L98 V8 FD RX7

Yes, yes, I know! “Another LS-swapped RX7!?” I hear you scream. I only need to say the names Hert, Vargas, and Dahm to explain that rotaries are the darling of the internet at the moment, and don’t get me wrong, I love rotaries too. However Luke doesn’t care for dorito engines or premix, Luke just wants to go fast around race tracks. Great handling car + reliable engine that makes easy power = lots of roundy-round laps at high speed. There’s only one problem. Luke is tall, VERY tall, and he doesn’t exactly fit into little Mazdas, so you’ll need to check out how he goes about rectifying that situation in his very detailed thread.
Click here for another V8 RX7 build.
Click here for more LS swaps.
Or, if your jimmies are rustled and you need to restore balance to the universe, click here for something really unique.

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What I’m Watching: Tom is back!

It’s already been four years since Tom brought us the perfectly documented Project Thunderbolt LS3 Miata build. While he’s been keeping busy with his Figaro and AZ-1 projects, the time has finally come for the Turbo Garage to start another full build, this time an LS-turbo powered Toyota Tacoma. I can’t wait to see this one unfold with Tom’s token humour and build quality.

InZanity – the fabricated s30Z

InZanity is a build by fabricator/artist/magician, Kyle Kuhnhausen. No stone has been left unturned, with pretty much every part hand fabbed by the man himself, with styling inspiration from Rampage Camaro. An LSx nestled between the braced and dimple-died engine bay ensures this Z will be as fast as it looks, and it looks damn fast. Calling this build “detailed” is selling it way short, so make sure you check it out for yourself and peep what an untold amount of man-hours and skill can do to a car.

Click here for more 240z builds.

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Project Thunderbolt LS3 Miata [video build]

If you’ve been following my “What I’m Watching” series, you would have seen me post about Tom’s Turbo Garage on more than one occasion, including this very project I’m about to share with you again. What can I say? I love Tom’s work, his videos are enjoyable, informative, and funny, not to mention he’s great at wrenching on a plethora of projects in his amazing home garage. His latest project, Project Thunderbolt, sees him installing an LS3 V8 into an NB Mazda Miata/Mx5. Even though I’ve posted about this before, I wanted to do a proper on-going entry about this car, where I’ll edit and post new videos as they’re released, much like Project Binky (which I’m gagging for an update on!) Tom is releasing new videos every two weeks, so you don’t have to wait very long to get your fill.

Check out V8Mazda.com for more information about the project.

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What I’m Watching: TTG Project Thunderbolt

If you’ve been following my What I’m Watching series since the beginning, you would have already seen me post about Tom’s Turbo Garage once before. Still, I thought I should inform you about his latest project, and one that I’m very excited about, Project Thunderbolt! Tom has bought himself a Mazdaspeed NB MX5/Miata and is planning to drop an LS3 V8 engine inside. New videos are due to be released every two weeks, and I just know it’ll be as detailed, humourous and of high quality as his other projects.

Triumph TR6…or Z06?

Firstly, I feel I need to apologise for the amount of LSx builds on the front page, as I generally like to aim for a bit of variety on the site. But hey, if people keep stuffing them into cars in interesting ways, I have to keep featuring them! This one is a bit more than just an engine swap, though, because the owner has transplanted a lot of the underpinnings of a Z06 Corvette into his unsuspecting Triumph TR6. The most significant part of this build is that we learn the owner and builder is actually wheelchair bound, yet this proves no boundary to him as his enthusiasm and dedication to his car shines through, making the most of his situation and enjoying his passion to the fullest. So next time you’re feeling lazy or making excuses about your own project, have a read of this thread. My hat is tipped to you, Sir.

Thanks to Peter for submitting.

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LSx powered E36 BMW

Ahh, the humble LSx swap. Some people might think that LS-swaps are overdone, played out, or whatever your buzzword of choice is. But I guess if you provide a range of compact, affordable, reliable, and easy to tune engines, people are going to use them! Personally, I’m all for them, they look great and appear more than willing to accept power additions, either naturally or artificially aspirated. The LSx in this build is being used to power an E36 BMW, and while the swap itself is interesting enough, it was a small detail of the build that drew me in, and by small I mean one little accelerator bracket. Yep, that’s all it takes! It’s a small part but it was done so neatly that it gave me a feel for the rest of the build and made me want to read more, and I was rewarded with a whole lot of attention to detail.

Click here for more BMW builds. Click here for more LS-powered builds (there’s over 10 of them!). Continue reading “LSx powered E36 BMW”

VR HSV Senator LSX454

I always love when an Australian car shows up in my inbox, I have a soft spot for our local product (even though our industry has all but shut down), and I even owned a Commodore some years ago. This particular piece of Aussie machinery is a VR Holden Commodore of the HSV variety, HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) being Holden’s tuning arm, much like AMG is to Mercedes. For the international readers, you can read up on HSV here.

What I love about this car is the incredible attention to detail and the no-expense-spared attitude given to the build, it’s not often you see these cars receiving this type of attention. If the details don’t get you, I’m sure the bright orange LSX motor with individual throttle bodies will melt your eyeballs and warm your soul. Another really neat touch is the rear wheels, they’re CNC machined to look exactly like the factory cast alloys, except much wider. It’s a subtle touch, but speaks volumes of the owners taste direction with the car.

Thanks to Ismail for submitting. Click here for more builds of Australian cars.

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LSX E39 BMW Wagon

Every now and then I’ll waffle on about what makes a good build thread. My list of requirements usually includes nice photography, good writing, quality modifications, and the ability to tell a story. Well this is one of those threads, and I can always tell when I really like one because reading it isn’t a chore, it’s a pleasure that I never want to end, no matter how many pages I click through. The owner, Brandon, says goodbye to his very clean M52 turbo powered E34 525i and then sets out to build a manual LSX powered E39 wagon, documenting the build with images that look like they’ve been plucked straight out of a catalogue. When you see his collection of previous rides, you realise he’s one of those people who have a kind of midas touch when it comes to cars, knowing how to show restraint and refine a car with carefully chosen improvements, no matter what the make, model or era.

Thanks to Pearson for submitting. Click here for more BMW builds, or here for more engine conversions.

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MotoIQ.com – Project V8 RX7

One of my favourite websites, MotoIQ, has just finished up one of their staff builds, Project V8 RX7. As it’s title suggests, it’s a Mazda RX7 receiving a V8 engine transplant, an California Smog-Legal E-Rod LS3 to be precise. The build is documented in trademark MotoIQ style (more signal, less noise) so head below to check out the build.

Click here for more V8 builds.

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