First off, I need to say that I love Rotaries. I haven't given up on them, I'm always going to be building engines and driving Rotary powered cars.




But, LSX powered FD's are damn awesome.

Hate all you want, but until you've actually driven a LS1/T56 powered FD, please dont clutter this thread with "you took the soul out of the RX-7" blah blah blah.

I just finished up swapping an LS1 into a local customers FD. Pretty fun swap.
We used the Hinson kit for ease of install instead of fabricating our own subframe. I'd probably try the Samberg kit for the next swap.
The engine is a bone stock 98 LS1 rated for 310HP and 320ft/lbs torque, the exhaust is dual 2.25" merging to a single 3" all stainless steel, high flow cat and a Vibrant muffler. We used a Koyo FD rad and factory fans, the clutch master needed to be swapped out for a larger Wilwood unit, all the stock gauges work and read accuratly.

The instant torque is incredible in such a light car and I'm jut not used to it.

Here is a few pics, excuse the dirtyness...I'm not quite done with the car, will be getting it detailed once its complete.

 

Pretty nice. id love a ride in one, but i bet it dosent pull like a 13b with a GT35r.

 

Its the low end torque that is really impressive....but yeah a 35R 13B streetport pulls great from 4500rpm+

 

Wicked! What kind of plans does the customer have with the car? Drag? Drift? Road Coarse? AutoX? Street? I hope to see him out there this summer.
He will not be disappointed, that's for sure.

 

That car needs and engine bay wash badly

 

His plans are to daily drive the car lol, He said he wants to take it to a test and tune drag night just to see what it runs, but he doesn't want to be replacing broken parts.
It's the only vehicle he owns.

Yes, the engine bay is getting detailed once we're done with it....its nasty.

 

Stock LS1 ecu?

 

Yes, we used HP tuners to get it running.

 

Hmm looks like the FD from Kincardine/Port Elgin from a few years ago... Swap looks alright too.

 

Hehe yeah its the same one. It ended up being sold to a car dealer down here in Waterloo and a local guy bought it 2 years ago. The original engine let go around Christmas and now the above is the result.

 

I dropped by Saturday and saw that car on the hoist. Had I known what was under the hood I would have taken a closer look.

 

How does he do it in winter with the FD?

The 8 is a snowplow when it snows heavy I can't imagine an FD also with all that low end, no tc it must not be funny being in a slope. He must have studded tires or chains or something hehe.

A rotary car esp. an FD is not for everyone takes either alot of money, skills or time and more often than not a combination of many to keep running happy and properly.

I wouldn't do it ever even if someone were to threaten my legs but good on him for FD love.

 

to each there own. What does something like that cost to buy and install?

 

Personally I would have detailed the engine and engine bay while separate.

 

It does look right at home in the engine bay. I have to admit, from time to time, when I ponder more power for my NA, the thought of going LSx rather than 13B-t does cross my mind - way better mileage, dead reliable, torque o'plenty right from idle. Blasphemy in the rotary temple, I know, but until wrecked 16x cars start showing up to donate motors, effortless torque, in a car that, unlike a Mustang, for example, does turn and brake well, does have it's appeal... hell, I drove a late model Mustang GT at an autocross a while back, and that wasn't half bad - shorter, stiffer springs and better brakes and it could be damn good even.

I'd be curious, by any chance did you figure out how much the weight, and weight distribution changed? I'm curious because I've heard some say it doesn't much, but haven't seen numbers to back that up.

 

I know, I told him it wont be the greatest thing to drive in the winter but he seemed to think it was fine. Chances are he'll get a beater for next winter.

Engine and trans packages are out there, depends where you get deals from and what condition the engine is in.
The Hinson kit sells for $1600 USD I believe? The customer bought it so I dont know exact pricing.

Yeap, would have been a better idea lol. He didn't pay to have me scrub down his engine bay with a tooth brush and he's really not worried about it being a show car. I'm just going to quickly clean it up for him before he picks it up.

I dont have weight numbers, but from what I've read the full LS1 longblock and T56 trans is 75 lbs heavier than the longblock 13B-REW with 5spd trans.
We relocated the battery to the passenger side storage bin....so right now its really not too far off the factory weight distribution.

 

Whats he doing for a rear end?

In their ls2 fd,
(purauto) switched the diff for an auto unit for the 3.9 gearing, but even than it seemed to be ridiculous. So now were going to a full cobra rear end with the 3.5 gearing since it was still ridiculous to drive on the street.

But the power difference might have something to do with that, since that ls2 is putting down 390rwhp.

NA power is sweet.

 

Bone stock rear diff. He's not planning to change it.

It seems fine for the engine and power level he has now.

 

depends on the clutch he's got. And the tires he's running.

Horsepower doesn't break diffs. Tires and clutches do.

 

All the numbers you need are in here.....http://www.ponycars.net/ and here.....http://www.v8rx7forum.com/v8-rx7-tec...tml#post482152

 

Nice swap

 

Cool, thanks. Quite aside from whether one thinks pistons under the hood of an RX-7 is sacrilege or not, I've looked in the past for real numbers on weight and weight distro with LSx or other conversions and not found them - just accusations of ruining the 7's balance and low polar moment of momentum, and counters of basically "no it doesn't".

 

If i spent more time I couldn't probably dig up a few more threads on the subject. If anybody really has doubt they could always bring a set of scales to my house and I will gladly roll my car on to them.

 

Haha funny you say that Paul, I was thinking of getting a set of scales to weigh this car just for *****.

 

If you have a set handy, I say go for it. I think you are the perfect person to do it, most of the guys on here trust you. It would put an end to the debate here on the Canadian side.