Does an LS swap make an RX7 a better drivers car? | fullBOOST

While dropping a GM LS V8 engine into a Mazda FD RX7 certainly isn't new, we haven't seen one so thoroughly executed as this one. But does it make it a better weekend track car over the original 13B rotary turbo engine?
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[@nickg4135]

People hate the LS because it just works too well. In the right car it makes the car usable again aka old holdens or in this case the rx7

[@ArtVandelayOfficial]

It's usable with a rotary Only spuds hate rotors

[@nickg4135]

@Kapilan because not everyone lives in America? Lol

[@raynman6466]

@@ArtVandelayOfficial yeah but you can daily an ls and it will be twice as reliable as a rotary and twice as drivable with twice the power and require half as many rebuilds.

[@fullboost]

I dunno, our American accents were pretty convincing...

[@slow26gtr]

@Kapilan can buy 2x FDs for the price of a base C6 in Australia.. a couple years ago it was 3-4x FDs to 1x C6

[@craigmandall9420]

I love interviews with this guy. His love and interest in everything mechanical is so great

[@prfetus1]

I’m a fan of both the RX-7 and the LS motor. Me personally I would’ve stood with the rotary but this car is amazing with the LS swap. Great job

[@DeanofMachines]

Thats the way to be man. Rotary for life

[@Brock_Landers]

I agree if he was planning on keeping it a road car, but on a road racing track I can understand how the torque of a LS would make more sense, but like he said, that car is WAY too nice to cut up to make it a real track car. If I were able to get that car it would have to have a 20b put back into it. The 20b makes good useable torque and has a great powerband.

[@captainobvious9188]

Same! I still totally dig it, just not quite my cup of tea. Still most excellent though.

[@schtix392]

I like this on the grounds you haven’t really gone to far away by hacking apart the car, it’s still in a state where a person could return it back to a rotary if they wanted, but can also choose to leave it as is, the moment you start cutting tunnels and subframe mounts an such then ahh well no point trying to keep it pure…

[@Karma28217]

I love how much shade this guy throws. My rx7 will likely always be rotary powered as I've never swapped any of the 3 I've owned. But you can't argue with the perks of a properly set ls swap. Great build!

[@davidm5867]

Another great video guys, keep up the great work 👊👍

[@Jorgie000]

Stephen Merchants RX7 is a beast.

[@hyper8545]

I myself think rotary cars especially the rx7 should stay rotary. Thats the only car or engine I think that about. Its such a rare thing and motorsports is dying we just need to save the best stuff before it all gone. But I have seen ls swapped rx7 and they do make a great build. I have seen rx7 with 2jz swaps and the car is sketchy to drive but that doesn't happen with a ls idk why xD

[@DeanofMachines]

Absolutely! Love our FDs with a healthy turbo 13b

[@cnp-auto-1445]

2j swaps don’t really work because they are almost double the weight of a 13b and have a very much worst moment of inertia for handling

[@ShintekBeats]

@@cnp-auto-1445 2JZ is lighter than the LS though...

[@hyper8545]

@@ShintekBeats thats why I dont get why the 2j swaps are always sketchy to drive in rx7 cus ls is fine xD

[@dreamseller01]

@@ShintekBeats not even close. Aluminium block LS is far lighter than a JZ

[@fossilfuelenthusiast]

Luke is a great guy and does awesome things for everyone who loves cars and aftermarket goodies. Love the car.

[@3800S1]

This is a really well executed swap. Well done!

[@LocsTheChef]

Back in 2008 I bought my first '88 RX7 for about $150. A month later I bought a running '87 RX7 for about $2000. Both were all white base models but man were those vehicles a joy. Ever since then rotary motors have been my favorite despite the difficulty that are to work on and maintain. Some dude in his brand new 2012 Range Rover looked down at his phone at a red light and destroyed my whip. The junkyard took my beloved for $150. I shed a tear that day.

[@maxrockatanksyOG]

My type of bloke & car- built well, engineered, and he doesn't give a single fuck of other peoples views. Man crush incoming... These type of cars still wanna make me jam an LS in my FG XR6- just because why not?!

