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Fan is under radiator Under car
Hi guys i just aquired a rx8 car is pretty much already ready for v8 swap battery and radiator relocated to trunk engine bay cleaned up steering relocated still needs a trans crossmember. I wanted to do a ls1 out of camaro or firebird but i am finding people are wanting a lot of money atm for the cars so i had ideas of grabbing a earlier 4 gen lt1 camaro with 6 speed for trans flywheel etc and then getting a 03 or newer 6.0 out of a gm 2500 pickup. my questions is what would work. would i need harness and computer out of a truck with the intake on truck motor fit under the hood whats interchangeable and what i need to do to make this work between 2 canidates. I know i may have to get some aftermarket stuff i just want to get a general idea what i will have to consider doing to make this work. around here i cant find a ls1 camaro with 6 speed for under 3 grand and i could get a 6.0 and lt1 camaro both for under 2 grand.
The Gen 3 vortec engines all use the silver ecu to my knowledge. They can and must be reprogrammed to do things like remove VATS and work (better) with the ls6 intake you're going to need to swap on there cause no, you can't run the truck intake without cutting a hole in your hood.
If you want to lt swap, if I'm not mistaken (and it's possible I am), the lt1 mounts are slightly further forward. If you use something like the v8r subframe, there's no room to get different mounting plates from somewhere like speedway. You'd probably have to fab your own mounts.
Just get all the parts (block, accessories, ecu, wiring,etc) from the same donor vehicle. If it's EFI and from a truck you need a new intake, fuel rails, and new pigtails for the injectors.
Definitely do your research before committing to any specific setup or be prepared to buy it again.
they sell stand alone kits kinda got a idea now i was talking to a friend that put basically same setup in a fox body only his is juiced to 800 hp with a blower but he has experience sounds like i would still need a lot of ls firebird stuff anyway like intake accessories and go with aftermarket stand alone kit although he knows how to do the harness if need be old t56s i guess dont bolt to ls they need different input shaft and bellhousing
The Gen 3 vortec engines all use the silver ecu to my knowledge. They can and must be reprogrammed to do things like remove VATS and work (better) with the ls6 intake you're going to need to swap on there cause no, you can't run the truck intake without cutting a hole in your hood.
If you want to lt swap, if I'm not mistaken (and it's possible I am), the lt1 mounts are slightly further forward. If you use something like the v8r subframe, there's no room to get different mounting plates from somewhere like speedway. You'd probably have to fab your own mounts.
Just get all the parts (block, accessories, ecu, wiring,etc) from the same donor vehicle. If it's EFI and from a truck you need a new intake, fuel rails, and new pigtails for the injectors.
Definitely do your research before committing to any specific setup or be prepared to buy it again.
Hi guys i just aquired a rx8 car is pretty much already ready for v8 swap battery and radiator relocated to trunk engine bay cleaned up steering relocated still needs a trans crossmember. I wanted to do a ls1 out of camaro or firebird but i am finding people are wanting a lot of money atm for the cars so i had ideas of grabbing a earlier 4 gen lt1 camaro with 6 speed for trans flywheel etc and then getting a 03 or newer 6.0 out of a gm 2500 pickup. my questions is what would work. would i need harness and computer out of a truck with the intake on truck motor fit under the hood whats interchangeable and what i need to do to make this work between 2 canidates. I know i may have to get some aftermarket stuff i just want to get a general idea what i will have to consider doing to make this work. around here i cant find a ls1 camaro with 6 speed for under 3 grand and i could get a 6.0 and lt1 camaro both for under 2 grand.
Holy **** kid, I want to see photos of this terrible sounding build. This sounds like someone stitched a tuna to a donkey and said "Look at my mermaid!"
Here's the thing: if you want your gauge cluster, ABS and other important stuff to work, you need to retain the RX8s electronics and run the Chevy stuff parallel to it. So get real comfortable with wiring diagrams and a soldering iron.
car was being built as a pure race car from what i can tell i will get pics up later has aftermarket gauges whole electrical was redone its all done other than wiring in engine back and headlights and front blinkers i was going to make it into basically a race car i can play with on the road. its all gutted no heater radio interior is stripped down other than seats a some trim upgraded brakes coil overs havnt looked at make i will get pics up when i can pics not loading on here off my phone
posted some pics let me clarrify this car is atm in planning stages. I am not against moving radiator out of the trunk but i was thinking there may be some plus sides to having it there too for weight distribution. i was thinking of the ls motor idea for great power to weight ratios. I did not build this car i got it how it sits. I am a welder by trade so fab work isnt a problem. this car will not be a daily driver more of a race car that i can bomb around on the road on weekends too. there is no heater or radio anything in car anymore and for wiring atm there isnt much there that is rx8 its already been all redone. I want to make it a car that scares me i race at a local speedway in a off division and cornering is my favorite thing. I want to try out autocross with it and maybe ill make a road trip someday and try a road course. some people have there ideas and i have nothing against that i am just trying to determine what i want to do for a swap and have a plan down before i begin purchasing anything. I may just go lt1 one just for the fact its seem like it could be thousands more to go up to a LS swap and make everything work from what i gathered on here and that is why i am asking. I dont have a lot of experience from swaps my experience in the past has been building what was already in the car. For those so far that gave me good advice thank you
Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure the Radiator is there to cool the engine, so having it enclosed in the trunk would probably cause issues in the cooling department. The theory behind the radiator is to have air blow through it as the metal absorbs the heat from the coolant and pull away the heat and cool the coolant. It would be kind of hard to have air blowing through it in the trunk . . . You may be able to turn your trunk into an oven though, so there's that. As for the weight distro, I don't think it would be heavy enough to make much a difference if you moved it back to where it would do most good (ie the front of the car). There are a few threads on ls swaps, not sure about lt swaps. That would be where I would start reading.
i have done some research on the radiator in the trunk and u are partially right about the trunk turning into a oven. The way around that is cutting open floor with fans mounted and venting on trunk lid to pull air through the trunk region. Still im not sold on the idea either cause i dont want a parachute effect on the rear either. its got some pluses and minuses if u google there are a lot of ppl that do do it.
