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Hi everyone,
I ended up with three RX8's. I initially bought a tracked out street ported 2004 in great shape with full race suspension bushings, etc... Been tracking the 2004 for the last two months and it has been a blast! I ended up buying two more RX8's a Silver 2009 GT and an Aurora Blue 2009 R3. I am in the middle of doing an LFX Keisler Swap with the silver 2009 GT. The Blue R3 is a horror story I don't want to talk about yet. I want to publicize my build process in the SWAP area of the forum but since I am new here then it is not letting me post there. 2004 RX8 Engine Bay on Track Car
Almost looks like my garage lol. Nice cars, I'm sure a mod can move this thread there. I was looking into the Keisler LFX swap because it seems like the best way to go for a swap in 2020. Look forward to seeing your progress on it.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; 09-29-2020 at 03:25 PM.
CaymanRotary,
I agree on the LFX swap being the way to go. What appealed to me was that you get to keep the handling characteristics that make the car special and they have done a good job of putting together a complete kit with intuitive instructions to do it. I am about 1/4 the way through the swap and having a great time with my sons. I'm not an experienced auto-mechanic or anything either.
CaymanRotary,
I agree on the LFX swap being the way to go. What appealed to me was that you get to keep the handling characteristics that make the car special and they have done a good job of putting together a complete kit with intuitive instructions to do it. I am about 1/4 the way through the swap and having a great time with my sons. I'm not an experienced auto-mechanic or anything either.
Is there any way you could provide a material cost to the build without labor? I'm also looking into this too but you are actually living the dream here! Just want to know how many fingers and toes I'll need to sell to make it happen.
Here is a breakdown of all of the parts required for the swap, where I bought mine, and what the costs were with shipping. My donor RX8 vehicle was $1,350. Note I bought all new parts with exception of the engine and transmission which I tried to buy with as low miles as possible. You could probably save 30-50% on these costs if you searched around junk yards for used parts but I didn't want to waste my time part/deal searching I am too busy and wanted to spend my time building my car instead. I also feared that a used part may create unforeseen complications and troubleshooting during the build process that I really didn't want to deal with.
Note that I am going for as much naturally aspirated horsepower as possible, so I elected to buy an 80mm throttle body and ported intake manifold rather just buying stock parts (price wasn’t much more for upgrades). I upgraded to the Spec racing clutch/flywheel rather than stock. I also bought upgrades that aren’t necessary for the swap; Mace performance cam shafts, flex fuel kit (to run E85), upgraded the cooling system, added 3.91 1LE gearing (which adds 20% torque), and an Eaton Truetrac Differential. All of this should put me solidly between 295 - 305 WHP with 91/93 Octane fuel (not sure what it will do with E85).
· Totality SWAP Track Package of LFX RX8 (Cooling System Upgrade Keisler) $1,000
· MACE PERFORMANCE CAMSHAFTS FOR CHEVROLET CAMARO SIDI LLT LFX 3.6L V6 (Mace Engineering) $655.00
I am doing a lot of other things to my RX8 on top of the SWAP that I will share with everyone. I'm upgrading and rebuilding the suspension, bushings, brakes, brake lines, wheels, radio, body-kit, taillights, steering wheel, and body paint. So stay tuned for those things too! :D
One last tid-bit of information. I owned a 2014 Porsche Cayman S that had phenomenal handling and response but I hated that it was only a two seater and I couldn't share the experience with my kids like I wanted to so I sold it in search for the same thing with four seats and thats how I came across the RX8, it has 50/50 weight distribution, weighs the same or less than the Cayman S I had and with the LFX swap I can make more HP than my Cayman could. Essentially I am aiming to meet or exceed the Porsche GT4 Specs with my RX8 build for a fraction of the price. It is amazing how close the RX8 dimensions, weight, handling, etc is to the GT4. Wish me luck on this journey, so far I'm loving it!
09-28-2020, 05:31 PM
Bought 3 RX8's and I'm having a blast!
