RX8 13BREW FD Engine Swap

[tsouthern]

Hi everyone, I’m from Oz and not familiar with UK road laws so need some help on understanding what the rules are around engine swaps. I keen to know if it is legal to put a 13b FD motor into an RX8? Would I have issue with MOT and Insurance?
Thanks
Tim

[Ollie]

You would have no legal issues whatsoever. Your insurance would however increase due to a non standard engine swap. MOT would be uneffected. Swapping a 13B FD motor into an 8 is pretty pricey though... Doing it yourself sounds like a hell of a lot of work.

[PeteH]

Yep. The UK is different to countries like Australia and Germany. In the UK you can do almost anything to your car, as long as it will still pass an MOT. The only time it starts to get complicated is if you are building something new (I.e. doesn't have a valid VIN). In that case you need to get your creation through SVA (single vehicle type approval). But your RX8 donor will have a VIN, so SVA doesn't apply.

[ChrisHolmes]

Making the car legal would be the least of your worries.

If you what something different, with more power, you might like to look at Ryan Rotary for their 4-port high-power development.

If you insist on going FD transplant then the RX8OC could be asked to provide supporting evidence for your family to have you certified

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

[PeteH]

Or alternatively. FD transplants have been done to a number of cars. It's not that difficult, and various "kits" exist to allow you to use the FD engine mounts and other bits and bobs, within an RX-8 shell. The result can be a very powerful and reliable single turbo rotary, and is what many people would like to have seen Mazda do (if Mazda wasn't constrained by tightening emissions regulations). The guys in Oz do some wonderful things with rotaries, and it would be great to see some interesting projects like this happen in the UK.

But each to their own.

[SeriousSam]

I've toyed with the idea before, even going so far as to ask my local specialist for a verbal quote for it. 15 grand was the figure, which includes sourcing everything (engine, turbo, ECU, ancillaries), building the engine to spec, fabrication of all the mounting hardware, and tuning. Sounds like a reasonable figure, the only thing I lack is the 15 grand in question

[SprintRX8]

Drift Works do the engine mount cradle. $600
And using the original RX8 gearbox.

I know the early FD engine are easier to tune as they don’t have the restrictions of the RX8 side port exhaust.
MOT using a early engine
Prove the year and it’s tested to that.


Been interested to see how this pans out.

[ChrisHolmes]

I suggest a chat with Colum at GarageReg / Dyno Torque https://www.garagereg.co.uk/services up in Birmingham who transplants LS engines into RX8s and anything else his customers bring in. He also knows rotaries very well and may be able to help or even quote for the job.

[Adrian Flux]

Hi everyone, I’m from Oz and not familiar with UK road laws so need some help on understanding what the rules are around engine swaps. I keen to know if it is legal to put a 13b FD motor into an RX8? Would I have issue with MOT and Insurance?
Thanks
Tim

Hi,
If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.