Holy ******* **** man. Stop. Just. Stop. This is a bodge job, at best, a complete nightmare at worst. No, there are NOT a lot of people that "just put radiators in trunks." There are race cars where the radiator is relocated to a higher location in the rear (EG Drift cars having them mounted in the trunk) but these are still mounted in such a way that it's a vmount, and it's not actually in the trunk, and the fans they use are absolutely ******* massive. I should know, I've seen more than my fair share of drift cars with rear mounted radiators.
You are going to waste time, and money to finish a build that should have never been started. The way that radiator is set up is bound for failure. It's going to be an oven, it's going to cook the battery IF you get it running, you WILL get a parachute effect unless you take the trunk off entirely because realistically "cutting vents in the trunk" isn't going to cut it. Not only that, you're still dragging heat into the trunk thanks to the ******* retarded mounting on the fans that has the air BLOWING INTO THE GODDAMN TRUNK.
WHY WOULD YOU HAVE HOT AIR BLOW INTO AN ENCLOSED ENVIRONMENT WITH NO WAY FOR IT TO ESCAPE!? "But I'll cut vents!" You say. Well, again, just covered it. NO AMOUNT OF VENTING IS GOING TO HELP. "But the radiator is in an enclosed environment in the front of the car..." WHERE THERE IS NATURALLY MORE AIRFLOW THANKS TO THE OVERALL DESIGN.
Just. Stop. Please. For the love of an already bastardized sunlight silver, just... light it on fire and give it a viking funeral.
Holy ******* **** man. Stop. Just. Stop. This is a bodge job, at best, a complete nightmare at worst. No, there are NOT a lot of people that "just put radiators in trunks." There are race cars where the radiator is relocated to a higher location in the rear (EG Drift cars having them mounted in the trunk) but these are still mounted in such a way that it's a vmount, and it's not actually in the trunk, and the fans they use are absolutely ******* massive. I should know, I've seen more than my fair share of drift cars with rear mounted radiators.
You are going to waste time, and money to finish a build that should have never been started. The way that radiator is set up is bound for failure. It's going to be an oven, it's going to cook the battery IF you get it running, you WILL get a parachute effect unless you take the trunk off entirely because realistically "cutting vents in the trunk" isn't going to cut it. Not only that, you're still dragging heat into the trunk thanks to the ******* retarded mounting on the fans that has the air BLOWING INTO THE GODDAMN TRUNK.
WHY WOULD YOU HAVE HOT AIR BLOW INTO AN ENCLOSED ENVIRONMENT WITH NO WAY FOR IT TO ESCAPE!? "But I'll cut vents!" You say. Well, again, just covered it. NO AMOUNT OF VENTING IS GOING TO HELP. "But the radiator is in an enclosed environment in the front of the car..." WHERE THERE IS NATURALLY MORE AIRFLOW THANKS TO THE OVERALL DESIGN.
Just. Stop. Please. For the love of an already bastardized sunlight silver, just... light it on fire and give it a viking funeral.
Or he could move the radiator back to the engine bay and patch the trunk? The previous builder made a bad decision, but it's not too difficult to fix. It won't be the worlds nicest build, but it's also a dedicated track car, so as long as it's safe and functional, who cares that the trunk is now patched with a piece of sheet metal? As long as this guy is smart enough and able to do the rest of the build the right way, I don't see the problem.
If you want to save money on engines, try a LM4 or L33. If you don't care about weight, you can even go LM7 and pay $500 for the engine. If you want to go crazy and build a V8 that revs to 8k, starting with a LR4 (or at least put the LR4 crank into another LS block) can get you there.
yea going to move radiator out of trunk. I do have a rough plan. Its pretty much going pure track car other than lights if i want to play on the streets a bit haha. I want to make it a bit of a ugly monster. Goal not to make it super nice but make it fast. Why cause i enjoy beating ppl that think a build isnt fast cause it doesnt look great. Plus when I dont go crazy on body and such i am more likely to drive it to its potential since im not afraid to wreck paint job. Not sure what ill do for a drivetrain yet it just depends what i get my hands on. I am in no hurry i been working on my 88 chrysler conquest anyway that i rebuilt
Last edited by dukaine; 03-29-2017 at 01:28 PM.
Reason: pic
I had an 89 conquest back in 92 93. That car hurt a lot of people's feelings especially when I told them it was a 2 ton pig. Wish I still had it sometimes
There is a shop in Texas called OJ Imports. They do LS swaps in to RX-8 bodies all the time. I think they even have a kit that would allow you to use the RX-8 manual transmission if you wanted.
Quest is fun built up lower end among other things rx8 didn't come with any drive train including transfer parts car is a auto with 63k miles trans is good and would be willing to sell it
03-21-2017, 12:44 PM
