ls1 powered rx-7 (yes, another one)
 

I know, I know. It's almost cliche... "ls1-rx7". But you know what? I haven't even tuned the car yet and it puts the biggest smile on my face since I felt boost with the old rotary. Torque @ idle is just too much fun. I'm not going to post details on the build here, they're too boring :) Check out my build thread @ norotors.

http://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=4478.0

Will get the car aligned at some point to corner weight it, etc. Should come in sub 2900# w/o driver /w full tank fuel. No A/C, but have P/S, stereo, power windows, full interior, etc. Should be putting out 350-400 hp @ the tires. I have all the emissions crap on it too (what a pain in the ass). 4:10 rear gear, TSP stage 2.5 heads, 224/228 +114 lsa cam, etc.

I have the itch so bad to just have a tuner tweak it a bit so I can stomp on it 100%, but I also have the itch to do it myself. I'm leaning toward the latter... just bought a new wideband O2 last week.

Here's a pic of it up near Malibu/Las Virgines about 2 weekends ago.


Anyway, got some vids of the car running.

First fire:

Walk around & exhaust clip:

Street driving & cruising:

Hey Mike. It was fun hanging out with you & your girlfriend the other day. Your car is intense. :drink:

I love these swaps. I would love to do one. :beer:

love LS fd's. :thumbs_up:

Looks great Mike, congrats!

It's fairly common because it's "full of win" as the kids say.

lol thanks guys. Me and my gf Fisa (has a yellow rx7, some of you know her and the car) have been meaning to come out on a cruise with you for a while. I think the last time we were out with you was when we went to the aviation museum over in Chino Hills... man that was forever ago. And before that I think it was street legals in 2009 and the RET dyno day last year... man time flies.

I have some work to do to the car before I can beat on it... since I got it running back in Feb I just got super lazy. Kinda wore myself out trying to get it running, so I decided to take a break and have fun with it, not put myself on a schedule.

Anyway, look forward to coming out sometime. :drive:

Hey Jon. Yeah man, about your car: I paused for a few seconds when you showed me your motor. I knew something was very wrong with it, but at the same time so right :) I gotta go for a ride in that thing sometime. Too bad it was raining! Thanks again for treating us to coffee, next time it's on me :cool:

I want one. I saw one for sale with a built LS6 and pretty much every mod for that car goin for $90k.

That's crazy talk prices these days.

way too expensive
 

Wow, that's outta control. I could see maybe $30k for a real well done up car that was super clean... but a lot of sellers are unrealistic about their asking prices. That guy would never sell it @ that price. People try to price stuff so they get their money back and then some with cars they built up or modded... good luck with that. I know it can be done if you have some luck and are careful about how you spend, and if you can find the right buyer.

Anyway, I've seen some really nice ones with all kinds of go fast goodies go for 20-30k in the last year or two. At least that's the impression I got from reading "for sale thread" crap on the 'net. For all I know it could have been more... or less.

EDIT: Look at this black one. It's about as nice as they come... and he was asking 29k OBO. 485 hp/425 tq /w ls1 + all kinds of crap.

http://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=1337.0

Your analysis sis correct. The only way to come out flat or slightly ahead *maybe* on average is:

- know where you're going in the first place, wandering is expensive
- if you're doing a mod, buying a great working version of your base car will be a waste, buy a non-op with blown engine/trans, you'll pay less than you could sell those parts in most cases I think
- use a donor car in many cases of doing LS swaps (the bits you don't think about add up fast)
- do as much the labor yourself, with friends, etc., but use a pro for things out of reach, like quality paint, serious engine building (unless you're enkeivette)
- don't cheap out or half ass something, it will be used against you when comes time to sell
- be complete
- pick something interesting but potentially demanded. if it's too obscure you could be waiting for the right buyer for a long time. if it's too common, you'll be on the losing side of Supply vs. Demand. One potential hole here I see is older Mustangs (60s and early 70s) with the new Coyote 5.0 or *maybe* the Ecotec Turbo . . .

I probably have low 30s into my Vette. If I did it over, or (now!) I could probably do the same for around $20k, maybe less. Since it's a little unique, there isn't a market to judge, but I'd be surprised by anything over $20k. If anyone wants to offer $30k I'll sell it right now. :)

Generally speaking, you're cracked out if you think you're going to put together modded cars and make any money on the exchange. The guys who made money doing this, and there were a few, did so because they had a name and were selling a "brand premium". A no name could do the exact same thing and not get anywhere near the same price.

