RX8 13b-REW swap!
 

Well after a few attempts at trying to sell the shell of a parts car ive partially parted out and no success, i felt it necessary that it should be used for something better! Having an rx8 shell in the driveway is a really tempting offer for a race type build, so thats the plan thus far.

I ordered the REW longblock yesterday and should be here first of the week. Will update with pics as soon as it is received!

Any help on the swap is appreciated! I'm learning from angeljoev's thread and the others here doing swaps :)

WOOOOHOOOOOO hope everything comes outt gooddddd

cool im there if you need anything man. and im almost finished with that dash peice as well.

Start by considering:

1. engine and transmission mounting
2. engine management system
3. return fuel system
4. what accessories you will retain and how they will be controlled.

That's some good advice.

Engine management won't be such a huge hurdle, you can just go standalone. It would pretty cool if you could get the stock gauges, ABS and DSC to work, tho. I know some with the Mazda3 and standalones have gotten it to work by retaining the stock CAN BUS OBD-II harness and integrating it, but that was with a MoTeC EMS ($$).

The first steps would be to research some of the other 8's with REW swaps, like the Drift 8 built by Speedmachine, and the other drifting 8 in the 787B paint. Gather pics and info.

thanks for all the advice. Another guy here doing the RE swap and i think me and him will try to work the same type project IE. if he accomplishes something pass the info on, vice-versa.

From what he has told me if i have the crank trigger sensor and all that i can retain the EPS and all stock gauge functions. I guess we will see. First step is hardware.

Kevin @ rotaryresurrection has given me good advice so far in letting me know all the plus and minus on different engine designs and mounting. REW is easiest to mount and strongest design motor as far as i can tell. Only thing gonna be tough is the intake manifold, but for "because i can" purposes... i might be taking a sledge hammer to the firewall to gain some clearance ;)

I have some rx8 trannies sitting around so i think i will use atleast one for mockup purposes until i blow it up or find a nicely built FD tranny. Im not shooting for huge numbers, just something different to drive for my speed fix rather than my daily driver Rx8 :)

I will be keeping stock twins until the project is sound and for the most part finished (yes, i know that means its not finished if im changing stuff after), but i just dont wanna turn into one of those guys who starts a project with all these nice parts and dreams, runs out of cash, then is in a jam trying to sell off things and abandon the project.

Get 'er runnin first, then upgrade from a solid platform is my way of thinking :)

for your purposes the stock twins will have to be run non-sequentially. This will require careful attention to vacuum routing and blocking off of stock emissions and sequential control solenoids. Research the "rich man's non sequential" mod: http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.ph...non+sequential . Expect about 350 to the wheels with this if done right. You better better start reading through wiring diagrams.
A used FD tranny will be way stronger than an Rx-8 tranny, you just have to be careful because they tend to grind 5th.

You're going to need a throttle cable and you're most likely going to have to give up cruise control.

BIG help. Thanks!

wtf is cruise control? and 5th gear? where im going... you wont need a 5th gear. :lol:

*cheesy 'back to the future' quote*

Nice conversion choice. The Japs are doing this aswell as its easier to use an 13B-REW engine than to modify the 13B-MSP.

Which 13B-REW are you using.? Cosmo or RX-7.

The Cosmo 13B-REW is the popular choice due to their larger ports & mid range power manifolding but are rarer.
13B-REW JC Cosmo sales = 5000 (90-95)
13B-REW FD RX-7 sales =65000 (92-02)

REgards

i will point you in the. right direction with the throttle cable and such, its so cake

Well i am using a REW block with RE intake manifolds... the re and rew blocks are essentially the exact same except the exhaust sleeves on the housings are better on the REW block :P

BTW the "cosmo" is called 13b-RE

awesome. should be mocking up some stuff this week. ill keep in touch! thanks

got the motor(s) today :)

Breaking them both down, they both look in great condition and all internals are useable! woooohooo!

