My 2004 Rx8

[rx865]

Its a 2004 SS rx8 GT 6spd

current mods:
clear corners
GReddy front strut bar
GReddy SE exhaust
Enkei EV-5 rims
AxialFlow Engineering Short Shifter
BHR flywheel (9lbs)
Mazdaspeed Exedy Clutch
Accessport
BHR fuel pump
BHR Midpipe

future mods:
BC Racing Coilovers
6K HID's
Convert all lights to LED
Burnout V2 Lip kit
R-magic eye lids

that's all I have planned for now, but a few more things may be added to that list for further down the road. I want to boost it one day, probly gonna go with the GReddy kit + mazdamaniac upgrade

http://i43.tinypic.com/eqatn7.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2b4580.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/amd0g6.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/qn0j6e.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2v0234o.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/dqskuc.jpg

Tell me what you guys think

[3tegStrong]

sweet! diggin' those wheels!

[project86]

add coilovers to the list ;) nice lookin car

[rx865]

add coilovers to the list ;) nice lookin car

Ive really considered them but I don't track it and the road around where i live aren't good at all. I may come back to them after ive gotten everything else ive planned on but who knows. Maybe a r-magic lip kit later down the road as well.

[rx865]

4th gear syncro is dead so I got a new trans coming later this week as well as a new staged clutch, lightweight flywheel, and maybe a short throw.

[rx865]

Ordeirng clutch, lightweight flywheel, short throw shifter, and maybe a catless midpipe tonight since I found a killer deal on the midpipe.

[rx865]

flywheel and short throw came in today. The flywheel feels super light compared to the stock flywheel and the short throw should feel incredible when I get it installed as well as
everything else.


EDIT: Clutch is now in my hands all i'm waiting on is the counterweight.

[jaypogi_8]

nice 8 man! like the exhaust!!

[rx865]

Thanks man I appreciate it.

counterweight is in my hands. All I have to do now is make an appointment with kevin landers whenever he is not busy and get everything installed.

[project86]

Ive really considered them but I don't track it and the road around where i live aren't good at all. I may come back to them after ive gotten everything else ive planned on but who knows. Maybe a r-magic lip kit later down the road as well.

Well FWIW :001_005: i used to live in TN and i dont remember the roads being nearly as bad there as they are here in Montana. 2 of my friends are sittin on BC Racing coilovers on full soft and they are incredible. They arent kidney jarring and they are honestly much more comfortable (IMHO) than my tokico/eibach strut and spring set up. did i mention they are very affordable too. You will stick like glue man. I say perfect for even just spirited street driving. I dont track my FC and im gonna go coilover route aswell

[rx865]

Well FWIW :001_005: i used to live in TN and i dont remember the roads being nearly as bad there as they are here in Montana. 2 of my friends are sittin on BC Racing coilovers on full soft and they are incredible. They arent kidney jarring and they are honestly much more comfortable (IMHO) than my tokico/eibach strut and spring set up. did i mention they are very affordable too. You will stick like glue man. I say perfect for even just spirited street driving. I dont track my FC and im gonna go coilover route aswell

I live kinda in the backwoods of east TN lol the city here is very small and has very little money to make the streets prestine. Most roads are farm roads and back roads lol ive honestly been thinking more and more about coilovers. Im not wanting anything super expensive. What would you recommend for some that are not super expensive and also hold up well? Ive been considering some tein coilovers (about $800) or possibly buying my buddies megan racing coilovers when he gets his new coilovers in.

[My5ABaby]

Spare the 8k and go somewhere in the 6k region.

[rx865]

Spare the 8k and go somewhere in the 6k region.

huh? The tein basic coilovers are around 800 dollars brand new.

[My5ABaby]

huh? The tein basic coilovers are around 800 dollars brand new.

I should have clarified I was referring to the HIDs...

[rx865]

oh ok I gotcha. Yea ive had a lot of people recommend 6k to me recently and is most likely what I will do once I get to it.

[project86]

I live kinda in the backwoods of east TN lol the city here is very small and has very little money to make the streets prestine. Most roads are farm roads and back roads lol ive honestly been thinking more and more about coilovers. Im not wanting anything super expensive. What would you recommend for some that are not super expensive and also hold up well? Ive been considering some tein coilovers (about $800) or possibly buying my buddies megan racing coilovers when he gets his new coilovers in.