Couldn't have said it better myself :clap:

I want to ride in this thing!

silver, yellow rx7s + 2009 corvette zr1
 

You got it man, next time I roll with you guys :)

In other news: me and my g/f went to cars & coffee last saturday with a buddy from work who has a 2009 ZR1 'vette (aka beast... really, that car is stupid fast). Here's a pic he snapped of us in the parking lot when we stopped for breakfast.

Hi Mike. I think after you tune your car you could take him. :)

That car is heavier than I thought it would be, none the less, sick ride and I want one.

corner balance, etc. (see attachments)
 

^^ Hey Jon. Heh, no way man. I can't put the power down like the zr1 can. His car will spin the tires for a split second... and then it hooks. I just went to lunch with him yesterday and the ride back to the office reminded me how insanely planted and powerful that car is! Truly amazing :)

Anyway, I have my tune about 85% done. It runs pretty good right now :) Will keep you updated. Plan on cleaning it up and putting it on a dyno for a baseline. Should be 350-400 whp based on my estimates. I had to add about 25% fuel (stock injectors & fuel pressure) to keep air-fuel ratios in line... since stock ls1-f-body cars dyno about 300 whp that means this setup should be about 1.25*300=375 whp which is right in the middle of my estimate ;)

In other news: I got the car aligned and corner balanced. Basically, car is 50/50 front-rear, about 2900 lbs w/o driver and almost full tank gas. Car gained about 100 lbs from the rotary configuration, BUT I removed my A/C stuff. More info (basically a copy-->paste from the norotors forum post):

So had the car aligned and corner balanced today. See attachment/pics. Nice tech write-up HERE.

Here’s the summary (all weights are in POUNDS, distance in INCHES):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basics:
-1993 Mazda Rx-7 (FD) touring
-Little more than ¾ tank fuel
-NO A/C
-YES P/S (stock mazda rack + f-body pump)
-Full interior (mostly.. see notes below), no BOSE or glove box
-2002 alum block/heads ls1/t56 (Camaro z28 pullout/rebuild)
-155 lb driver
-Samberg setup (radiator/intake/mounting/bumpsteer correction kit)
-Pettit Trak Pro Stage 2 adjustable height/damping coil over shock setup
-Gram Light 57 optimise wheels (17” diam), 235 (f)/265 (r) tires
-Otherwise stock suspension
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Results:
-Car weight (no driver): 2907
-Car weight (little fatty in driver’s seat): 3062

-Front weight/distribution: 1531/50%
-Rear weight/distribution: 1531/50%

-Left Front/Right Front: 802/729 (delta = 73)
-Left Rear/Right Rear: 804/727 (delta = 77)

-LF+RR: 1529
-RF+LR: 1533
-Cross weight delta: 4

-Left Weight/Right Weight: 1606/1456 (delta = 150)

Fender Height (in):
LF/RF: 25 1/8 | 25 1/8
LR/RR: 24 7/8 | 24 15/16

NOTE: date is wrong.. not sure why they put 7/11 on it. maybe dreaming of slurpees? :woot:


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cliff’s notes:
-tech was surprised how close I got the toe on the front (eyeball job :ugh:)
-went pretty well except took them a couple trips back and forth to the scales to set the corner weights
-have a little bit of play in the toe control link on pass side (not to mention a curbed wheel.. dammit!), not too bad but it won’t get any better
-guys at shop were amazed the car was that balanced (front/rear in particular) given the motor setup
-had a little more than ¾ tank of fuel, just filled up day before and drove about 20 miles before I went to shop (probably down a gallon or so from full)
-I must have put on some weight b/c last time I weighed myself (when I was working out/surfing all the time… about a year ago) I was 140ish.. I stepped on one of the corner scales and I hit 155. Damn.. I’m only 5’4” or so.. so if you run the BMI (body mass index) calcs.. I’m obese. Time to trim some fat :damit:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Details: (some will call this overkill… but WTH devil’s in the details…)

