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My 93 RX7-LS1 Build Thread

I was hoping to go to that one but now I am not sure I will make it. The one with trak club in oct is looking more promising. Both my friends that I went with up there crashed their cars so I ma trying to get others to go.
 
so here are some in-process pictures from the past 4 years:

Here are the control arms, sandblasted and coated with sharkhide to protect.


here is the engine:


Samberg radiator, specific for LSx mounting in FD's, includes provision for an over the radiator intake setup


samberg front subframe, primered with Eastwood chassis black primer
 
Samberg bumpsterr correction. The ls1 requires the steering rack to be lowered, so the tie rods have to be spaced down accordingly


samberg rear diff mount. eastwood chassis black


3m undercoated inner fenders


subframe initial fitup
 
front suspension parts restored


primer engine compartment


basecoat:


parts going back in:


suspension installed:


Fresh paint/ clear




rolled outside for the first time in 2+ years
 
engine going in


fits perfect:




due to the radiator location, i had to rewire the front harness. mounted a ford explorer relay box under the headlights with the volvo fan control relay.


initial fit of the intake:



parts going back into place:


contour fans fitting perfectly


body parts back installed:
 
custom made mid pipe to connect long tube headers to racing beat 3" cat back:


first time it came to life:
 
first time it moved under its own power:


refinished interior pieces:


interior installed, lots of new parts from mazda:





coilovers installed:


under car shot:
 
so, as you could see from the chain of pictures, the mirrors were shaved, as was the antenna from the quarter, and the wing from the hatch. I originally was going to repaint the car, but it wasnt in the budget.

i was able to pick up some headlight covers in the correct color, then i got some doors in the right color, then all that was still a mess was the quarter and the hatch.

hatch looked like this:

So, with a can of color matched aerosol, and a can of spraymax 2k clear aerosol, and a ton of sanding, i ended up with this:



and this is how it currently stands. haha. 4 years condensed into a handful of posts
 
Nice build! I really want to do the same thing with an RX8 after driving my brothers for the past few months. How did you go about making all of the gauges from the RX7 work with the LS1 and T56?
 
CSVT#49 said:
Nice build! I really want to do the same thing with an RX8 after driving my brothers for the past few months. How did you go about making all of the gauges from the RX7 work with the LS1 and T56?
Click to expand...

it's actually really easy. The tach works just by hooking it up to the PCM, as the LS1 uses a 4 cylinder signal, as does the rotary. All i had to do was wire a pull-up resistor to the signal to get it to work, for some reason the gto's and ls2's you need to do that, the f-body you dont. the fuel tank is stock, so obviously the fuel level works fine, then for the oil pressure and water temp, i just installed rx7 sending units to the LS1 engine with some adaptors. Then for the speedometer i needed to buy a digital dakota SGI-5, which takes the signal from the t56 VSS and converts it to be what the RX7 speedometer expects. I still have to tweek the calibration, as i read about 5% fast right now, but i am holding off till i decide on a permanent tire size.

The RX8 swap is starting to pick up steam, and hinson makes parts for it, but it involves a little more fabrication than the rx7 swap. plus the rx7 is 100 times more sexy.
 
To each there own. I feel like the RX7 interior leaves a lot to be desired. The RX8 has that going for it. However I'm torn on the exterior as the RX7 is amazing, but the RX8 is still pretty sexy.
 
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