GFB

Hi All,

Go Fast Bits would like to add a lightweight or lightweight & under-drive RX-8 pulley kit to our range. We are currently looking for a car in Sydney (we're based in South Sydney) to develop the kit on. We would need the vehicle for a day at a time a few times over a couple of months. In return for using your car we would offer the finished product to the owner at no cost. If anyone had a bare renesis engine or a set of factory pulleys that we could measure up, that would also be of great use.

You can check out our current range of pulley kits here

Please contact me if you are interested.

Cheers

James Whitbourn
Design Engineer
Go Fast Bits
(02)9569 7648
james@gfb.com.au
www.gofastbits.com.au

glenn

You found your way here ok then James Not many of the boys over on Ausrotary have RX-8s but you will find plenty on here. Hopefully one of these guys will take you up on your offer so i can order some pulleys from you.

Cheers
Glenn

EZZY

just a quick question....
would the warranty be void by changing the pully kit
i only have engine/transmission warranties left on my 8

takahashi

There goes the engine/transmission warranties, me thinks

Too bad I am in Melbourne. I don't mind to be a white mouse :p

glenn, welcome to the forum too. There is also an Andy who owns an RX-8 in Ballrat. I believe he works in the infinity computer shop.

Taka

glenn

Thanks Taka,

What color is Andy's RX-8? Im in the computer game aswell but I dont think I know him?

Cmon you Sydney guys. Surely someone wants some free pulleys :D

Gomez

This mod won't affect warranty unless the failure can be directly attributed to the fitment of the pulleys. Anyhow, if you're still worried about it, just loan your car to GFB and sell the free pulleys you get at the end of the day!!

C'mon you latte sippers, get on board.....

Gomez.

takahashi

I donno. I met him on the net.

Asian dude. He told me he works in IC in Ballarat when chatting about computer.

I want some pulley being developed too. Come on EZZY

EZZY

anyway on a serious note.... i'd be interested to give it a go, since my 8 was a "white mouse" for another company..... just need to work out some details

RXE16T

Something about being a guinea pig makes it very unappealing to me........

glenn

Its only a pulley kit. I cant see anything going wrong.

These guys make some great stuff. I have used their blowoff valves on my turbo cars and they excellent.

I have also seen their pulleys for a WRX and they looked fanstastic.

Glenn

EZZY

got chopped by a wrx on friday night now i think i want FI :o


does it perform as well as it looks :p

glenn

Well EZZY, you can test them for us :D

RXP33D

Whats will be the value of this kit?
What sort of testing has to be done?
ie. Thrashing...alot
?
Cheers.

Revolver

Pardon my ignorance but what kind of benefit do you gain by fitting such a kit (once it is developed)?

Is it a similar engineering concept to fitting a lightened flywheel?

GFB

Hi all, thanks for your interest

I found my way over here ok Glenn, thanks for the tip

To clear up a couple of things

- The pulley kit may void a warranty; some dealers/car companies don't like any modifications - best bet would be to ask them. Although as Gomez said, the car dealer may have to directly attribute any problem to the fitment of the pulleys which, realistically, they couldn't. Also the RX-8 doesn't have a harmonic balancer in the first place, so that eliminates another potential source of problems.

- We won't need to thrash the development car (we don't really even need to drive it). We'll just need to remove the pulleys, measure them up, then put them back on. We'd then make some prototypes with suitable under-drive ratio and then get your car back again at a later date to do a test fit. After that you could then drive around for week or two to make sure they work as they should. The job is then done, and you keep the pulleys.

We're mechanical engineers and have lots of experience with modified cars. I've owned and modified rotaries for 7 years - so you can rest assured, you car would be looked after.

cheers,

James

GFB

Price should be in the $350 - 400 range with belts, at a guess (it's a bit early to say for sure!)

Part of the gain comes from the pulleys being lighter than factory pulleys, but the RX-8s standard pulleys are not particularly heavy. This will be a similar (although less noticable) effect to fitting a lightened flywheel. There is no power gain from fitting lighter pulleys; the engine just revs more freely.

The bulk of the gain comes from under-driving the engine accessories by 15-20% (ie driving the power steering pump, alternator and air conditioning compressor 15-20% more slowly). With a suitable under-drive ratio the accessories all do their job at or near idle rpm, but the power gain at higher rpm (particularly on a relatively low torque engine that makes peak power at high rpm) is worthwhile.