I would say look up BC Racing. They list at around $1200 from BC but if you do a little website searching you can get them for under $1000. A place called Grip Garage used to sell BC but im not sure if the site is up anymore. 6s and 8s are probly good spring rates to look at or if you wanna go a little less maybe 6s and 7s.

[rx865]

I will look into those. Thank for the help project86 I appreciate it

[Gregory Casimir]

mean lookin ride dude

[project86]

I will look into those. Thank for the help project86 I appreciate it

of course man. thats what we're here for :icon_tup:. Im gonna own an rx8 some day :) i like them alot. gotta keep truckin on the FC though :driving:

[rx865]

im sure the FC engine's hold up better than mine. White smoke and multiple misfire CEL so im burning coolant which means coolant in the combustion chamber, looks like its probly new engine time for me. Word of advice to project86: if you ever get an 8, get one from 06 and up. 04 and 05 8's have a lower OMP setting and have bugs. My engine has almost 108k and compared to other 2004 8 owners mine has lasted longer than quite a few. I would love to do something crazy like drop an 3rd gen rx7 13b twin turbo or an ls1 in it but that will never happen

[project86]

please dont do ls1 lol. thanks for the advice btw

[rx865]

dropping my 8 off with kevin (rotaryresurrection) tomorrow morning to do the rebuild and trans install

[rx865]

motor was pulled out today. Believes its just coolant seals gone bad. Should get the final word tomorrow though. Ordering new motor mounts tomorrow since mine are demolished. If all goes well, may have it back before next saturday. Ive missed my 8 lol

[djmtsu]

motor was pulled out today. Believes its just coolant seals gone bad. Should get the final word tomorrow though. Ordering new motor mounts tomorrow since mine are demolished. If all goes well, may have it back before next saturday. Ive missed my 8 lol

Excellent.

[rx865]

i also ordered new plugs, wires, ignition coils, and went ahead and ordered new housings since mine showed significant wear. Should be good as new when I get it back.

[rx865]

No real problems with the 8 since I got in back from kevin. Only issue is the the fuel pump is dying, ordered a new one last night from BHR. It uses a mazda assembly but with a walbro pump. Also ordered an Accessport from mazdamaniac on July 27th, hopefully that will be getting to me soon. Probly gonna get a catless midpipe in the next few weeks, then save up for some coilovers. Those are all the plans I have for now.

[djmtsu]

Excellent. Kevin does good work. Did you do anything special, or just a standard rebuild?

[rx865]

Yeah kevin did an excellent job and alerted me of anything I should know and gave me a small list of things to watch out for in the future as well. It was just a standard rebuild. New coolant seals and rotor housings along with bearings because they showed some signs of wear and my rotor housings were in piss pour shape so I got some new ones off atkins rotary. I thought about some small porting but decided against it. Ive read rx8's dont respond as well to porting as previous rx's did.

[diabolical1]

glad to hear that your car is coming along the way you want it. that, in itself, is an accomplishment. :icon_tup: just out of curiosity, how worn were your bearings? too bad you guys did not decide on any oiling upgrades with the rebuild. however, i'm sure all will be fine. you drove that thing to 108,000+ miles and from what i understand, that's not a small feat. good luck with the rest of your project.

I thought about some small porting but decided against it. Ive read rx8's dont respond as well to porting as previous rx's did.

i'm not picking on you because i know this is YOUR car, and all that really matters at the end of the day is that you are satisfied with it. i get that. however, it just seems to me that that's a weak excuse to not port the engine. if it's a matter of money or possible issues with emissions, then that's one thing. however, the incessant need to compare old rotaries to the NEW is just crazy - at least, that's my take on it. the gains are still, regardless of if they are comparable to the older engines. they are different engines and direct comparisons should be avoided with things like this. at any rate, the engine is back together and running already, so saying, "you should have ..." is pointless. i just wanted to comment. everything else is looking good. enjoy.

1

[djmtsu]

you drove that thing to 108,000+ miles and from what i understand, that's not a small feat.


Pfft!

My original engine died at 36,000 and the replacement is pushing 160,000.

