20b 3 rotor in a s13

[asianred3]

has anyone ever considered doing this swap? i had an 83 rx-7 and it wasn't the fastest but it was a blast to drive. i could only imagine a 20b in a car with a mild build.....

[cnichols]

Have never considered it because I hate rotaries and they sound like a$$.

[XofXtimeX]

Well I'd beg to differ on the noise of a rotary. I absolutely am in love with how they sound. It would be a interesting swap. But why into a s13? Just put it in the FC and it's less work.

The rotary is a great and reliable engine..Until you put some boost on it.

[OutToWinPAHC]

I found one, but to view it you gotta be a member



http://www.nopistons.com/forum...46268

[WDRacing]

When rotaries make decent power they are one of the worst engines EVER made...bar none. They pop apex seals like I change underware. The torque curve is VTECish and they run miserable when tuned for big numbers as well.

They CAN make really big numbers though. But at what cost? Rotary = garbage IMO.

[OutToWinPAHC]

I know a person who had three of them butted up in a Drag truck, does 8 seconds in the quarter, but yeah always working on it

[WDRacing]

I just threw up in my mouth...three rotaries in anything must be horrible maintenance

[XofXtimeX]

Maybe I like it because they're so different. Hell I agree I wouldn't work on the *****. I'd be letting Gotham Racing do it. I also sure as hell couldn't afford to maintain the thing. But for some reason I still like the engine and the whole idea of how it works.

[asianred3]

i just remember having a first gen rx-7 w/ a 13b n/a and it was like a damn go cart.... just figured a 20b in a s13 would be about the same and its because i already have the car so figured what the hell.

[S13Teddy]

I've been considering a 13b or a 20b swap into my coupe mainly because I love the rotary sound. But maintenence is a turn off

[neverlift]

man all I can recall about them is my boy matt and his bro went through about 1020 of them in a rather short time, motor after motor,after a bit ti was just easier/cheaper to get new one everytime.. lol

my 15yo neighbor is always telling me a rotary came in the 240 and I'm like son NO, then it goes to you should put one in your 40.... funny stuff, and to be honest I cant say I love or hate the sound, unique at best, but you should hear my launch control.

[boostmaniac]

Wow, all I can say is that I am amazed by some of the idiocy in this thread. Some of the second hand information provided thus far seems to be more bandwagonish and fanboy based and is as far from reality as you could possibly get.

If you know someone that was popping motors at the rate you are referring to, that isn't the motors fault. That comes down to one thing and one thing only..... bad tuning. There are way to many people running 600 whp+ on stock 2mm seals to say otherwise. Bad tuning gives these motors a bad name and any fuel/ignition maps that work on a piston motor will not work on a rotary. Tell your friend to read up on rotary tuning first.

As far as maintenance goes, you are looking at adding a quart of oil every 2500 - 3000 miles unless you have blocked the OMP, and switching spark plugs at regular intervals. Even with boost these motors will be reliable IF TUNED CORRECTLY.

I have 120k on my motor and it is still running strong.

A 13B in a 240 would give you TONS of engine bay space, less rotational inertia, better polar moment of inertia, and a very unique ride.

Read up on these before you make assinine comments.

A good source of info would be http://www.rx7club.com. Check it out if you want to know more about it.

-Maniac

[silentvoice71]

remember that time you said IF TUNED CORRECTLY??Now lets think how often you have to tune and constantly moniter it. Whats was that add a quart how ofter dear lord lol man dont even think rotary bad news. Now im know im gonna get flamed by Mr. know it all above me but seriously do you think the kid who made this thread is honestly gonna put the rotary in and know how to keep it tuned perfectly???please something simple and reliable will work fine.

[Charlie240sxt]

anyone have dyno graph from a 3 rotor that made good power??

[Joe]

unless your tune is 100% perfect you will always be fixing it. and only a few people in the country can tune one that well so prepare for a ton of down time and maintenance if you want to make any worthwhile power.

temperamental lawnmower engines. thats all they are.

[JustinStrife]

unless your tune is 100% perfect you will always be fixing it. and only a few people in the country can tune one that well so prepare for a ton of down time and maintenance if you want to make any worthwhile power.

temperamental lawnmower engines. thats all they are.

Believe me. There are far better engine options out there for the S13.

[kendon]

20b = super expensive too.....go LSx

[BOOM_STICK]

in theory= rotories FTWin reality= rotories FTL

plain and simple

[Soravia]

Just trow in a RENESIS w/o emissions. I've seen the stock charts making 189 whp on 3,200lb RX8. 2,500lb S-13 would make better use of a RENESIS. And RENESIS comes with better stock seals.Some of the engines are on recall though.

[Joe]

Just trow in a RENESIS w/o emissions. I've seen the stock charts making 189 whp on 3,200lb RX8. 2,500lb S-13 would make better use of a RENESIS. And RENESIS comes with better stock seals.Some of the engines are on recall though.

your telling him to go through HELL to do a cross platform swap for only 190whp? are you insane?

and renesis motors are garbage. they are blowing apart worse than the 13b. LOTS of them are on recall.

[sommmatt]

I love how these people know so much about rotaries... even though they've never had one. Mazda didn't seem to have too many problems when they won LeMans with it. How come Nissan hasn't done that with their 'superior' piston engines?

