I was reading the latest issue of Banzai (A euro tuner mag for those who don't know) about a Mazda RX-8 prepped for endurance racing (ie, constant varying levels of abuse 12 hrs or longer each interval) using a 3 rotor 20B pushing 450bhp N/A!

Eclipsing my 1yr anniversary on S2ki, the S2000 pedigree for racing is limited to be competitive against it's turbocharged bretheren. For the ones that are, 30k + dry carbon widebodies and fully gutted interiors has become the only solution to compensate for the lack of N/A power. Of all the cars on this international site, few have eclipsed 300 and those that have are doing so with an extensive investment and R&D. Can it be done? Yes. However to reach up to InlinePro 400hp N/A motor you do so at the sacrifice of longevity and driveability.

To compensate, many have turned to FI as the easy solution, giving up on the instant throttle response for some lag to get that much desired oomph the car needs to keep up

A small few have chosen to swap in V8's and sacrifice the superb balance for the extra grunt, even at the cost of the symphony 8-9k redline and a few hundred extra pounds.

Then there are the purists who want the N/A, the F20, the redline, and slap on some ITB's to try to get a big jump bridging that hp gap for substantial midrange and response, but little peak.

Is there a way to stay N/A....push over 350hp reliably without a regular rebuild.....keep the atmospheric redline..... retain the balance.....not increase weight.....not spend 20k and wait years..........

ROTARY!!!!

I have read of a few street ported and built 13B-REW making over 300hp easy N/A. All the characteristics are similar to the F20C.
-9kish redline
-Torque and power curve
-N/A wail
-Low weight (Rotary should weigh less and sit closer to the firewall for even better weight distribution)

It just seems like the easiest choice to make to get that extra edge that the F20C is lacking. 13B are commonplace and shouldn't be expensive or difficult to source one. Less parts = less money to spend on the engine rebuild. ITB compatible.

Why has this not been done yet????

(5am and I am bored.... )

 

you must be bored.
& so am i.


are you still giving up on your build???

 

Depends. Was laid off about a month ago so my plans to upgrade have change. I expect to still have it 12-24mo's from now so I am undecided yet.....

 

Reliability reasons I think is what keeps people from doing this. Yes, we risk reliability going full NA with our F20s, but it's like putting there reliability at what an 13b is in stock form. Now take that rotary and do a full build on it and imagine how much shorter the life of the motor will be then. No one wants to rebuild an engine every 30-40K miles. Most common on stock rotory's is to rebuild around 60K...and that's stock!!

 

Powertec:

430bhp @ 10,500rpm
245 tq @ 7500 rpm
200 lbs, over 100lbs lighter than F20
Lower CG
Drysump
Quaife gearbox already made for the block.

Considering how much you could spend in the hidden costs of doing a motorswap, the 40k spent on this swap really starts to look appealing.

 

The other problem is a lot of us daily drive our cars and in most states you can't just put around with another cars motor in your car. Not to mention you'd need to fab up quite a few parts to make this work.

Also aren't the 13B-REW and 20B turbo motors? Also ITBs are generally a waste on these motors because the stock manifold already produces such a broad powerband.

 

No lag or lack of instant throttle response with the SOT roots kit. 200ftlbs + the instant you step on the pedal. You do have to relocate stuff and add about 70lbs to the front end of the car. Trade offs.

 

I would really like to see this and the C32B swap done..

 

The only way I would ever do this swap myself, considering it is going to cost a ton of money to find the motor, rebuild it beyond factory specs, including all the mods, plus ecu and tuning, I would do one of those custom 4 rotors...

 

This holds true with turbo'd rotaries due to cooling issues.