Well after blowing up two Rene's I decided to purchase my dream engine- 20b. I'm in Australia n bought the engine from States n probably paid way more than I should have- especially since it was an A block. Shortly after, I found a running complied 90" cosmo locally for the right price, which turned out having a warranty C block in her. SCORE! So after driving her for a bit and doing some minor restorations my factory turbo manifold developed a leak (actually a very large crack) which eventually prevented the thing from spooling up the primary turbo. I was forced to remove the engine to find the problem. Given the amount of work involved to put the thing back in with all it's factory emissions shit, I just couldn't be assed. The decision was made to sell the rolling shell etc and also the older A block 20b to recoup some $$$ for the project. I found a local racer / mechanic / 20b lover/expert to do the required prepping of the 20b for some serious HP, including mild extend port, extra doweling, racing apex, corner seals, housing were shaved level etc. Anyway, much to my relief the 20b was in perfect condition internally, as good as he'd ever seen I was told. Whew! Meanwhile I had transferred the balance of coin I'd paid for the esmeril renesis turbo kit to the newly negotiated 20b subframe extension kit, borg warner s475 turbo, water to air intercooler, massive precision turbo (biggest) waste gate, largest tial BOV, ignition kit, pipes, engine mounts n crossmember n air filter n custom turbo manifold and a nice looking custom TB adaptor to mate the rx8 DBW TB to the 20b. This was going to be a daily driver road car so the plan was to keep everything electrical working, so limiting my power the smaller TB wasn't a real concern given 500hp wld still be achievable. Now dealing with Esmeril has been a mission in communication break down or lack thereof especially once I'd paid. Grrrr tho I still have hope it'll all work out in the end. While all this was happening I purchased a second hand Rene n got my blue rx8 back on the road. Did the install myself at home with the help of a couple mates, my 1st ever install. Anyways, I'd just finished paying for the rebuild and received all my Esmeril parts when something else happened..... A very cheap, I mean stupidly cheap rx8 was offered to me with a blown motor and nothing else wrong except it is non registerable for a variety of reasons, non of which were anything damage related. Woohoo. Now given the amount of attention I'd been gaining from the local fuzz of late I decided it best not to put the 20b in my daily driver, (not yet anyway). Lol So begins the 20b rx8 drift car build. Thanks for reading, hope ur still awake. Btw I'm planning in running this on straight LPG vapour injection. I will start adding pics now- in the best order I can working from my phone. Damn!! I'm getting a PARSE error when I try upload pics!!? Grrrr will try posting pics separate.

Received the parts before I got my engine back, so I improvised lol impatient much

congrats and gl with the build. wish i could drop that kind of coin on a 20b

My gf bought a rx8 too n she liked my super Advan ver2 rims. I found a second set with better offset etc so I gave her my old ones. The silver ones are for my blue road car. In meantime I purchased the red ones which I was gonna sell but I then bought the red (soon to be) race car n they were a perfect match!!
Oh yeh the grey one is hers. I pretended to drop it on its gutz. Sent her the pic for a stir. Is this too low?? Lol.
It's the super Advan 3spoke rx8 family!! Insane

Thanks, it ain't over yet. Still plenty more to be spent grrrr but I've been dreaming of owning a 20b for a very long time. I'm now 43 it's now or never.
Lucky I make good money djing.

Some more trial fitting of parts- this time with the recently received 20b back in my garage. Yay
That turbo looks unnatural up there.
Turbo 20b trolley in one pic
TB adaptor works n looks great. Won't be using it now as I have a race car instead, so back to the 20b TB. Now looking at approx 700hp. Shld be enough for drifting, in fact that's all it's gonna do when I plant the foot in guessing.

