This is What Happens When You Don’t LS-swap an RX7
Depending on who you ask, the Mazda RX7 is either blessed or cursed. The rotary engine that powers these cars are mechanically simple, with few moving parts. However, they are equally temperamental, and reliability is not a strong suite. By eschewing pistons for the magical triangle, rotary engines can rev and rev and rev, spinning up the RPMs way beyond what a conventional piston engine can do.
Rotaries can be cool, but when push comes to shove, many enthusiasts opt to ditch the engine for something else. The most common “something else” tends to be a small block Chevy. It’s really the best of both worlds. The superb RX7 chassis paired to a powerful and reliable American V8.
Look what happened to this poor soul who kept their RX7 rotary-powered:
This particular RX7 is a tube-framed drag racer, featuring a very angry rotary engine. If we had to guess it’s a 4-rotor engine with a massive turbo. It sounds all motor, but the rate at which that thing moves out makes us think boost is involved.
The expression “This car will blow your doors off,” comes to mind. This RX7 launched so hard, that it literally blew it’s own doors off. You know, this obviously would have never happened if an LS engine was involved.
[Video via Kyle Christ/Facebook]
Jake Stumph is the Content Editor behind LS1tech.com. He is an avid racer and car enthusiast. He considers himself very lucky to be able to write about cars. You can follow him on Facebook and YouTube.
