Yeah Tein Basis and PSS9's are not really in the same class as the PSS9's. The Basis are not adjustable for damping and the PSS9's are a unique setup (rear mainly) and according to Bilstein have a good amount of R&D in them specific to the RX-8. The Basis are targeted for those that want to just get low.

Honestly I would run something that you can customize later to dial the car in and the PSS9's would fit that bill. The Basis use specific tapered springs that are harder to find. Also consider the KW variant, they are a great setup. Anything beyond that will be $$$$. Fir $1500.00 shipped I feel the PSS9's make the most sense and your odds of having a Bilstein shock tuner in your area for later are pretty high.

Thanks for the info!

Definitely not just trying to get the car low, though obviously I would like it a bit lower.

It sounds like the PSS9's are a really good bang for your buck overall, especially for a car that is not a track only car. Im figuring 80/20 for Street/track use, mostly due to the fact that I will daily drive this car through the summer, but time attack race most weekends, so it will see 20k+ miles over the season.

The ability to re-valve them seems to be a big + for them over some other options, and the $500ish difference over the KW's is enough that I would probably try the PSS9's.

I am going to look at some heavier sway bars also to tune handling further, but I feel I am going to be having to do some trial and error as I start to find out how much of an impact the swap has on the dynamics of the car.

I have a ZR1 Corvette sway bar in my basement that I had from when I worked at GM, it actually would fit fairly easily into the front of the with some fabbed up mounting points as it is nearly identical to the 8's width wise, though I believe the Diameter of the ZR1 bar is going to be a bit much and would require a fairly big bar out back to balance it out.

Endless amount of re-engineering things on this car, but admittingly thats exactly why I selected this chassis. I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge of the build, despite hating it almost equally :lol:

This car is starting to bleed me dry, so trying to save a few bones where I can safely do so without ruining the car any further then I already am lol.

Yeah and being able to play with spring rates as well will be a huge advantage. But if you get into the serious business of suspension tuning then you might want to send a PM to TeamRX8.

Fat Cat Motorsports offers custom built Bilstein based coilovers. They're more than the PSS9's, but you will literally talk to the guy building your CO's, tell him what mods you have, what your roads are like, what kind of handling balance you like, etc, and he'll suggest spring rates and will valve the shocks to suit. He may also recommend sways if he thinks that's the best way to get the ride/handling balance you're looking for. With a V8 swap, anything OTS is going to be less than optimal. I highly recommend them.

Will definitely have to shoot him a PM as I get closer to that point, suspension tuning will be the next battle after the engine swap part is finished and running.

Trying to look at the big picture with this build and do more then just slam a heavy engine/trans into it with no concern for the rest of the car.


On that note, finally got a big piece of the puzzle that I've been missing! God damn expensive hunk of aluminum. Guess they know people will happily pay $370CAD for this thing

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With that here, tonight I can finally make the transmission crossmember! :smoker:

Thanks for the tip! Definitely will give him a shout to see what he can help me with.

It is seeming that the shocks/springs will be something that I am going to have to get over the cost of them, as they are going to need to be tailored to suit the car.


Planning to have this done long before the HotRod power tour as I have already got the time booked off work to take it down, probably be a good time then to see what shops I can find stateside to help me out with the suspension.

Test fit the transmission tonight,

Results are that I have lots of space for headers, but with the trans being moved back the shifter is different then what everyone else has done so far it seems, the F body shifter is too far forward, but the GTO one is too far back.

It seems that I have the motor at least a 3/4" further back then alot of the kits place the motor, which is cool, but no easy GTO shifter install, suppose I will just have to machine out a offset shifter lever for it.

More goodies arriving tomorrow, lots of progress coming up this weekend.

Empty T56 is way lighter for mockup :)

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Would have to trim away a fair bit of the tunnel in front of the shifter still for it to have room to throw, but the GTO shifter would be at the back of the opening and need trimming also, so I suppose Im one step forward, one step back on chasing a better weight balance lol

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Been digging into some crazy good IPA's lately, nothing like a high IBU craft beer :bowdown:

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I heard the MGW-P is great in the GTO T56, what are you planning on doing?

