PROJECT: LS1 RX-7 Build
02-19-2010, 10:30 PM
#41
THROTTLE CABE BRACKET
The LS1 throttle body cable bracket was such that the throttle body would not open 100% when the gas pedal was all the way down. Some say to just flip it but even then I was only seeing about 60%. So we cut it up and fabbed it and not it works great.
Cutting the bracket...
Quick weld to test fit...
It fit so now to grind down the welds and paint to it looks good...
POWER STEERING HOSE
Given that I am using the stock rx-7 steering rack and the LS1 power steering pump neither the RX7 nor the LS1 power steering hose would work. Basically plan A was to cut the two power steering hoses and and have a hydrolic shop graft them together. This didn't work for a couple of reasons. 1- The hoses were not the same diameter and 2- We cut the RX7 hose to short exposing the inner metal hose as you can see in the following picture.
So plan B was to cut the ends of of each hose and graft them onto a new hose. Had this done at a local shop and they did a great job.
The LS1 throttle body cable bracket was such that the throttle body would not open 100% when the gas pedal was all the way down. Some say to just flip it but even then I was only seeing about 60%. So we cut it up and fabbed it and not it works great.
Cutting the bracket...
Quick weld to test fit...
It fit so now to grind down the welds and paint to it looks good...
POWER STEERING HOSE
Given that I am using the stock rx-7 steering rack and the LS1 power steering pump neither the RX7 nor the LS1 power steering hose would work. Basically plan A was to cut the two power steering hoses and and have a hydrolic shop graft them together. This didn't work for a couple of reasons. 1- The hoses were not the same diameter and 2- We cut the RX7 hose to short exposing the inner metal hose as you can see in the following picture.
So plan B was to cut the ends of of each hose and graft them onto a new hose. Had this done at a local shop and they did a great job.
02-20-2010, 09:16 AM
#42
Great build.
02-24-2010, 08:55 AM
#45
Thanks! I actually did already know this (I cut some coils off the spring in the pump) but appreciate you posting in case I didn’t know. There are so many little things that I am sure I will miss a few things here and there so any info is appreciated!
03-02-2010, 12:54 PM
#48
On The Tree
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Topeka, KS
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That's an awesome swap. All the pictures and everything make it look pretty easy, but i doubt it is very simple. I look forward to checking this thread out more to see what the final product looks like. I've always dug the look of those RX-7's and with a power plant like that it i'm sure it will be a blast to drive.
My question though is what about the rear end? is it going to be strong enough to handle that motor? (or even if you start to upgrade the motor, I.E. Turbo, head swap, ect.)
But looks like its going fairly smoothly for you, Keep up the good work
My question though is what about the rear end? is it going to be strong enough to handle that motor? (or even if you start to upgrade the motor, I.E. Turbo, head swap, ect.)
But looks like its going fairly smoothly for you, Keep up the good work
03-27-2010, 09:21 PM
#49
That's an awesome swap. All the pictures and everything make it look pretty easy, but i doubt it is very simple. I look forward to checking this thread out more to see what the final product looks like. I've always dug the look of those RX-7's and with a power plant like that it i'm sure it will be a blast to drive.
My question though is what about the rear end? is it going to be strong enough to handle that motor? (or even if you start to upgrade the motor, I.E. Turbo, head swap, ect.)
But looks like its going fairly smoothly for you, Keep up the good work
My question though is what about the rear end? is it going to be strong enough to handle that motor? (or even if you start to upgrade the motor, I.E. Turbo, head swap, ect.)
But looks like its going fairly smoothly for you, Keep up the good work
The rear end in the RX-7 is actually pretty strong and should be good for what I am going to put it through. I plan on doing heads next year to go along with the cam I installed this year but since I mainly road course the car rather than drag I'm hoping the rear will stay in one piece. LOL
03-27-2010, 09:22 PM
#50
Well no real interesting updates since I have not had time to work on the cra much. The last three or four days that I got to work on it was mostly spent figuing out the wiring.
The goal is to get the car looking like it came out of the factory with an LS1 in it. Here are some misc. pics while working on wiring...
Here is a picture of where we decided to mount the OBD II port. Easy to access and completely hidden when the kick panel is in. There was even a stud that let us bolt it in securely.
Here are a couple of pics of what the engine bay looks like right now. The rad is in and hopefully you can see how we are trying to route the wires in a way that looks factory. Ignore the upper right hand corner as we just bundled up some wire there till we get to it.
The goal is to get the car looking like it came out of the factory with an LS1 in it. Here are some misc. pics while working on wiring...
Here is a picture of where we decided to mount the OBD II port. Easy to access and completely hidden when the kick panel is in. There was even a stud that let us bolt it in securely.
Here are a couple of pics of what the engine bay looks like right now. The rad is in and hopefully you can see how we are trying to route the wires in a way that looks factory. Ignore the upper right hand corner as we just bundled up some wire there till we get to it.
04-27-2010, 02:19 PM
#53
UPDATE: I am currently having some issues with the cooling system. I have sourced out a fan/shroud combo that I thought was going to be perfect but clearance issues are getting the best of me. I won't be able to work on the car until this weekend but I hope to have a nice update with regards to the way forward on the cooling system very soon.
Also wanted to thank everyone for all the positive feedback both in this thread and with all the private messages I am getting. Seeing everyone interested in this build is great motivation.
-Jason
Also wanted to thank everyone for all the positive feedback both in this thread and with all the private messages I am getting. Seeing everyone interested in this build is great motivation.
-Jason
04-27-2010, 05:28 PM
#54
For now here are some parts that I picked up to make sure I have everything ready for when it goes to paint within the next month or two.