Easy cheesy.

[My5ABaby]

i'm not picking on you because i know this is YOUR car, and all that really matters at the end of the day is that you are satisfied with it. i get that. however, it just seems to me that that's a weak excuse to not port the engine. if it's a matter of money or possible issues with emissions, then that's one thing. however, the incessant need to compare old rotaries to the NEW is just crazy - at least, that's my take on it. the gains are still, regardless of if they are comparable to the older engines. they are different engines and direct comparisons should be avoided with things like this. at any rate, the engine is back together and running already, so saying, "you should have ..." is pointless. i just wanted to comment. everything else is looking good. enjoy.
It's my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) streetporting adds top end but also reduces low end torque and fuel economy. As such, if it's just for a daily driver/weekend fun car, it's not necessarily a good thing.

[rx865]

diabolical1:

Yeah I understand what youre saying completely. I'm not gonna lie, money did have a part in not porting. That being said, I felt that the small gains from a street port would not outweigh the possiblity of lower fuel economy, cost of the actual porting, as well as more time without my car. I really don't know much about porting and wasn't sure if it would require specific tuning or any problems that may result from the porting. Plus I pretty much went all summer without my car and was just dying to have it back lol. I havent seen much research on porting the renesis and am hesitant about messing with reliablility, lord knows i've had enough problems with the car in the past year i've had it, and didn't want to open up another can of worms by messing with porting.

[diabolical1]

flywheel and short throw came in today. The flywheel feels super light compared to the stock flywheel and the short throw should feel incredible when I get it installed as well as everything else.

please be sure to report your thoughts on the new flywheel.

Pfft!

My original engine died at 36,000 and the replacement is pushing 160,000.


well, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. out of curiosity, what year did you get yours replaced? i'm still on my original engine and i'm somewhere in the mid-70s right now. i wouldn't want to speculate how much longer i have - in fact, i may have said too much already. :)

at any rate, i think i have a solid plan when the time comes for me to rebuild. after that, i'll let time determine the rest.

[rx865]

please be sure to report your thoughts on the new flywheel.

Ive noticed the flywheel has definately helped out acceleration greatly. Especially from around 4k up to redline. Before I got the flywheel the car wasn't sluggish by any means, but it felt like there should be a little better acceleration and this flywheel has really made a huge difference. The rpms just seem to climb alot faster than when I had my stock flywheel. I really don't have any problems with it at all. Only thing is it requires more throttle to go from a stop. This is to be expected with a lighter flywheel, but I also replaced the clutch and it's a little bit stiffer than the previous clutch so it took me a little while to get use to the new clutch/flywheel combo. I think it has been the best mod i've done so far to the car besides the af sts. It just feels sportier and more healthy ( this could be due to the rebuild as well) but the improved response and acceleration from the flywheel is just amazing. I recommend this to anyone looking for a lightweight flywheel. It is a little expensive but well worth the cash. I had originally planned on the ACT flywheel and when I went to order it from BHR the counterweight required for the flywheel was out of stock. Charles sent me an email and gave me the option to wait on the counterweight and if I did they would upgrade my flywheel to the BHR flywheel for the price of the ACT flywheel( a difference of $100 between the ACT and BHR) or he would refund my money completely. I chose to upgrade and have been very happy with it so far.

[diabolical1]

It's my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) streetporting adds top end but also reduces low end torque and fuel economy. As such, if it's just for a daily driver/weekend fun car, it's not necessarily a good thing.

well, generally speaking, if you go ape-shit with the port, then you're right. what i mean is there was a time when you could adjust both open timing and duration significantly. each has their own effect on the powerband, and of course, another effect when used in tandem. for the record, i haven't had the chance to work with a Renesis firsthand yet, and until my Rx-8 engine needs to be pulled, i probably won't get the chance.

with that said, from what i understand (from the few people that have worked with Renesis engines) there's virtually nothing to be done with open timing, so that leaves some duration changes on the primaries and a little on the secondaries. it doesn't sound like going ape-shit is an option any more. i also think the Rx-8 is somewhat unique in how the intake is setup, in that, i believe the engine would retain it's response on the low end, while gaining on the top. if i recall, i think that's what Charles Hill had reported when his car got ported years ago. at any rate, i don't want to go too far off topic on this, but i think a streetport will give you more benefits than drawbacks.

however, just for the record, i was simply saying the logic behind saying the gains are not on par with the old engines was not something i saw as a valid reason not to port. the engines are different. yes, they are both rotaries, but they are not the same, and i just think one can get in one's own way by trying (or not trying) something based on how that "thing" worked on the old engines. that's all.

