Hahaha only a few mods needed to fit it in! :lol2::lol2:

I modified everything in the fuel pump module because I wanted the higher flow fuel pump, and after reading about the guys using the stock returnless system (It isnt actually returnless, it just regulates and returns from inside the module, so only a feed actually leaves the tank) seeing pressure fluxuation of up yo 7 psi at WOT, and 65psi in most running environments, I decided to toss the stock setup in the trash.

LS motors have no way to know fuel pressure and adjust injector pulsewidths based on varying pressure so I decided to go with a system I can trust to keep my pressures more or less at 58 psi the whole time so I dont have any problems trying to keep up with a 500+HP N/A setup.

I probably went way overboard on the setup, but everything I read has me very weary of what the stock RX8 system is capable of.

Well... Fuel cell it is then! :)

Wish I could go that route with mine! In all of my research it seems that the RX8 fuel system is somewhat poorly designed and is finiky when you start moving alot more fuel through it.

Im crossing my fingers my setup now works out, otherwise I will rip it all out and setup a different siphon system

Well, given that it was designed to provide 230ish hp at the crank... is it really the fault of the fuel system that you want it to do a lot more than it was designed to do? :)

Such a cool build!!! Good job so far

Just in case anyone is wondering, I havent given up on this build, and its not becoming one of the 3495890345349072 swaps that have been started and abandoned lol.

Life has turned upside down on me, but progress is still happening!

My truck's insurance is up for renewal on the 15th, and I am not going to renew it as I am going to leave it off the road for the summer to strip it apart and paint it, so the jets are on to get the RX8 done!

Spent $3000 on it this week on the last parts I need to make it all happen, so I will do my best to update more so anyone interested in keeping up with it can do so.

In the mean time, heres a few pics I remembered to take during the progress haha

Started doing some of the wrap on the headers, this is still very much a work in progress, but I am a big fan of how they look so far! Excuse my less then perfect mig welds, definitely not easy welding thin steel when you only weld for a hobby haha. But for what these headers cost me to make, I can pretty them up easily!

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Painted the engine bay white as I am going to wrap the whole car matte white, the firewall I have a plan that I am extremely excited for, I wont say much until I am done just in case it turns out like shit and I waste $100 lol.

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And in case any craft beer lovers like myself are in here, if your an IPA fan (I am obsessed), this is hands down the very best beer I have ever had in my entire life. Not to mention the funniest name (though I read in Iceland there is a beer called Dung Smoked Whale Testicle beer, not down for that)

Seriously, so fucking good. Crazy bitter, and high ABV, a couple of these will knock you on your ass, but it has never tasted so good getting to that point :lol2:

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How are you tackling electronics, if I may ask?

Ill update the electronics side over the weekend, we are beginning to test our CANbus gateway module over the next couple weeks, will be finishing the harness for the car over the weekend!

I was going to switch up my DBW plans for a cable throttle, but ended up finding a smokin deal on a 06 Harness & PCM so im back onto the DBW setup.

I'm definitely interested in your CanBus module, I'm almost to the point where I need one.

That's interesting. V8Roadsters is basically done with their kit (their site is woefully slow to update, I had to email them) but one thing they're missing is the gauge integration. For now, they are trying to sell a custom gauge pack which is not exactly cheap and it doesn't look all that hot IMO, seeing it integrated in NC instrument hoods. I'll be keeping an eye on your progress. :icon_tup:

Hey Chez, great job so far.

I've been considering doing an LS swap project for a little bit now, and after considering various cars, I think an RX-8 seems to be the way to go. Good looking, good handling, and a decent amount that are dirt cheap with blown motors. Saw one today for $1200 in London, and a few for <$3k in Toronto area lately.

Curious about a couple things. You intially said you plan to put $7k into this project, and already had the engine, but also just spent $3k. Do you have a revised budget now, and how much you think I would be getting into if I don't already have a spare LS sitting int he garage? Also, what kind of performance are you expecting to get out of this? From what I gather the weight ratio is ~ 53/47 after a LS swap into one of these things, which seems like it could hurt the handling a decent amount.

