Dear Mr. Herbs,

I understand your point of view, and I agree with the reasons listed, doing an 8 would make more sense and be more practical, which is often how you want to run a business...

However, let me ask you this: when have sports cars been about being practical, efficient, and making sense? Is that why we do it, is that what we're into? Even if these factors come into play, in the end, is "practicality" what our cars are about? Let's take your car, or Titanium's FC as some great examples. With the amount of money, time and energy invested into projects like that, in the end, is it worth it? I say hell f****** yes!

Why? Because we love them! We don't care, about the fact that we often spend more time under an Rx-7 rather than in it, we don't care that we put $10,000 times the amount into cars that were often worthless from other people's standpoint, and we get more joy out of bolting on a boost gauge, starting up a motor we just rebuilt, or getting the fastest time of the day at the autocross than some blokes who win a million dollars playing poker. This is our passion, this is what we do, and we can NOT nix a good option simply because it "doesn't make sense" :D


There you have it,


Maximilian Petrov-Schrepfer.

PS: I did not post this as an argument, rather only a statement of my personal opinion.

No it will have to be custom made. On rx8club.com there is a guy from Australia that did a rotrex sc build on his 8. Here is the thread: http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=rotrex

Not sure if it has much useful info in it, I just glanced at it briefly. But he would be a good person to get in touch with about the Rotrex SC on an 8.

Cool, thanks for the link 05rex8. I'll give it a good read.

I did a Google search and found that Knight Sports makes a Rotrex-based supercharger kit for the 8, but I think I'd likely build my own kit after the experience I've gained supercharging my Honda with a Rotrex C38-61.

Modified Dave
First of all thanks for doing a rotary story in the most recent Modified Mag. I picked it up at the shoppette on post here in Germany as soon as I saw it. It was an awesome read... hell I still read it when I am in my 'other office' haha!

Second any rotary you do a build on will be awesome! I hope the RX8 works out for you though I always thought about getting one as a DD but RX7's are so cheap for me in Germany... cheaper then what it is in Canada.

Welcome to RCC. I too, am new to this forum but have owned rotary powered cars for years now.

I also enjoyed the FD story in the recent Modified Mag. I am currently having "my super engine" being built by Arizona Rotary Rockets(AZRR) for my FD.

I also have an 2003(04) Rx8 N/a with some nice mods making about 220whp(est) by the Cobb A/P.

If you have any questions regarding the FE and upgrades your planning to do on your Rx-8 (once you get it) I would be willing to offer my trial and error knowledge. Keep in mind though, I'm not an expert......Yet.

Lucky... Wish I was back in Chandler/Tempe(lived in Chandler till April 2009) with my FD so I could have them work on it. Haven't found a rotary shop in Germany yet...

dave5678, are you Canadian military? I'm Canadian too (live in the Hamilton area). I was actually just over in Germany in August doing a story with a U.S. military guy (based in Wiesbaden) who built his USDM STI for the Nurburgring. We had an absolute blast in Germany and the Nurburgring literally changed my life. It's without question the ultimate destination for any real car guy or speed freak. This trip was the cover story on our December 2009 issue, I think.

BurnVktm, thanks for the offer -- would love to know what mods you did to get your 8 up to 220whp. If I could street-legally get mine up to that number all-motor, I'd be very pleased. Shoot me an e-mail at planetdave "at" mac "dot" com whenever you get a chance, because I'd like to learn more about your setup.

I've found a really nice '05 with 66k km on the odometer (about 40k miles), cloth interior like I want, no sunroof (like I want), and a Mazdaspeed front bumper for $13.5 CDN. I'm sure I can get the price down at least $1k with a bit of haggling. It's dark grey in color which isn't the best option for a magazine car (doesn't photograph all that well), but it's the best one I've found so far. I haven't made an offer on it yet (going to have a mechanic-friend check it out for me first), but if it checks out mechanically and its Carfax history is clean, I'll likely buy it. So I might have my 8 as early as next week. w00t!

That 8 sounds good Dave. I do miss my 8 some days...

Het Dave, the cover story for Phil's FD was very inspiring to me as a rotary fan...i think it is a good idea to have an FC build...im 19 and i Love the FD, its my all time favorite but its way to expensive for me right now...i currently own an FC and i would like to see one placed on the cover of Modified Mag, u know just to be inspired and also to get some ideas. So hopefully i'll be seeing more FCs featured in the magazine along with other rotary powered cars, even though the Rx8 build doesnt sound bad either but my personal opinion...i think u should consider doing both :] so thanks again for creating the FD story and for taking in consideration our ideas..Godbless

Not with the Canadian military(Best snipers in the world!!:biggthumpup:) but a DoD Civilian now a days...

