I decided to build an rx7 with an ls1 because I wanted something light and nimble.
Purchased the rx7 for 1400 dollars and trailer-ed it home.
This car was running, had a pretty decent body, everything worked, even the pop up headlights
The powertrain going into this car was going to be an ls1/t56 combo
I found a t56 with around 80k miles on it, threw it in my car
Then I found an ls1 out of a 98 trans am with pcm and wiring harness.
Prepping the rx7 for engine removal
Out you go
Looks like enough room for an ls1
The original 13b, seems like a pretty complicated engine, I had no idea what anything was... To me, it was just a chunk of metal with a buncha hoses going out of it. I sold it for 280 bux with the old trans. I was very surprised because the buyer was very interested in it. This thing was leaking oil and had corrosion all over it. He still wanted it.
Had to make room for the t56 by grinding down the trans tunnel
putting a lift plate on the ls1
LS1/T56 Combo going in
Fits better than the old engine, checkout all that room. I used Ronin speedwork pedestal mounts
Putting the intake manifold back on, everything still fits.
Installed the radiator using some stuff I got from home depot. I cushioned everything to make sure that the radiator won't crack due to vibration
Brazed some copper together to reroute heater hoses
Then I started working on the exhaust, the stock manifolds fit, but the old flanges had to be cut off. I welded some 2.5 exhaust tubing in place just to test the engine
I completed the wiring which was fairly easy, but took a long time. Then tried to start it up. At first the engine did not start, and heres the reason why.
Cleaned the fuel rails, and the injectors using my own method. Heres the apparatus I used. Some clear tubing and a battery. lol. I poured some pb blaster in the tubing, put my mouth over it and blew into it, then manually fired the injector using the battery.
Engine fired up right up afterwards.
[youtube_browser]PQG-eCojI7Q[/youtube_browser]
[youtube_browser]l7LOMa-8FTY[/youtube_browser]
relocated the battery because there was no room in the engine bay, plus it balances out the car better.
Need to replace the front bushings
Burning them off was a bad idea
Ended up using this contraption to remove bushings
Used a corvette c4 driveshaft and all I had to do was replace the rear flange for it to fit.
Measured and started welding the exhaust together, first were the headers. This is what I came up with
Then I welded together the rest. There were no plans or anything, I just tack welded some pieces on the car, took it off and welded it. This was actually pretty easy and enjoyable. The mufflers are from magnaflow and the tips are 4" ones made by cherry bomb
heres how it sounds
[youtube_browser]Eg-89LMrVO4[/youtube_browser]
The original speedometer was cable driven, and the ls1 uses an analog signal. I ended up using a speedometer out of a honda integra, and retrofitted it into the rx7s gauge cluster.
I also rolled back the integra odometer, which is laughable since it was so easy to do
Started working on the interior pieces, used a product called leather refinish which is like a leather paint.
Found some crown vic wheels at the junk yard and cleaned them up
They were clean... but the lip had a lot of pitting and I wanted them polished.... so I polished them... On my ls1 powered lathe with some sand paper
The car runs and drives now it was time to do bodywork and paint. I'm not very good at bodywork so don't laugh...
Sprayed some epoxy primer on and sanded it down.
Sprayed some basecoat on.
Polished out the old tail lights.
Polished out the old lenses. When it comes to wet sanding and polishing, I am king.
BEFORE SHOTS
AFTER SHOTS, END RESULT. Took several months to complete. This build thread makes it seem easy, but there were plenty of other small things not listed in this thread that needed to be done.
Purchased the rx7 for 1400 dollars and trailer-ed it home.
This car was running, had a pretty decent body, everything worked, even the pop up headlights
The powertrain going into this car was going to be an ls1/t56 combo
I found a t56 with around 80k miles on it, threw it in my car
Then I found an ls1 out of a 98 trans am with pcm and wiring harness.
Prepping the rx7 for engine removal
Out you go
Looks like enough room for an ls1
The original 13b, seems like a pretty complicated engine, I had no idea what anything was... To me, it was just a chunk of metal with a buncha hoses going out of it. I sold it for 280 bux with the old trans. I was very surprised because the buyer was very interested in it. This thing was leaking oil and had corrosion all over it. He still wanted it.
Had to make room for the t56 by grinding down the trans tunnel
putting a lift plate on the ls1
LS1/T56 Combo going in
Fits better than the old engine, checkout all that room. I used Ronin speedwork pedestal mounts
Putting the intake manifold back on, everything still fits.
Installed the radiator using some stuff I got from home depot. I cushioned everything to make sure that the radiator won't crack due to vibration
Brazed some copper together to reroute heater hoses
Then I started working on the exhaust, the stock manifolds fit, but the old flanges had to be cut off. I welded some 2.5 exhaust tubing in place just to test the engine
I completed the wiring which was fairly easy, but took a long time. Then tried to start it up. At first the engine did not start, and heres the reason why.
Cleaned the fuel rails, and the injectors using my own method. Heres the apparatus I used. Some clear tubing and a battery. lol. I poured some pb blaster in the tubing, put my mouth over it and blew into it, then manually fired the injector using the battery.
Engine fired up right up afterwards.
[youtube_browser]PQG-eCojI7Q[/youtube_browser]
[youtube_browser]l7LOMa-8FTY[/youtube_browser]
relocated the battery because there was no room in the engine bay, plus it balances out the car better.
Need to replace the front bushings
Burning them off was a bad idea
Ended up using this contraption to remove bushings
Used a corvette c4 driveshaft and all I had to do was replace the rear flange for it to fit.
Measured and started welding the exhaust together, first were the headers. This is what I came up with
Then I welded together the rest. There were no plans or anything, I just tack welded some pieces on the car, took it off and welded it. This was actually pretty easy and enjoyable. The mufflers are from magnaflow and the tips are 4" ones made by cherry bomb
heres how it sounds
[youtube_browser]Eg-89LMrVO4[/youtube_browser]
The original speedometer was cable driven, and the ls1 uses an analog signal. I ended up using a speedometer out of a honda integra, and retrofitted it into the rx7s gauge cluster.
I also rolled back the integra odometer, which is laughable since it was so easy to do
Started working on the interior pieces, used a product called leather refinish which is like a leather paint.
Found some crown vic wheels at the junk yard and cleaned them up
They were clean... but the lip had a lot of pitting and I wanted them polished.... so I polished them... On my ls1 powered lathe with some sand paper
The car runs and drives now it was time to do bodywork and paint. I'm not very good at bodywork so don't laugh...
Sprayed some epoxy primer on and sanded it down.
Sprayed some basecoat on.
Polished out the old tail lights.
Polished out the old lenses. When it comes to wet sanding and polishing, I am king.
BEFORE SHOTS
AFTER SHOTS, END RESULT. Took several months to complete. This build thread makes it seem easy, but there were plenty of other small things not listed in this thread that needed to be done.