Also regarding 200mph. I've never driven a rx8 at high speed, but why would aero be a problem? It has the same drag as Mclaren F1, 300zx, Huyera, etc... It's a lot more slippery than say... a Zonda.

Thanks for any help

Thanks very much! Where 'bouts in the area are you located?

I would say my revised budget is about $12k now including the car. Initially I just wanted to make it run, but as I have been investing so much effort into the car, I opted out of cutting corners anywhere and decided to spend extra in some places to make the attention to detail something im a little happier with. Im hoping to be 52/48 weight distribution after, as I have put a fair bit of effort into the balance and positioning of everything as I have been building it.

Depending on what one wants from one of these swap cars, any argument against the handling being impacted are wrong. This is why I have put alot of effort into distribution of it so I dont fuck it up as bad as it could be. Im going aluminum flywheel, racing battery, lots of extra filler in the car has been removed to keep weight to a minimum, though within reason as it will be a daily driver all summer.

At 200mph aero is going to be important to keep the car on the ground. The coefficient of drag on the RX8 is fairly good for what it is, nothing to be too excited over as the rear of the roof drops too sharply to have a far back boundary layer separation point, but thats why you would want a corvette if you care that much haha. Its mostly downforce so any crosswind or anything at 200mph wont send the car floating through the air.

Worked a bunch on the car over the weekend, tonight Ive gotta finish welding the headers and do my transmission crossmember.

mmm racecar parts

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I really really wanted to do a gold heat shield firewall...so i did. It was really fuckin expensive, but what ever... this build is well into the realm of "its only money" anyways.

ABS is mounted, I dont think I have a pic of it, but all the brake hard lines are done now. Clutch master is mounted, pedal was strengthened then mounts. Things are lookin good!

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Finally finished the steering system on it. Didnt want to sleeve the steering shaft, so I just fabricated a new section for it. Its now a 3/4 DD shaft, which meets into a fancy new Flaming River U joint.

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fabbed up some brackets to hold the rad, everything fits minty now.

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Will update some more later, looks like I missed taking pics of lots of things

So close yet so far away, picked up another LS1 to run in it over the weekend.

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Thanks man, appreciate it.

I'm currently in London, pretty close to Western, but may be moving to Toronto at some point over the next year.

Yeah, $7k is probably pretty hard for a well put together car. Especially if you want to take pride in something you built, you want it to turn out right, for sure. That is kind of why I'm scared to tackle this project myself. I know I'll keep finding a reason to put more money into it, lol.

If you want to improve ratios a bit you can always run the battery from the trunk. Could be almost a 100 pound swing, if you're losing 50 pounds up front, and gaining 50 pound at the back. From what I've read unfortunately there's not a ton of weight to be saved with bodywork on this car. Apparently some of the cheaper carbon Fiber hoods out there are actually heavier than the stock hood. But, those 55lb honkin leather seats could shave some weight if replaced with something a litte more weight friendly. The rear seats too, if you aren't planning on cramming anyone back there.

If you want downforce at speed, what about taking advantage of the Bernoulli effect? I've never really looked into it for the street. But, from what I understand it's a more efficient way to suck the car to the ground than other options, without having to give up as much drag. Flat bottom cars don't have all that turbulence under the car, and with a good rear diffuser/expansion chamber perhaps you could improve downforce. I believe some of the 200mph+ super cars out there have rear diffusers, so I assume they're flat bottomed. Pretty cheap too.


Anyways, good job man, keep it up. Excited to see your end result.

No problem! Maybe if your at some shows in the area over the summer you can take a peek through it! Planning to be at Ertefa season opener May 17th with it.

As for the battery, I did think of just moving it to the back, which i kept the idea, but decided while I'm spending money like water, may as well buy a 11lb Braille racing battery lol, so ill transfer a bit back, but not much, but at least 40ish lb off the car in total.