1. 93 FD touring, pretty much completely stock bodied
2. No rear wiper (plugged hole)
3. No bose
4. Samberg radiator/intake setup + some four M12 (?) nuts to allow hood to shut
5. Heating lines on water pump looped for now (long story), lines on firewall capped off
6. Running steam tubes front and rear
7. Samberg mounting kit (motor, trans, diff)
8. Samberg bumpsteer correction kit (tie rod ends + hardware, rack spacers)
9. Samberg throttle cable bracket
10. Civic throttle cable
11. LS1/T56 (all alum, from 2002 camaro), stock pistons/rods/block/crank etc.
12. vette engine mount brackets
13. Hot Rod Lane (forgot their other name) biscuit (mmm makes me hungry) motor mounts + hardware
14. Extra 4 ga. Engine block ground cable (19”) on pass side head to frame rail
15. MGW shifter, Cobra shift knob :drive:
16. Hinson steel driveshaft
17. LS6 valley cover + grinded portion of block + PCV hose
18. Trimmed firewall lip, chopped off intercooler/cross member brace brackets, trimmed shifter hole
19. RX7.com (rotary performance) diff bushings
20. Pettit Trak Pro Stage 2 adjustable height coilovers
21. 6 qt. oil, lots of coolant, ~4 qt trans fluid, ~2 qt diff fluid, little more than ¾ tank gas
22. Stock Mazda 4.10:1 rear end (I’ll see how long it lasts, it’s got 120+k on it)
23. No A/C (evaporator, condenser, lines, etc. all gone)
24. Yes P/S (PSC modded f-body pump), PEZ p/s line/fittings, stock mazda rack /w new boots
25. NGK TR6 plugs
26. NAPA plug wires
27. ABS yes/umodded
28. Airbags yes/unmodded (wires tucked from engine bay under metal support/above fender liner)
29. Improved racing oil pan baffle/f-body oil pan
30. Converted f-body engine harness
31. Gram Light 57 optimise wheels (17x8.5 +40 f, 17x9.5 +38 r)
32. Dunlop Dirreza DZ101 tires (235/40/17 f, 265/40/17 r)
33. Black ebay lugnuts :p
34. Powerslot brake rotors
35. Hawk HP+ brake pads
36. Hinson clutch setup (Wilwood 7/8” m/c + spacer), 30” long clutch line from speedway motors (too long IMO), line covered with fire proof hose
37. Full interior, sound deadening (nothing added, all stock), & stereo headunit (minus a piece or two of plastic, and NO glovebox, mf’er is broken, one scuff plate missing b/c tabs broke), NO BOSE (but have bose carpet & hatch cover)
38. Antenna + motor in place
39. Dakota Digital speedo correction box mounted above glove box
40. NGK AFX Wideband O2 mounted on steering wheel column, O2 sensor in pass side bank for now
41. Front O2 narrowband sensors, NO rear O2 sensors (yet…)
42. 2002 Camaro z28 exhaust manifolds + Magnaflow cats (CA legal), air pump ports blocked off (for now)
43. 2.25” piping to/from cats --> 3” y pipe --> M2 3” exhaust (same one I had on rotary setup)
44. 5.3l heads (706 casting), CNC ported/polished, dual valve springs, Titanium retainers/seats (basically like TSP Stage 2.5 heads)
45. LS7 lifters & trays
46. TSP hardened chromoly pushrods
47. Katech con rod bolts
48. LS2 timing chain
49. 224/228 duration (i/e), 0.568/0.588 lift @ zero lash, 114 LSA +2 advance cam
50. LS6 oil pump
51. LS7 clutch pressure plate/disk, LS2/LS7 flywheel (Double check me on the interchangability. Sucker is heavy)
52. Nippon Denso “Supra TT” fuel pump
53. Misc wiring, fasteners
54. HP tuners MPVI Pro pigtail for WBO2, OBD connector mounted (more like hanging out) behind glove box
55. Rear bins have buckets 80-95% cut out
56. Fuel pump relay mounted to pass side bin by battery
57. Hinson battery relocation “kit” (alum bracket, two long bolts/washers, two nuts for retention, welding cable)
58. Optima Red Top 75/25 battery relocated to pass side bins (33 lbs)
59. Battery fuse to starter located on pass side floor in bin /w plastic enclosure and M4 (IIRC) socket cap screws + wingnuts under the car
60. Cloth stock FD seats (I love these seats), mismatched pass seat belt buckle (it’s brown.. need to find a black one)
61. Frank’s (fly rx7 from old days) Triple gauge pod /w 52 mm gauges (oil press, water temp, oil temp)
62. 5/16” rubber fuel lines used/ w one FD hard line, C5 vette regulator mounted on rear subframe
63. Russel stainless steel brake lines
64. Dual oil coolers mounted but lines/thermostat/fittings/whatever are not run yet
65. ARP head/water pump/thermostat bolts
66. New GM crank pulley bolt (torque to yield type)
67. New engine coolant temp (ECT), air intake temp (AIT) sensors
68. Comp Cams LS1 trunion upgrade (replaces needle bearing setup), stock rocker arms

I think that’s mostly everything :)

hmmmm, did you go to original pancake house?

