Recycling a challenge car. Pimpm3 builds a V8 RX7

As some of you may already know I bought surfshibby's RX7 after this year's challenge.

I was finally able to break away from work this week and pick up.

It was nice talking with Jonathan and I had a hard time resisting the urge to buy his turbo miata cart.

Loading the car was uneventful and we left to meet up with a guy selling a set of Integra Type R wheels for my friend Chris.

With wheels and rx7 secured we headed back to Jacksonville.

Got back in time to load the car into the garage before it got dark.

Excited to follow along with this build!!

Cool! Hoping to see this at an event in 2022.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Cool! Hoping to see this at an event in 2022.

Me too.  I need to get the motor in so I can start testing it.

Speaking of engines.  The plan is to put the LT1 and T56 from the trailerparkcet in. 

Trailerparkcet build

This will be great on two levels.  First it will get the engine and transmission out of my garage where it has resided since I pulled it to put it in my old S10.  And second it will make for a potential challenge contender with a 100 ish shot of nitrous.

I'm in, where is this headed DB13d ....Stampsonmouse.......Patrick???   those rims ROCK!!!

looks like youre getting serious!

My 86 Lt1 RX7 ran an 11.1 on a 125 shot for reference. 

I'm glad to see this car getting continued. It was cool to see it come together originally and I'm excited to see what you create with it. 

I decided to take some pictures to document my starting point.

Hell of a good starting place!

A little elbow grease, some degreaser and a pressure wash later it was time to touch up the engine bay.  I finished the passenger side with a half empty can of krypton.  I will grab another can tomorrow to hit the drivers side.

Looks waaaaaay better.  Great investment of time and money!

Excellent starting point. What does it have for suspension?

What happed to the S10 that it's no longer getting the LT1?

Run_Away said:

Excellent starting point. What does it have for suspension?

 

What happed to the S10 that it's no longer getting the LT1?

It has k sport coilovers.

I sold the S10 two years ago.  The guy who bought it was supposedly swapping in a ls1 and a t56.  I haven't heard from him, hopefully things are going well with it.  He was super excited about the truck.

jfryjfry said:

Looks waaaaaay better.  Great investment of time and money!

I agree!  So far I am 1.5 cans of spray paint in at $5.89 a can.

So this happened!

Still need to move the motor back about an inch, and I need to come up with a better alternator location but its in with plenty of clearance.

I was able to use a set of S10 350 mounts that i had laying around the garage. I need to adjust the transmission mount a little but nothing the welder can't rectify.  Overall a successful days work.

How does the shifter line up to the stock location? 

Close enough. 

I still need to finish up the tranny mount, and scoot the motor back a little.  Hopefully this week I will get a chance to fiddle with it some more.  I will grab a picture once its fully mounted in the car.

What's in store for headers........uh......er..........how are you mig/tig skills? Too bad Angry Corvair is so far away......he pretty dang could at tube noodling.

I ordered a set off of ebay for the princely sum of $115.76.  They are meant for a 3rd gen camaro.

Conveniently i own a 1987 iroc that could use a set of headers so if they don't fit i can re-purpose them.

The headers are for round port small blocks and the LT1 has D ports but given the budget friendly options I figured it was worth a shot.

If they don't work I will explore some other options.  They should be here Wednesday afternoon.  Fingers crossed...

Hey what were the HP/TQ #'s on this bullet when it first came out (way glad to see a SBC being used instead of the plugnplay LS) ?  BTW down with this power train build out for sure.

275 hp 325 tq.  It weighs about the same as an iron block ls motor.  

excellent......sitting here  quietly be safe..............Merry Christmas!!!

In reply to 759NRNG :

Not sure I want to be known as a "tube noodler" but I appreciate the compliment nonetheless.