First step is get some more money and build the motor, then ill try to mount it. Im not sure if i should sell one of these motors or keep it as a spare. Also not sure if i should go bridgeport or just large streetport...

Progress atleast!

Had to prove this to another non-believer. Here is a pic from a page of a JC Cosmo sales brochure. I also have plenty of other official documentation quoting the JC Cosmo 13B-REW engine option as a 13B-REW engine. There is no contradicting paperwork stating the engine is called a 13B-RE. The 13B-RE term was invented by Americans who didn't know the facts.

Take note of the text in the last column. Mazda call the engine a 13B-REW. So its a JC 13B-REW which IS slightly different from the FD 13B-REW

If you went from the name on the manifold, then that changes the 20B-REW name to 3 ROTOR doesn't it..........


http://www.dmrh.com.au/web/JCbro.jpg

REgards

i cant read JAP sorry! i rather have the intake manifold 3 rotor anyways...

good thing im american and thats how im gonna call it :)

anyways back on topic.

what you guys think i should do with the interior??

for a race car.......leave the seats and dash, gut the rest.

Yea it has cloth seats in it and its a GT... not sure if i am gonna get into full track racing and need to get seat harnesses and fixed back seats and all.. who knows yet.

nobody have an opinion on motor work? Trying to decide if i should bridgeport or streetport. Either is easily doable, but bridgeport would require standalone for sure. I dont know if im already gonna be in that boat anyway or if i can get away with piggybacking the rx8 ecu or using a system like megasquirt. Dont really have 1200 for an EMS if i dont need it. :P

lol i wont comment on the motor work...im a still learning about the whole rotary thing...i could make you a sweet ass exhaust.

I would stay away from BP if its going on the street regularly. For a race car, I would go full bridge - with a turbo you'd make quite a bit of power (although I've heard of 450whp at 20+PSI on a streetport)

There are apparently some BP/PP motors that run pretty tame with ITBs and EFI. It would still be loud but probably wont stumble all over itself as much.

IMHO the ECU is dependent on your turbo setup, the twins would be a pain to tune on a new ECU but you would want a standalone for anything big single like.

Half bridge?

i will need a sweet ass exhaust after im done... its all getting clean.. :)

Well its never really gonna see the street, i MIGHT drive it to an event close but anything far its being hauled. So yes, i atleast would like a bridge. Probably not PP i dont really think its necessary to get 4mpg :P

I dont really plan on making anything over 400 either for a good while and im gonna run stock twins ATM until i can afford a full standalone and single setup and after i get it broke in and running right.

I don't think you're really going to see that much of a difference in economy, if you're racing it you're going to get 4mpg on a bridge too. The renny in its stock form gets 4mpg or so accelerating at high revs, according to the AP. With a turbo bridge you will probably end up worse than that.

If you get a bridge now, and make 400 with the stock twins, come time to upgrade to big single turbo you would have to replace the ported housings with streetported ones and retune or your engine will make loads of power for like two years of hard driving and than probably fail.

Turbo bridgeys apparently don't last very long.

I would go with a streetport now, make 350 off the stock twins for a while, and just use that until having the money for a big single.

The plan :)

Plus i think its gonna be simpler to run streetport as far as the ignition and tuning goes. Stock 3rd gen ecu and maybe some piggyback system or megasquirt as well... not sure.

Hey it's Nick from rx7club, I sold you the long block with acc's. Project looks promising so far. Good luck.

An LSx Rx8 would have been bad ass as well... An LSx anything is bad ass lol :) But seriously, this should be a bad ass Rx

hah thanks man for the motor! big help :)

LSx will never been in my possession.. if it is its only so i can drop it on the ground really hard. (start the hating) i hate pistons in rotaries

:flamed:

If you need anything other parts, let me know. Still got the trans, the diff is coming out tomorrow, and some of the body harness will not be getting removed and sold for an LSx, I swear ::looks around::

Sorry if I missed it, but is this goung to be a drag car, road racer, auto x'er, drifter, combo or what?