Hey guys it me again. In my never-ending juvenile quest for more speed I've discovered yet another fictional scenario in my head.

Is there a point where an RX8 has too many miles to be eligable for forced induction?

My 2005 RX8 has 40,3XX on the clock right now. Has never been abused, never missed an oil change or been low on oil, and is rarely raced (maybe see's a redline one or twice every couple weeks). Still has just an AEM CAI that has never been dirty. Haven't felt the need to change my plugs so they're stock.

My old man recently got a C5 LS1 Corvette. He let me drive it around a little and ugh...the torque lol. After driving a 350Z it threw into perspective how lacking my RX8 is in third gear, and driving the vette hit even harder.

So lets say a well maintained RX8 with 50K miles wants an FI kit. Is it a ticking time bomb or is the rotary engine as good at 50K as it was at 30K?

If not, I'm getting ready to drive a Speed3 as I type. FI RX8 with say 50K miles worst case or start fresh with a ~$25K Speed3 thats already turbocharged and reacts better to mods? Thanks for the replies. Haven't been on in a while, but I still love this site

 

Just get a compression test and find out if your motor is healthy or not.

Obviously turbocharging a low compression motor is not advised, but if your compression is fine then go for it.

 

+1.

Compression and intake vacuum numbers will tell you how healthy your engine is and you can go from there.

 

Turbocharging will eventually lead to engine failure but your engine will eventually fail anyway so its up to you what mileage you expect from your engine and how long you expect to keep it. Also consider the resale values of RX-8's are **** and a boosted RX-8's value is even less. But if your engine is healthy and you boost it responsibly and don't skimp it should last you another 50k I would think.

 

what's wrong with turbocharging an engine with low compression? FI will still work

 

FWIW -- MazdaManiac ran a compression test on my engine and said they were some of the best numbers he had ever seen, 120+....

I had 51k miles at the time.

 

yup it all comes down to compression,,, I FI'd at 76K now I have 82K and still strong(knock on wood)

 

76K?? Good lord! You have restored my faith lol. How is the maintenance on the Petit kit? And I'm guessing ~ $1000 install price?

 

the point of no return is when you by the kit and install it... thats when there is no going back

 

....not if your keep your OEM parts.

 

I threw out my stock airbox when I was done with it

 

^that is 100%correct....actually I was sort of in the same situation as the OP and wondering if it's too late for me (41,xxx) but the more I see lots of ppl are going FI well over 50k miles and still going strong!

 

Actually scratch that...when I installed my CAI I had a couple vaccum leaks lol so yeah I'll keep the OEM parts...

 

Its all preference. FI is not for the weak of heart or wallet.

 

You should be redline MUCH more often then 1-2 times every few weeks. If you're compression is bad THAT is probably why... carbon buildup.

 

^yes a REDLINE A DAY KEEPS THE CARBON AWAY!!!!

 

Was always kinda skeptical about that =/

Ironically enough I started my car to a CEL this morning lol I have a persistent vacuum leak -_-

 

^all hoses connnected to intake!

 

yeah thats about right Moon gave me a military discount...
Hardly no maintenance, check the belt once a week and keep her oiled...
I can just take my blower belt off and Im back to NA, a little ruff but I can limp home if I need to,,,

 

What was the military discount? And how long did it take to install, tune, etc till it was 100% ready to go? I'm going into the service soon and will probably only have weekends off.

 

what's their to be skeptical about?

im not sure if there has been a day that I -didn't- take the motor to redline on both to and from work.

 

My work is maybe two miles from where I live right now. The car is barely warmed up by the time I reach work, and I don't want to rev a cold engine. And I'm sure that the 13B can handle a redline a day no problem, but I'm pretty sure the engine isn't going to get clogged up with carbon if you don't hammer it everyday.

On the other hand my oil has gotten pretty creamy lately. It got like that the last place I lived and my work has also right up the road. Also cuz of the cold weather. Hows yours?

 

On Install, your gonna have to talk to Moon and Cam about that...
It took three days to install, was scheduled for two( 1 for tear down , 1 for build) but I painted a couple things and did some other stuff so we took our time with it...
The flash took a whole 40 secs to load and about 15 mins driving time so the ECU could relearn itself, wala!!!
It looks a little different now but here are some pics from the first week

 

If you FI, plan on a new engine at some point...maybe later rather than sooner if you're running an Accessport & the MM 3071 GReddy upgrade, but it will almost certainly pop either way.

p.s. All the haters need to count the number of blown engines versus the number that have run FI for > 50k miles. Yeah, pretty close to '100% blown engines'.

 

not necessarily "pop" but forced induction will ultimately do in your engine.. be it seals or anything else that goes - it will.