AntiVenom

Hi edk,

My FD went through 3 iterations with me:
1) stock 13bTT motor, w/ downpipe, exhaust, and intake. this motor blew due to super hot IAT due to the crappy stock intercooler and a particularly hot midday romp on the highway.
2) built 13b streetport w/ a single turbo, exhaust flameballs setup (this was the setup I mentioned made 436whp). i was playing with some idle settings in the driveway when I noticed it was low on fuel. get in the car to drive to the station which was about 2 miles away. car runs out of gas on the way there. not thinking, i did what i would do in any other car... hit the gas pedal to try and see if i can squeek out the last 1/8 mile left to the gas station. blew a seal on the rear rotor due to fuel starvation/detonation. that's the day i decided i'd had enough of the rotary and went with the LS swap.
3)stock 2002 LS1 from a WS6 Trans-Am w/ super low miles from a yard in NC, with a hinson super cars kit.

Pros (for the most part is what you mentioned):
-reliability. it was nice to have a car that always started in the morning. also, it was nice to not worry about watching the gauges the whole time at the track. sometimes i felt like i wasn't getting the full enjoyment out of my track time while i worried about the rotary.
-mpgs. i got about 27-28mpg highway cruising at 70-80mph. the 6th speed was a super nice addition to the driving experience
-power delivery. while the car had a lot less whp than the built rotary. due to the torque it was way more fun for around town antics. it also was a lot better in daily highway driving; i could pretty much pass people in any gear.
-maintains handling. i didn't notice much difference in the handling. if anything it felt better with the LS1. i was raised to believe 50/50 was the best, but after reading about the 370z weight distribution their might be something to a little bit of forward bias in the weight.
-confusing people when they opened the hood or when they hear the V8 rumble. surprisingly the LS1 looks like it was meant for the FD. It fits snugly but not overly tight. the sound cannot be mistaken for a japanese motor.
-less heat in the cabin. i know this seems like a weird one, but the rotary ran wayyyyy hotter than the LS1, at least in terms of transfer in to the cabin.
-easily available replacement parts for the drivetrain. as the rotary gets older and older it's harder to find parts. you know, the harder to find peripheral stuff

Cons:
-power delivery. (yes, i know this was in the pros too). while you gain a lot of low end. there is nothing that can replace the hit of a big turbo at high RPMS. torque="oh yea! my car is a beast!!!". big turbo="zomg is this thing a spaceship, i feel like i just hit warp speed." technically, you can turbo an LS1 and have the best of both, if that's your thing.
-you lose the awesome rotary sound and cool factor of a completely different motor design. this depends on how much you love the theoretical idea of a rotary motor. i for one love the simplicity of the design.
-you will get crap from the die-hard rotary guys
-you have to remember what part of the car is GM and which is Mazda. minor inconvenience mostly.

as you can see the list of cons is a little lame. that's because there are very few downsides to the conversion in my opinion. overall, i would say it's totally worth the conversion. moreover, if you haven't gotten your FD yet, you can pick up a roller or one with a blown rotary, and start from there. when i started looking for my next car, before i settled on the 370, i pondered doing just that. for me it's time for a new platform, but if you haven't owned an LSx FD, you should before you die. :-)

the only thing i would do differently is to start with and LS6. this is primarily a difference in the intake and heads, but in my world it would pretty much eliminate the need to modify.

sorry for the longer than expected post.