in the middle of a swap so I figured I needed to start a thread to document it

As many of you know, I’ve got an FD RX7 that I love dearly. the car runs great, boosts strong and a get lots of looks and thumbs up every where I go in it. I decided to do what many RX7 purists believe is blasphemy and drop in a V8 in to the car but it’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. My first love for cars growing up was always muscle cars and it’s an appreciation I still hold onto today. I decided now was the best time to do so since everything runs good and I could sell the parts and try and bring my net cost of everything down. I’m lucky enough to have two local friends that have done the swap already so they can help with any questions I may have. My friend Jaime was a HUGE help in pulling everything out as I’ve never done it before and he knows these cars like the back of his own hand.

Here are a few pictures of the car before everything got pulled out.




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here are pictures from the motor pull. Started friday night pulled the HKS Vmount out. Then saturday around 6pm we pulled the motor. After a few breaks, a trip to In N' Out, were were done by around 2:30am. We spent about an hour trying to physically pull the motor out. We didn't realize the stock downpipe was bolted to the trans as well. SMH








I had no problems with the car and it was a 94 with 72k on the chassis, 32k on a reman motor. I figured this was the best time to do the swap since everything was still good and I would be able to sell everything relatively easy.

 

My Mounting kit from Samberg Performance Fabrication came in and I’m now just waiting for the driveshaft and radiator kit to come in. Samberg makes arguably the best LS Swap kits and other parts for the 3rd Gen RX7 and E36 M3s. After reading reviews, writeups and doing whatever research I could talking to people who have used the kits, I decided that the Samberg kit was the best one to go with. The fit and quality seemed to be the best on the market so I was excited that I finally made a decision. This will go to the powder coater soon and I’ll post up more pics later once I get everything back. I dropped the parts off at my buddy's shop called Fuzion Technique and I can't wait to get everything back.







After 3 failed attempts at buying a motor (because the sellers are idiots and don't know what they have or they sold something when it was supposed to be on hold for me for the weekend -__- ) I finally found one! It came from an 01 Camaro SS which was the exact configuration that I wanted. wanted this setup because I could use everything from the headers to oil pan. The biggest reason was that I wanted to stick with a traditional throttle cable. I didn’t want to deal with drive by wire like the later model LS motors.

It was cool because it was from a dismantler and the car was running. I was able to see it start, idle and rev to make sure everything was good. He said to come back in 2 hours and it’ll be ready so we went and picked up some breakfast. Came back and it was dropped into the back of the truck and we were on our way. I couldn’t be happier right now. Gotta clean up the engine bay and prep it for paint.

 

When we got back to my place, we ran into a little speed bump… We had no way of getting it out of the truck! I then made a quick call to “mdpalmer” since he did the same swap and had the tools! He wasn’t home but his gf was and we headed over there to pick it up. Now the engine and tranny are waiting to be cleaned up, prepped and dropped in, I can’t wait!






I’ve also received my driveshaft from the Driveshaft shop but the flange was for the Cobra Rear End. I called Justin (Samberg) and he quickly responded and said he’ll send me the proper mounting flange and u-joint. His service is great and I recommend him to anyone looking to do this swap or a V8 swap on an E36.

Since I’ll be dropping the diff during the swap I figured I’d pick up some new Polyurethane Diff bushings by SuperPro. I got these from J-Auto at a great price and they were in stock! J-Auto is a great source for chassis bushing pieces, or any other performance or aftermarket piece. He is the man to go to for any bushing swaps also.

Pictures of the driveshaft, bushings to come in the next post as well as the Radiator/Air Filter kit when it comes in soon. Until then, see you guys next time

 

Good stuff! Nice first shot at the snake, and good luck with the build, sounds like you've done your homework...

 

there are 3 local guys that have done the swap and they're all happy with the samberg kit. One of them had an ls1 swap with the hinson kit and he said it fit like crap and the parts themselves were ugly. He's doing it with an LS3 E-ROD kit and switched to samberg and says it was much easier to install.

I've heard some bad things about hinson's service too so I'm only buying little things from them that Samberg or someone else doesn't offer.

 

******* why you no tell me you made a thread !..

ME GUSTA! let me know when your ready for your fender wire tuck..

lets drop that motor in!

 

I paid 3800 for my setup. The 2001+ LS1s come with some LS6 Parts/ That seems a bit steep, I'm sure if you look around, you should be able to find an LS3 in that price range. The price may be because of the fact that it came from a Vette. I mean, what sounds more expensive to you? a "corvette" motor or "camaro" motor?

I scoured ebay, craigslist and http://car-part.com/ for setups. If you find anything interesting on Car-part, give them a call because they never answer your emails. If you're looking for an LS1, look for a 2001 or 2002 setup. You'll see "241" stamped on the corner of the driver side head to verify it. Also comes with an LS6 Intake manifold (no EGR). The reason I wanted an LS1 was because I wanted a throttle cable and not drive by wire. The LS1 is a thottle cable and I believe all of the later motors (LS2/7/3) are all drive by wire. I believe the LS6 is DBW also. Check out NO rotors, there's tons of info on there. Luckily, I've got two local buddies that have done the swap and answer all of my questions


Jaime (battlecat) has helped me out a ton too. He knows these cars like the back of his hand.

here's a pic of the stamping on the heads.

 

very long overdue! Finally had a free weekend away from carshows and family stuff! I was able to pickup my harness from Ronin Speedworks and my buddy helped me with cutting the lip on the firewall of the FD off. With the LS1, you'll need to do this but on the other motors, I believe that this isn't needed. I decided to cut the entire center protrusion area out instead of just the area needed. My friend Randy from R-Rydes was the one that actually did the cutting since I don't trust my hands with something like this. Now i'll have to get a bead welded along the cut so that it doesn't separate and leave exposed metal.

I also picked up some new Superpro Diff Bushings from J-Auto. I thought it would be a good time to change this out since i'll be down there anyway. Juan helped me out picking out the right brand and he even had them in stock so no waiting! Thanks again Carlos!

Here's a quick picture that I took at the beginning. I'll have some more updates soon!

 

updates?