We’ve seen plenty of Mazda RX-7 sports coupes with pushrod LS V8s under the hood in place of their factory rotary engines, but we’ve never heard of someone swapping out a V8 for a rotary.
That is, until now.
Warning: If you’re a purist, you might actually die from reading this.
Here, we have a 1974 Chevy Nova, and instead of upgrading to a big bad 7.0-liter LS7, or some other beefy, American V8, the owner decided to drop in a boosted 13B rotary engine. This 13B has been extensively modified, and is equipped with a Garrett GTX4294R turbocharger that pushes out 26 pounds of boost. The end product is 576 naysayer-silencing-horsepower and 449 lb-ft of torque at the wheels.
To put that in perspective, in 1974, a Nova with a factory 350-cubic inch V8 and 4-barrel carb made just 185 horsepower. A modern Corvette Stingray makes 455 horsepower. And bear in mind: both of those figures are crank horsepower, not wheel horsepower.
Just in case you were wondering, this Nova is capable of running the quarter-mile in 11 seconds, at nearly 126 miles-per-hour.
With that said, click play to hear this Nova roar on the dyno. It might not have an orthodox powerplant under the hood, but it sure does let out an ear drum-shattering scream.
Comments
Nothing pisses me off more then crap like this! Non GM engines should never be installed in a GM car or truck! This is Sad!
Furthermore a GM engine should never be installed in a non GM car!
I like the sound of a rotary engine, but when you hear and see where it is coming from it is crap. I would rather see a V-Sport V6 in the Nova or even a straight 6 with Turbos.
that’s great and all, but i think it would’ve been easier to put some horsepower into the 350. i see that this rotary is making more horse power than the v8s, but those are also factory v8s vs “an extensively modified” rotary. doesn’t quite seem a fair comparison there. i guess it is cool and unusual and you don’t expect it, but really the only justification is that nobody’s done it before. though, i suppose people have their reasons.