owen is fat

agreed, theyve improved the product line to combat the problem.. if you take the time to clean your coilovers every so often (previous uncoooated versions) then you wont have a problem with corrosion.

I ran Konis and GroundControls on my Civic autocross monster, and they were just incredible, very adjustable and a very capable setup... but for an FC youre looking at spending a few hundred more then the Tein Flex. The Flex's also retain full stroke if you lower the car a lot... to do that with the konis you need to buy the mazdacomp strut housing with the relocated strut mount plates... so the costs added up fast and I chose the Teins, I'm not disappointed, even if they were $1500 I'd still buy them again and maybe even choose the HA's that have even stiffer rates! (mad drift y0!) if I was into true roadracing and needed even better reliability, durability and repeatability then I would have gone Koni/mazdacomp... like Rx-Ben did

FC3SHawaii

Ah, that is good to know about the newer Tein's.
Like I said, there are guys out here who have them, and just love them.
I'm about to send my rear Koni's out to TrueChoice, and get them revalved. They were originally drag shocks, and perhaps, they need to be revalved to be road race shocks.

TOUGHGUY

You have a bad ground. Been there, done that.

This is a great thread BTW. Makes it worthwile to come back here from time to time.

Toughguy

Fatty_FC3S

I can see the appeal of a LS1 / LS6 in an FD, it combines the best aspects of both the corvette and the RX7. Corvette has a more reliable motor, Rx7 has better looks. Despite the fact that a V8 sound from a Rx7 is really wierd to me, i cant argue that the numbers make sense.

Now in retrospect, if you plan on putting a regular iron block 350 in your rx7, you are a retard. Period. The LS1 and LS6 make sense due to their light weight, handling shouldnt be sacrificed. Heavy iron V8's are just plain stupid in a lightweight car such as an rx7. That include janky *** carbs. With modern V8 fuel injection an all aluminum construction, there is no excuse to infuse a 90's rx7 with 60's technology.

The verdict? If you are going to go V8, do it right and get the LS1 or LS6. Im actually assisting in a LS1 to FD install right now. Ill post a review in a month when its done (only doing work on weekends).

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

I wrote my views on this before, somewhere on this forum, but only God knows where and I am too lazy to search for it. I currently have two 1984 GSLs, both in really excellent condition, body and interior. One has a street ported 12a, RB exhaust, RX-4 carb, and it is a really nice driving car. The other has a Ford 302 and Automatic Overdrive tranny. When I was considering what tranny to use, a friend of mine, who has built and raced a lot of cars, said "go with the automatic - you will want both hands on the steering wheel!" I have had a lot of fun driving the V8 car, and my friend was right. This car is not very good in the rain, even with really good tires. But in the dry it is a blast.

I have owned a lot of sports cars, starting with a TR-3 in 1962, numerous Porsches, Alfas, etc and several RX-7s. I never had more fun driving any car than my V8 RX-7. But don't think it is a weekend project - this will keep you out of the bars for a while!

Regarding the "sacrilege" of bastardizing one of these precious RX-7s, I must say no one ever complained when I "bastardized" a 1980 GLC by installing a 13b back in 1987. So what is the difference? Do what you enjoy. If anyone criticises you, ask them to post some photos of some creative and original car project they have done with their own hands!

Regarding the 4.1 or 3.9 rear end, it depends on what you plan to do with the car. If you will drive on the freeway, as I do, you will want an overdrive tranny for sure or the engine will be much too busy. A V8 should drive this car down the freeway quite nicely at 1800-2500 rpm, you dont want to be turning 3500. I run 2400 at 60mph in overdrive. If you are building a race car, ignore my comments.

www.cardomain.com/memberpage/646433

AREITU

Corvettes look like squished RX7s.

---

I want to put an Nissan SR or CA in an FC.

Why?

It sounds better (ie. It doesn't sound like a chainsaw, or a boat) and gets better gas mileage. Oh, and they're pretty fast once you tinker with them a bit.

capn

OK guys ive made my descision, im going to mate a Northstar Engine into my 10th AE once the ol rotor gives out. and in saying that i want to be original, because ONE i have not seen a N* in a rx7 and its the most "modern" and "techy" V8 so it just would look cool in thier

i'll post on my progress

rynberg

Aren't all Northstars except for 2005 cars designed for FWD? Good luck fitting those overhead cam heads in....

capn

yes they are, but that doesnt make it different from any other engine thats transverse or longitudal. but its easy just hook a normal tranny to it and your good. But it is wider then the LS1 i forget by how many inches lemme look up my old thread on it.