It is definitely a very nice part, from some picture googling it may actually work okay, but I think I am going to have to have a stick made for it regardless as I seem to be right in between where all of the off the shelf solutions would have it fit.

This is an idea of about how much I figure I will need it to lean back to be in the optimal position, I know this isnt a T56 shifter, but gives an idea. I had a pro 5.0 base in my old Camaro and a Hurst in my old C5 vette and I preferred the Pro5.0, may give one of those a shot again, will see.

http://www.mgwltd.com/images/shifters/mustang/t5-45.jpg

Agreed. And, even if you don't buy from him, you can hire his time to calculate the best spring rates, etc. for your particular setup. Of course, you would want to have the care corner weighed before calling on him.

OH BOY!!!

Christmas came early!!! :bowdown::worship:

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Locking myself into the garage all weekend, to get all of this installed!

Looks fun.

Started to install some of the new goodies today, spending the whole weekend working on this thing as I need to make some serious progress.

Starting with the fuel system, here is the filter/regulator setup that there is just enough space to mount up above the tank near the fuel module, fittings will make the plumbing look nice

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Onto the pump situation, I got a summit 320lph in tank pump, looks like a nice unit and fits very well into the fuel pump housing

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Pump installed. Looking at the setup here, I am thinking I will have the pump feed a corrugated tube to a bulkhead fitting which will feed the filter/regulator setup, then I will have the return from there go back into the old feed fitting, and a corrugated tube goes from the return into the siphon tube, where I have removed the old fuel pressure regulator. In my mind it seems like it will work and still siphon fuel properly? Maybe some more experienced RX8 fuel system guys can chime in for me

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So I finally built up the stones to give fabricating the headers a shot, and I am pretty impressed with the outcome! Beginners luck maybe lol

First steps

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The outcome! :yumyum:

Just tacked together for now as I want to test fit the subframe and driveline into the car one more time just in case

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Tomorrow I will be doing the passenger side header, and mounting the rad, along with test fitting everything!

Looks good.

Fabricated the passenger side header, and it was a bit of a bitch, must be something to do with who occupys that side of the car :yay:

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Not overly happy with this header, I may re fabricate it at a later point, the starter makes for a tough space to work into with some awkward angles for the tubes to still clear the frame rail. Ended up fitting into the car perfectly with enough clearance everywhere, so I guess ill get over the fact that it isnt pretty for now lol

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Engine back in the car for like the 50th time, Started doing some mock up for the rad, on the fence of whether I want to have some mounting tabs tig welded onto the rad to sit on brackets off the frame, or whether to fabricate a little cradle for it. Less weight penalty to go with mounting tab route so think ill do that, just have to design something.

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Going to be digging into the wiring a bunch this week while I wait for a bunch of my fluid fittings to arrive to do the power steering hydraulic feed, and cooler lines, oil cooler lines, and clutch hydraulics.

13 hour day at work today, so only had time for a couple hours tonight on the car, but finalized the position for my steering rack and tacked the mounting together so I can finish welding it when the subframe comes out again.

Much happier with the positioning now, will probably still need a bumpsteer kit, but oh well. Steering shaft will have to be shortened by about 1/2" and I have found a universal joint that will work for it

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Was looking at the positioning for the rad again and have figured out mounting plans, will have my buddy with a tig welder make some brackets off the side of the rad, and I will fab up brackets to fit to the RX8 frame to hold it with no lower cradle. Planning to run a 14" single cooling fan for it.

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Alright guys,

Not much of an update right now as I have been busy with other things over the past week, and with the fuel tank partly opened up, the garage is pretty stinky and dont want to do anything that might turn it into a bomb lol

That being said, some parts rolled in this morning for the RX8!

Finally can finish the fuel system for it tonight, then can button the tank up and get onto the transmission crossmember!

Today I got parts to do the hydraulics for the rack, I am reusing the oil coolers on the RX8, one I will use as an engine oil cooler, the other will be a power steering oil cooler. Got PTFE parts to do the high pressure feed, and the return system will feed to the cooler, then back to the reservoir.

