Cruisin's RX-8 L67 Swap

**Cruisin38** · 09-13-2015

Hello Everyone.
I recently purchased an RX-8 that is undergoing the full gut race car treatment.
And my chosen power plant is an L67 from a GTP that will eventually be Turbo'd

The car:

2004 RX-8 6 speed
94,000 miles, second blown motor. Rusted to bits body.
Total gut in progress.

The engine:

Came from a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP (So I was told)

Clean engine, well taken care of, Already had a smaller pulley.
Decided to put new Main and Rod bearings for piece of mind.

Also got a new timing chain on it and a complete gasket set with aluminum carriers to thwart the common leaks these engines have.

Got around to a test fit.

Yes, it's a heavy engine, It's also a gutted car and considering the shifter location I think the engine sits pretty far back still.

As far as mods to fit, I think some modding to the supercharger is in order to nestle it up against the firewall and turn the throttle body to the side so It can actually fit and work.

Then I'd probably need to space the sway bar forward a couple inches and drop the steering rack, which will happen with a hydraulic rack I'm fairly certain.

Then there's plenty of space around the engine for exhaust or turbos should I decide to switch over.

I have a manual flywheels that fits, It'll bolt to a Doge Dakota Bell housing that'll make it fit to my Pontiac Solstice Transmission.
So far it's looking VERY promising.
It probably wont be right up against the firewall, but at least I know how far back I can go.

**Scottydoggs** · 09-13-2015

i hate to piss in your Cheerios, but did you have any machine shop work done to the block? if not you just made your self a 200 mile engine. we've seen that countless times now.

**Fivefingerdeathpunch** · 09-13-2015

Should be a cool swap.

But that motor likely won't last but a 100 miles now. They twist when you remove the mains and rod caps, block must be machined and line honed or it's pretty much gunna knock.

**Cruisin38** · 09-13-2015

Welp. That's good to know. Guess I'll drive it till it blows and start again!
I was following the suggestions of my friend who has built a few engines in his time, Though none of them have been 3800's
At least they're plentyful

**Fivefingerdeathpunch** · 09-13-2015

I like this guy.

I mean we could be wrong, but I would like to see how long it does last. I want rolling burnout video's.

**Scottydoggs** · 09-13-2015

at this point, you be best to find another engine, cause its not gonna last long at all. and its not bolted in yet.

**Scottydoggs** · 09-13-2015

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

I like this guy.

I mean we could be wrong, but I would like to see how long it does last. I want rolling burnout video's.

me too. sadly, ive seen rod bearings get swapped and guys said it was fine. but the mains, they never survive.

**Cruisin38** · 09-13-2015

With the rear end in this car I'll probably be burning them up through 4th haha

This is why I join forums, at least now I know. Maybe what I'll do is run this engine while building another in the garage for turbos ha.
I can always get the car all together and swap engines later.
It does suck but I'm not too worried about it right now.
I'm just north of Chicago and these engines pop up all the time on craigslist or local yards.

**Scottydoggs** · 09-13-2015

the n/a engines are easier to find, you can top swap the n/a block or just turbo it as is. top swap is the heads lim and blower on a na block. and the extra pulleys and balancer.

**Cruisin38** · 09-14-2015

I kind of don't want to give up on this engine yet haha. But I'll weigh my options and see where I stand. I'm still pretty early in the build so there's still time to fix things.
I can at least line things up and get the mounts and wiring situated. Run it for a little while, blow it and just swap another engine. At least by then everything is done and I'll have more money to devote to the engine.
I might even be able to build it internally and get it machined at that point ha

Know of any threads where people have swapped bearings then started getting knocking? I wanna read into it and educate myself some more

**Scottydoggs** · 09-14-2015

be warned, to rebuild these dumb little engines will cost you like 2 g's. why we pop one and toss in another used one. if tuned right they are a damn strong engine.

**Cruisin38** · 09-14-2015

Guess no H-beams for me then

Unless I come into some good money haha

Oh well. I'll see how long this lasts haha. If it starts knocking maybe I'll try and blow it fully in a spectacular manner for all to watch!

I've only ever known or worked with the NA versions. My dad's series 1 in his olds. the series 2 in several friends cars, and the series 3 in our buick.

**Slick2500** · 09-14-2015

Yup the thing that kills ya is the labor. $1000 at the very least.

**BillBoost37** · 09-14-2015

Cool thing about going NA and turbo is you'd snag an F body 3.8L manifold and the firewall would no longer be an issue with intake. Looks like a fun project.

**Cruisin38** · 09-14-2015

Well I weighed the options with my buddy and it seems going with a single turbo will only cost a little bit more than hacking up and modifying the supercharger housing to work.

So if I put some money into turbo and intake parts along with an intercooler and the f body intake manifolds I could get this working better than I originally anticipated.

Best part is my buddy will hook me up on a deal for a T4 he's got. Needs a rebuild and its already all apart, but hey for the price I think it's a good route to start with.
I'll find a rebuild kit and probably go from there...

Guess I won't be needing my meth kit and the lim I already got drilled and tapped for nozzles ha

Now to decide where to put the turbo....

One thing I just realized is the l67 injectors are in the heads, and if looks like the f body injectors are in the LIM, seems now I get some option.

**BillBoost37** · 09-14-2015

How about flipping V6 F body manifolds like FurchesPerformance does and putting it out front?

**91parkave** · 09-14-2015

I would've used a 5.3 but to each his own

**theaceofspades** · 09-14-2015

Super excited to see this thing done

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**CrazyGuy03** · 09-14-2015

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Cool thing about going NA and turbo is you'd snag an F body 3.8L manifold and the firewall would no longer be an issue with intake. Looks like a fun project.

Took long enough before some suggested this

**Cruisin38** · 09-14-2015

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

How about flipping V6 F body manifolds like FurchesPerformance does and putting it out front?

I'm not sure how you mean, Any pics or links? The F-body manifolds both work perfect is it's lower, it moves the coolant thermostat housing forward and makes turbo plumbing easy

Originally Posted by 91parkave

I would've used a 5.3 but to each his own

One of my main goals was to stay away from a V8. I originally considered 4cyl engines like Nissan's SR20DET. Eventually V6's starting popping up.

Originally Posted by theaceofspades

Super excited to see this thing done

Ha, Me Too!!!

Was looking at the F-Body manifolds. Everything looks good, I'll likely need the LIM, Upper/plenum. Fuel rail and MAYBE the throttle body...
Can anyone confirm if the F-body's have the same throttle body as the GTP's?
Then I gotta close up the injector holes in the heads.