A V8 Swap that should have been finished years ago!

[fwankie64]

Hey all,
I've been on here for a while and I've owned a project for over 11 years. Between different education schools, professional development courses, and being displaced for work and life, the car has taken a major backseat. The backseat, where you look at it and you have a thought, "man I really need to finish that car" and then walk out the door. life has finally slowed down enough to where I focus on the project and devote some time to finishing it and getting some tire marks on the road.

first off, thanks to Frijolee and your very comprehensive build thread. Some days just staring at that was the only thing keeping me from selling the car. Danzan's wiring guide for dummies, since wiring is intimidating to a lot of us builders I really appreciate it. I would rather keep the magic white smoke in the car and not let any escape and schematics and KISS directions definitely are a major help when plugging in and connecting things.

The car: 1988 rx7 10th ae. bought in 2006
the engine: 2001 ls1 mileage 40k?
the trans: 2001 t56

goals for the car: reliable running v8/rx7 that has above stock power, handles well, and can take to drive ins, car meets, and drive on a decent weekend.

That's the basic intro of me and the car. 

once I figure out how to dumb down my cell phone camera, I'll send some pics

[digitalsolo]

Sounds like a fun car when it’s finished, hope we can help!

[fwankie64]

Here are some pictures of the car in the current state

[fwankie64]

some things that I am trying to sort out still:
1. How to properly run my electrical system. I have relocated my battery to the rear of the car and still plan on using the Mazda main fuse block, so just figuring our how to properly run the power from the fuse block to the alternator to the car etc.
2. exhaust. I don't have much welding exp. or any for that matter, so unless there is a cheaper alternative from summit that you didn't have to massage the engine area too much it looks like I am going with the JTR headers. I had toyed with the idea of using the stock shorty's for a little while to get the car running.
3. finishing all the wiring so I can put the interior back in the car. however running the new heater core plumbing will be fun (not a lot of real estate) between the intake manifold and the tubes.

other than that this past week has been filled with research and little progress. hopefully this week has a little more visible progress I can show ya'll

tune in next time, same bat time, same bat channel

[digitalsolo]

You can move the heater hoses to the AC holes, there are several builds that do that.  Helps a lot with space.

For the battery, I usually ran a 4 gauge wire to the starter, looped from starter to alternator with more 4 gauge, then run 8 gauge from the alternator to the fuse block input.

I'd get JTR or Ronin (forthcoming) headers.