LS1 Rx-7 Engine Swap - Topic Listing

Recieved the chassis that I will be using for my Chevy LS1 V8 swapped Mazda Rx-7 two days ago. It's in very good condition, save for needing paint on the sideskirts and front bumper. The shell was delivered to me by the owner, on a flatbed trailer. Pictures of the shell below:The car sat in storage for several years, after the motor (a

Disassembled and set about cleaning and refinishing the interior. The 1993 model Rx-7 has a different interior coating than the later models. At first, the Mazda had some sort of felt-like interior glued to smooth plastic. The main problem with this was that the interior scratched very easily. For the '94 model year, they changed the interi

Stereo equipment arrived today. Below is the 6 disc CD changer I will be using. I plan on mounting it in the passenger side bin for easy access. I don't usually wire the radio in any of my vehicles, mostly because I don't listen to it. Having 6 CDs worth of music will be more than enough for me.Stockish looking head unit. Yes, it has a tape

Removing the front subframe was an absolute mess. The stock rubber bushings in the lower control arms were dry rotten and stuck to the pickups in the subframe. Dropping the upper control arms and shocks was, in retrospect, a poor idea. The easiest way to do it would be to remove the lower arms first, since the weight of the suspension w

I picked up a new digital camera today, and snapped a few shots of the car as it stands.Sway bar and steering rack: Just to reiterate, I hated dropping the subframe. The bushings on the LCAs, visible in the second and third pictures, are why. They bind up as soon as you look at them.Complete mess of an interior. The previous owner p

Engine came in today. 2002 Chevrolet LS1 5.7 Liter Small Block V8. Aluminum block and heads. 48k miles on the clock. I kind of expected some redneck in a pickup truck, but I got this instead:This particular one has the LS6 block (from the C5 Z06 Corvette), which, if I recall correctly, gives it slightly better rings and a hair highe

Pictures of the HID equipment for the car. Components are sealed Hella 90mm HID capsules with 4200K bulbs. I'll let the pictures take care of things for this one.

I only have one HID in so far.First things first. Went to visit the LS1 that morning to pull the wiring harness off. But I left my toolset in the rx7, so I couldn't take off a few of the wires.Sadly, no pictures as we were cutting the mounts. Anyway, here they are with the projector mounted in the old halogen base. I'm using the old bas

Received the subframe, torque arm, and transmission mount today. The subframe (engine cradle, or whatever you want to call it) replaces the stock front subframe, which allows the LS1 to pretty much bolt directly in. Or at least that's what's supposed to happen. Nothing's ever that easy.Everything:Engine cradle and torque arm. The to

I removed most of the babble about fabricating various brackets for the headlights because honestly, it was just a bunch of crap. Either way, the final product:I had to trim the mounting bracket for the Hella headlight capsule (tungsten carbide bit made short work of it). For some reason, the picture below was an intermediate picture