Also got the braided feed line for my clutch master cylinder, waiting for a few more parts from Speedway for the remote bleeder, adapter fitting into the slave feed, and they have the adapters to hook into the hydraulic steering rack to convert to 6an.

Heater hose was way cheaper from summit then I get it up here, so I can also do my heater hoses tonight :)

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Figuring I'll probably need to place a couple more orders for parts to do the exhaust from the headers back, brake hoses, and a few others goodies I need.

Think I am going to abandon plans for DBW throttle system, mostly due to the fact that I already have a harness for a cable throttle, a cable throttle body, and I dont know if I want to buy another harness.

Weekend off next weekend so I am hoping to get as close as I can to the engine/trans rebuild point by the end of the weekend, Having a buddy tig weld some brackets onto my aluminum rad this week so I can get it mounted up and start my search for rad hoses!

Managed to get a few hours in on it last night working with the fuel system, fingers crossed this will work as well in real life as it seems it will in my mind

Started with getting the insanely expensive bulkhead through the module

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Modified the siphon to allow some more flow through it, and melted the top cap to make sure nothing pops apart, crossing my fingers this works out okay. Flex tube from the new 320LPH fuel pump to bulkhead fitting installed, very tight in the top of the module, but everything did fit okay!

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Fuel module installed back into the tank, with feed line to filter setup, return line from filter setup, and a 6an stainless braided line drops down the front of the tank to run up to the fuel rails. Still need to pull all of this out one more time to clean everything, tighten it all, shorten the mounting bolt, but everything mocked up perfectly, very happy with the fuel system so far.

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Also mounted up the driver side oil cooler which I will repurpose as a power steering oil cooler, will be fed from the rack return, to the cooler, back to the reservoir. Took a bit of a gamble on what fitting the cooler was and won! :)

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Going to work on the hoses for the cooler tonight, as my adapter fittings for the steering rack came in this morning! :)

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And of course, work didnt happen without beer :chug: My uncle and I have a badass little craft beer exchange going on and he brought me a few of these Robo Hop's by Great Lake Brewery to try and good fucking lord they are amazing! Developing even more expensive addictions :D :icon_bs:

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Little more progress made on it last night, spent most of the night looking for parts which I didn't end up finding :cussing: so I just got the lines for the power steering done. Feed is a 6an PTFE hose into high pressure inlet of rack, then stainless braid line from low pressure outlet to oil cooler, oil cooler to reservoir.

I will use the passenger side oil cooler as an engine oil cooler for the LS1, while the drivers side is power steering fluid cooler.

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Did some stuff yesterday and Im gonna do more stuff today


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Im going to do some research later today, but can i retain the brake reservoir as clutch reservoir? Cause that would be pretty cool if I can. Ill see what I can figure out, hoping so.

Thinking maybe I should just add like 30 more zip ties to hold the rad in and just go with that because racecar. Then I can be like joker! :lol2:

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Building myself a little list for another order I need to place for this car this week.

Hopefully less then $1000 in parts to support the swap, then hopefully less then $3000 putting my motor together, then hopefully less then $2000 putting my trans and clutch together..............:icon_bs: My bank account is not having fun anymore.

To anyone who thinks this swap is cheap or easy....... fuck off. :spank:

What size are the oil cooler fittings? I need to order a few for mine, I'm pretty sure they are M18x1.5 but just want to be sure.

You got it! :)

I searched high and low for into and ended up taking a gamble and winning with Vibrant 16627.

Vibrant is directly across the road from my work but won't sell direct to me so everything ships down to Summit to come right back in front of them lol, supply chain ridiculousness.

Sweet, thanks for the part number. The ones I was looking at were about 20 bucks each, these are a way better deal.

Oh, common! Isn't that just a redneck junkyard motor you just throw in there? Can't cost that much! LMAO


Now on a serious note: Why did you guys change the fuel pump module? Isn't it a returnless system just like any newer LS? I'm debating on a fuel cell or not. It would save me a good change to keep the OE fuel tank, but if I'm gonna have to modify it and not be sure about the outcome, I'll just get the cell I've been thinking about.

Would love to know how ur pump setup is working