1stRX8

Project Announcement

I am starting my RENESIS swap project next week. If there is enough interest, I will document the process and post information. Because the documentation is a project in itself, I don't want t do it just for me.

DONOR: 1984 GSL-SE gutted, perfect body. Purchased in 1992 as a daily driver, built a mild 13B 6PI engine with a Dellorto, RB headers and exhaust. VERY nice. Every nut, bolt, and bracket was sandblasted and painted. 800 miles later.... a piece of gasket I accidentally left in the engine (I guess) clogged the oil pump at an Auto-x. Engine melted and I've been storing the car in my warehouse ever since.

PROJECT intensions:
Swap a generally stock RENESIS into the GSL-SE Chassis. Make the car street legal. Make the car as light weight as possible. NO concerns for creature comfort.

The chassis prep will start on 01/13/04 at Valkerie Racing. They primarily build and support high-end Porche GT level race cars. They are very excited about the project. They will accomplish the following:

1. Roll Cage
2. Removing ANY uneccesary items.
3. Brembo brakes with large rotors all around
4. Suspension TBD (SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!)
5. Rear window will be lexan
6. Fiber glass front bumper (SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!)
7. Mounting the motor, bracket fab etc.
8. Fuel Cell maybe - if it doesn't interfere with being legal.

Items planned:
Canzoomer Stage 2 ECU mods
HT cat
Borla RX-8 cat back dual exhaust modified for the 7
Volk TE37's 17" width TBD
I will custom machine 5-bolt hubs to allow the wheels to fit.
Painted RX-8 Lightning Yellow to match my RX-8
Racing seats
280+ HP emissions legal sub-2200 lbs

GOAL:

To have THE fastest street legal NA RX-7 ever. This is purely hobby, I am not a race shop. I would appreciate ANY constructive suggestions the community may have.

I really need help with a cool front bumper/air dam like Bern has SEE the Pic of Bern's car.

81Rex6port13b

god good.. how much did the motor cost you?

cool project btw

wwilliam54

mariah mode one

btw street legal... wouldnt you get more than 280 out of a renesis, i thought 300 was more like it

or is it emissions legal too

81Rex6port13b

oh.. and for this:

4. Suspension TBD (SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!)

i suggest coil-overs. tokico 5 way adjustable shocks, and a nice pring rate. maybe 350/175

camberplates

bushing kit.

Nick-7

I think documenting your project is a great idea. As more of these motors become available and the price drops, people will look at your site for info on a swap. I am very interested in reading more about your swap.
Good luck, your car is going to be awesome.

1stRX8

Where can I get it?

Maybe, but not if I want to pass a sniffer test.

1stRX8

Is Ground Control the best place?

MRGSL-SE

I'd like to know how much you got the motor for and the tranny your gonna use with it..

1stRX8

I am still negotiating, looks like it will be $6k+ with shipping. I will initally mate to the stock 5sp tranny. If I dont like it, I may do the RX8 6MT.

I already killed the power steering for a manual box as well.

81Rex6port13b

i have ground control, works great for me.. height and damper adjustable(with tokico or koni adjustables)

i have 350/150 i would like to go to 175 in the rear tho.

Gatorgunner

Look at the mariah website here:
http://www.mariahmotorsports.com/

Theve got lots of cool stuff there too

1stRX8

Thanks Gatorgunner

Does anyone think it would be better to make it more of a sleeper? Stock look?

82streetracer

iTrader: (1)

a 6speed renisis widebody firstgen would be a track MONSTER

1stRX8

yup. That's the plan.

1984special

Hey that's awesome!

I wanted to do that since I learned about the RENESIS but it costs a helluva lot of money to get one. There's a bunch of computer tuning involved in making all the ports work.... I don't really know much else because there's not much information on the web. Anyways, best of luck and welcome to the forum.


Nice goal, but what's that mean? 1/4 mile? Top speed? 0-60? Just wondering...

Also, i suppose street-legal means 49 state legal huh? Because CA street-legality is a PITA!

Also, may I recommend fender flares? They look bitchin and not fat like the widebody kits.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

I dug out a piece of gasket from an oil feed for the front stationary bearing yesterday. The oil pump from this engine had a broken rotor.

Nice project.

1stRX8

It won't be a dragster, not too worried about 1/4mi time. Too hard on the tranny.

I expect it to be a sports car, so I guess road race courses is where I intend to shake this car down. On the street it will most likely be punches from 30 to 60mph to some triple digit number.

1stRX8

Pics? I agree, the wide body kits don't do it for me. The Mariah front end looks nice though.

Swolbynos

definately document everything about it

Pedestrian X

Yea, Im sure if you are serious about documenting it. It can be made a sticky, just like the TII swap one.

1984special

Here the linky]
Unfortunately, their site is down for some reason. It should be under Products > Exterior but the page doesn't load.

Fortunately, I saved the pic to my HD! So here it is...



Another pic of flares here.



That was my high school RX-7 autocross car. The pic is kinda bad and old (1999), but that's the best on on the website.
The flares are actually 240Z flares my auto teacher riveted on.

Anyways, hope the pics help.

1stRX8

Here is the starting point.....


The MODA 15x7 wheels are for sale.

Pedestrian X

Very nice and clean looking car. Im looking forward to seeing your project progress as im sure most everyone else is too!

Bass

I'm drooling at the thought of the Renesis in the first gen. In fact, that was the first thing that occured to me when I saw the RX-8's debut at the Detroit show a few years back. Please photograph and document everything- even the unveiling of the new engine from its crate. I plan on living the experience vicariously through you until I get enough cash together to do it to one of my '83's.

LongDuck

You, or your chosen speed shop, is going to have a heck of a time trying to get the electrical systems up and running as they are on the RX8. Primarily the use of a 'fly-by-wire' throttle body control which uses an electrical solenoid to operate the throttle body, not to mention the requirements for a closed-loop fuel injection system that has dead shunts to each injector and also requires a variable rate (ECU controlled) fuel pump to provide proper pressure as the engine RPM changes.

There sounds to be an extensive amount of 'cannibalizing' an RX8 to get these parts unless you have an electrical engineer on staff who can tackle these issues.

With the emissions systems involved to get the RX8 to where it is, I would also think that you're going to have a hard time getting all the required systems to fit in the FB engine bay - definitely some custom fabrication and cutting will be required.

Overall, an excellent project that should yield some fantastic performance results. Good luck with it,