I have a momo fiberglass racing bucket for the drivers seat, planning to hunt for a second one as you are right about the insanely heavy front seats. May have it setup to be lightweight street, but when I go to the track, I will swap in the racing seats and take a few creature comforts out to keep weight down. If im under 3000lb at the end, I will be happy (But if im not, ill be pissed lol)

The panels on the RX8 blow me away with how light they are, thats probably one area I wont go chasing weight savings, I think I am about as far as I can go with weight savings, while still having it feel like a nice car to drive every day. I had planned to remove the airbags in it, but should I ever decide to sell the car, it would be a hard sell without air bags. The passenger side airbag weighs 39lb though, that would be nice to get out!

I have sketched out an engineering diagram of a full undertray for the car, but the only reason I wont install it in this car, is for me to be able to race in the CSCS Superstreet class, I am not allowed a under tray. If I get bumped to the unlimited class from super street, I wont be able to race anyways as a cage is not in this cars future as long as I own it since I like the fact that it can seat 4 people.

Thanks for the kind words! Between my job and this car, I have been putting in around 100 hours a week since the start of February, so I am excited to finish it to relax for a bit lol

What stainless lines did you use for the lines ?

Getting there buddy!

Thanks!!

Taking the day off work tomorrow, so I can have a 3 day work weekend on it! This thing must run before the end of next weekend, so safe to say I am going to be working around the clock until then haha.

I ended up finding a good deal on another T56 that is in good working order, so I scooped that up instead of rebuilding mine to move time along quicker.

Got all my parts yesterday to build my sway bar end links, the last parts of the clutch hydraulics, and the cooling fan. Found on LS1tech a fuel rail set with injectors, so the last piece of the puzzle is the driveshaft which I am going to use PST for!

Alright, so I got a ton of work done over the weekend, but looking through my phone, it seems I didnt take pictures of much.

Going to be mounting the engine and transmission for the final time tonight! Finally at the point where I am putting everything back together, the goal is to fire it next weekend!

Have the steering system finished, brake lines are all finished, fuel tank is out right now to fabricate the rear differential support, just waiting for my Whiteline differential bushings to show up. Headers are finished, rad mounting is all finished, sway bar spacers are finished, along with the adjustable links I made up for it, trans crossmember is finished, just need to fabricate the tunnel X brace that will meet up with it.

On the to do list:

-Setup racing battery in trunk
-Setup bump steer ends once the car is on the ground
-Drill headers for oxygen sensor bungs
-Fabricate the exhaust system from the headers back (2.5" true duals, H pipe into Dynomax Racebullets, its going to be offensively loud)
-Finish wiring the car
-Assemble headlights
-Mount the 14" cooling fan I got
-Fabricate differential support
-Install driveshaft once it shows up (Went with a PST 3" aluminum)
-Run evap line
-Reinstall tank

Probably a bit more, but thats the jist of what I have to do beyond installing the engine and hooking everything up.

Little mock up of the motor, realized I should have bought red intake couplers, so I ordered those. Also need some bolts for the alternator, and an idler pulley. Note I just have LS2 fuel rails sitting on it right now, my LS1 rails and injectors arrive today

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Took a gamble with these bump steer ends and won! Minor mods to the spindle and they fit excellent. Just mocked up here to make sure the stud fits into the sprindle.

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Transmission crossmember finished up! Decided to go this route for lots of exhaust clearance and I dont like the idea of hanging it off the frame rails given how far apart they are and they were never engineered to have a transmission sitting on them. I am building a X brace off the mounting points in the tunnel, that will have kicker braces to the trans crossmember, just want to see how the exhaust fits in first so I know if I need to get creative with the shape of the X brace.

