Seem pretty legit with all the research I’ve been doing.
As far as forums and whatnot, where are some good places to start looking?
Any help is appreciated.
I loved mine.
All the info you’ll need.
If you want a clean FC, figure 12-18k with some nice toys. You may be able to get a clean basic swap for less, but you’ll end up wanting to put money into it.
If you want a clean FD, 20k+. I sold mine for $16k within 24hrs of posting and it needed a decent amount of work to be clean.
I’m browsing there now.
There is a stupid clean ls6 swapped red 94.
http://www.v8rx7forum.com/cars-sale/55429-93-rx7-built-ls1.html
That’s in Rochester. A couple people on this forum can vouch for the car. It’s had some work done at New Era as well…I’ve heard great things about it.
i guess, im just wondering if it’s worth it to have some headaches at the expense of having something sweeter than just a c5/c6 vette?
One word… A W E S O M E!
Holy f-u-c-k.
Yes. My $0.02.
they are fucking awesome
but, I am not really sure if I think they’re worth the money. They are beautiful cars, but I would probably rather have a trouble free(read: not hacked together) c5 Z06.
If you are not REALLY good with troubleshooting cars, you will probably end up spending a ton on specialty shops to figure how to fix it.
For 10-15k, it would be a WHOLE different story. But, for 20k and up(which is what I am seeing), I would say no.
Why? It’s an LS1 and a T56. Anyone who can work on an fbody/vette/gto can figure it out. It’s not like they forget how an LS1 works because the body changed.
Right, but all the specialty work needed to make the LS1 work with the FD chassis(electrical work, fuel system, A/C, P/S, etc…) would likely all be modified. Just because those modifications “worked” when the car was purchased, doesn’t mean they will still work 10k miles down the road.
Garage mechanics are notorious for not properly soldering wires, using shitty hardware, doing a sloppy job running hoses/wires, etc…
In the end, 75% of swapped engines end up with SOME sort of issues down the road. On a $2k honda, a few bugs would be acceptable, on a $20k car, it would be seriously annoying.
that’s my $.02, call me paranoid or whatever, but I would be wary.
Well, I’d recommend DIY’ing it, as if you do it properly you wont have to troubleshoot anything.
As far as DIY’ing it, “most” of the fabbed parts needed are “easy” to come by. Afterthat its just wiring it properly and installing mechanical parts. Not saying it’s easy, but it’s not much harder then any other swap out there.
They’re awesome!
But just like anything that’s been swapped by someone else, make sure you’re not stepping into a mess of a car…
If I was doing the swap myself and knew every aspect of the job done, I would probably be 200x more confident in the car.
I want one.
They’re pretty solid. I like to think of it as not that the 13b isn’t good enough, but that LSx chassis’ aren’t good enough. 
Please read this first tho.
http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=806104
The guy at carlisle with a super clean ls1 rx7 said he was making 330hp. I’ll be making apprx. that reliably with intakes exhaust and AI w/8k redline. And there’s not a huge amount of room left for a turbo once the V8 is in there.
The best swap to look for is a GTO motor swap. It’ll be in your price range, but it’s a relatively new motor and generally considered “cleaner” than an older LS1 swap.
I’m getting my PFC and throwing my midpipe on next week. If you want you can test drive it sometime?
It could be a mess if you’re the first one doing it, but when many others have gone before you and the wonderful place we call the internet it’s pretty easy to get the information you need. Back when I was a Fiero guy I used to follow the swap threads all the time. 350’s, 3800 SC’s, 4.9 caddy V8’s, northstars… all so well documented anyone with some good mechanical skills could do it. I’m sure the FD swaps are the same.
I would be concerned if trying to do it cheap by purchasing someone’s half completed swap.
Seeing as how the swaps are pretty straight foward and the parts are prefabbed—I would probably be fine piecing it together with the help of some people. However, I truthfully don’t have enough time to even remotely think about spending time wrenching away at a project of this proportion. Hence, why I’d probably swing the extra cash for a perfect example already preassembled and then swap some things out and add some bolt-ons to make it my own. 
Exactly. Tho, TBH: I’ll never buy another “already swapped” car in my life. Done it 3x now, and each time it was a PITA as I had to fix the way it was done by the last owner.
or pay somewhere like innovative to do it for me? I know mike has some experience with this shit.