I feel this would be the perfect time to do this for me. Im sorry sir, if I dont do this now, maybe I am 30 when I begin attempting this swap. I dont want to be 30 when it happens, Id like to be 23.
Again (team, i see what you mean),
Chris, and the guys at his shop, are comfortable with doing this knowing where Im at with funds. He would not have told me himself to move the car to his shop if he didnt know what my funds looked like. I promise guys I wanted to wait because I did not believe I was ready. Chris reassured me that it was ok where I was at, and asked me to just do it.

Im sorry it might have seemed too soon to some of you guys, but he WANTS to do this as much as I do i think.

Why do you think it took him such short time to introduce himself? I showed him what some of you guys said, it's definitely obvious he is looking to move forward with this project regardless what any of you guys have said about me or the swap.

-Robert

 

it can be done for much less than $20,000---Lol.
Now if you go out and buy a brank new complete engine and trans --the costs go through the roof. But with 100's of thousands of these engines out there--you dont have to do that
If done well and with a good used drivetrain (and dont go crazy with the horsepower) i am guessing between $7000 to $10000.
Like the OP also said --the shop is very familar with swaps--so the time for the build will be less and time is money.

 

Good luck, hopefully you are here in 6 months with one of the most badass rx8s on the forum

 

I think a 550-600whp n/a built ls7 in an rx8 would be pretty bad *** personally... as much as I love rotary's.

 

ls2 stroker anyone? Definitely another thought in my head... for the future

...or a snail lol.

 

What the hell would you do with a 550-600WHP RX-8? Totally useless in all except drag racing. I love the idea of a lightweight V-8 but 350-400WHP is plenty.

 

rev it and tell people i still have 150 lb ft.

or rev it and still tell people it's a rotary

 

That would be funny, but every time I think of that I think of the RX-8 with the 383 stroke in it. I wanted to napalm that car every time I saw it.

 

if done well it could look pretty good IMO... Id rather have a turbo 20b... but im sure a LSx swap would cost half as much.

Im unfamiliar with that 383 build tho I heard it was redneck as hell.

 

I have a friends son (now 23) who does exactly that, but he never saves the money, still lives at parents home and has never paid ANY rent/bills...

Frankly, I would rather my siblings (thank god I don't have any) pay rent/board as it teaches them something in life (like my parents did), instead of being bludgers.

 

Just my 3 cents...YES it can be done.....that is not the issue for me..

It has always has been what type of an abortion of a car do you want in the end?, what do you want "not to work".

For me it is not successful if the transplant takes away any of the cars character, handling, and more importantly features.

Anyone can throw whatever engine (almost) into a body shell and get it to work.

As 'brilliantblackrx8' said, what about the cars Electric Power Steering, factory Speedo Cluster, Heating and Air Conditioner System, Traction and Stability Control/ABS, Immobilizer System, and all the other myriad of black boxes (Air Bags) that all work together through factory ECU (PCM).

Every one of the above just adds $1000's to the job, or you go without, change management system and what do you end up with.....?

Good luck, I hope you have deep pockets.

Whatever happens don't blame the maker..

 

but cant you run those "systems " off the oem pcm and most of the engine stuff off another?
For example --the eps doesnt require the engine data to work, neither does the a/c, air bags, or abs--right?
Now yes the tcs and stability will need the engine data in order to work but isnt that all?

 

Ignoring the financial issue, id like to offer some advice for the swap..

Don't put a stock ls2 in. Yes it will be a huge upgrade for an rx8, but the first time you have your *** handed to you by a vette or mildy modded mustang or f-body you are going to be all sad panda face. While the engine is out on a stand it will be far far easier to put in a decent street cam and maybe some heads. Once it is crammed in that rx8 engine bay it will be a huge job to upgrade these things. Not to mention the car will need to be tuned anyway, so you might as well do the mods now or you'll have to retune again later.

You can snag a used cam off ls1tech for $200-$250. I'd recommend something with a 220-235 duration on a 114 lsa. This would still be completely street friendly while giving you more grunt at all rpm. If you want it a bit more aggressive drop to a 112 lsa and/or go for upper 230s duration. Add a set of patriot gold dual valvesprings and some hardened pushrods and the whole cam swap will cost you under $650.
I am personally running the 228r(228/228 .604/.604 112) cam and it is fantastic!

Heads would be a huge help, but they will be a touch more pricey. If you really look you can snag a nice set used for under 1k.

 

this is really good advice heads/cams make a huge difference on LSx motors. paired with headers and a free flowing exhaust you should put down good numbers.

 

One of my ebay contacts just sold a fairly low mileage LS6 out of an '01 Z06 last week for $3995 or offer, I think he ended up taking less for it though. That would have been a good start.

 

like i said --lots of these engines around.
he is on a budget --do the stock swap--enjoy all the TQ. Yall know once a project like this starts --it is never over.
He is also on the oem diff/axles.
Heck I would go with a truck engine first.
Or --hold your breath--- a v/6 engine.

 

Thats another issue altogether. The stock diff in a manual rx8 is something like 4.77 ratio isnt it? That flat wont work with an engine with a 6500rpm rev limit and a T56. The gears are going to be rediculously short. Its gonna be like driving a kensworth.....


You can buy an LS6 longblock on LS1tech for like $1500
Here was a brand new crate Ls6 from an unfinished project for $2900
http://ls1tech.com/forums/parts-clas...longblock.html

 

no matter how awesome the shop is in doing swaps or if its there first time. its not the labor or the fab time that gets you its the actual parts to do the whole swap. my price on labor no matter what im swapping starts a t 3000 and 80% percent of the time never excedes that in labor. now the only additional labor you can get might be if you want the motor built or anything of that nature.

here is a average price of any ls swap for any car
ls1-1500-1800

t56-1800-2000

ls2- 4000+

bh factory heads and cam package (includes mls head gasket, arp head studs, ported oil pump, new seals and gaskets, and new plugs and wires)-3800

monster clutch and flywheel-800

ecu-100

harness-600

mounting kit-(inlcudes motor and trans mounts, drive shaft, dash harness integration, ps kit, clutch adaptor kit, radiator hoses and some of them include oil pans)-2000-4000

then i always tell the customer to plan for another 2k for anything that might come up. for example the pretty thing-an lines, valve covers, chrome parts or anything of that nature that might want to be added in the process of the swap. but 90% of the time im handing back the customer money from this fund that we will hardly ever use.

so no its not cheap and no matter what you do it wont be cheap. people dont understand how much is actually involved and its not just "o well all you need is the motor and mounts and bam done." LSX stuff changes every day in price for the very reason of what i call drift tax. And thats just because the demand of ls motors have gone thru the roof in the past few years.

 

none of that will work. the ls 350z has every light on in the dash. ac will work and the all the gauges but abs, cel, air bags, tcs, and the wtf happened to my motor light will be on

 

Will they be on when you are done with the swap in the RX8?

 

yea most of them come on unless there is someone that can re program the factory computer to tell those sensors to not report.

 

As for rear ends, I know a lot of the MX5 guys use the diff from the last gen Cadillac CTS-V. That's what my buddy is using, he bought it brand new for around $800.

 

from what i understand the diff is sold for around 600hp but its the axles that dont hold. either way the only way to find out is to blow it up and go from there. the z for example has 400 ftlbs of torque and is using the stock diff. we ran it at the track on slicks and the diff never blew but the t56 mainshaft actually split in half!!!

 

Sorry if I missed it. How do you intend to tune the engine? Can this 3rd party setup disable the CELs?

 

The problem with the Rx8 diff is the ratio, not the strength.