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Author Topic: Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside  (Read 11778 times)

Offline BlackSeven

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Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside
« on: May 19, 2010, 01:16:41 AM »
Being a hardcore Rotard guy for 6 years and not familiar with the GM LS blocks but wanting the reliability I was in the dark when I started researching my first build several years ago. I mostly went off of word of mouth but looking for real concrete information I went poking around for myself and found some great resources.

www.ls1howto.com
This will probably be your number one resource for the most common performance upgrades. I used this guide when I did my first CAM swap and aside from dropping a lifter (my fault) it came out great. It also has a torque spec guide for all the engine components. Extremely useful information here.

How to Build High-Performance Chevy LS1/LS6 V-8's
http://www.amazon.com/Build-High-Performance-Chevy-V-8s-Design/dp/193249488X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274244753&sr=8-1

This is a GREAT book with lots of background information on the Gen III motors. It's a little dated (only references LS1 Edit, not HPtuners or EFILive which are more popular now a days), but it has a GREAT guide in the back for starting points on tuning issues. It has a guide on how to pull the motor out of an F-body/Y-body/Truck the right way in case you're starting with a donor car. I wish I had known about this book earlier in my build. SA Designs also has several books on the Gen I Small/Big block Chevy motors as well. I haven't read them, but I did read the dyno proven LS1-LS7 performance guide. I'd recommend you flip through it in the bookstore before buying. You could get the same information out of a GM periodical subscription and probably get more value out of it.

LS1tech.com
This is a great place to ask specific questions about the LS series motors. There are many VERY knowledgeable people in there with great advice. As always do a search because there are more LS motors then there are Rx7's out there and every question under the sun has been answered.


These are just the very basics. Stuff you should know before you start dropping lots of money in the wrong direction and end up not happy then changing your mind down the road costing you more money/time.

There are many more V8Rx7 resources not covered here that you should read as well but I found sitting down with everyones wiring guides; Grannys, Dan's, the Mazda Factory Shop manual and your specific model year pinout guide for your GM harness and then start going through your harness and familiarize yourself with the circuits and what they do. Label wires and circuits, take notes, plan future upgrades now and above all stay organized. For example: Set aside your wires for the a/c system and keep them labeled. Even if you don't plan on doing this now it will help when you come back to dig back into the wiring as you'll likely forget everything.

This forum is going to be the best resource for swap specific information. We're rebuilding all the knowledge! Good luck with your swap.

Feel free to add to this list.
1994 Montego Blue Touring
1993 Brilliant Black Base Heads/Cam LS1/T56 Daily Driver. - Sold.

Offline mayhamfx

Re: Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2010, 12:26:57 AM »
90 Vert 5.3 / T-5   Back on the road.
"To save time let's just assume I know everything!"
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LS1hereicome

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Re: Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2010, 07:58:43 PM »
THANK YOU!!!

Offline Stencil_SD

Re: Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2010, 11:03:45 AM »
Great stickied info. Needed some help on where to look for stuff. Finally not so much in the dark. :)

Noboost

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Re: Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2010, 04:47:21 PM »
im in the same shoes but im already out of the rotary side

Tmekanik

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Re: Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2010, 06:50:09 PM »
Purchased the how to build book from amazon and noticed the how to swap book by the same author. Worth getting?

automationLED

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Re: Essential GM Reading for Rotards coming to the Darkside
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2013, 08:15:08 PM »
one of the resources i wish i had but couldn't find in one spot was exactly what we should buy/keep to do this swap

on my 93 rx7, this is what i used

motor/trans - obviously a LSx swap, i got mine from a 02 camaro, trans was a T56 6speed
engine harness - oem camaro harness, you'll need to send it out to get modified, or you can buy a pre-modifed harness from Pez or Rywire
computer/ecu/pcm - oem camaro ecu, you'll need to send it out to get modified, or you can get EMS like AEM or something, you'd need to tune it afterwards
headers - i went with spoolin' performance longtubes
intake - i went with the samberg kit, so it includes an intake/radiator combo, but you can run 90* off the throttle body and another 90* down as a cold air intake
mount kit - i went with samberg complete mount kit with driveshaft, had to get it powdercoated since it comes raw metal, you could also go with hinson kit
drive shaft - drive shaft shop makes one, keep in mind M/T and A/T RX7's have different rear diff flanges, so you need to get the correct one
radiator - i went with samberg intake/radiator combo, you could go custom, mishimoto, hinson, etc.
keep the oil pressure and water temp sensor from the 13b, so you could buy an adapter from autometer and keep the factory gauges
shifter - get a steeda tri-ax if you're using a camaro t-56, puts the shifter as close as possible to oem shift boot location
battery relocation kit - you can do your own extension or buy a kit, relocate it to any rear cargo bin or trunk space
exhaust - y-pipe or x-pipe to a 3" or 3.5" muffler, this is where you and your muffler shop/fab guy can get creative
power steering - Pez has a power steering line for $100, use a f-body pump
air conditioning - Pez makes a A/C kit, forget how much it is, i do not intend on keeping A/C
traction control - racelogic makes a kit, from $1200-1800 depending on what options you want, or if you go with AEM infinity, it has traction control settings, make sure you keep your factory ABS speed sensors since it'll save you a couple hundred bucks
clutch + flywheel - since the motor is out of the car, here's your chance to replace the clutch + flywheel kit to something better
clutch slave cylinder - these are notorious for failing, replace it with a new OEM unit for peace of mind, and get a remote slave bleeder to save yourself headaches when it comes to bleeding the clutch, i bought it from speedway and it was a 48" line that i ran up into the engine bay and mounted it by the brake master cylinder
fuel pump - i used a walbro 255, some guys used 94+ supra TT pumps
fuel lines/regulator - i used a fuel filter/regulator combo from a 03 c5 vette base, it's clean, simple, prefixed pressure to 58psi, and all stock lines from the motor, you could go with aftermarket but you'll end up spending more
rear diff - the stock FD one will work, some guys have gotten by with it, some guys break it on the first launch, but most people i know upgrade to a turbo-II FC internals in a A/T rear diff housing for an affordable upgrade, you can go 8.8 or cobra, those are more expensive

depending on motor/mount kit/intake manifold/intake arm set up, you might need to notch the firewall lip for clearance, "massage" the transmission tunnel for header clearances, notch the hood, etc.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 08:21:34 PM by automationLED »