**Passing of time**

Got it this is Jimlabs post concerning the swap i was thinkng about

NoRotor10AE

they do not sound better unless you're runnin a huge turbo...

and i bet the LS1 would beat your *** in gas milage if you were running an equally powerful SR or CA...

capn

dont forget reliability too, SR engines can hold thier own but everything breaks and V8s just have a higher tolerance and threshold for the power they develop

Mikey52

Gotta reply and say this is a geat thread! Im pretty sure I am going to do an LS1 FD although probably not until next year unfortuntely. I always loved the lines of the car but the reliability of the motor has always scared me off. When I learned how common this swap was, I got excited!

Right now I have a '98 C5 but the car just isnt "me". The thought of putting this wonderful engine in a beautiful chassis weighing 4-500 lbs. less than my car makes me giddy! Im thinking that a heads/cam, 450whp LS1 FD would satisfy me for a looong time.

Maybe you guys can tell me if Im crazy but at this point Im leaning towards having Hinson do all the work. As much as I would love to do all the work myself I dont really have the tools, knowledge (not even close), or space to do something like this. I must say I have tons of respect for all of you guys who are capable to do these swaps on your own.

capn

Owen when doing the swap which engine electronics did you keep? i saw you still had the stock fuseblock. did you just get rid of the old ecu and thats it? or did you have to remove some other computers?

capn

double post

**check out my sig**

cruiser

Couldn't agree more. If I could, I would do a swap without a blink of an eye. Having no rotary specialist or tuner around helps this decision.

But really, I would get rid of the rotary blowing on me nightmares

Flintstone

I used to have a stock 86 SE and it was a blast to drive. My sister got a 90 GXL brand new for her college graduation and it was even more fun than my old 86. However, I'm a hot rodder from a while back (I'm about to turn 42), and I thought I'd throw in a few comments on the subject.

I've had my share of cars (50 since I was 16), but I probably had more fun in a junky old 72 Vega with an 11.5:1 327 from a 66 Vette with a narrowed 4.11 geared 12 bolt rear and turbo 400 trans, than I did with just about anything else.

There's just now way to describe the feeling of driving a light weight car with a bunch of power. I also talked a former co-worker into putting a 350 Chevy and a GM turbo 350 trans into his 1972 Datsun 240Z back in the mid 80's. Even with much less power than my Vega(s), this thing was like a Ferrari to me. I'd owned a pretty mean 406 powered 72 Vette with 3.90 gears and this Datsun just felt like a go-cart with a rocket engine compared to the realatively heavy Vette.

Here's where the RX-7 comes into play. Both of the cars I just mentioned were NOT made to handle ANY horsepower or torque. As fun as they were, they were "flexible flyer's" (as many used to call the big block AC Cobras). The Vega is really irrelavant to this post, as it was only intended for straight line use and had "big n' little" wheels and tires. However, the Datsun is a more comparable example of why an RX-7 so good for V-8's. With it's original inline 6 cylinder, the Datsun handled fairly well for it's day, and with the GM powerplant it was much more fun and oversteer was a given, but due to the flimsey body, it was unpredicable, and thought it was fun it was outright dangerous on a twisty road.

On the other hand, the structural integrity of the Mazda platform is basically over engineered for the power (or should I say lack of power) of the rotary engine. The RX-7 is ready to handle well over 400HP with very little (if any) structural reinforcement necessary. I have yet to see a better candidate for a V-8 conversion than any of the three RX-7's. With the generous engine compartment, it lends itself to any number of possible engine trans combos, and the best part is: you can have a car that performs just about as well at an autocross event as it will on the dragstrip, all in the same package.

I have a friend who just did a 350/200R4 FC conversion and after seeing it, I'm just about to quit Mustangs and "go Mazda." My friend did the swap "low tech" with a carbed, nearly stock 350. Yet he still manages to get unimaginably good mileage (for ANY car, much less one with a 60's technology fuel system), and it still runs high 8 second 8th mile times (that's mid 13's in the quarter for the 8th mile impared LOL).

I firmly believe this is probably the only car out there that is fairly easy and relatively inexpensive to convert, where you can truly "have your cake and eat it too."

Just my .02 cents worth (OK, probably more like a half dollar LOL).