[Joe]

I love how these people know so much about rotaries... even though they've never had one. Mazda didn't seem to have too many problems when they won LeMans with it. How come Nissan hasn't done that with their 'superior' piston engines?

oh good christ here we go

how many rotaries have won lemans? 1?

how many piston engines have? every other car to ever run lemans?

the renown 787b is an AMAZING car, but as for the rotary, even the sun shines on a dogs *** at least once in its life.

if your magic spinning triangle engines are so awesome, why arent they in more cars? i respect the rotary because its different, and at one point (in the 80's, during the crappy piston engine time) it had its place. but now piston technology has far surpassed what a rotary engine will ever be able to produce as reliably as a piston counterpart.

[sommmatt]

They're not in more cars because people don't like what they don't understand. Rotary engines have such a horrible reputation due to mostly the owner's lack of knowledge regarding rotaries, the garage's lack of knowledge regarding rotaries, and only one major car manufacturer in the world having the balls to do something different. So they need oil more often. But they're also a lighter engine, a smaller engine, have fewer moving parts, can rev higher than any piston engine (usually limited by the rest of the drivetrain), and if you know what you're doing, you can make a hell of a lot of power. As well they can run on hydrogen due to the design of the engine.

I guarantee you, if you had bigger companies like Toyota or Honda trying to pull power from a rotary, trying to make the rotary more efficient, etc, rotaries would be in more and more of our cars. But only a relatively small division of Mazda develops the rotary engine.

One rotary won lemans, and then it was banned, it's not like Mazda would have stopped competing. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if they banned Diesels next. The people who control these races do not like progress, they do not like change. The rotary was a change, the rotary outperformed the piston engines. It was banned. Go ask the designers of the 787b if they only wanted to race that car at the famed Circuit de la Sarthe for one year.

No, it is not suited for all cars, no it is not suited for any type of truck. Yes, it makes zero torque. But it is very light, it is very fast, and if you know how to take care of them, they're dead reliable too.

[WDRacing]

One rotary won lemans, and then it was banned, it's not like Mazda would have stopped competing. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if they banned Diesels next. The people who control these races do not like progress, they do not like change. The rotary was a change, the rotary outperformed the piston engines. It was banned. Go ask the designers of the 787b if they only wanted to race that car at the famed Circuit de la Sarthe for one year.

Nissan had the GTR...which won EVERYTHING, was then banned and given it's own race series. Did that happen to Mazda when they were banned? No, because you and the 30 other people on the planet that love rotary motors, would be the only dudes watching.

We've all said it's a great design...but that's IT. There are FAR more failures in the world of Wankel then there are in the piston community and we surpass you in numbers by 10,000 to one. Do the basic math here and you discover that even God hates the rotary motor.

WD

[Joe]

Nissan had the GTR...which one EVERYTHING, was then banned and given it's own race series. Did that happen to Mazda when they were banned? No, because you and the 30 other people on the planet that love rotary motors, would be the only dudes watching.

We've all said it's a great design...but that's IT. There are FAR more failures in the world of Wankel then there are in the piston community and we surpass you in numbers by 10,000 to one. Do the basic math here and you discover that even God hates the rotary motor.

WD

god ****ing damnit brian i love you.

[WDRacing]

god ****ing damnit brian i love you.

[JustinStrife]

I love how these people know so much about rotaries... even though they've never had one. Mazda didn't seem to have too many problems when they won LeMans with it. How come Nissan hasn't done that with their 'superior' piston engines?

Hey bro. Check out my sig. You just got owned.

[jaimesix]

Have never considered it because I hate rotaries and they sound like a$$.

I love rotaries, and I have 2 Datsuns, a 74 Datsun 610, and a 74 Datsun 710. I am planning on getting a 20 B for the Datsun 710. Rotary engines are small, lightweight and powerfull. I love the sound, like a 2 stroke motorcycle. Nissan toyed with the idea of rotaries in the 70's,with a Datsun 1200 rotary engined car. My Datsun 710 will have a 20B 3 rotor engine, later on, I will take the leap for a 4 rotor engine for the 610 Datsun. I like to be original, I know the SR20 is a fast engine, but nowadays there is tons of SR20's, everytime I go to a datsun car meet, there is a fleet of Datsun 510's with SR20's. Yes, there are rotaries around ( not as much as SR20's ), but 3 and 4 rotor engines, not many. I will be at Long Beach Japanese Classic Car Show in October.....see ya there!

Jaime

[jaimesix]

I've been considering a 13b or a 20b swap into my coupe mainly because I love the rotary sound. But maintenence is a turn off

I had RX7's and currently have a 94 RX7, Twin Turbo, and I tell you there are no issues with maintenance. Most people that say things like bad engine or maintenance nightmare do not even know how the rotary engine is inside.

The rotary engine is the smoothest and the lightest engine around, and very reliable. If you are going to build a super modified engine, like any other engine ( Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, etc) then reliability goes down with the degree of performance. For street, a mild street ported engine, with twin Dellorto carbies, fuel injection or turbo, is an excellent engine.

I hope Nissan and other companies begin working on their own rotaries soon, as Mazdas' monopoly on the rotary is coming to an end ( patent exclusivity is expiring ).....I can imagine the change in opinion about the rotary once Nissan develops it's own rotary engine.

[cnichols]

I'm not saying anyone shouldn't do it...I was simply stating my opinion.

One thing that is inarguable...if you want to keep it simple and naturally aspirated...you can't beat a piston V8. I've got just as much, if not more room in my bay as a rotary swapped S chassis and I'm still at stock weight. The engine is completely stock...not super modified...and I'm making 300 ft-lbs. of torque before 3000 rpms. For me, it was clearly the best choice. Also, most LSx motors are square or oversquare. There is no reason they can't rev past 7000 rpms w/ an upgraded valvetrain. And, you really don't need to considering the powerband begins at idle.