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Getting way too excited to drive this thing lol

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Once I have it running and driving, next is to wrap it in matte white, get some 25mm or so offset wheels, and coilovers. But going to need to recoup some funds first, think im up to $12k in this build so far :nono:

One big piece of the puzzle showed up yesterday! :D (along with some nice whiteline differential bushings)

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I should note (as I work in the freight industry), this is a really really unsafe way to ship anything. Remember not a single person touching your freight gives 2 fucks about it, or gets paid enough to care. I lucked out in a serious way that this made it from Texas unharmed. I managed to score a good deal on this including a clutch, and it worked out to be cheaper to buy this and throw it in, vs rebuilding what I already had. Thankfully my other trans worked excellent for mockup!

This is a much better way to ship things lol (My old trans on its way west)

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Got my fancy aluminum driveshaft ordered from PST yesterday, they said it will ship by friday! Talk about great turn around! hopefully its everything I expect it to be!

Picked up some seals last night so I could finish getting the engine back together, tonight I am going to get the engine and transmission bolted together so I can get everything into the car over the weekend! :)

Have my plates on order for it, shifting my "fire it and drive it" to next weekend, as I will need my driveshaft in place.

Hopefully I am at the end of my money spending. If anyone is reading through this thread with plans to do their own, know I did go overboard on just about everything with this car, and if you just want a driver you can likely do it for half the cost of what I did.

At the same time, I have been very excited to have this be the most intensive build ive done so far in my life (24 years old) and really wanted to do it right, so I kinda lit money on fire in many senses buying shit just because it completed a detail I was pointlessly obsessing over (like the $240 ive spent on car coils and corvette fuel rail covers, just because I want the damn covers, even though 6 sets of truck coils in the garage lol)

Running total so far is reaching up towards $14,000 Canadian bucks, that includes my ($2800 - $800 engine/trans sale, $350 cat/rack sale) cost of purchasing the car. Of course, I figure I am up to about 550hours into this car between wrenching, staring at things figuring out how the fuck to do it, drafting parts to be made up, and researching how the fuck to do it. Pretty much exhausted with this car at this point, between it and my job I am working 90-100hr weeks because I WANT TO DRIVE THIS FUCKING CAR THIS SUMMER. Also I took my truck off the road for the summer so I can waste money on it, so I need it lol.

Thanks to everyone who has given me input along the way with this build! Hopefully some others have managed to snag some good info out of here as well! :)

Jeesh - wanna host a work party weekend? I'd love to hang out, work on that, or whatever rx8 guys do in Toronto? :)

Haha your welcome to come throw some hands in at any time! :)

Got the clutch installed, and engine and trans mated together last night! Tonight I have to finish painting and wrapping the headers, then tomorrow everything is going into the car! 29th time's the charm for putting an engine into it :lol2:


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And some more bad financial decisions showed up this morning!

Decided to switch up the braille battery I had decided on before due to the short reserve capacity of it. This is going to be a daily driver for me through the summer, so I decided id take the 5lb weight penalty over the one I had picked before in trade for confidence it will start every time I walk back to it lol

Got my second fuel rail cover, and some red intake couplers cause I bought blue last time and shits gotta match. Gonna have quite the return to summit for everything I changed my mind on lol :nono:

Also didnt have a dipstick for it, so I picked out a pretty braided one cause I've got a strange love for braided fluid systems lol , Ordered a smaller rad overflow bottle because the other one I grabbed before was way too big. Not really sure where this will fit yet, but hoping its easier to fit then the other.

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Will update over the weekend, tons and tons of progress will be happening!

can i point something out? if you dont upload pics to this site over time pic hosting sites wont show images. just look at some build/diy threads from years ago. it sux when you cant see progress/steps down the road.

Noted!! I have always used photobucket, I know imageshack is bad for that, but I will start hosting them on this site so they stick around if anyone wants to see what went on down the road!

thanks it really sux when you are looking for info and find a thread you need only to see the no image aval crap. not bashing just letting ya know. team was telling angle the same thing a few days ago

For sure! I think photobucket is fairly good for holding onto pics, but I will start attaching them onto here also for future reference of anyone who wants to dig some info out of here!

Thanks! :)