RX8 - Piston V Wankel

[marksen]

Hi folks,

I've always fancied an RX8 but the obvious engine issues have always put me off. As there are plenty of broken/blown examples available on ebay, an option would be to stick something a little more reliable in it.

I've already considered an LS1 but have seen an odd one online with an SR20 instead. What do you reckon? Cheap turbo or 'stick a V8 in it'?

[Relentless Rob]

Why not stick a better rotary engine in there? A nice 20B or Effini would give you better performance than the turbo option and smother power delivery than a V8. Also it would marry up to the existing RX8 platform without anywhere near as much hassle.

[Renrut]

I didn't think the 20B was a common thing. Finding a good one for a decent price will be an issue.

I'd say go for the LS if you can afford it. SR20s seem to be very good engines if treated well but a lot that come up seem to be just as broken as the RX8s.

That said I don't think the Renesis engine is that bad, my mate had one and did about 100,000 miles in it, only problem he had was it flooded the engine once when he moved it from the road onto his drive. But that was a software problem and was fixed under Mazda warranty. I'd be tempted to fix the renesis engine and put a turbo on. They're 190 or 230ish bhp in stock form, a turbo could see that well over 300 in a very nimble lightweight car.

[MFrV1]

Has anyone fitted a LS into a RX8 before?

Feel free to post links

[Renrut]

Nowhere near as common as the RX7 swap but here you go:

http://www.hinsonsupercars.com/s-942-mazda-rx8-2003-present.aspx


And a thread on Pissheads

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=948951&d=11331.24728&nmt=

Its probabluy just not that common because A) the Renesis is more reliable than the 13B; and B) the RX8s have only just reached that point where people are prepared to start chopping them about.

[marksen]

I don't want to replace the broken engine with another rotary as they do have a certain stigma attached. I'm sure plenty of people haven't had any major issues with them but it's not for me.

There are a few videos on youtube showing the conversion done before (links below) and there's a long queue of people waiting on the completed Hinson kit they've been developing (no update on the website since last July last year). I've dropped them a couple of emails but nothing back as yet. Could be it's made to order but read something somewhere nothing was going to happen with it until they'd finished another project.

http://www.dynotorque.co.uk appear to have more than a few LSx conversions under their belt but I've not seen an RX8 done here yet. Don't think it'd be much of an issue for them either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm0IKl6cd2c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Im8zVgBFA

Could anyone recommend any other decent places that would consider the swap?

[MFrV1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm0IKl6cd2c

Anyone spot this in the "Related vids"?
http://youtu.be/zD-0_8rksOs

[Relentless Rob]

20B? How old hat.

http://youtu.be/c4kkFRnnmbU

26B quad rotor!

I wonder how fast it would be if it were being driven instead of drifted.

They had an RX8 at Wisbech Engineering a while ago. Next time I'm about I'll ask Karl about it.

[Chairchild]

change the oil every 5k miles, do NOT use synthetic oil, pre-mix your fuel with 2 stroke, and remove the standard oil injection system. Use decent quality fuel (not so much an issue nowadays) don't use it for stop-start driving, make sure it at least gets warm - letting it see the redline every once in a while is considered a good thing too

voilla - you've now made the engine "reliable"


It's when people try to treat the rotary like an old transit diesel, and expect it to run forever on oil that's like treacle, that they die