The first problems encountered. OMP clearance issues. Their solution, send me a flange/spacer but it probably won't give me the clearance I needed for a SOHN 2stroke omp adaptor. Premix I hear u say?? No, not an option for LPG. Grrrrr Second but minor problem. Ummm the intake pipe is too short. Intercooler hits the pulleys and is on an angle. Grrrr. Easy fix I spose, still not the point when I paid pretty big $$ for all this shit to be right. Another minor one. The wrong sized pipe for that fitting. The bigger one was no problem. Check the inside diameter of the hose and compare the the centre of the fitting, not to mention the outer adaptor.

So some body kit fitting went on. Duraflex ummm a bit of hard work to get it to fit but overall not too bad considering I'm an amateur, a total hack. Just don't look at my indicator recess's.
Also bought those very cheap Ebay mirrors which so required hrs n hrs of work, but for like $50 what did I expect.

Some more trial fitting. Just curious about clearances etc.

So I tried fitting again, this time after I removed the radiator support crossmember. Then I removed the rack n pushed it forward outta the way. The H bracket in my hand is for the front sway bar to relocate forward. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to attach the ends of the sway bar afterwards as they will no longer reach the original position. Maybe have the welded/modified??? Or purchase an aftermarket option? Fks me!!! The steering knuckle will have to be modded. A fairly simple procedure I'm told by other forum members. Thank u to them. After popping the 20b back in with rack n sway moved there was only the protrusion of the sub frame bracket for the rack that deterred a proper fit. Needs to drop another 5-6inches I recon. The Esmeril subframe extension is also wayyy thinner than the factory one which will allow for plenty more clearance also. Ill post the pics of it too soon.

It was nice of E to include a guide on how to mod the water pump thermo housing for more turbo clearance--- shame it was a fd WP not a cosmo 20b item.!!! Der. Even after I pointed it out they are still convinced that theirs is the correct cosmo front cover n thermo housing. A bit worrying. They even tried to put the fitment issues of their parts down to ME not using a pro shop to do the work. But hang on a minute E, these are parts I bought from u that are supposed to fit a 20b with the correct clearances including the omp. Over 10k I spent with them n they prefer to treat me like a retard. Grrrr tho I admit I'm a newbie at all this, that's not the point, even I figured out their WP guide was wrong. There's a pic of the sub frame ext. I'll take some better ones myself soon. My only complaint is the finish of the steel. It's just painted and really should be powder coated I think before fitment. I guess I'll have to go spend some more money.

More sub frame mod pics. These are from E. I haven't yet modded mine.

So, I had a play around with the sway bar and discovered that if I turn the sway bar end link around to attach to the front of wishbone then the sway bar could reach. It meant swapping the left to the right n visa versa of the sway bar links.
And yes I know they are broken from the ball joint. Oops, that was me in a hurry the other day with no clue how they attach. Lol. The RB ones are only $60 a pair so no biggie. Ill up grade the sway too later.

Anyway in not sure if it will still work as intended but me thinks it looks like it will.

Feedback n advice welcome. Btw I'm pretty clueless with suspension shit so I'm learning as I go.

The first few pics show stock position. Last pics show the sway bar end links attached to the front of wishbones ( I think they're called wishbones) der.

What u all recon? It seems to have the exact same movement as before except further forward.

Also my 30mm hubcentric spacers arrived!! I like the build of these btw. They seem very well constructed.
The advans are 18 x 8 +40 all round hence the need for spacers.

Now she got potential for stance.

Oh n those are only 225s on front w 245 on back. Wait till I go 245 on front with 265 on back and yes I will roll the guards etc. Mmm actually will 265 be too much for 8" width rims? Is it dangerous in anyway?

Awesome bro! I'm glad you have this started :-) I'm sure you will get plenty of help here from the rx8 community. As I recall the flipping of the sway bar is correct. I have seen others do this on their swap. Question.. Did they provide an ecu with the swap kit?

Oh this thread is exciting me ... hoping you are succeful in your goals. Keep up with the pics so we can continue to drool :D

ECU and injectors was an option but I'm hell bent on going the LPG route.. I owned a s3 rx7 16y ago which I converted to 13bt from s4 and ran it on straight LPG, it was pretty insane. Oh n thanks for the sway bar confirm. It's a fortunate thing that that is possible. Makes life that little bit easier. Best of all I figured it out on my own, seeing as E take weeks to answer me. Grrr

Looking forward to the day I turn the key.

