NoRotor

I have owned rotaries before. 4 to be exact. I will never own another. TTRotary, you need to do some research before you TRY to give people info or advice.

FAST LS1

2MCHPWR is correct. Hinson has all the conversion parts you will need, and the car won't gain a lot of weight over a turbo rotary.

TTRotary

Hardly I got out of RX-7s years ago and am on my 3rd Corvette. So I really have no opinion or agenda one way or another, and I don't really care. Better solutions have been devised and I am obviously not current on those. Sorry. Mea Culpa. Disregard my prior posts - this swap is a no-brainer...

Having seen your site (couldn't get there earlier - came up as "****" on POE server), I am convinced the swap works well. I am still mystified by the weight distribution since the engine is obviously further forward in the chassis than the 13B would have been, and the T56 is presumably heavier than the Mazda Ribcase trans. Perhaps the LS1 is lighter than the fully-dressed 13B-REW. I know my friend's turbos alone were 65lbs w/ the manifold. In any case, kudos to the builder for a nice job. However, it is also obvious from your pictures that this was a major project - much more than a simple swap "in your garage".

Apart from this...why bother. Just get a Corvette.

Norotor or whatever your name is: if you are going to use bandwidth, try to come up with a useful post - especially if it's your first one.

rgregory

I would have kept the '93 R1 I had because it was a nice looking fun to drive car had the motor been the only issue. When I got rid of mine it had 104k miles. The interior was falling apart, the windows wouldn't hardly go up and down door trip panels were broke, tachometer quit working. There were suspension clunks. The alarms system would go off if I opened the trunk first instead of the door. Alternator crapped out. Transmission grinded into 5th gear.

In the end I was afraid what would brake next and quit driving it and was happy to sell it. The car was a great idea but not well executed. One of my friends had a '94 R2 and when when he got rid of it at 45k miles the motor was already losing compression and needing a rebuild.

Short-Throw

2MCHPWR and TTROTARY.....I thought I stumbled into the tech forum for a second.

I applaud both of you for having a constructive conversation that could have easily ended up ugly and locked. Hurray for civility.

I try to learn something new each day, and you both helped!

2MCHPWR

haha, i/we get that a lot. when was the last time you saw a 2730 lb vette with full interior driving around on the street? not too often i'm sure. how many used vettes have you seen sell for low $20k's that have weight to HP ratio of 5.9? need i go on?

Viper 3470 lbs/510hp = 6.80 lbs per HP.
C6 z06 3147 lbs/ 505hp = 6.23 lbs per HP.
My RX7 (400 wheel hp = approx 460 crank hp)
2730 lbs / 460 hp = 5.93 lbs per HP

sounds like a bargain to me

LS1LT1

I was briefly considering a '93-'95 RX7 LS1 conversion as well but ended up doing just that.
Can't argue with the numbers though.

pianoprodigy

I strongly considered doing an LSX swap into my FD (see sig) before I sold it. I don't regret my purchase though. The Z06 is considerably more well-mannered although more common. Someday, I'll buy a very clean FD and drop and LSX in there for fun.

Doing an LS7 would be a waste, IMO. There are other ways to make great power much cheaper (LS2 402). I used to dream of an LS7 FD, but the only reason for doing it would be for the LS7 name.

spdislife

Boy that's an ambitous project. Wish you luck with it

glass slipper

That's news to me ...post a link/proof. There's no reason an AL block can't be resleeved and if the block/AL does in fact get cracked, it's easily repaired (the other advantage of AL over cast iron is the weldability of AL). The engine is a dry sleeve design with the sleeves pressed in. You are implying the sleeves/block are easily cracked and when that occurs, the block is trash and has to be thrown away. Again, there is NO reason the AL block can't be repaired and new sleeves pressed in IF there was the highly unlikely occurrence of a cracked sleeve/block.

Also, I'd like to see you build three 800 HP LS7 twin turbocharged engines for $46K. Three crate LS7s will set you back $42K alone.

This is Lingenfelter we're talking about, of course the compression is reduced...with new FORGED pistons, the factory cast pistons would not tolerate this boost/HP level. There will be plenty of life in this engine, you can take that to the bank.

jlabreck

Nope, never got it finished, but I'm still working on it when I have time.

