400 HP Tesla-Swapped Mazda RX-7 “Project Lithium” Scrapes Nose Leaving Car Meet



Even during these troubled times, car meets are still a thing. And as with every car meet, this one was treated to a bit of a unicorn in the guise of a Mazda RX-7 without a rotary engine but a rear-mounted electric motor.

The Tesla-swapped “Project Lithium” showed up last night at the annual KINOD in Irvine, California, leaving many attendees scratching their heads. It’s hard to imagine an FD without the unmistakable sound of twin rotors and twin turbos, but as you can tell from the following attachments, it does exist.

Known as @tsla_rx7 on Instagram, the car’s engine bay is full of batteries and electronics. Likely sourced from a Model S, the Tesla electric motor reportedly cranks out 400 horsepower (406 PS) or so. And instant torque, of course!

The 13B-REW engine, by comparison, cranked out as much as 280 PS (276 horsepower) and 314 Nm (232 pound-feet) when new. As a brief refresher, the twin-sequential-turbo rotary needs to be revved to 5,000 revolutions per minute to hit peak torque and 6,500 rpm for maximum ponies.

When leaving the Krispy Kreme, In-N-Out, Drive meet, the owner of the electric RX-7 has somehow managed to scrape the nose of his one-of-a-kind build. Considering the difference in weight and the front-rear weight distribution over the stock car, it’s hardly surprising that it happened.

Looking through the owner’s photos of Project Lithium on Instagram, the FD was in pretty rough shape before and shortly after it received Tesla internals. Blue engine bay and orange exterior aside, the car broke down at least two times before getting blue paintwork. “The drive unit inverter failed” and “the precharge relay and resistor exploded” back in December 2019.

Undoubtedly offensive to rotary enthusiasts, the e-FD does come as a breath of fresh air if you remember how many LS swaps were made in recent years. For its uniqueness and the owner’s diligence, there’s no denying that Project Lithium deserves a collective round of applause and thumbs up.




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