Ideas for swaps other than a V8.

[P71]

Yes, turbo heads with hardened seats, larger ports, and Inconel exhaust valves ARE dried up. Of course you can still find wimpy N/A heads all day long. Takes over $500 just to get them to stock turbo head levels.

Esslinger's heads are aluminum, and start at $1500. Not exactly "budget friendly" considering that's what a PAIR of 302 AFR's go for.

Have you ever weighed a 2.3T? It's almost exactly an EFI 302. A carb'd 302 is even lighter.

The Volvo swap is cool, but it takes a LOT more work then you realize. It's also heavy.

Bottom line is, it's a 1960's designed engine, that weighs too much, and has barely any aftermarket support for the turbo versions. It's just all wrong for swapping into RX-7's, and frankly, too expensive to modify period. For the money you have in what is going to be a 250HP engine you could have a 300+HP 302 and still weigh less.