1993 Mazda Rx-7 FD
Ls1 motor build

so i figured this would be the best place to start my build thread. i already introduced my self and posted a few pictures, but that doesnt really tell you anything about me so ill go a little further back.

about 5 years ago i bought a second gen rx-7. It was a love hate relationship. I loved the car.... but that drive train would freakin break every time i looked at it funny. Finally i sold it out of frustration. However this was not before bought my friends $900 pos mustang and a 1979 Rx7. Needless to say i hate mustangs, and i was pretty sure i could ride my bicycle faster down the quarter mile than the first gen rx7. My buddy suggested looking into swaping the mustang motor into the rx7, and ive never looked back since. here are the pictures to my 1000 words.


































this whole process took a while and things obviously kept changing with the car. Well, getting older and wiser, i decided it was time to do it over. Build it better faster and stronger so i bought another first gen and proceeded to do the entire thing over again..... with a little bit of a twist....


















really gay and im not sure what i was thinking when i decided on these wheels


bought new wheels and decided to paint and boost it.

















just kidding on that last one.












side project that happened. - liter cart



back to the project

 

new turbo setup and new piping due to a new welder



old welder


new welder


12.8 at 116 or something like that on 8lbs


another side project


back to reality - finally got a wastegate worth a dam and went 11.8 at 128 on street tires. car weighed 2630lbs with me and a full tank.



lifted a head on high boost, made some more changes





and then the day came, where what i wanted all along presented its self and i traded my car away after almost five years of work. Its going to a good cause though and now i can do what i really have always wanted too.







the motor out


removing the dash




re-did the brake system








re working all the electrical - i striped about 60 lbs of wiring and removed everything that weighed anything. No expense will be spent on making this a full race car.





found a hinson mounting kit for cheep







bought a motor for 150 bucks













a really generous guy by the name of david gave me some much needed stock parts to put on the motor. With out his help, i would be spending a LOT of money trying to collect this stuff


decided to paint the engine bay


















and thats where im at now. Im just still trying to collect parts for the motor, and save up money to finish the swap. I really am enjoying working on this car, and i cant wait till its done. Im planning on boosting it as well. I will be using a t56. thats all

 

Fooled me big time on the raced-out RX-7. Nice build! Keep it coming! What's your goals with this?

 

i was laughing as i put that in there. That car is sick though.

i want to make like 700 daily. the black one made 516, which was great.... but i need moar!!!!!

 

one helluva build

 

im starting to gather that its really actually easy for me compared to what im seeing some of the other guys do on this site. This conversions section is awesome. There are some REALLY bad *** fabricators on here.

 

This is my old roomie. That rx7 hauled some serious *** and was hilarious to look at.

 

bump for ya, nice work you are doing there

 

Should be a fun project.

You live in AZ and opted to delete the HVAC system? You are crazy! It is for sure a race car now.

Don't forget to replace the 18 suspension bushings and 6 pillowball bushings. The pillowballs at the minimum. This will be one of the best handling cars you will ever own

www.norotors.com is the v8 rx-7 forum.

I have a CF hatch/lexan window if you are interested. Will shave an easy 30lbs from stock. The front/rear bumper supports are around 20lbs also.

 

thanks man. appreciate the kind words!

 

hahahaha, well thats the plan. Im a young whipper snapper so i can still tolerate the heat and cold and not have too many complaints. i want it to be a serious track car, but i do want to be able to street it to car shows and what such. if you get my drift.




thanks for the suggestion. Im sure one day ill get there, ill probably do all the bushings when i start addressing suspension.



hell ya im interested.... but i can almost guarantee i cant afford that lol. Im finishing my second degree right now and it terms of money..... lets just say a lot of this car is currently being built on the generosity of other people from my forums, and my hopes and dreams lol. Im actually on no-rotors. same sn. Feel free to post a picture of that lexan window, ide love to see it.

 

BTW gnx7....


your signature list of cars.....




holy **** *****.

 

Good job. Definitely liked your liter cart project. I have an '08 Hayabusa powertrain that I wanted to toss into a project.

 

lets just say i sold it fast before i killed my self.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUv5...4&feature=plcp

 

small updates

the motor is now at the machine shop with a large work order
1) check heads and block for straightness
2) cam bearings
3) check the cylinders for roundness ( he said the two cylinders that i took care of looked pretty good and hell check them for straightness, if straight, the motor will just get a hone)
4) heat tank everything
5) resurface the flywheel
6) if the motors not round it will get bored

so if those cylinders check out, then its a matter of buying new rods, rings, bearing, and arp hardware and beginning the engine assembly.

any one know if people use girdles on these motors? i know on my 5.0 it was suggested because they were only two bolt mains. Seeing the LSX is a 6 bolt main i cant really see people needing them? thoughts?

here are pictures of the engine cradle mounted.

 

its been a while since any updates, i got delayed financially and physically because i took a trip to laguna seca for moto gp. it was a blast. i worked turn two and got some decent tv time.
trailered 1000 miles to orange county, rode 1000 miles to monteray.



















anyways, when i got back i took care of what few things i could

bought a ready to assemble 6.0 lq4


installed the bump steer correctors


and last and least the god dam worst pain in the *** thing ive delt with so far.....
fully welding the tranny tunnel mounting humps. Guys complain all the time of these ripping off of their high hp cars because they are only tack welded in a few places so i welded them fully. the real issue being is no matter how well i preped the humps there was undercoating under the humps that contaminated the weld and caused very poor contacts. i did what i could which im confident is more than enough.... but im still not super happy.

 

Few more l updates before my move....

Bought a sweet bolt bored



And got my old motor back from the machine shop. Not sure what to do with it now, probably just use it for mock up.

 

very nice write-up, when i read the title saying it was an FD i was a bit confused after seeing the FC lol, glad u got ur dream project, love LS1 FD's

 

where did you get the bolt board from?

 

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