99 Spec Bumper Lights:
99 Spec Front Bumper:
99 Spec Front and rear emblems:
JDM Spec Armrest (USDM RX-7s only came with an ashtray):
99 Spec Front Bumper Lip:
99 Spec Bumper Lights:
99 Spec Front Bumper:
99 Spec Front and rear emblems:
JDM Spec Armrest (USDM RX-7s only came with an ashtray):
99 Spec Front Bumper Lip:
05-01-2010, 09:26 PM
#55
COOLING SYSTEM
Although the rad was a direct bolt on for this swap this was not an easy install. The main reason for this is because I wanted to use a rad fan that had a shroud and would do a good job of keeping the engine cool even in bumper to bumper traffic.
The Rad itself is a Hinson Super Cars double pass aluminum rad. The fan I ended up choosing is from a Ford Tempo. The motor was a bit to thick so I almost ended up throwing it away and getting something without a shroud but after several hours of cutting, fabing mounting brackets, trying different positions and fabing up some 1/4" spacers to lower the rad I finally got it so it clears both the water pump and the crank pulley. The intake system is going to be tight but it should be okay. On tot he pics...
Ford Tempo shrouded Rad Fan...
Fan mounted on to the Rad...
Both the Rad and Fan mounted in the car...
From underneath the car looking up...
And finally under the hood with part of the intake on...
Although the rad was a direct bolt on for this swap this was not an easy install. The main reason for this is because I wanted to use a rad fan that had a shroud and would do a good job of keeping the engine cool even in bumper to bumper traffic.
The Rad itself is a Hinson Super Cars double pass aluminum rad. The fan I ended up choosing is from a Ford Tempo. The motor was a bit to thick so I almost ended up throwing it away and getting something without a shroud but after several hours of cutting, fabing mounting brackets, trying different positions and fabing up some 1/4" spacers to lower the rad I finally got it so it clears both the water pump and the crank pulley. The intake system is going to be tight but it should be okay. On tot he pics...
Ford Tempo shrouded Rad Fan...
Fan mounted on to the Rad...
Both the Rad and Fan mounted in the car...
From underneath the car looking up...
And finally under the hood with part of the intake on...
Last edited by NTIMD8; 05-02-2010 at 08:50 AM.
05-04-2010, 08:40 PM
#59
Tell me about it. It is actually rarer than you think. I live in Canada where the base model came in CYM (unlike everywhere else where only the R1 came in CYM). In 93, 94 and 95 only about 688 RX-7s where brought into Canada. Imagine how little of those were CYM.
The original owner just didn't want a yellow car but because they were so rare the city only had the one RX7 and it was CYM. So he bought it and then got it painted right away. I will be going back to yellow right after the swap is done.Sorry I don't. It came with the radiator kit.
05-16-2010, 08:56 PM
#60
COOLING SYSTEM:
This rad fan is going to be the end of me. LOL I was not happy with the above set-up because there was just not enough room. The MAF hit the shroud and in turn the hood would not close. I could have moved the MAF further down the intake path but did not want to go that route. So I ended up buying 2 slim 10" rad fans. Problem is when I went to put them on they didn't both fit???? I measured them and sure enough I was sent 12" fans in error. So for now I mounted one on one side as a puller and the other on the other side as a pusher (since these fans can be set up either way). I contacted the company that sold them to see what if anything they would do without me being out anymore $. The way I have it set up right now will work but only because I am not hooking up the AC this year.
PULLER:
PUSHER:
TRANNY MOUNTS:
Below is a picture of the tranny mount installed. The two outer locations where the tranny brace is bolted to are only spot welded. To avoid having them rip off we decided to weld them around the perimeter.
I will just show the drivers side since the process is the same for the passenger side. Tranny brace removed and grinded the undercoating off to allow us to weld it.
We had to pull out the interior and carpet so it wouldn't catch on fire. You can see all the smoke which is from the sound deadning material. I was on stand-by with a spray bottle of water to put out the fires when they happened.
And here is is all welded and re-undercoated...
FUEL SYSTEM:
The fuel system is almost done. The front was done early on in the build and all that was left are the lines at the rear and the filter. I ended up using a Corvette fuel filter because it has a built in pressure regulator.
We mounted the Corvette filter/regulator in the location of the stock RX-7 fuel filter. The only thing left to do is have a piece of metal fuel line bent in a U shape where I have shown in red...
This rad fan is going to be the end of me. LOL I was not happy with the above set-up because there was just not enough room. The MAF hit the shroud and in turn the hood would not close. I could have moved the MAF further down the intake path but did not want to go that route. So I ended up buying 2 slim 10" rad fans. Problem is when I went to put them on they didn't both fit???? I measured them and sure enough I was sent 12" fans in error. So for now I mounted one on one side as a puller and the other on the other side as a pusher (since these fans can be set up either way). I contacted the company that sold them to see what if anything they would do without me being out anymore $. The way I have it set up right now will work but only because I am not hooking up the AC this year.
PULLER:
PUSHER:
TRANNY MOUNTS:
Below is a picture of the tranny mount installed. The two outer locations where the tranny brace is bolted to are only spot welded. To avoid having them rip off we decided to weld them around the perimeter.
I will just show the drivers side since the process is the same for the passenger side. Tranny brace removed and grinded the undercoating off to allow us to weld it.
We had to pull out the interior and carpet so it wouldn't catch on fire. You can see all the smoke which is from the sound deadning material. I was on stand-by with a spray bottle of water to put out the fires when they happened.
And here is is all welded and re-undercoated...
FUEL SYSTEM:
The fuel system is almost done. The front was done early on in the build and all that was left are the lines at the rear and the filter. I ended up using a Corvette fuel filter because it has a built in pressure regulator.
We mounted the Corvette filter/regulator in the location of the stock RX-7 fuel filter. The only thing left to do is have a piece of metal fuel line bent in a U shape where I have shown in red...