Pinto Car Club of America

Anyone ever thought of putting a rotary engine out of say an RX-7 into a Pinto? Or would it just not work due to the different engine types/style?

Well I gave it an odd thought, I mean I'm a rotary freak. I love those wacky little motors. But you could do it I think. I mean really you can do anything that you can imagine with the time and money required.

I'd say an old model Rotary(ex. Rx-3), because that would be a carb'd rotary. But you could get your hands on a rebuilt R13B TurboII, just Google it and you can find some full crate motors directly from Japan.

I think it would be a fun deal, and definately not something anyone would expect.

Yeah I thought about it breifly.

But ~5k for a used rotary...  Albeit, most of those motors have "low miles" (normally ~40k).

My roomate tried to talk me into a LT1 and T56 (~300hp is nice starting number)
My Mazda and Honda buddies tried to talk me into all sorts of 4 cylinder Japanese motors. (from old school toyota motors to new Honda F22 motors).
To people suggesting swapping in AWD systems and more exotic power plants.

As cool as a rotary might be, I felt it was too much work and money.  It would certianly turn some heads, though.  And it would still be pretty light and quick, too. 

I had a 2.3T motor, but lost interest in that when someone offered me a decent amount cash for the motor.  I wanted something different after that point, BUT I wanted something that could produce 400-450hp RELIABLY after searching through my options I couldn't find anything suitable.  So... I'm going to the good ol' stand-by 302.

Don't let anybody stop you if that's what you want.  I have rotary guy on my local forums.  He tore apart his FD RX-7 motor and rebuilt it over the course of a few months.  He went from knowing pretty much nothing to really respecting the motor.  He said most people are intimidated because it isn't the standard pushrod motor.

If you need some help I could shoot him a PM and see if he'd give you some advice.