[diabolical1]

diabolical1:

Yeah I understand what youre saying completely. I'm not gonna lie, money did have a part in not porting. That being said, I felt that the small gains from a street port would not outweigh the possiblity of lower fuel economy, cost of the actual porting, as well as more time without my car. I really don't know much about porting and wasn't sure if it would require specific tuning or any problems that may result from the porting. Plus I pretty much went all summer without my car and was just dying to have it back lol. I havent seen much research on porting the renesis and am hesitant about messing with reliablility, lord knows i've had enough problems with the car in the past year i've had it, and didn't want to open up another can of worms by messing with porting.

no worries, man. :) it's all good. you see, any one of what you mentioned are valid reasons (money, minimal downtime, apprehension for fuel use, etc.). however, it was the "gains now versus gains back then"-thing that i was responding to. like i said, it's your car, and i respect that, regardless. i would just want you (or anyone considering porting on a Renesis) to decide based on its own merits and liabilities and NOT based on a comparison of the older days.

[rx865]

Yeah I feel ya. I was kinda using the comparison to previoius rotary's as an excuse haha I think there is a member on here working with a bridgeported rx8. Im pretty interested in that and seeing how it turns out.

[rx865]

got my accessport in monday and loaded the base calibration provided by MM. Gonna log data wednesday and thursday and try to send him the data to get my tune as soon as possible.

[rx865]

Well I loaded the base calibration sent out by MM and used the dyno feature on the AP just to see what it would say the difference was between the stock settings and the base calibration provided by MM

I did three runs on stock setting, set the weight (including myself and the 1/4 tank of gas in my tank), selected 3rd gear, put 2000rpms as the starting point and 7000 as the ending point. I averaged the 3 hp and tq figures and averaged them

HP (stock settings): 191.4 hp
TQ (stock settings: 149.3 ft/lbs


I used the same information listed above for the base calibration tune and averaged the 3 different runs

HP (base tune): 204.6 hp
TQ (base tune): 161.1 ft/lbs

I understand these may be a little inflated because i'm not sure what sort of accuracy the dyno feature has, but my stock numbers look to be pretty good, seeing as stock rx8's have anywhere between 160-200 hp. The increase in torque was very noticeable and just makes the car funner to drive.

[rx865]

Well I havent put any money into my car in a while and I sold my dirtbike along with some other things and finally got a good amount of money together and figured why not put it into my car. So, I got the racing beat intake with ram air duct last week, put it on two days ago. Loving it so far and had 0 issues from of it during the install. I ordered the BHR midpipe which should be shipping out tuesday according to Charles. Shineauto burnout type 2 lip kit is gonna be ordered this week and maybe r-magic eyelids if I can't find some kei office eyelids which is gonna be a challenge.

Will update with pictures when I have time

[NoDOHC]

The Hp numbers are computed by an acceleration meter?

That would be WHp.

201 is very good!

[rx865]

The Hp numbers are computed by an acceleration meter?

That would be WHp.

201 is very good!

Thanks man. Gotta say that the motor being basically brand new (less than 5k since the rebuild) had to help a little. I need to do another test to see what the new figures are once I get my midpipe on and get a tune. Idk how long that will be, but i'll be sure to post it on here the day I do it.

[rx865]

midpipe came in today. Installing it Friday if all goes well.

http://i55.tinypic.com/mcudu8.jpg

3 inch, single resonated, catless

[rx865]

Got my midpipe installed a while back and it sounds awesome. No rasp, not too loud, it's perfect IMO. It kept the original tone of my GReddy exhaust, just made it louder which is exactly what I wanted. The ability to blow flames is pretty nice too haha. The butt dyno feels an increase in power. Need to get it tuned for my intake and midpipe to really see the increase. Whenever I get the tune i'll post the numbers.