Post the problems you run into and I'm sure others here will contribute to helping you get that beast going. I will share any info I have as well, we can all benefit from one more 20b swap and all the hurdles you will jump will doing it. :-)

Hey thanks for the support.
I'm about to remove the sub frame n am wondering should I relieve the tension on front coil overs first somehow? I'm not even sure I can do this but we'll see

Today's labour.
Remove subframe.
Took pics below to show before shots of bolts needing removal.
Will show after shots in next post.
Also tied the rack up using the crossmember hehe. Knew that crossmember would come in handy one day.
Remember to remove those small bolts holding the brake lines. They reach only so far.

Now the removal.
Those pesky long bolts going thru the bush on the bottom wishbone at front were a bitch to get out. Lots of swearing. But basically a leaver and mallet or a long thin bar to bash it out. They tend to corrode inside the rubber which makes em tighter than a "nuns brown dot".

Popped the ext on top of sub frame to show how far forward we are moving the rack.

Now. Let's see if E made any other mistakes with the manifold ......umm yes it appears so. Did another trial fit now without the sub frame to hinder the position. Bolted the cross member back in. Attached the engine to the box n got it on the mounts. Oooo come in Houston we have a problem. The turbo flange on manifold is hitting the chassis about 3cm lower than the lip and on an angle,, making the turbo attachment impossible. And it's only gonna magnify the problem when they send me the spacer to make clearance of the omp. Ooops. And grrrr I've double checked and I'm 99% positive I have the engine sitting exactly how it is meant to and at the correct height. Keep ya posted on what Es response to this is.

All those fitment issues suck...I have a omp adapter for an external reservoir that I made which is only 10mm thick instead of the 1inch thick one that Sohn sells, don't know if that'll help you. I don't need it anymore. FB=Spyros Stasinos

They suck especially when they could've been avoided by sending me a manifold that fits as it should.
I'm trying to get $1000 refund from them now so I can get one made locally.

Ill probably be keen on the adaptor too. Will find u on fb. Thanks

Another couple pics to show exactly how far out it is. 4.5cm top of flange to the sill U know there comes a point when E need to just admit they stuffed this up somehow in 3 ways. 1. Incorrect omp clearance. 2. Incorrect WP clearance (due to their dummy engine having a FD WP) 3. Turbo flange clashing with chassis. Can't bolt turbo on. Still waiting for a reply from E. I've asked for 1000 refund which is about how much it's gonna cost to make one around here. Also attached pics to show correct engine position on mounts.

Was your car just picked up today by Lucky7Racing?

never heard of em.

No. I'm at the Gold Coast Australia

Sorry disregard last post great build btw

If you'd have done even a minimum amount of searching on this forum you'd have never chosen Esmirel for such a project. You likely haven't even come close to figuring out how stuffed up it is yet.

I did actually poke around the forum n yes there were some negatives but amidst these negatives I messaged a very well known member with a 20b rx8 and was told he is personal friends with C from E and with the negative stuff being quite old I figured I'd give him a shot. So far I'm happy with the fab of the sub frame ext and the crossmember n mounts but time will tell I guess.

I tried other ways to get the turbo on. None are the answer as u can see by the pics. The turbo is touching the chassis and with the spacer E wanna send to give me omp clearance it would be impossible to fit the manifold or the turbo. I lifted the engine n gearbox about 2cm higher than the engine mounts and it's also favouring the left of the vehicle in order to fit the turbo. I also cut the chassis sill or lip. As u can see I cut it a little too close lol. Need to weld that up. Also I'm about 90% sure the dump Pipe he sent me will not clear the steering column. Keep in mind I'm in Australia. Right hand drive, which he knew. I can't say for sure yet as the engine with turbo isn't in its proper location yet.