[@brettro8210]

I saw this at the All Asian Day at Lake Side a few months ago and the sounds with those looks were amazing! He can steer too!

[@mythos000000025]

Awesome job. Man, I've been doing the same thing with mine(slowly) for years. I will turbo mine as well at a later date. Stroked 5.3 to 6L, all forged, cam, springs, lifters, etc Feed widebody, '99 spec bumper, and so on and so on..it never ends 😅

[@krispykruzer]

can't wait to see the comments below featured in next bench torque- lots of material here :) dude enjoy the car, to hell with anyone else!

[@DigitalFl0w]

Any details how he managed to get rid of the tailshaft vibration??

[@retromakiha]

Nice job man. Great build. Would gladly drive that.

[@owenthesoyboy]

Excellent build and setup!

[@tighematthew]

AWESOME build.. at least you know it will start every day 👍

[@DeanofMachines]

I've dealt with more broken LS than i have broken rotary

[@tighematthew]

@@DeanofMachines Wow really so waht 3-1 you have any numbers there 🤣

[@DeanofMachines]

@@tighematthew thats a good question. I think 5-1 would be a fair number but also, there's more LS out in the world. The only time i personally popped a rotary, I was overboosting and knew it. Continued to drive it and eventually it popped after a few weeks. Same thing would happen to an LS. Bad owners kill rotarys

[@nastypaul1]

Nice vid, and nice car Luke.

[@Willdrknght]

I can’t hate it , I fully agree with his mindset. Awesome build ! ✌🏻

[@grecoconduris6716]

I really like this car and setup. Just out of general interest, what is turdish about the 5.7 in the LS range? I know they had piston slap issues. But was that throughout the whole life of it? Or is their something about the 5.7 that makes them worse?

[@MPbdy]

So I've got one of these cars and I immediately recognized the high frequency out of balance buzz in the videos haha. I spent years and a lot of money trying to resolve this in my car. 1. Check the horizontal alignment of the tailshaft of the trans to the differential. They were pointing opposite directions in my car. I put the car on the lift and dropped marks onto the floor on cardboard and drew out the angles. 2. Vertical pinion angle is also super important. Use your phone angle finder to measure and correct the pinion angle. 3. Because the car is such a tin can I find it extremely sensitive to wheel balance. True road force balancing is the only time I have felt the wheels smooth. Traditional spin balance leaves the car feeling shaky at highway speeds. Side note - the wheel hop or axle tram can be helped a lot by running the "battle version" solid lower control arm, trailing arm and toe links. I noticed no increase in NVH, but much better stability from the rear and less wheel hop. That subframe for me was a hunk of garbage and failed multiple times, last one leading to the diff and driveshaft contacting my floor. Check out the explorer differential mount from Ronin Speedworks. Awesome car, and there's really nothing better than that light chassis with the super powerful v8.

[@JFWGarage]

Amazing car, amazing build 👌🏼

[@wildimpo]

I just like a ported rotary, bridge port just sound's like it's ready to take on the world!

[@BroomysGarage]

Might need to get me one of these conversions… 😂

[@iainburns4493]

🤢🤮 noooooooo

[@stephangiannoulidis509]

Been waiting for something good on KZbin for weeks. Thank fuck

[@danielspencer1973]

Really nice build, I would have sat behind my monitor and done nothing, but he did a thing that is cool.

[@potaka79]

Shade THROWN 😂😂 Beautiful build👍👍

[@relaxgaming8872]

Fantastic job.

[@thomaschung5623]

clean... any1 kno the rims?

[@kevvids]

Nice looking car, love the LS in it

[@andrewrigg4905]

Really nice , fast and reliable.

[@SilentKilla92]

I coulda gone a VET head in my Kouki but went L98 instead. Would it have been faster at the track on with the VET, im sure it would be. At the end of the day I know some people just want to go faster and faster but to what end (in my book)? I just prefer the v8 for what it is, awesome for street duties and brutish under duress.

[@RypienGT]

Take it to the standard tacho's redline. I dare ya.

