LS-1 V8 Rx-7 FD

This is only the 4th post in my blog, but I'll bet you're already detecting a theme... I love engine swaps! LS1s are the swappers favorite these day's due to their low cost, high availability, light weight, small size and huge power potential.

One car that makes a perfect platform for an engine swap is the FD RX-7 (1993-1995 in the US). They are perfectly balanced (50/50) front to rear, lightweight, have a low center of gravity and make 275 hp in stock form. Sounds pretty good as is, so why swap in an LS1 you ask? There are quite a few good reasons actually:

1) Maintenance. The FD has an incredibly elaborate sequential twin turbo system that is controlled by an extremely complex series of vacuum connections, hoses, valves, clamps and solenoids. They are all tightly packaged in an extremely high heat environment between the intake manifold and the turbochargers. Needless to say they don't last long there, and as the cars age a bit, owners are frequently trying to find out why they are losing boost or their car is dead. It requires a major teardown to access and is fairly expensive to replace it all.

2) Torque. The turbo rotary doesn't have a whole lot of bottom end (dyno chart.) The strong low-end and broad, flat torque curve of the V8 would give the car instant throttle response and would accelerate much faster than the peaky rotary.

3) Cost - The LS1 swap could be completed for about what it would cost to upgrade the stock turbocharger, intercooler, exhaust and fuel system, but you wouldn't have the problems normally associated with those upgrades (turbo lag, noise and constantly dickering with fuel enrichment on a piggyback tuner.)

4) Performance - Every aspect of the RX-7's performance is improved, even with a stock LS1. Believe it or not, the LS1 weighs about the same (or less) than the rotary, turbos, manifold and the supporting accessories, so the stellar RX7 handling and braking characteristics are unchanged! Folks are seeing low 12s with stock LS1s, 11s with the usual bolt-ons!

As far as engine swaps go, they say this one is pretty easy and is becoming more common. There are numerous people on sites like http://www.v8rx7forum.com/ that have done the swap and can answer and build questions you may have. If this interests you at all, go spend some time over there, it'll make you a believer! Companies like Hinson Supercars will sell you everything you need to make the swap a bolt-in, or they will do the turn-key swap for you. They have some very impressive cars on their site! Here's a video of their shop car (pictured above) running an 8.22!

When I win the lottery and can spend all of my free time (outside of my family time) playing in the huge, well-equipped shop of my dreams, I will build one of these for sure!