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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Engine transplants question.


carl0s

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Robertio

Ended up on this thread when searching for something else entirely, first time on here in about 4 years, but for your info my V8RX7 build currently stands at £25k with me having done all the work myself, bar the £55 I paid to get laser alignment done.

 

I have a build thread on V8RX7Forum and if you want more info sign up to http://www.dragworx.com for my more in-depth build thread.

 

Best of luck with the conversion, feel free to drop me a PM on the other forums, I frequent them somewhat more often, if you have any queries - if I can help I will.

 

We just had the one V8RX-7 at TOTB this year due to mine refusing to make power the day before the event (if anyone finds 150-200bhp looking lost do direct them this way :) ) but should have 3 there next year :)

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Ended up on this thread when searching for something else entirely, first time on here in about 4 years, but for your info my V8RX7 build currently stands at £25k with me having done all the work myself, bar the £55 I paid to get laser alignment done.

 

I have a build thread on V8RX7Forum and if you want more info sign up to http://www.dragworx.com for my more in-depth build thread.

 

Best of luck with the conversion, feel free to drop me a PM on the other forums, I frequent them somewhat more often, if you have any queries - if I can help I will.

 

We just had the one V8RX-7 at TOTB this year due to mine refusing to make power the day before the event (if anyone finds 150-200bhp looking lost do direct them this way :) ) but should have 3 there next year :)

 

Cor, £25k! I'm currently at:

 

£1000 - car (after selling Apexi PFC, rotor, gearbox etc.)

£4200 - engine, gearbox, ecu, fuel pump, pedals etc.

£600 - radiator & cold air intake kit

£1000 - Subframe, diff mount, gearbox mount.

 

So only £6,800 so far.

 

Still need Headers and Y-pipe: £1,000, driveshaft: ??

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  • 2 weeks later...

So that's £7,200 so far. No wonder I feel skint! Is it possible to make this thread invisible to the missus? Although I did just buy a new washer/dryer and a Dyson hoover, and I had the valve stem seals done on her Supra.. (just in case she's reading ;) )

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Just get the the rotary rebuilt. Just look at how far forward a V8 sits, they kill the balance, but that apart, £25K sounds a realistic budget to do one right. You could have a triple rotor N/A for similar, or less money, done for you. DO NOT underestimate these engine swaps. Personally I think a Chrysler 3.5 ali V6 transplant would be better.

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Just get the the rotary rebuilt. Just look at how far forward a V8 sits, they kill the balance, but that apart, £25K sounds a realistic budget to do one right. You could have a triple rotor N/A for similar, or less money, done for you. DO NOT underestimate these engine swaps. Personally I think a Chrysler 3.5 ali V6 transplant would be better.

 

The LS2 is sat on my driveway! Surely this is pretty far back:

image

 

image

 

image

 

image

 

(that's the mounting kit I'm using).

Edited by carl0s (see edit history)
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  • 1 month later...
Just seen this, it's well back, very nice! It's also nice and low, how is it progressing?

 

It's going OK, although I'm only really spending weekends doing bits at the moment.

 

Accelerator pedal is mounted (GTO DBW pedal), clutch pedal / master are done (that was a pain.. no room for master). Engine and gearbox are fitted, rear diff is re-fitted with custom mount since the rx7 PPF is gone. That's about it so far :innocent:

 

The LS1 oil pan + friends arrived today. So I'm going to fit that this weekend. LS1 pan is rear-sump, LS2 pan is front sump and doesn't fit, so I have to swap to the LS1 pan.

 

Still got to do: fuel hookup.. easy using existing lines and a Corvette FPR/Filter, wiring (looks not too bad, still much of an unknown so far though, although I have good documentation), PAS lines, heater lines, fit radiator kit, buy & fit driveshaft, buy & fit exhaust headers and midpipe, buy & fit bump-steer correction kit, get anti-theft stuff wiped out of ECU.

 

So, it's getting there.. slowly!! :D

Edited by carl0s (see edit history)
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These things take 10 times longer than planned, with a three fold increase in budget :) Persevere, it looks a very interesting swap. Is it going to be a road car, or road and track machine? For sure it'll have oodles more torque than even a triple or quad rotor Mazda, and for a road car, area under the power and torque curves is what you need. It should dance to throttle inputs ;)

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These things take 10 times longer than planned, with a three fold increase in budget :) Persevere, it looks a very interesting swap. Is it going to be a road car, or road and track machine? For sure it'll have oodles more torque than even a triple or quad rotor Mazda, and for a road car, area under the power and torque curves is what you need. It should dance to throttle inputs ;)

 

Yeah it'll be lively indeed. I've had to swap in the diff out of an auto car to try to improve the gear ratio a bit. It still won't be quite right and will spin a lot though.

 

It's just going to be a road car, although I'd like to get it on a track at some point and might be able to convince Malcolm to show me around Oulton in it.

 

I've just always like RX7 FDs but like a lot of people am put off by the idea of shattered rotor tips. I've kind of always had a thing about V8 noise too, and the only powerful-ish cars I've ever driven are turbo mk4 Supras, so I'm looking forward to v8 sound, nice size/looking car, and torque response from a powerful-ish NA engine.

 

Plus, it's a great learning project. I couldn't have pointed out a brake master cylinder before, nor did I understand what that big thing (brake booster) was and how it worked :)

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...
Any further updates on this?

 

Yeah. Radiator and intake kit is fitted, fuel stuff hooked up, car has electricity now, speakers all wired in, alarm system & remote central locking wired in (that was a fun learning curve), dash panels refurbed and refitted. Steering wheel from a new shape MX-5 fitted and lovely.

 

Most of the wiring is done, just about three things to hook up now.

It's waiting on a milling machine which is due at docks today, so hopefully have that in a week, then hopefully I'll be able to make the thing I need to do the exhaust. Failing that I'll just do what everyone else does and pay a grand for an exhaust system.

 

Also need to get propshaft done. Have been quoted £150 by a local company on that.

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Buying a milling machine to make a bit for the exhaust sounds like the sort of thing I would do, I like it :) I never need much excuse to buy machinery! Please keep us posted, preferably with pictures, good luck with it! Sounds like good progress is being made there.

 

LOL yep that's exactly what it is.. a good excuse!! I'll keep you posted. cheers :)

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  • 2 months later...

Nearly done now.. :D

Exhaust is done. I eventually (after spending about £900 on others) discovered some off-the-shelf Edelbrock headers that are a textbook fit for RHD, as the usual RHD header supplier in the states has too poor of a track record on delivery times. The milling machine thing didn't help, although I did make an adapter thing to get the gear-shifter in the right place, so the milling machine has had a use :-)

 

I'm just waiting on the propshaft people to come back to me, with a finished propshaft hopefully, and I need to pop over to Denton to get a mate to tweak the firmware in the ECU ('PCM') to remove the anti-theft stuff. Then it should start hopefully, although I haven't fitted either the oil pressure or coolant temperature senders for the dashboard yet. Everything else is done except for A/C. I have got the A/C compressor and condensor fitted already (that was fun.. I now have two spare LSx compressors and brackets), but no usable pipework or pressure sensor.

 

Oh and I only sent of the V5 engine swap paperwork just over a week ago, so that could hold things up too. I'm itching to get it on the road now!

Edited by carl0s (see edit history)
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