LT1 from 97 Trans Am going into a 1983 RX7

[Nyt_Muves]

I am now ready to start the thread. I have been planning the swap for sometime now. I have had the RX7 for about 7 months now. I bought it specifically for the swap. The original owner of it bought it new, and she had just spent about a grand redoing the interior, brand new leather. She siezed the engine (carbon lock) and so I bought it for a couple of hundred bucks.

It was just what I was looking for. The inside is immaculate. The paint was dull and the clear coat shot. I will be spraying it as soon as I get the rotory out. Just for the record, I got the rotory busted loose with a can of Seafoam and a can of WD40 and a bit of work with a breaker bar. Even so, 100 stock ponies is just sad. I had a ninja back in college with more power than that.

I purchased the drivetrain out of a 5.0L Mustang while in Phoenix over thanksgiving. Hauled it all the way home to seattle, and was planning on using it in the Mazda. The price was right, and it is an easier swap than the Chevy engines. However, I got a call on the way back to Seattle from my best friend up here, and he told me that his kid put his 97 vert Trans Am into a wall when he hit ice. It took out the passenger side corner. Headlight and bumper. Ate the core support. Stuff like that. The engine was untouched. Even the radiator is in tact. He planned on replacing it with another TA or getting another one for parts and fixing his 97. Regardless, he would have an extra LT1 so I could have one.

As I love the Chev 350, I immediately decided it was worth a little extra work for an engine that would easily make a pony per inch with minor modifications. I put the FORD engine on E-bay, and it was picked up by a gentleman who is putting it into a Jeep Scrambler. Should be a cool project when finished.

Anyhow, my buddy has his replacement. He bought a 94 T Top TA in green. Originally he was going to pull the body parts he needed and I was going to take that engine. It is the one I have been posting about trying to get it running right as I figured it is easier to do that now instead of trying to figure it out after a swap and adding more to the equation. He made the mistake of taking it home from his shop. His wife prefers the green to the silver, and she prefers the T Tops to the vert, ergo, he is keeping the green 94 and I am using the drivetrain out of the 97. They have virtually the same number of miles on them so he didnt loose much there.

I have now started cutting into the 97 the last couple of days. Finally getting a sunny day or two after months of rain and even a little snow. Figure I had better make hay while the sun is shining, literally. I am pulling the intake and the harness before I pull the drive train out. I have to admit, getting the intake out of this is much more challenging than it was on any of my 8 past Mustangs. I am also seeing a few things I have never dealt with before, like the gear driven water pump, and that weird smog pump or carbon can or whatever that black thing is next to the water pump. I am really excited about this project!!

One cool thing is that the Mazda is emissions exempt due to its age, so I can do anything I want to the 5.7 engine. I could use a bit of advice in this arena. I would really like to get rid of the smog thing, as it sticks out the furthest on the front of the engine, and that real estate will be very valuable as I shoe-horn a radiator into the little car. Also, I would love to simplify as much as possible under the hood.

I have seen pics of Trans Am and Camaro owners who have relocated their alternators when they do turbos or blowers. I need to relocate mine due to hood clearance issues. I want to keep the RX7 as stock looking as possible so that the BMW douches are really surprised when I kick the pee out of their Nazi go-carts with my little grocery getter Mazda from the early 80s. The look on the faces should be worth the price of admission. Also due to the lack of emissions I plan to eliminate cats, and put a beefier cam in. Maybe heads too. And I will probably swap to an OBD1 setup so I have an easier time without cams, and I can update the tune online. Any thoughts on this will be appreciated. Anyhow, I will begin posting pics later this week. Feel free to share tips, advice, insults, whatever. I hope to have it going by sometime this summer.

[Nyt_Muves]

Ok, so I have come to a couple of conclusions...

Instead of having a bunch of adapters under my dash, I am going to use the stock Trans Am cluster and somehow adapt it to the Mazda dash. I am also going to use the trans am fuel tank, as that will save a lot of work on the Mazda one. They are within one gallon for capacity. I have read of others doing the same thing so I am thinking it won't be that bad.

Anyone played with this stuff before and have any wisdom to offer?

[popo8]

Ok, so I have come to a couple of conclusions...

Instead of having a bunch of adapters under my dash, I am going to use the stock Trans Am cluster and somehow adapt it to the Mazda dash. I am also going to use the trans am fuel tank, as that will save a lot of work on the Mazda one. They are within one gallon for capacity. I have read of others doing the same thing so I am thinking it won't be that bad.

Anyone played with this stuff before and have any wisdom to offer?

Motor swaps are awesome... Lets see some progress....!

[Nyt_Muves]

I am working with the guage cluster at the moment. It will take a little bit of work, but fortunately the lighting color on the Trans Am cluster is close to the stock color of the Mazdas original dash, so if I am careful it should look like it belongs there.