I recently found a guy that can get me rebuilt turbos for cheap and help me install a custom system as he has done it three times in his previous cars. My question is if i go FI what do i need to get or do from a stock rx8 w/ an AP Pulley... Im talking all the parts and such.... As for the tuning i kno place that has a dyno bout 50 buck per pull

 

im sorry, sbut before anyone else does it looke over your sentence again and read it back to your self..

 

oh geez, where to start.
you'll need the entire turbo kit: manifold, turbo, downpipes, intercooler, etc. what turbo does he use?

you'll also want to upgrade your ignition if you're going turbo: BHR Ignition
you'll need an engine management system, assuming your turbo is MAF based, you'll need an AccessPORT and someone who can tune it for you. If you buy from Mazdamaniac, he can assist with sending you maps based on data logs you send him.

You'll need to do something about the Catalytic converter, the OEM unit will not like the increased EGT's.

Intake: AEM is a fairly simple conversion for use with an FI car

Cooling mods: depending on where you are, you'll want to look into this: Radiator, water pump, thermostat, etc

Water / Meth: great safety net.

Lots of searching / research I see in your near future.
what size budget are you working with?
Is the RX-8 your only car?
If you blow the engine, do you have the resources ($$$) to have it rebuilt? I always ask people this question not to scare them out of going FI but because it is a possibility and you should consider that accidents / mechanical failures CAN happen.

 

1500 on hand cash..im going to have another 1000 in two weeks... the turbo is like 60 bucks(rebuilt garrett) because my guy has the hookup and the pipes and intercooler are cheap.. My guy said 1500 would cover everything but tuning it on the dyno.. As for blowing the engine id run the car around 6 psi around town and premix

 

$60 turbo?
RUN away.
quickly.

 

Thats Not what everybody pays.. hes basically giving the turbo away to me... his shop takes broken turbos and rebuilds them.. They run madd expensive if your not friends with him... O yea turbo comes with two year warranty on everthing

 

Even at 6psi, you can do a hell of alot of damage to a Renesis.

Going turbo (unless you can build the turbo yourself, fab everything up, tune it yourself, etc...) should cost you about $8,000 minimum, though $10,000 is a safer bet to save for.

The less the parts cost you, the more the tuning, problem solving, re-fabbing, and nightmare will cost you. Granted, you can get good deals on parts, but those people that do usually also end up being the ones continuing to shell out money trying to cover other problems and fix other mistakes.

Seriously. You aren't nearly as ready as you think, and if you proceed, you will blow your engine and end up spending that much anyway tacking the rebuild onto the total.

 

Yea but if my a-f ratios are good and tuned at a dyno then how am i going to blow it

 

tuning will make or break a turbo build.
what experience does your tuner have?

Again: what kind of turbo did you have in mind or is he giving you?

 

Prob a garret and hes dyno'd plenty of cars .. or at least thats what he says

 

dyno'ing is easy, I've personally helped put over 100 RX-8's on the dyno. What I was referring to was his experience tuning a rotary engine. Is he familiar with an AP?

 

Not an expert on rotaries and do u mean acess port

 

^ You need to stop now and do some research there are lots of build threads on the boards regarding going FI via turbo. 1,500 or even 2,500 barely gets your feet wet with our cars. Unfortunately tuning a rotary is different and your tuner should really know what he is doing not doubt he might be talented but tuning a rotary iis a challenge compared to a piston vehicle. We dont want to hear a horror story about your car.

 

Edward: I'm not trying to discourage you, honestly I'm not but with the budget you're working with it will be very difficult to accomplish your goals. Which btw: what are your goals for the car?

I consider the Greddy Turbo kit an entry level turbo and those are roughly $4,000. (without installation or engine management)
Will your friend be doing the install as well?

There is a LOT of good info here and as RX8YA mentioned, you should take a look at some of the existing threads out there and educate yourself a bit more before you take the plunge. I'd love to see more turbo'd RX-8's out there, just want to make sure you know what this venture entails.

 

Jedi - you would be better to tell him how easy it is to fit the twin turbos from an rx7 - only 200 dolla !
End result would be the same .....

 

Sad face

 

yeah...better a sad face now rather than a sad face when your stuck on the side of the road with a blown engine. I almost made the same mistake your thinking about doing but realized I was nowhere near ready.....getting closer though....

 

edward - if you come out to the meet tomorrow talk to gh0st or me if i can make it there. gh0st did TONS of research for his turbo build (and actually bought a lot of the parts) before he decided to get rid of the car and me.....well i've just been reading everything on this forum for 5 years. we'll go into some details, there's a lot to think about. in theory you could put the pieces together for cheap. but the car simply will not last more than a few months, even with good tuning, there are a lot of other pretty-much mandatory modifications that need to be done.

and i'm sure he's a good friend, but unless he has a fair amount of tuning experience with rotaries, or unless you're aiming for very very low/conservative power gains, you'll need to find another tuner to be safe. there are a few in the LI area....

let's chat tomorrow...

 

^....thats a team member right there. Wish I had those kind of peeps where I live, but I"m sure there's plenty in pheonix where I'll be soon.

 

Hell, you get the 2 top people on the forums in Phx, MM and Charles Hill!!

 

^...true! Forgot about that! They're probably like..."oh goody"...ha ha jk

 

My turbo setup was probably built on the smallest amount of money of any of the currently running custom turbo setups here. Have a look at my turbo build thread(linked in my sig). It includes my price sheet for all the materials and the thread details most of the work I had to do. Keep in mind that with my build I did every bit of the work myself. So it will cost you more unless you have friends who will do all the work completely free.

Also do a search for other "custom builds" here on the forums. Take note of all the threads where someone comes in claiming they are going to build a "custom turbo setup cheap" and then the thread dies at some point. There is far more to turboing a car than just sticking some random turbo under the hood and welding a couple of things. Not trying to discourage you, it can be done. But you will have to do some research and know what you are getting into BEFORE you start obtaining parts from "Some guy that says he knows what hes talking about"

 

Actually we have 5.
CRH
MM
Easy_E1
FlashThong (like to talk, and talk, and talk,)
Turblown .one of the best fabricators and turbo guys i have met and worked with.

nah,, the more the merrier!

My hats off to you sir ! The bill of materials is a very nice comprehensive list of what it needed for any custom project.

Hey now, my build is just taking a little longer than we thought..

 

LOL not picking on anyone Just pointing out that even those that think they are preapared for this kind of endevour can be discouraged by all the details that come up as you go. The more you know before you start, the more likely you are to make it to completion

 

We have a Winnar !
I think any of the projects that fail/never get completed is directly due to poor or lack of planning.