If treated in accordance with the proper maintenance, the Wankel rotary can be reliable and long-lasting. That being said, it simply cannot take the abuse that a current piston engined design can. Rather than having a steel block and aluminum pistons, the rotary has a steel rotor and the running surface of the block is chrome-plated aluminum.
If the rotor tip-seals wear away into the chamber wall (regardless of the reason), as soon as the chrome plating fails in one spot, the block dies very rapidly after that. Once the block is damaged enough that the motor is blowing oil...you have to replace the block.
Either way, I have noticed that there is a regular stream of RX-7's for sale in very good shape with a "blue smoke" engine for sale )over the past decade), and none of them will pass a smog test until they have a full rebuild. I have actually seen V8-swapped RX's, but I personally would use a turbo V6...or an electric conversion. Making it an EV seems like it would be the easiest swap, because there are a lot of options when configuring the battery shape (likely in two blocks, one in front, one in the back seat).
Its still just 2WD, but...if you didn't want max range in the battery size, the performance would be phenomenal.