Hi Im sorry if this gets posted a second time but it says that I have not posted anything yet

Hi I am a new recruit to the rotary crew or at least soon to be. I have read all the noob forums and done much searching on the interwebs in general and just need some clarification on some choices.

I dont have a large budget and plan on taking this project nice and slow. Ill be doing as much of the work as possible myself (excluding tuning mainly). 13B-REW is out of my price range so the lower model RX7's and RX8's suit my current price range.

I understand the RX8 and rotatorys in general can be spendy to mod since they have minimal gains vs their piston counterparts with simple mods.

But what I really want to clarify is which engines can do the job better? Ive heard RX8's are a great platform and others say they are garbage. I lean toward the RX8 for many reasons (newer platform, 4 doors and rear seats = cheaper insurance, and better base HP then most RX7's).

Also I was wondering, I know the 2009+ models have better HP and many issues with previous versions were solved with the refresh. Is it worth the time to find and purchase a 09+ for 3-5k more or work with a older model and dump 3-5k in parts?

Thank you for all the great noob forums and info moderators --- sorry if im bringing up a topic that has been asked a few times but with my research I didn't quite find what I wanted to know. TY!

 

Can't comment on 7 vs 8, but there is no horsepower difference between series 1 and series 2. Series 2 are simply newer, and yes Mazda redesigned some stuff based on the experience from Series 1. Plus an S2 may still have the 8 year engine warranty. There is no 3-5k in parts that equates an S1 to an S2 -- in the sense that they're already equal.

There are 2 roads here: an older, cheaper RX8 with a known bad engine and good everything else, and drop in a replacement engine, or a series 2 with the fewest years and miles you can find. You could find an older RX8 that has a fresh or known good engine, but people tend to hold on to those.

 

My bad I had a bit of misinformation as far as HP was concerned.

I think I got confused with the 5speed vs 6 speed and found the refresh to have a better acceleration and just got them mixed in my head. Thanks for the suggestions Loki!