Mazda RX-7 Gives Up Its Wankel Power For a Turbo VR6 Engine, Hits The Drag Strip

In the defense of the engine swap, the FC (second generation) label of this Mazda means it had 215 hp at best and that's when it left the factory in the late 80s or early 90s.

So, what has the engine compartment been filled with? The answer has Vee-Dub written all over it, wince we're talking about a VR6 engine. While the six-cylinder mill has been kept stock, such a setup wouldn't have made horsepower sense, so a 66mm turbocharger coming from Precision Turbo was added to the mix.

The next thing the owner of this Mazda did once the swap was completed was to hit the drag strip. Then again, we're dealing with a contraption that has a certain 1,320 feet history.

Nicknamed The Ratchet, this RX-7 isn't at its first mechanical makeover, so, as you can expect, the quarter-mile results are the only ones that matter here.

Nevertheless, the piece of footage at the bottom of the page shows the shakedown for the VR6 setup, so you can expect more in the future. We won't give you any more details as we don't want to ruin the fun of the clip.

"I hit the track for the first time this year last Friday night. Got a lot of things figured out and some good data. It definitely still has more in it," the owner of the machine explains.

Heck, given the Frankenstein nature of this build, we might as well go ahead and applaud the man for his effort. And here's to hoping we'll hear from The Rathcet again this season.