Topic: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

Crap. Aspiration car's rotary appears to be toast.

Which leaves a swap, and Lemons, because I still want to drive it. Though, this might just head to the crusher, and I'll buy another, later.

Any suggestions? Budget conscious.

I see there's an EV conversion project underway here.

Small 1.6l 4cyl? Eco-boost? Diesel?

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

Iron duke.

-Robert, Party Sheep Racing
The Jerry Lundegaard GMAC Financing Award, Joliet 2013 [Cutlass Ciera w/ Iron Duke]
Eta E30: IL Fall '15, MI Spring '16, IL Summer '16, MI Spring '17, KY '17, MI Summer '21, KY '21, MI Summer '21, MI Fall '22

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

At the last HPR race there was a K-swapped RX8 that was pretty quick.  They had the motor tucked pretty far back too so I don't know that the handling was affected much. 

I have an rotary-less RX8 in my driveway that I was planning on LS-swapping but I may do the K swap instead.  Plusses are less weight, far less cost, and I can use the existing drivetrain (so far less fabrication/PITA).

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

Good suggestions - thanks.

Of course, that's why I asked here, where the creative juices run freely; like coolant dripping down your arm to your elbow.

I'm still having trouble conceptualizing fitting an engine into the space of a basketball; but it's a personal problem - no worries.

///

As an aside, an engineer purportedly developed a rotary engine which is almost like a reversed Wankel design.

The design has the rotor in the shape of the two lobes of the epitrochoidal curve, inside a container where the _inside_ surface is in the shape of the _outside_ of the Wankel-design rotor (the bulging equilateral triangle), the container now functioning as the "block".

Apparently this allows 3(!!!!) combustion chambers instead of just one like in the Wankel design.

Presumably that solves the low torque issue of the rotary engine.

Now THAT'S thinking outside the box.

I'll see if I can find a link and add it here...

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

GM V6 is always the answer.

Eric Rood
Everything Bagel, 24 Hours of Lemons
eric@24hoursoflemons.com

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

Although Y-block is always the answer, I'll instead point out that swapping a rotary into a SAAB 95/96/97 is apparently a thing that is done, so why not go the other way and drop in a Taunus V4?

1982 MG Metro 1300: IOE 2015 Pacific Northworst GP, Longest Distance 2010 Cd'L Box Wine Country Classic
1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
1978 H Special: Second-Round Elimination 2010 Lemons Pinewood Derby at Sears Pointless
1967 SAAB 96: IOE 2012 Pacific Northworst GP, Organizer's Choice 2022 Hell on Wheels California Rally

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

BMW engine or iron duke and dominate class C. It surely can't be less reliable than a rotary... right guys? .... guys?

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

duthehustle93 wrote:

BMW engine or iron duke and dominate class C. It surely can't be less reliable than a rotary... right guys? .... guys?

Screw all that and go Jaguar V12

1992 Saturn SL2 (retired) - Elmo's Revenge -  Class B winner, Heroic Fix winner x2
1969 Rover P6B 3500S(sold) - Super G-Rover - I.O.E Winner, Class C Winner
1996 Saturn SW2 - Elmo's Revenge (reborn!), Saturn SL1  Dazzleshipm Class C x2 and IOE winner
1974 AMC Javelin - Oscar's Trash heap - IOE,”Organizer's Choice" and "I got Screwed" award winner

9 (edited by Lemon_Newton-Metre 2021-10-14 12:36 PM)

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

chaase wrote:
duthehustle93 wrote:

BMW engine or iron duke and dominate class C. It surely can't be less reliable than a rotary... right guys? .... guys?

Screw all that and go Jaguar V12

!!! Call me crazy, but I want to spend time on the track, not in the paddock, or waiting for a new computer from the UK....

(funny, though)

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

"Liquid Piston" rotary engine.

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

therood wrote:

GM V6 is always the answer.

I thought Chrysler flathead was always the answer.

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

I'm starting to get the impression that nobody on this forum is actually going to have a good suggestion for a reliable engine swap haha.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

duthehustle93 wrote:

I'm starting to get the impression that nobody on this forum is actually going to have a good suggestion for a reliable engine swap haha.

That's totally ok; I mentioned 'budget conscious', not 'reliable', and then I mentioned 'creative'.

There's already a few threads here on engine swaps which address reliability; I've read them.

For this project I'm more focused on weight and dimensions, than I am on hp and torque because of the engine which came out.

All suggestions are welcome.

14

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

Might also look into throwing an NC 2.0 or even a 2.5 from a Fusion in there.  With the Ford/Mazda crossover I believe this swap could be done pretty budgetly.  smile

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

Max wrote:

Might also look into throwing an NC 2.0 or even a 2.5 from a Fusion in there.  With the Ford/Mazda crossover I believe this swap could be done pretty budgetly.  smile

I think I've heard of a few people (outside of Lemons) do this. IIRC, the 2.5 is a bolt-in on the NC, and the NC and RX8 have a lot of parts that are cross-compatible or cross-compatible with some cutting. Should be an easy swap, but it may be a bit tricky finding a manual trans from an NC out there. Lots of autos available but now that people are starting to find out NC's are really capable track cars, people are hoarding their manual transmissions.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

16

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

duthehustle93 wrote:
Max wrote:

Might also look into throwing an NC 2.0 or even a 2.5 from a Fusion in there.  With the Ford/Mazda crossover I believe this swap could be done pretty budgetly.  smile

I think I've heard of a few people (outside of Lemons) do this. IIRC, the 2.5 is a bolt-in on the NC, and the NC and RX8 have a lot of parts that are cross-compatible or cross-compatible with some cutting. Should be an easy swap, but it may be a bit tricky finding a manual trans from an NC out there. Lots of autos available but now that people are starting to find out NC's are really capable track cars, people are hoarding their manual transmissions.

I think you're right about the NC racing "enlightenment" and its impact on availability of parts.  I've been passively looking for an NC with a blown motor for some time and pickings have been nonexistent.  From what I've read they were readily available a few years ago for a couple of smeckles.

Re: RX-8 engine swap candidates?

It already has the 'Anti-Millennial-Theft' Device [ftfa] installed [ftfa: fixed that for accuracy]

I'm still assuming that makes any swap easier