Not trying to bash any of you V-8 swapers I mean I hate the rotary as much as the next person. I've got a 3rd gen single turbo with about about 400hp, it's real fun to drive but it anoys the hell out of me that no matter how much I tune it perfect or maintain it, it could blow at any given time and do about $5,000 worth of damage that I can't aford to replace for a while. I've been thinking about selling it to avoid this problem and just get something more reliable. I like the C5 corvet and you can pick up a good used one for around the price I'll be selling my car for and american cars are much cheeper to mod up in terms of $ per HP.

Which brings me to my question, why not just buy a car with a v-8 in it already and avoid all the work ? Firebirds, comaros, mustangs, and corvets depending on the year can all be bought for around the same price or less than an RX-7 so why bother with swaps and fab. work ? Also don't you lose alot of resale value by swaping in a V-8 ?

 

Weight.

 

As far as resale value, I bought my car for 750 dollars, with a good running N/A engine. The V8 swap cost me around 2500 (including doing a lot of not necessary stuff), I've had offers for 5000 before I did the body work/interior stuff. So I have actually increased the value of the car vs. money spent, something hard to do with an FC of any type.

As far as buying a mustang.. ick, no thanks, same with the 3rd/4th Gen Camaros, not my thing really. Plus their ancient suspensions make them not a lot of fun to drive really, unless you like 1970s handling... (ignore the current 03+ Cobras, those handle well but big $$). I already had the RX7, so it was free anyway... the engine gave up at 96K miles (lost a seal, previous owner abused it), so I used it. If I had decided to do another car, it would've been a C4 Corvette.

Finally, as far as $$ per HP, you don't get much cheaper then the old SBC, which is what my cost scale is for the RX7. Basically I got my car for 1200 bucks, ready to drop the V8 in (that's the car + install kit and necessary mods), not a bad starting point for a solid bodied 2700 lbs car. I've got full brake/suspenion mods, all new paint, all new interior, 17" wheels, lowering springs and sway bars now, so I'm about to run out of resale/cost, but that's true on all modded cars.


Anyway, enough of my rambling... as far as a C5 goes, I'd get one in a heartbeat, LS1 is a great engine (best pushrod there is in my opinion) and those cars are just DAMN sexy. At the top of my list (along with the FD and a few others). Best of luck-

 

Non knowledgable answer.

LS1= Less weight, more hp, more tq, better economy, better reliablity and a lot more fun.

Later

 

fb with a 302 is about the most perforance per $ period

 

There are thousands of F-bodies with stock LS1's already. We like to be different.
We like working on our cars ourselves, for various reasons.
The RX7 is a nicer car overall - except for the engine problems.
We like repeating ourselves, because so many people ask "why?"

 

I was talking more about 3rd gen RX7s , I understand the FC,FB V-8 swap since they are all over the place sitting in peoples front yards for $500 with a blown motor. With a 3rd gen I can't see how it would be cost efective to swap in the V-8, or any other motor except maybe 20B but then when you sell it you'd have to find the right person even then you wont get your money back. I know that some people just don't care about money and do things cuz they can or maybe they have the car and the engine already and they have some fab. skills. But how do you solve the trans and diff problem, I know people that blow the diff with only 280hp, and LS1 has a hell of alot more torq then a rotary, so now your looking at buying a Ls1+convertion kit, trany, diff, and custom drive shaft? When you add up buying the 3rd gen and all this stuff you probly could have had a used ZO6.

 

Actually, in regard to the FD, total cost to make a nice, properly done LS1-FD seems to be around 19-20K if you do the work yourself and use a Hinson mount kit. They have sold for 20-25K before (though not many, but I know they have), so it's not tooo bad for dollar/return, if you don't count all your time.

Something to think about though, is the cost vs. making a 13B-REW fast/reliable... alot of people love the FD but don't care for the engine, or just get fed up with the issues... I don't care for the Camaro/Firebird much, but would love to build an FD in a few years.. LS1 of course.

 

So far I'm into my project FD for $3800 and it needs a fender, gauge surround, and drivetrain swap. I can get all that for about 10k, so I will have about 15k into it. While this doesn't include other things I WANT to add, like wheels, fresh paint, suspension, etc., 15k for a running LS1/T56 FD is a good price. And you can't get a used Z06 or any C5 Vette or that much money. And it may not be quite as new, but the interior fit and finish is as good, is not as common, and will have a better HP:weight ratio than any stock Corvette.

I would LOVE to have a new Vette, but it's not in my budget. This, I can do. So I'm gonna

 

I considered tossing a rebuild in mine and selling to get a z06, but everybody and their brother has a c5 corvette. Recently I took my fd to a car show at a chevy dealership and had more people looking at my car than the c6 on display, priceless! I didn't build this car for an investment, I figure I've got ~20k into it. As far as the rear is concerned, i'm doing a "budget" upgrade this winter- t2 lsd w/ 3.90's in the pumpkin, should be plenty strong for what i do with the car.

 

Where did (do) you get 3.90 for a 8" T-2 diff?

Later

 

I think auto cars had 3.90, manual cars had 4.10 and certain versions had 4.30 (like the GTUs or something).

 

No Auto TIIs (in the US anyway). Maybe imported diff?

 

I have the s4 t2 lsd guts which have been fitted to the fd pumpkin. Need to pick up a 3.90 ring and pinion from an auto fd which are also interchangeable with the 5 speed rear. I have been told this combo will work, am i missing something here?

 

Hmm, hadn't heard of that exact combination. as long as the FD auto ring/pinion are interchangable with the 5 speed FD pieces, that should work fine.

 

wow this is good to know since I have a banged up FD parts shell with no drive train that since is't a salvage car is worthless anyway, would be perfect for the swap. What about picking up a crashed F body with a LS1 drive train in it and swaping it in ?

 

Poifect. Best bang for the buck.

 

That's the best route to go if you get it cheap enough. I know that for $4300 you can get everything you need from an F-body at www.contemporarycorvette.com (they trade as f-parts on ebay). You get the engine, computer, wiring harness, transmission, clutch assembly (even all the pedals) driveshaft, and all the engine accessories like a/c, power steering, air pump, alternator, and exhaust manifolds. SO basically, if you can get a complete (wrecked) f-body for that price or less, you're in business. Get whatever else you need from www.hinsonsupercars.com and build it