Typically GFB pulley kits gain 4 - 5kW peak (and a smaller gain across the entire rev range). On the high revving RX-8 we might hope for a slightly greater gain, but the dyno will tell us.

cheers,

James

Choppy

How long you need the car for??

Im going oversease soon so dont need the car for 6 weeks

Regards
Phillip

Gomez

A quick heads-up for you James...the RX-8 doesn't have a power steering pump. It has electric power steering .

rotarenvy

I'm sure you have done some research on the rx-8 but;
check out the other threads on this forum on the US on underdrive kits. they tend to throw out engine check lights.

I've also read rumours there is also an issue with the crank pulley and an internal bearing. if you remove the pulley without precautions the bearing moves and engine failure results?

the rx-8 also has an electric power steering unit so we only have air , water and alternator. the air switches off at full throttle so it isn't going to give big gains. (**** gomez you beat me to it :D)

I'd prefer just light weight pullies with no underdrive (perhaps underdrive the water pump if cavitation is a problem). will this be an option?

glenn

The torrington bearing behind the crank pulley has always been a problem on Mazda rotaries if you dont know what your doing. It wont happen by just removing the pulley though. You have to remove the boss that the pulley bolts to to cause the problem. As we wont be removing the boss there is nothing to worry about.

I also dont see any point in the pulleys unless they are underdriven. We are trying to pick up horsepower after all.

I am also doubtfull that the check engine light would be a problem. I think it just needs the ecu reset with the 20 pumps on the brake peddle thing.

rotarenvy

I do want to see these pulleys developed but I am the skeptic.
the 1-2kW that these pulleys 'might' release wont be noticable when driving, so to me they are for looks (I do want a blue set to match my car ).

I also don't think you will even generate 1-2kW by just underdriving a free running generator and the water pump.

where will the gearing be changed? ie at the crank or each slave device?

Will you sell the pullies individualy so I can choose to omit some and choose what I want to run underdriven?

GFB

Thanks choppy, i'm pretty sure i've got a car organised, i'm just waiting to finalise it with the owner
Thanks Gomez, i'd forgotten about the electric PS...so there is less potential for power gain there, under-driving just an alternator and water pump.
Our testing will determine whether we can overcome the check engine light problem.
As Glenn said, we're not going to remove the pulley boss, just the pulley, so the torrington bearing will be unaffected. We're considering both under-drive and non-under-drive kits as I said in my first post, but as Glenn said, there's not much benefit in non-underdrive pulleys.

No real reason why we can't sell the pulleys individually. Our existing kits usually change the ratio on both pulleys to arrive at the desired overall drive ratio.

Thanks all for your input

James

takahashi

Now stop that chatting...

Once James has test fitted one and drive it, then we will know what the benefit is.

Keep up the good work James. I so wish that I were in Sydney...

ILIV48

I will be interested in a set. I had a set of the unorthodox pulleys on order until I changed the order to the Revi intake, so I will wait and see what you guys come up with before I reorder the Unorthodox set.

In concern to the check engine light with all the research and speaking to people on the US part of the forum the members that disconnected the battery the night before installation and left it for a while after the install, then did the reset procedure first thing upon reconnecting the battery have not generally experienced the check engine light. The members who have installed the pulleys without disconnecting the battery or straight after disconnecting it are the ones who seem to have the most problems.

A couple members said to me it seems if there is any power or residual charge left in the car or the ECU, then it senses the change to the crank (or it's removal)

Or it could just be a case of like many other mods where a certain small percentage of cars just don't like it as in the case of the Rotary Extreme intake where most cars were fine but a few were not with members on this forum actually devising a test routine before the intake installation to see if your car was to be one of the trouble few.

There are many members in the states and Europe that have not had any issues with the lightenend & underdriven pulleys at all and have covered tens of thousands of km's/miles.

If I lived in Sydney I would have delivered my car to you 5 minutes after reading the first post :D :D :D

rexi

GFB,
Develop the 15% underdrive kit in stealth black and I would be your first customer!

Good to see a local company show interest in developing rx8 product.

Regards
Rexi