^^ Bingo :) That place is awesome. Plates are HUGE! Are you a Torrance local? Any pics of your car? I saw a really mean sounding one at Lowes the other day... all done up too. Didn't get to talk to the guy because he took off like a rocket :sm_laughing: Sounded like he had a blower on it :drool2:

Wow thar car is balanced damn near perfectly, should handle quite well

Wow Mike, the numbers in your head must be colliding into each other. Spot on weight distribution, ride height, and handling; this thing is going to be scary fun. Nice job man, really.

let me guess lol grabber blue? I know him haha

ya I live around the corner from the Porsche dealer on PCH. Grew up around Carson and PV Blvd. If you have another meet up let me know :) ill PM you my number

Hey Jon. yeah numbers everywhere :) the car is very fun, i love torque!

dude, you live right down the street from me!! lol awesome. car looks great man. i really like the new mustangs, wouldn't mind having a boss 302 myself! :bigthumbsup:

btw, i'll keep an eye out for you :) i haven't been out too much lately, been really lazy about working on my car and tune. next time i get out i'll get in touch.

that other mustang... it is a very nice blue, a baby blue.. "grabber blue" i guess is the technical name as you said. must have been catless + headers... it sounded absolutely evil. i heard him across the parking lot driving real slow, and then when he got onto the main road.. BLLLAAAT!

and he was gone :sm_laughing:

saw your car in the driveway today :) i thought that was where you lived since you said you were close but wasnt sure cuz I am pretty sure I have seen your friends yellow RX-7 in your driveway too so I didnt know if maybe it was his place. Atleast now I know though haha do you know the Kohlers a few houses down from you? Im friends with their son that has the black whippled 06 Mustang GT with Works.

nice :)
 

lol awesome :) i took the car out for almost 4 hours working on the tune that morning. we are really lucky to have a nice long road (PCH) and hills (palos verdes) to put different stresses on the motor. the yellow rx7 is actually my girlfriends car hehe. don't know the kohlers :( i haven't seen a whippled mustang up close in forever. i would def recognize the car if i saw it.

btw i went back to the lowes parking lot to tweak my tune and i saw that grabber blue mustang again! he must work there :D i actually got out of my car to get a closer look at his... it's gorgeous.

pretty cool there's a bunch of car nuts nearby! do you go to any meets or anything?

Haha ya if you keep going south on madison past your house to the stop sign his house is the corner house on the north side of the street. Usually theres a red F-150 and a white BMW in the driveway. Their son goes to college in Irvine and lives there so his car isnt at their house all the time.

I usually just go to Mustang meets but I go to cars and coffee irvine a lot. I have been thinking it would be awesome to set up a meet in PV like once a month but I dont know. Cops in PV would probably wait an just pull over cars with any little thing wrong like no front plate. Lol and ya yesterday when I drove by, I wanted to stop and talk but I was on the way to my parents to put on my front plate since I got a ticket on mulholland last month. Next time I see you out there hopefully I can stop

i heard you rap on it when you drove by last night, sounds mean as hell :yikes: i was gonna chase you down to say whatzzzup but i was too busy staring at my laptop :p if i'm ever outside just stop by.

i know which house you're talking about... probably 100' away.

i like going to cars/coffee maybe every couple months myself.

as far as PV meets/cops... dunno. haven't been hassled... yet

My first and only speeding ticket was in PV coming down Hawthorne on New Years Eve. I just didnt want to burn up the brakes all the way down the hill lol

man, they got you going downhill? bummer. that hill is hard on brakes. my pads dust like a mofo and driving on that hill over and over and over last weekend has my wheels coated in brake dust. i've heard about the PV popo...

i noticed we have similar taste in car color and wheels :) dark wheels don't need to be cleaned as often :jester:

ya lol i loved the gunmetal wheels that came on the car. could never tell when they were dirty. Same with silver, easiest to keep looking clean. I have had 2 black cars and 2 silver, the silver always look clean the black always look dirty lol my gf is looking at 2011 V6 mustangs right now and wanted black but I finally talked her into sterling grey

haddadd tune results, ~350 whp/340 wtq, dynapack dyno
 

I like bullet lists.

