well if you wanna break it down its like this, granny speed shop sells rx7 v8/v6 swap kits complete with a/c and power steering for about $1,100 and some change, then your gonna need to buy a v8 if you dont already have one layin around... my friend bought a fuel injected 302 or 305 one of those for about 1,300 with the tranny and i think its got like 70,000 miles on it or something, so right there your lookin at about 3,000 for the kit and motor..

now normally if someones gonna build their fc they rebuild it first, a rebuild kit for like the apex seals/corners all that good stuff is about 600$ then of course most ppl change out radiator, hoses, water pump, thermostat, fuel filter, all the belts, vacuum lines, injectors rebuilt(or new ones) etc.. rotaries are fairly simple and the motor basically comes apart in what i call "slices", so you could do the rebuild yourself with just a little bit of mechanical knowledge...now all that rebuild shiz will cost you about 1,000$ total maybe a little more or less..then of course no one really stays n/a so youd rather just buy a 13bt then do all that stuff to it(or have a shop do it) rotary ressurection is in Tennessee and they can build you a street ported 13bt for about 1,500$ and all youll have to do is drop it in.. no rebuild needed..after all that you buy all your turbo stuff which varies depending on what kind of stuff you get but your most likely to spend around 1,500$ (and thats for decent stuff)

so its around the same cost in the end. as for mileage the rx's are terrible for it, the factory specs are 17 city and 25 highway i think, and as you start tuning if you dont get a good tuner those numbers go down...fast.

i would guess the v8/v6 would get maybe a little better gas mileage plus you have the convenience of being able to take it anywhere you want to get the motor worked on and all that good stuff, you'll find a lot of shops wont do some of the simplest stuff for a rotary. example the other day i called about 4 shops asking if they could do a compression test for me and they told me they couldnt because "it requires a special tester" i went to autozone and bought a 25$ one and it worked perfectly fine.

basically...it all comes down to personal preference. i myself would stick to the rotary strictly because A. im not looking to become "fastest on the streets" B. rotaries sound sexy C. i like the fact that people dont understand my motor(even though its simpler to me than a piston motor) D. v8/v6s just sound like shit to me.

 

Very good info above.

Ls1 asap.

 

check the faq sticky on the second gen room on rx7club.com if you didnt sign up there then you should and direct all your technical questions to people on there, my theory is if it doesnt have vtec people on here arent interested.

ps. its prolly the switch, but check your fuses and your headlight bulbs first

 

go back to www.rx7club.com there are a ton of threads about LS-1 swaps

catfSSh is pretty close on the price for the swap, at a miimum it'll cost about $5k
take a look at www.hinsonsupercars.com for the parts needed and the cost there of
he is incorrect on the motors reliability, take a look at any other cars from 86-91, their motors are also worn out and dropping dead as well

fred114 there is also a rotary shop not to far down 81 from you
Middlebrook, Augusta county (between harriosnburg, and Lexington)
Rosen's Garage, Ted Mooney
Phone 540 886 7800
Fax 540 886 6008

 

Thanks everyone for taking the time in helping me find some answers, one last question I asked a question about the headlight switch on these cars but no one has answered me on that yet. The head light switch flips the lights up, turns the running lights on but not the actual head lights themselves so I have them hooked to a toggle switch for the time being, is this a switch issue or a wiring issue? I know when I got the car there was a prob with the passenger window switch but all that was was simply taking the switch apart and cleaning the contacts and it fixed it I'm wondering if it could be the same kinda issue with that switch but someone told me that 86-91 rx7's have a common flaw with the headlight switch?

 

im no good with electrical but i cant stress this enough, rx7club rx7club rx7club rx7club

 

That may take some tracking down, if all the lights except the headlights are coming on it most likely just the relay for the headlights.
I had the opposite happen to me where only the headlights worked, so it was the switch that died.
Unfortunately most of lights in the car ar wired directly through that switch with no relays, just fuses.
The other problem with switchgear is that is was made by Mitsubishi.
www.mazdamark.com sells rebuilt switches, he's goes by icemark on the RX7club and is one of the main moderators

 

Nah man, I was actually right about the reliability of lsx vs rotary.

Shit was on mythbusters.

 

niburu knows whats up

 

thanks for all the info I'll pm if I've got anymore question "thanks guy's!" Hey if anyone knows of any rx7 meets let me know I'd like to bring mine on out and meet other rx7 owners