[@ArtVandelayOfficial]

On god 👏

[@ldnwholesale8552]

13B, stops making power at about 7000 rpm with a 4.11 or shorter diff. LS stops making [more] power @ 6000 rpm with a 3.5 diff. And makes far less noise in doing so! And uses less fuel as well.

[@RypienGT]

@@ldnwholesale8552 13B stops making power at 7000rpm. Really....... I'm guessing that you are talking about one of the bog stock ones from the 1970's. And good on the LS for making less noise, like that matters.

[@aintnomyth]

That gauge blur is a nice touch!

[@trentcrompton9527]

What hp at the wheels?

[@invertedpolarity6890]

I’d love to see how a Gen5 LT1 would work in an FD RX-7. Love Gen3/4 LS engines but the new-ish LT1’s are even better.

[@rocketmagnet427]

Depends what you want. Ls can be light and mounted very low with a dry sump. But the tr6060 can be heavy. Still would keep the weight close to 50/50 though. If I were to do it I'd have to go ls7.

[@A234921]

FD's are like a high maintenance, temperamental GF, they shit you to tears at times, but you hang onto them because they look so damn good and oooh that ride....😉

[@nickstarz9316]

Be some pissed rotor fans lmao

[@PUNCHARD800ftlb]

that would be wicked punting around the adelaide hills

[@sepg5084]

"driver's car" is a subjective term. If i had an RX-7, i'll keep it rotary. Maybe i'd swap a 3 rotor on it at most. But LS swaps are a dime a dozen, putting it on an RX-7 kind of defeats having an RX-7. But that's just my opinion, there are so many other cars that can be LS swapped like a miata; generic sports car swapped with a generic V8 motor fits the bill.

[@azzdog]

TRC has a video on their channel of a guy with a FD7 rocking a 20b and a BMW M4 dct. Amazing setup.

[@thetopshed]

Perfect👌🏻

[@micahhill413]

Sooooo I have an Automatic RX7.. What LS engines can I use for it?

[@bleezogottidagod]

Same as me .. Did you find out the answer to this ?

[@TURBOTRISTO]

I love this car Did he say what power figures it was making?

[@vlt873]

So basically made a Corvette

[@grecoconduris6716]

Maybe a sexier one depending on your eye?

[@randomdude4669]

@@grecoconduris6716 no way thats sexier than c8

[@grecoconduris6716]

@@randomdude4669 I agree the C8 is a nice looking car. But to my eye I still find the RX-7 sexier. But each to their own.

[@MouldyCheez]

So bacically viper with pop ups

[@thedoctormma9433]

They have different weight distribution, center of gravity, completely different suspension type entirely, etc etc.... so no it's just like anything you lot mentioned. It's an rx7 with a big torquey engine.

[@Akestler]

This guy built this car so well.

[@yowie0889]

Stephen Merchant has done a great job with his car here.

[@fullboost]

While dropping a GM LS V8 engine into a Mazda FD RX7 certainly isn't new, we haven't seen one so thoroughly executed as this one. But does it make it a better weekend track car over the original 13B rotary turbo engine? *#LSTHEWORLD** tees & stickers 👉 **shop.fullboost.com.au/category-s/1814.htm* If you’d like to be notified every time we upload a video, subscribe and then click the bell icon 🔔 next to the subscription button.

[@Mosesk1988]

Turbo ls rx7 the dream 😍

[@rotorhead15]

Hey fullboost, I am the former owner of the car (yes the one who grenaded the engine at a track day). I sold the car to Luke knowing full well what his plans were. He's done a top job with the build and I followed it the whole way through. Certainly no corners cut and everything executed to perfection. I'm glad he kept the work meisters (they weren't cheap). Top video!

[@fullboost]

@@rotorhead15 Maybe you can buy it back from him :) It's not often we get to see our old cars, they often disappear never to be seen again.

[@iainburns4493]

I don’t know man I’d rather guide my father into my sister than put a LS in a 7

[@ArtVandelayOfficial]

@@rotorhead15 you'll regret it

[@JROC734]

I dig it. I want to see someone squeeze a GEN3 Coyote into a FD, just make sure you use a Magnum or TR6060 instead of the POS MT82.

