My first build '94 CW '06 LS2

[wompa164]

Hi everybody,

I've been lurking around here for a while, creepin' on people's build threads and trying to pick up any advice/insight people were handing out along the way. I've finally gotten more serious about my build and recently towed my FD to my current place of residence (Houston, TX) from my parent's house in Dallas so I could begin work.

A little history: This car has seen many iterations, starting out as a BNR stage 3 (non-sequential) with all of the goodies (blown due to split wastegate hose), eventually becoming a single turbo A-Spec GT35R built by Gotham and tuned by Steve Kan (cause of death is still uncertain, most likely from carbon buildup), finally sitting for the past 2 years at my parents house while I finished school. I'm also the author of this fairly famous thread on RX7Club: http://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=536097

My history with the rotary has been pretty heartbreaking to say the least, and after meeting forum member twokrx7 at a local Houston meet, he convinced me to try a different route this time around. I was sick of constantly wondering if my car was going to start up the next day, and after every hard pull that I wouldn't have a gut-wrenching rough idle afterwards.

As I mentioned, the car was recently towed from my parents house to my apartment here, with the help of twokrx7. He's been an incredible resource and inspiration to my project so far, and I'm hoping to lean on him a bit for advice and help throughout the project (not too much hopefully).

I recently purchased a complete LS2 pullout w/ 47k from an '06 GTO from Cleveland Pick a Part. This swap was originally planned around an '01-'02 LS1, but the extra displacement and minor improvements over the years that the LS2 offered convinced me to spend the extra money. The engine has excellent compression and oil pressure (from what my documentation states) and should serve as a good starting point for everything.

I hope you guys enjoy my thread as it progresses and continue to check back. I'm going to have a lot of questions for people, and if anyone feels like being a bit of a lifeline for me and answering fairly simple questions from time to time, I could really use the help. This is my first time attempting a project of this magnitude and I'm a bit intimidated, but I'm quite excited as well. There are lots of things to consider with this swap and I hardly know where to start, but I'm hoping you guys can give me the guidance I'll need

[ablake211]

Nice to see you making the conversion. I personally had a rotary powered one that never broke but I swapped one anyhow because........pushrods rule. Be sure to post up any issues many incredibly knowledgeable members here. Thats the glory of an entire board of diyers basically.

[BAD-LSX-7]

ummm white FD FTW! love it lmk if u have any questions in the build
 
ps i LOVE THE LIGHTNING PULLING IT! ya im a lightning creep lol

[BAD-LSX-7]

is it a 03 or a 04 

[BeatTheTunaUp]

Nice car    I had Steve build and tune 2 rotarys for me at Gotham before they closed up.  If it makes you feel any better, I popped one of my rotarys too.  Mine was from a lean condition because the fuel injectors clogged while waiting 9 months for a motor.  I had the saaaaame feelings.  Everytime I'd take it out for some fun, I'd wonder if it would take me home or start in the morning afterwards.  You'll love the LS2.  It's nice to jump in your baby and not feel bad about flogging it or fear another 5k motor is just one 1/4 mile pull away.   Good luck on the build and let me know if you come the the Austin area for any car shows.

[twokrx7]

+1 on the DSG Lightning pulling a white FD, it definitely looked cool on the highway

wompa is off to a good start on the project, I'm confident it will turn out well, just hope I get mine back up and running before he finishes his project   

[thetastelingers]

Does that Tennessee tag say Hamilton County?

[BoostCrzy]

good luck on the build!....I actually tried to buy that pullout from CPP the same day you bought it!....lol...I was told that it had just sold to a gentleman in texas doing the same swap!...haha...

...well..mine turned out fantastic!...I wish you the same luck with yours...

-Jack

[Bob H]

White FD, LS2, crap, utter crap - don't even bother...   
 BTW, if you plan on any HP, think about the rear diff - its only good up to about 450rwhp...  As you can see from some of my threads, its not that hard to exceed with the LS2 and some Truck heads,(L92's). 

[93silverbullet]

Yeah, good thing its not a silver FD with and LS2 going in it, that would never work... .


Congrats on your decision and welcome to the land of torque.

[wompa164]

good luck on the build!....I actually tried to buy that pullout from CPP the same day you bought it!....lol...I was told that it had just sold to a gentleman in texas doing the same swap!...haha...

...well..mine turned out fantastic!...I wish you the same luck with yours...

-Jack

Wow, that's crazy. I'm glad I decided to pull the trigger when I did then. What kind of prices were you quoted, and who were you dealing with at CPP?

To everyone else: thanks, I'm looking forward to getting this project moving. Garage space is my biggest concern right now as I'm working out of my apartment's attached garage and I'm already starting to feel cramped, especially with the motor on the stand, tranny on the floor and parts starting to accumulate everywhere. I'd like to hurry up and get the motor in the car so I can walk around my garage, though I don't want to be too hasty and make it harder on myself when it comes time to start hooking things up.

At what point to people usually decide to drop in the motor? I've got my mounting equipment coming from Samberg in the near future and I can start cleaning things up in the mean time, drop the subframe and steering rack, etc. What kind of things are best done with the motor out of the car? The MC seems like it would be easier so I'll probably go ahead and take care of that, what else?

[RX7what]

Just about everything can be done with the motor in the car. Just have your subframe painted or powdercoated and install it along with the steering rack and drop in the motor/tranny. Then do the tranny mount. The clutch master is a good idea to do first because you have to enlarge the hole in the fire wall a little for it to fit, and that might be easier while standing in the engine bay. It's a good idea to bend or cut the firewall lip before you put the motor in as well. If you are going to run long tubes the heat shields at the bottom of the fire wall on both side don't fit and are much easier to take off with out a engine in the way.

You also might want to figure out you fuel system ahead of time. It gets cramped in that area after your headers go on.

[wompa164]

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of information I needed. I think I'm going to continue to run the stock hardlines (unless people suggest otherwise) because my power goals are.. fairly reasonable. I'll probably step up to a cam/FAST 92/built internals after some time and switch to -8AN then, but for now I'd like to get the car running before I go crazy. That's not to say that I want to cut corners or take the easy way out, I just don't want to make extra work for myself when I'm already a bit intimidated/inexperienced.

Just a bit of preface: I'm a recent college graduate working in the computer forensics industry. I'm pretty computer-oriented and don't have a ton of experience doing mechanical work, but I consider myself a pretty fast learner and I like to think I know the right questions to ask. I've done a few build threads in the past, here's one for a portable headphone amplifier that I built, and I'm going to do my best to emulate the style in this build log as well:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/520994/my-first-build-log-amb-mini-w-lots-of-pictures

[smurf]

might as well get the fast 102 imo

[BeatTheTunaUp]

Circuit Boards and Solder.  Now we're talking lol.  I'm a laptop mb reapir tech for Acer/Gateway/Emachine.  I solder all day here.  Gotta love those 128 pin surface mount I/O controllers  Is computer forensics part of a network security degree?