-Went to Haddad Motorsports for dyno time/tuning
-Made about 350 whp/340 wtq (I was expecting anywhere from 350-400 whp, true test will be on the drag strip/track)
-I let their pro work the tune with a Dynapack chassis dyno (you have to remove the wheels to bolt up the hubs)
-When I rolled in, WOT runs were not sorted out
-He reworked the open loop speed density & MAF tunes over pretty much the entire fuel/timing/etc. maps
-They can program the dynapack with varying loads, it's pretty sweet
-I had a strange whistle/supercharger sound coming from the engine/ehxuast and wanted to get them to help me figure out what the hell it was before really beating on it
-First couple of pulls, they noticed the sound, the shop owner Mike Haddad thought it may be an exhaust restriction/backpressure problem (read: stock cats & fbody manifolds & too thin piping & bad bends, etc.)
-They plugged in a pressure sensor before the cats
-Made some 4th gear pulls, measured backpressure vs. rpm
-See plots in pics. The tuner said an old rule of thumb is that more than 1-2 psi of backpressure on a car that is going to be beaten on is generally not good for performance (and it keeps more heat in the exhaust track... that's bad for exhaust valves and pistons, etc.)
-They said my exhaust sucks :) Yeah I already know that :P I want to keep stock manis/cats for emissions
-At the end of the day, the car feels great. Having 300+ ft-lb torque to use for most of the rpm range makes me smile :gruffy:
-They think I could make another 30-50 hp if I redid the exhaust (long tubes, bigger piping, high flow cats, 4" rear muffler)
-I'm broke so that's not going to happen soon :wave:
-The tuner, shop owner, and techs were super cool. Great guys to deal with.

Anyway, car runs great, it really feels good. I ripped on it the whole way home. I love torque. This car weighs 2900 lbs+passengers, and has 4:10 rear gears :chug:

wow, great numbers. you have to give me a ride in that thing!

lol :) my exhaust setup really is a POS, and you can even hear the whistle noise with high RPM. The tuner was like, "what the hell is this crap, your motor is breathing thru a straw!" maybe I'll re-do it next year, but for now the car gets me around just fine :) I'd love to give you a ride, you have to give me one too! I'm actually a huge fan of the new mustangs. when I was autocrossing last weekend there were a few of them that were seriously nasty. Not to mention your buddy I saw that same morning when I went to get some supplies!

ya his is pretty nice, and idk if its that loud anymore. guess Torrance PD got him for the exhuast

^^ i was just thinking, we should just go grab some food sometime or something. maybe next weekend we ought to get some breakfast (get out early before there is too much traffic?) and we can cruise around and beat on it. lmk, i'm gonna be around next weekend for sure. i just hate driving in traffic around here, it's hard to get on it w/o being a menace to society lol. you owe me a ride in your car too... i love the new mustangs. if had the $$$ i would have a boss 302 in my driveway right now!

in other news, i just snapped a couple of pics from outside a few minutes ago, my gf is using the garage today to detail her shitbox mazda 3 (j/k it's a great car), so the rx7s parked in the street. lots of traffic on this street, so it was funny to watch people looking at the cars as they drove by. fisa's car is so yellow, how can you not look at it lol! she actually detailed her fd yesterday, had to remove some cone marks from the last auto-x... it turned out amazing, pics don't do it justice.

I really need to wash my car... you guys have no idea how dirty it is and how much brake dust is on the wheels (Hawk HP+ pads... they work sooo awesome but dust like hell). Haven't touched it since autocross last month and I've been driving it a lot. Kinda funny cuz you can't really tell in the pic. Silver car + grey wheels = low appearance maintenance.

Anyway, I plan on going to street legal drags this late fall/winter time, hope to see some of you guys (daniel!) out there :)

I love your guys cars, they make such an awesome pair. and Im definitely down for next weekend. just gotta decide where to go

food.
 

^^ perfect, let's hit up rubys diner in redondo.. my other buddy swears their huevos rancheros (sp?) and cinnamon french toast is the bomb, i trust this guy so it's gotta be good :) or we can go anywhere else, i'll eat anything :) i just try not to beat on the car until water and oil temp are about 180 ish *F. it takes a lot longer to warm up the oil on the LS than it did with the rotary. i'll give you a call on friday to see what you're up to.

sounds good to me :D

09/11/11 PCA OCR autocross out of car vids (split up /w captions)
 

I posted this in the events forum the thread I made on the autocross event last 09/11, but had one long ass vid of the out of car runs. I broke it up and added some captions with the times at the end. Figured I'd cross post this in case anyone wonders what the car is like in an autocross. With a crappy driver :p

Summary:
~350 whp
~3050 lbs with me in it (2900 w/o my fat azz)
-street tires
-go pro hero hd camera
-el toro airfield in Irvine, CA
-event was put on by PCA (porsche club of america) OCR (orange coast region)
-8 practice runs, w/ an instructor for newbs (like me even though I've been doing this for a while lol)
-4 timed runs @ the end of the day w/o instructor
-like $70 for the whole day, but you have to "work the course" (pick up cones for a few sessions, yes it sucks, but it's worth it)
-had a great time, can't wait to go back. check out their website for details, they will be putting stuff on next year and no matter what kind of car you have, it's a blast.

http://www.pcaocr.com/?page=1&cats=1

Out of car vids
run1

run2

run3

run4

Cant wait to go next time :D