[@jenabby07]

Would buy that in a heartbeat

[@Ophidicus]

love to see these cars get a proper motor, LS or 2JZ swap FTW

[@N4CR5]

I have basically the same build in an S2000 but dry stump and a '15 Z28 rear end with a full cage. engine swap alone is +30kg more or 60kg with air con. 50:50 retained. 3x the torque, double the hp, stronger diff/gears/engine and much cheaper to fix or rebuild. The rotating assembly for a JDM F20C costs as much as an LS short block.. enough said. The engine is further back in the S2000 than the FD, it's actually a better platform for the swap (2 seater vs 2+2).

[@captainobvious9188]

Yeah, S2k is perfect for an LS swap. I remember when you could pick up F20's a plenty at the junkyard for like $500 an engine. I should have stocked up.

[@badbrooko]

It makes sense using an engine that has reliability. Don’t get me wrong I Love a rotary That is running.

[@igvtec]

Hell no! Taking away one of the things that makes a Rx 7 a Rx 7 what makes it unique.

[@DeanofMachines]

Always keep it rotary!

[@DDDDamien]

Whats the cost of a LS swap, im considering swapping my rx7 aswell.

[@bleezogottidagod]

Same for me .. Where would be a good place to buy LS engine ?

[@toneloc9084]

Devalued the car but made it more reliable. I wanted to do this conversation 6 years ago when things were much cheaper

[@frankly88]

8:08 Giving those Brakes a Good Test... Spark Spark Spark

[@med_preventiva]

Guy really looks like Robocop before he was killed.

[@granthawtree4669]

Such a great swap, and FUC* ME there’s gonna be some sALtY aSF rX-8 owners this week 🤣🤣🤣 Can’t wait for the Bench Torque backlash in this build

[@HoonTV]

Luke Squared is always a good combo

[@CRFLAus]

@7:53 how dare you drive that by Mazda Australia HQ! Stephen Merchant was funnier on Norm Macdonald's podcast.

[@Ryan-hf9qz]

Poor broomy 😂

[@BroomysGarage]

If I had a street registered rx7, this would be the engine I’d have in it too

[@Ryan-hf9qz]

@@BroomysGarage yeah fair, I’d hate to street drive a rotary

[@Jake_Hamlin]

I compare rotaries to 2strokes. You really have to be good at racing to be competitive/fast using them

[@toy200sx]

Mint FD 😎👌

[@adamjacobs4209]

Just got my fd's Ls1 swap engineered here in Vic, Luke helped me with alot! He's a top bloke!

[@vin18m]

Love Rotaries, but the sound actually suits the car

[@sf2372]

If money wasnt an issue I would have both, an LS swapped FD and a wild 2 rotor. both in same colour and looks. I get the LS reasoning but you got to have a rotor as well imo

[@gregsmith3366]

Finally a rx worth owning

[@petedegroot1090]

Rebuilt my FD twice now and quietly sick of the rebuild process & cost etc but hey I’d still never go V8!!!! Nothing like the sound and feel of rotary motor

[@Benjay1975]

Someone needs to put a barra or B58 in one

[@billamota]

there's an FC in america with a barra

[@mohgujai]

When you buy your own RX7, you can do whatever you want with it.

[@grecoconduris6716]

Big fan

[@SloppyMechanics]

this is a fantastic owner, does he have more cars? haha wreck an rx8 and get a reward

[@fullboost]

Yes Luke would like to 'save' another RX8 with an LS swap :)

[@HanifEFIMechanical]

Good 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@octapc]

Having owned an LS1 SS and a 13B RX7, I would choose a 20B RX7.

[@ChutneyInc.]

Lets's find the most beautiful rx7 with an ls swap and rag rx7s about boost lag on a KZbin channel named "FullBoost"

[@ArtVandelayOfficial]

Ikr ..🙄

[@fullboost]

We are DEEPLY wounded lol 🤔😆

[@ChutneyInc.]