Anyways The Ring is my goal this spring and/or summer as its 80euros for 4 laps... even though I drive 80kms everyday on a brandnew autobahn which is all unrestricted I stll want to go and say I did.

You MUST go to the Ring. It would be a tragedy for a car guy not to go there if they're in the area. It's beyond cool just being there and lapping is well worth the price of admission.

Hey Max777, you'll be happy to know that we're featuring a FC on the cover of Modified in April. It's a pretty sick Time Attack built machine!

Will do and keep us posted about other articles you write. I will be sure to pick them up!

Hey guys. Just a quick update. I just picked up this '05, cloth interior and no sunroof like I wanted. The plan is to build it as a STX legal machine and take it to the Solo 2 Nationals. I haven't done much autocrossing the last four or five years (mostly been road racing and doing some Time Attack events), but I used to be a very active cone dodger back in the day and I'm looking forward to getting back into it (though I'm sure I'll get my ass handed to me at the Nats...I'll be there so I can produce a good story for the mag and hopefully not embarrass myself too badly in competition). I'll also take it to some lapping days, maybe a Time Attack or two, and will be track testing all the mods made in a step by step fashion so I can document how the car's performance has improved throughout the project.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...d_Dave/RX8.jpg

My first STX legal mods have arrived already and I'm looking forward to bolting them up tomorrow.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h..._Dave/G2_5.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h..._Dave/G2_3.jpg

The rims weight 19 lbs, which is among the lightest on the market in a 18x9. I've used RE-11s on a C6 Corvette with good success for Time Attack, so it'll be interesting to see how they work on the 8 for autox.

Got some other good stuff ready to be installed too, but any advice or feedback you guys might have about how to go about building a competitive STX class 8 would be greatly appreciated. Long-term I may look to do a custom Rotrex supercharger install or maybe some kind of engine swap, but for this year the plan is to max out the build as much as possible within the STX rules.

Nice looking 8 Dave!

And tires that I been wanting :)

Congrats on your 8!

Hey guys. Just a quick and long overdue update on the 8. The project has been slowly evolving the last few months, having done a BC coilover kit to go along with the upgraded wheels and tires, followed by an ARK MFD install with Racing Beat oil filter sandwich adapter so I could hook up their oil temp and water temp sending units. After that I did a few fixes to weak spots on the 8 using parts from Black Halo Racing, namely their ignition kit, fuel pump and clutch pedal. Then I moved on to some exhaust side tuning using a Racing Beat header, a very high quality motorsports catalytic converter from Milltek in the UK (cat is made by HJS Motorsports) and a resonated Racing Beat midpipe. I've left the muffler section stock for now, just to keep it very quiet and civilized for the street. Will swap it out for something lightweight and loud eventually :) Here are links to all those stories, JIC you're interested:

Wheel & Tire + brake pad and fluid upgrade and track test:
http://www.modified.com/projectcars/...x-8/index.html

BC coilover track test:
http://www.modified.com/projectcars/...rx8/index.html

ARK MFD install:
http://www.modified.com/features/mod...rx8/index.html

Black Halo Racing fixes including ignition system, clutch pedal and fuel pump + dyno testing:
http://www.modified.com/projectcars/...ity/index.html

Exhaust Side Tuning and dyno test story:
http://www.modified.com/projectcars/...ing/index.html

Up next we've got a full-on Renesis engine build (already underway), due to a low compression engine that I haven't been able to fix with the usual methods (ignition, fuel, combustion chamber cleaning, etc). Still sorting out the build sheet for the new Renesis, but already have my hands on a Racing Beat porting template and instructions and will definitely be going with upgrades seals as well as a full blueprint and balancing. May either stay NA with lightweight rotors or go FI with a s/c or turbo setup. Kind of kicking around the remote-mount turbo idea at the moment, but ultimately I want/need a reliable setup for track days, so will have to research all my options further. Here's a few pics of how the engine looks at the moment :)

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...MasterFerg.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...RenesisTD1.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...RenesisTD3.jpg

Got the engine cleaned too, so will have to paint the irons before they get all rusty looking.

Joe Ferguson, the engine builder I've teamed up with on this, is a name many of my fellow Canadian rotards will be familiar with, and Joe may even come down to the Deals Gap Rotary Rally with me this year. Looking forward to meeting many of you at the rally this year! We're going to do a feature in Modified on the car voted Best In Show at the rally, so I'll be bringing my photo rig so I can get some sexy rolling close-ups like these ones I snapped of my 8:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...RX8FallRig.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h.../rx8rig1sm.jpg

And a few static shots for good measure:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...raffiti1sm.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...8sunset2sm.jpg