quote Supernaut6
Think about what you get with a 3-rotor N/A car.

-Awesome torque curve
-Awesome sound
-Uniqueness
-Reliability
-Reliability
-Reliability


My 3 rotor has shown nothing other than reliability but has crushed everything on his path. With the NA setup you will be MOre than happy and your pockets too. And Please dont get me wrong, the N/A setup will have torque enough to break some stuff too, but chances are you will enjoy it a hell lot before it happens. If you are rich ( like I thought I was before the swap) then you can deff do a 3 rotor turbo swap and get lots and lots of power. BUt when you go back to reality ( like me after the swap) you are BROKE... hahaha

enough said hahaha thanks man

how much would u thing a 20b n/a build would cost? and what has to be done besides buying a motor? any other modifications or is it a direct fit?

:lol:

something funny???

It wont b a direct fit. the 20b is about 5 1/5 inches longer than the renesis. Id still say you need about 10G's for the swap.
This prices im going to tell you can really vary depending on from who, where and what parts you get.
3000 to 4,000 for the engine alone
1500 to 2000 refreshing the engine. It can be more, depending on what you want done.
around 1500 for microtech, haltech or whatevr your choice of ecu is
then you have coils, hoses, fittings, fuel stuff ( fuel pump, regulator)
custom crossmember.

So I think is safe to say you will need close to 10,000.
the 1500 to 2000 for refreshing the engine can really change. I paid 1700 for labor only when i got the engine. that included porting it and pinning it. I spent close to 1000 just on apex seals ( my choice). See what i mean. The truth is he had the engine opened and I didnt want to put shit in it, so I went with all the best I could afford, which increased my cost. so the 1500 to 2000 for parts and labor to refresh the engine can be looking more like 3000 to 4000.

But just so you know how I did my swap.
When it was time for me to buy the gauges, I could have bought all the gages for maybe 600. But I wanted the NEXUS gauges which were more like 2000. So I sat in my office and said to my self, I work my ass of everyday and these are the ones I want. SO i gotthe Nexus. And I did that with every single item on my swap. Soooooooooo, if your not like that you will save a lot of money, lol.
I HAVE TO HAVE THE BEST for my BABY.

^^^ He is like me... Is a horrible thing but my baby has to get the best... lol

Amen

If you have to ask you are in over your head. If you cannot search enough to know what an undertaking this type of swap is then the chances of you completing it are slim. Those who have completed this swap did not start the endeavor with a thread like this I can assure you. Pricewise, from the swaps I have followed, I think the 13BREW swap and a NA 20B swap would be pretty close.

It's nothing personal it's just that if I had a dollar for every time some noob posted a thread like this I would be abagillionaire :)

There is a lot of information about these swaps, just use the search function.

^amen

This is true but i also just was trying to get some personal opinions,instead of looking through 100's of threads..ill admit i dont know that much about rotaries,im a nissan guy honestly! And i have my cts-v for power i jus want something fun to drive daily as well :)

By this statement alone you will be fine with an NA 8 once you learn how to drive it correctly...

where to get this kind of swap done?
 

i'd really like to swap the engine on my rx8 for 13B REW but where would i get this kind of work done?

^KDR Rotary PA

They changed the name to speed something.