One of these days I hope to be able to make unsubstantiated claims about how much power it puts down and then back down from a $1,500 challenge race my big mouth got me into. Sound like a plan?

That's funny, because there's more "do" in my unfinished car than in both of your finished cars combined, and you seem to do an awful lot of talking yourself...

pianoprodigy

I love subscribing and getting the unedited responses

TTRotary

Even V. 1.0 was polite...


Jim, I recall you obtained and weighed several candidate engines, including and LS1, a 20B, and an LT1, against the 13B. Could you share that info with us, if you still have it? Thanks.

TetraU

I'd like to offer a minor adjustment to the #'s:

Viper 3470 lbs/510hp = 6.80 lbs per HP.
A C6 z06 with LG/Kook Headers, CAI, medium sized Cams + tuning 3147 lbs/ 560rwhp or roughly 650bhp = 4.84 lbs per HP.
Your RX7 (400 wheel hp = approx 460 crank hp)
2730 lbs / 460 hp = 5.93 lbs per HP

Still, I agree that 5.93 number is greaet for the investment you puttin.

Grumpy

Personal attacks/hostility toward others

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Forum should be a place where we treat one another with civility so that it remains a fun and friendly place to hang around with other Corvette enthusiasts.

Personal attacks cannot be tolerated. Attack ideas, not fellow Forum members.

Mr turbo rotary

Maybe this has more to do with how you treated the car? My car has about 55,000 miles but looks and still smells brand spakin' new. My buddy is selling a 140,000 mile car and it's in fantastic shape.

TTRotary

The bodies on these cars were super tight and solid. Suspension clunks are known issue, but are readily fixed with new bushings. Grinding / stiff shifting trans also a known issue, which could be improved with redline synth or royal purple. All cars have issues, and my new C6 is no exception.

Mr turbo rotary

I guess???
There are turbos out now that make 450 rwhp on pump gas @ 15 psi which spool fast on the 13b.

You have a 2650 lbs car with 450 rwhp (530 flywheel)

2650 lbs/ 450 rwhp or 530 crank hp = 5.0 hp per pound. Now toss in some race fuel and crank up the boost. 600 plus rwhp.

jlabreck

Just FYI, there's a thread on LS1 Tech right now started by an employee of Darton, if I'm not mistaken, who is apparently resleeving a low mile LS7 block (nitrous casualty) as we speak. I'm not taking sides, I'm just saying that someone thinks it can be done.

An RX-7 Club forum member weighed his pickup with and without a 13B-REW (3rd gen. twin turbo engine for those who don't know what the acronyms mean) with turbos and full accessories and came up with ~430 lbs.

A fully dressed (full accessories, cast iron exhaust manifolds) LS1 is reportedly in the ~460 lb. range, and this is supported by the weights of converted 3rd gen. RX-7s after the LS1 swap.

The LT1's iron block adds another 75 lbs. or so, although a "bare" (no accessories, no exhaust manifolds) LT1 crate engine I bought was listed as 475 lbs. (Oak Harbor Freight weight) with the crate, ECU, two harnesses, and a few other duplicate parts (extra water pump, extra balancer, etc.). With accessories and exhaust manifolds, I've seen ~505 lbs. quoted.

My 20B was listed as 525 lbs. in its crate (again, Oak Harbor Freight), with turbos and full accessories.

Can't you do both?



BTW, for those currently comparing power to weight ratios... you do realize that a peak horsepower number tells you absolutely nothing about how the car accelerates, right? The acceleration curve (g-force) mirrors the shape of the torque curve and power to weight ratios totally ignore gearing, which is the other major factor in calculating thrust at the contact patch, which determines the acceleration curve (assuming adequate traction).

Power to weight ratios are almost as meaningless as power to displacement ratios.

pianoprodigy

That's my plan. I really wanted to keep my FD as the body was absolutely pristine; however, it wasn't practical at the time. I'll be done with law school in 2 semesters. In a few years, I'll be looking for an immaculate, low-mileage FD to "bastardize." Mmm...base seats.