@@fullboost lol u better be! Im staying subbed lol. That dude definitely thinking about resale value with those bose tubes lol. Believe me i peep ya one rotary owner to another. 😜

[@christianborghi7544]

Even the LS being a prehistoric v8 with pushrods would still be better then a rotor

[@lorddoosworth8175]

pushrods engines have advantages over DOHC engines

[@dsmfury]

In Australia and New Zealand where there are so many rotary experts there is no point in swapping out a rotary

[@alexisdala7033]

Who did the engineering for the car?

[@GG-rj4oj]

Thats what i was thinking. Obviously it had QLD plates, no chance in Victoria. Probably got different rules up there.

[@Gerald5000]

I respect rotors, but a V8 in a Japanese sports car really is the best of both worlds.

[@DALWOGGO]

should get rid of those heavy AF meisters if he wants to cut his lap times down..

[@fullboost]

They are not his track wheels.

[@craigkendell5706]

Id just gone with a billet periphal ported 20b

[@ChristopherHallett]

Time for a 7 litre with a pair of turbos on it I think...

[@porkhunt8798]

I like v8s but that car should stay a rotary. could of got a corvette

[@fullboost]

Corvettes have never been sold here.

[@iainburns4493]

I don’t know man it look hard af but a LS belongs in a RX8 not the 7 but each to their own some people like their sister being their mother too

[@glensubtorq]

A real wolf in sheep's clothing (or Godzilla in a tutu?).

[@pewpew-_-2157]

Yes

[@BEYTEK]

what about a k24 turbo AWD? :D

[@mitchjames9350]

11:38 the RX8 is actually quite good, it’s motor is the only negative as Mazda messed it up trying to be environmentally friendly resulting in it being hampered. Doubt you will get an award putting it in a wall. An RX8 with a 20B would be awesome.

[@fullboost]

" it’s motor is the only negative "... that's a major problem lol

[@georgecupac1202]

YES.

[@SkaterOrnez]

Why wouldn't you want a nugget 5.7 ls1??

[@rotaryperfection]

50/50 is only part of the equation. There is also center of gravity and polar moment of inertia. People think as long as you get 50/50 its back to stock. That's just a static 50/50. It's WHERE the overall weight is compared to the center of rotation. If you have all the weight behind the rear tires and in front of the front tires, sure you can show a 50/50 but then the front end will plow on breaking and the steering transitions will be much slower because the weight transfer is further away from the center of rotation. The factory car has it's front end weight behind the front wheel center line (which is closer to the middle of the car) so the front end of the stock car will have less mass to transition left to right when cornering. RX8 is even superior to the FD when it comes to balance and lower polar moment of inertia.

[@iainburns4493]

They put something on the underneath of the wing just for you 😉

[@captainobvious9188]

Thanks for posting this - It changes the fundamental balance of the car that can’t be fixed, 50/50 weight distribution and low polar moment of inertia. There isn't room to get the whole V8 behind the front axle centerline, plus the V8 isn't as concentrated or dense as a two-rotor. Not that it can't be tuned to handle exceptionally well, it will just ultimately feel different. I love LS's, don't get me wrong, just not a fan of things that fundamentally change rx-7's character.

[@rotaryperfection]

@@iainburns4493 Not sure I understand this.

[@DeanofMachines]

@@rotaryperfection it doesnt make sense to mean either

[@danielcantrill3104]

Watching the video of it on handling circuit I think he has it sorted pretty well. Lakeside is a tough circuit and didn’t seem to have any push coming onto the front straight

[@lorddoosworth8175]

...but someone on the internet claimed an LS RX7 turns it into a straight line only car 🤦

[@dalkaklaric7199]

That is sacrilege it's like putting a ford motor into a holden!!! Awesome build though

[@motorised1]

yeah but a barra is a better motor

[@Adl-pk4hg]

The only thing this car is missing for me is a turbo

[@danbradley4513]

Rotaries are too high maintenance between the funny fuel additives and silly alex seals

[@Tony-112]

Sorry boys , but it should of stayed Rotary but I respect the build looks good and clean I know it's his car at the end of the day, but it's a no from me.👍