Tesla RX-7 is not real it can’t hurt you.
Tesla RX-7:
A small gathering of mostly Mazda enthusiasts earlier last night (June 6, 2020) got the shock of their lives (pun intended) when an FD RX-7 silently rolled up to their meet, parked, and, after the meet was over, quietly drove away. Meet attendees at the annual KINOD (Krispy Kreme,In-N-Out, Drive) learned that there wasn’t a fire-breathing, oil leaking, rotary under the hood. In the 13B’s place was a bunch of batteries and in the rear, a motor presumably from a Tesla Model S.
Check out the video taking car Tik-Tok by storm.
@worksproductionfilms Tesla swapped rx7. Its so quiet lol. ##mazda ##rx7 ##mazdarx7 ##tesla ##electric ##electriccar ##foryou ##fyp ##foryourpage
♬ original sound – worksproductionfilms
The video is kind of hilarious because if this was a mildly-tuned Mazda RX-7, there’d at least be an exhaust, amplifying the iconic BRAP-BRAP-BRAP exhaust note that we know these cars for. All we could hear was the scrape of the front bumper as the owner misjudged that pesky dip. Further down in this blog post you’ll see why, the front’s full of heavy batteries.
This is not the first public appearance of this Tesla RX-7. This guy got a ride-along, pre-paint job before it was sprayed over in that deep blue pearl.
There aren’t many details on this build but in the video above Ryan mentions that the owner estimates the rear motor makes 400 HP. Here’s that motor just a year ago from the Tesla RX-7 owner’s Instagram page.
And looking over his photos, this Mazda RX-7 wasn’t in mint condition when he started the project, it was downright rough. A blue engine bay and orange exterior shouts “recent respray.”
While we don’t know how much he’s poured into this project, including the motor, batteries, and wiring, he mentions in his Instagram comments that the swap “cost as much as an LS Swap but it’s faster.” With LS swaps ranging between $3,500-$10,000 depending on what engine and parts you use, your guess is as good as mine.
It’s surreal to see and hear a silent RX-7 drive by. Part of what makes an FD Mazda RX-7 a Mazda is that unconventional engine still rotating over 28 years after it debuted.
Perhaps that’s why Mazda purists get upset when RX-7 owners ditch their torque-less doritos and opt for a pushrod LS. But in a way this Tesla-swap isn’t like all those LS swaps, it’s unique, modern, and unconventional, just like the rotary was, and for that, this swap deserves serious respect.
Disgusting.
Actually both motors are rotary, so it’s in the same spirit. The induction motor was invented by Nikola Tesla in 1888, the other by Wankel in 1929. The induction motor is quiet, has vast quantities of torque off-the-line, is about 99% efficient and can use power generated from any source including gasoline, natural gas, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, solar or nuclear. That’s a single motor.
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, you’re one hundred percent right and didn’t think of an induction motor as also a rotary motor. I, and I assume many others, just automatically associate rotary with Wankel’s engine and Mazda.