Dang brother those problems your running up against are not worth the investment you put in. But nevermind that now, I'm sure little by little things will clear so don't give up!! That is what these swaps involve but it's worth it in the long run :-)

Mod Edit: Quote removed

So you preferred to start cutting the chassis instead of cutting the manifold and clocking it to a different angle...? :banghead:

It was always the plan to cut the SILL, not the chassis. This was part of the instructions from E, BUT it was never meant to be this close. The sill isn't really an issue to cut, tho I did cut it a bit close, but nothing a little weld won't fix. He's trying to tell me that there is nothing wrong with the manifold, that the lack of clearance on chassis is normal. I'm pretty sure it's not good to have a hot, vibrating exhaust and turbo touching the chassis.

Yay!!
At last some satisfaction, it seems like the people responsible for my problems are gonna sort it out with an agreeable solution. I knew they'd come thru. :-)
More to come soon.

Well the subframe and extension are now in the hands of a local engineer who is not only mad keen on rotaries but also an rx8 owner too.
Should have some pics for u soon.

Thought I better do something picture worthy today.
Pic1 left unpolished- right semi polished.

I used brass brushes on grinder and drill

Pic 2. Why u NEED to wear goggles whilst doing this shit. I was lazy and did not. This splinter shot me literally between the eyes!! Thank F it wasn't my eyeball. I didn't realize for a few minutes that it was lodged in my skin. Don't be complacent

Last pics. Polished about 90% with this method.
Need to hit it with the next treatment. ( I'm actually not sure what the next treatment is) lol
Metal polish!? I dunno

Somewhere here we will cut the manifold n reposition to clear the chassis

Have you figured out what you are giing to do about the steering rod?

Good to see things are progressing well. Look forward to seeing it in action soon.

Hopefully, there will be a Brisbane cruise after your car is ready.

If I can get enough clearance from manifold ill cut the spline piece off the knuckle and weld an extension in between the two. This way I don't need to take the car anywhere. Just the knuckle

Unfortunately this car will only see the track but, I am looking into building a 3rotor Rene engine for the road car. I have two complete engines in need of a rebuild so why the hell not.

Well because it'll cost a lot more than getting a regular 20b, someone has done it in the UK, with not so great results-not worth it. I have 2 13bre engines here as well but I have no e-shaft and middle thick iron for a 3rotor. If I could get those cheap I'd do a 3rotor in an instant!

Well it's the only rotor transplant that even comes close to being legal here

Some more trial fitting.
Cut the bottom pipe on 20b WP to clear the manifold.
Removed thermostat cover to clear the turbo. Added the rx8 alternator.
Ill probably have to use an FD water pump housing instead cos I think it has better bottom pipe location and clearances in general.
I wanna use the engine mount style EWP mounted onto FD WP housing.
Not sure which brand.
Either meziere or the e & j one.

Manifold still needs to be modified or rebuilt.
I think the engine needs to come down about an inch but I haven't got the crossmember in at the mo so I can't tell for sure.

Trial fit the rx8 alt. used a combo of rx8 bracket an cosmo square nut. Worked out quite well tho I'm still not sure what to do about the WP. ALSO added the rx8 pulley n CAS wheel. Does anyone think only 3bolts is an issue? Because I have reversed the pulley to line up with the alt, now only 3 holes line up. I cld just drill out the last one to line up. ?? Does it matter if the CAS wheel is backwards too? The teeth seem fairly symmetrical. Thinking bout making a bracket to attach to the omp for the CAS. Is the fan belt likely to affect the CAS being so close. ?

Yes it does matter if the CAS wheel is mounted backwards.

Guess I'll have to re drill a couple holes to fit. Thanks

The rx8 has the 2 locator pins which of course the 20b does not. Will I need to find the correct position for the wheel to sit for timing? Or does the sensor work it? , I think not hey? If I put the wheel on to match the holes on my crank , will that be the correct position for CAS to work?