no looonger a longbed, but a hatch this time?

that would be cool, but i wanna retain the wipers so i wont do that.
and yes, it will peek outta the hood quite a bit. we'll see how i deal with that after i get it running.
people fit stock hoods over the car intakes, although that looks tight/impossible to me.
for some strange reason i had to shim the engine up 3/8" more than everyone else, and i still have only about 1mm of clearance from oil pan to the steering rack.

currently working on wiring. its absolutely horrible.
shortened wires for 4 hours straight on tue, and was too burnt out last night to do anything.
progress is slowing for sure, and once it gets really cold, could stop altogether.

I wonder if your short on clearance because the engine isn't level front to back. Is your tranny in yet? 

yup, trans is in, engine is at the angle it should be at.
very strange.

Sorry about your pal..... Cool project. Any guesstimate on the weight difference?

yup, trans is in, engine is at the angle it should be at.
very strange.

That Is kinda strange. LS RX7's are new territory for me. Hell LS motors are new territory for me too.
Does the clearance change when the car is off the jack stands? Otherwise, maybe somebody jumped it a couple times and bannana'd the frame a little.
Anyway, one of my favorite cars ever is the Sunbeam Tiger. A little British lightweight car with a strong V8 it it. Your build is like the modern day equal to it. I always wanted to do a Monster Miata with Ford power. Same concept, except, no matter how bad ass the car could be, my friends and even my wife, would still make fun of me for owning a Miata.

Good Luck,

Since its too cold to work outside now i've started my second LS swap inside before finishing the one sitting outside.

started by winning this off ebay



it was listed as brand new unopened, but it was missing some parts inside including the entire rear hatch..... so i got a full refund from the nice ebay guy.



then i picked up a corvette model, and cut apart the transaxle/torque tube setup, and made it a more conventional ls block + trans







firewall/trans tunnel needed some hammering in the form of a soldering iron



obviously custom engine mounts are required



and i had to remove the radiator from the chassis to fit the engine as well...


sadly i couldnt find the correct truck intake/ls1 accessories and im dealing with the ls2 intake+accessories, and since i dont feel like making headers from scratch im dealing with the vette manifolds for the exhuast too.


i havent made any plastic models since i was a kid, but im enjoying it. just wish i was better with a paintbrush (or toothpicks is what im using now)

LOL that's pretty awesome

Agreed - I like it!  It seems like that might be the only kind of swap I could possibly handle with my skill level!

lightweight seats


and progress




and on a side project, safely extracted spindles from an s10 upright



and now look like this, ready to insert into a tube.

Neat.

since i havent posted anything in a long time here.

quick update.
I'm ready to start cutting the hood, but i ran outta painters tape.



headers are complete



some electronics work, like headlight motors



high beams, (one of the lows is burnt out) (so is a parking light, and many many other bulbs)


aeromotive 340 is in the tank and confirmed that it works


harness is pretty close to complete, waiting on the pcm and a relay box to show up to finalize, starter motor is confirmed to turnb over the engine.

Headers looks nice, did you do them yourself?
I'm curious what your plans for the hood are? Custom cowl?

Headers looks nice, did you do them yourself?
I'm curious what your plans for the hood are? Custom cowl?

they are sn95 5.0 headers with a bit of modification to make them work. that was a headache.
not sure what i'll do with the hood yet, im gonna cut the stock one open and see how much i'll need.
ideally a plastic cowl to rivet on would be easy, cheap, and lightweight, but if i cut enough of the hood that it loses too much rigidity I might have to weld on a steel cowl to get a little more structure back. and if i really feel up for it i can always lay up a carbon one... but thats a lotta trouble.

Carbon does look like a good amount of trouble, but I'd still like to try it out one day.  Do you have access to any vacuum ovens or whatever they're called?

Carbon does look like a good amount of trouble, but I'd still like to try it out one day.  Do you have access to any vacuum ovens or whatever they're called?

sadly no, the team doesnt even have access to one.
therefore we can't use prepreg, and have always just done vacuum bagging with a wet layup.

so aside from consumables, all that is required is a vacuum pump

Ahhh booooo.  Well I would be very interested in helping out on that project since I'd love CF front end parts on the Blazer to help with the weight distribution at some point.

Ahhh booooo.  Well I would be very interested in helping out on that project since I'd love CF front end parts on the Blazer to help with the weight distribution at some point.

if you dont make the mold, and lay up over an existing part, it shouldnt be too much labor. making the negative mold is what takes so long and ups the cost so much

if you dont make the mold, and lay up over an existing part, it shouldnt be too much labor. making the negative mold is what takes so long and ups the cost so much

Don't forget I'm the guy who has to have accurate dimensions on everything.  I just can't bring myself to settle for having a part that doesn't match the factory dimensions especially with the body.  If I'm good about the negative mold I should be able to monetize it somewhat.

Your neighbors are going to love you.