Engine bay looks a bit beastly.

Keep with the rotary! Not a fan of the ls conversions even though they are a great engine.

Wow! - Awesome. Your RX7 was stunning before - will be better now. Much cooler - make it worth the crappy fuel consumption

It may sound silly, but a nice moderned alloy V6 with a pair of turbos bolted on has always been what I thought the FD needed.

V8's a great alternative though. If the rotor was less of a guzzler I could accept its faults, but it isn't and I can't.

Good luck with the build!

Motor shipped yesterday, or perhaps today. Its crated and ready for pickup by UPS. Last one took three days (!) to arrive from the breakers in Pennsylvania, F Parts. Their excellent eBay shop, which has easy sections including one just for LS engines, is here.

The LS2 engine, T56 gearbox and all incidentals (ECU, power steering pump, AC pump, pedals, etc etc) was $6250. Shipping was $1150 meaning complete drivetrain to my door was $7400.

Craig Taylor of Dyno Torque will be doing the work to install the engine and other bits and bobs. He charges £5000 to do this. Having met Craig at a few Fighting Torques, knowing of him before that (he used to tinker with KTM and I'm into my dirtbikes as well), spoken to him on several occasions and visited the workshop where he is in the middle of another V8 RX7 conversion right now, i trust him to do this. He makes several bespoke parts for this process and its a big job, but as he has now done so many (mine will be the 14th i think) he knows the process inside out.

I haven't broken it to him yet that i want the air-con working. Apparently its a bit of a sod, purely because of space issues. But what the hell, i want the whole lot if I am going to all this trouble. The Rex used to have aircon, there's a button on the dash....and its a black car with lots of glass. It can get very uncomfortable in there when stuck in traffic, for instance.

With the engine and sump kit probably arriving in the next week or so, I am now simply waiting for Craig to finish the Rex he is doing right now. He'll only do one at a time, which is an idea I applaud. While i really want him to start mine NOW (!), when he has I want it to get all his attention

If you are keeping a running total in your head while reading (and believe me, I am) then you'll be getting close to £12k. Yes, pounds, not dollars. I was expecting little change out of that.

But its been a nice surprise what the contents of the engine bay from the existing car have been worth. Its all been removed and is waiting to be sold at the people that look after my Rex, Re:Worx in Portsmouth.

I gave them whats left of the block (one knackered rotor and housing, one good one) in exchange for pulling it all out. Whats left all gets sold on. We've decided on:

Turbo kit - £1500
V-Mount Intercooler - £500
ECU - £500
Clutch - £500
Boost Controller - £100
Gearbox - £300

I also have various other bits and bobs like boost gauge, carbon fibre gear knob by Mazdaspeed (very sought after apparently), complete Aqua Mist water injection kit, oil coolers, engine damper, etc etc.

It should all shift as a complete job lot really, as you basically have a complete single turbo build for someone right there.

So thats over £3k coming back my way

Hmm, could be interested in that Mazdaspeed gearknob, as I need a new one for my MX5 (which has a few other Mazdaspeed trinkets). I presume they are the same thread size + pitch... Could you PM me a picture?

The Sump kit arrives tomorrow, after i contacted Parcel Farce last night. US Postal Service unfortunately deal with them at this end

It was the USPS sending me an email alert (they seem pretty good really) that made me chase it up and start phoning Parcel Farce to track it properly. No proper contact from Parcel Farce at all; not sure how much longer that would have taken if I'd left them to it.

Awesome!