cryptonomiciosis

After many years of want, several months of investigation, and a good bottle of wine for my wife, I finally got my RX8.

It is a Diamond Gray 2009 RX-8 GT manual transmission with 60K on the odo. I have not driven it much, it will not be my daily driver, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with it thus far. It's a spry little car, and I think it will do the job I want it to do, and that is a fun car to take kid-less road trips in. That being said, I'm more interested in reliability and longevity than I am in all out performance, but I would not mind an improved intake and exhaust, but I'm not particularly interested in putting a turbo on.

I've got my spare quarts of oil in the trunk and a spare tire kit on the way. One thing I would like to do is improve the engine cooling of the car as I live in the relatively humid and quite often hot in the summer North Texas.

I've reading up on the airflow redirection/blocking from the radiator through the engine compartment, but I am a visual learner and I have not seen any pictures of what that looks like that makes my brain go, "Ah ha!" Also, I am researching the ecu tuning for getting the fan to turn on earlier, and possibly making the water pump and thermostat changes with the mazmart parts, if it's really worth the effort.

I have been thoroughly informed and occasionally entertained but what I've read on here, and I appreciate the wealth of knowledge that the experienced 8 owners and diy'ers have brought to bear on this car.

Thanks.

Colon Terminus

Welcome to the club.


Read post #8 in this thread:
https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...me-rx8-258012/


You need to do the 30,000 and 60,000 mile service. That'll go a long way towards securing the longevity/reliability you seem to be seeking.


Enjoy your RX8, it's a unique and fun car to own and drive. Just remember that every once in a while you need to take it out on a back country road and just drive the **** outta it. It'll love you for that.

cryptonomiciosis

And I know where to find those country roads. In fact in a couple of weeks, I will be hitting them for the cars first grand tour to South Central Texas. Also, thanks for pointing to that other thread. If it ever dries out around here, I'll check those things out.

cryptonomiciosis

I lifted up the car today to get my first look underneath the thing. I was glad to see that two of things I've read about doing and was going to do had already been done (the A/C Condenser and Oil Cooler Screens, and the heat reflecting material along the length of the drive shaft cavity.) I will probably get to an oil, gear oil and diff oil change next week and clean the MAF. The week after that, I will probably tackle the ignition system update. It seems to get spark and start-up just fine cold or hot, so I think I can safely put that off for a couple of weeks.

I'm fairly competent with some things on my cars, but messing with coolant and brake fluid make me squeamish, so I will probably seek someone with a little more experience to help me through those things and knock out the thermostat change at that time as well.

This car is just silly fun to drive, it brings a smile to my face every time I get to push the go pedal.

Steve Dallas

Howdy, neighbor! I live just to the northeast of you. Welcome to the club!

You don't actually need to do anything with the cooling system on a 2009. Mazda upgraded the cooling system for 2009 for the Series 2 version of the car. Just keep an eye on your coolant level, and you will be fine.

If you need any help with maintenance, I am fully versed in most aspects of the car, and the garage at my house is stocked with tools.

cryptonomiciosis

I appreciate that offer of help, and will probably take you up on it. I'll repay your help and knowledge in beverages of your choice

Legot

iTrader: (1)

What do you mean with the airflow redirection? I'm curious, do you have a link? As far as ECU tuning goes I think Mazdaedit is prefered compared to Cobb at this point since the Cobb unit/software hasn't been supported for several years.

On a car that's not strictly for racing the Mazmart water pump is less ideal than the OEM one. Their thermostat also won't be good for an engine that wasn't built with the tolerances required for that lower temperature. Neither are really worth the effort, the water pump only nets you like 7HP at redline, at the expense of cooling above ~2500rpm.

carid

Hello and welcome to the forum! Thanks for joining us. Congrats on your RX8, make sure to show it to us, when you have a chance. You'll find just about anything you might have questions about there.

cryptonomiciosis

https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...ot-8-a-202548/

It seems like a lot of the "off the lot" modifications that one would make seem to apply to the Series 1 rather than the Series 2. Like I mentioned before, I found that my A/C Condenser and Oil Cooler have already had screens inserted in front of them, and the splash guard behind them has been cut to allow better airflow through those components. Is there really anything else that needs to be done to a Series 2 to help improve it's life?

I'll post a picture of the car whenever we get another sunny day around here. We have been uncharacteristically rainy and cool in North Texas for the month of May.

Thank you all for your feedback and pointers.

04Green

iTrader: (1)

Welcome,

The Congrats thread was written for the Series 1, but some apply for the 2 as well. The biggies I suggest, based on what you stated, is get it sealed around the radiator. Also, the UltraGauge. Best money you will spend. I have not pulled the wiring diagrams for the S2 to see if fans on low still works the same way. But, that will make a difference if you can get it done.

cryptonomiciosis

How and/or where do you seal the radiator? Also, with the UltraGauge, which version should you use for the 8?

Steve Dallas

The AC condenser screen was added by Mazda as part of the S2 upgrades. Off the top of my head, you also get a thicker radiator core, better airflow control, beefier fan motors, lower fan turn on temps, a 3rd fan speed on one fan motor, a better water pump design, and other cooling-related ECU programming changes. You quite literally need to do nothing to the cooling system on your S2 car.

I track my car at least once per month and never have any cooling problems at all, and I have made exactly zero mods to the cooling system. I constantly monitor and log my coolant temps with an OBDLink MX and Torque or Harry's Lap Timer on my phone and have never seen anything to worry about. Getting set up to monitor your temps is always a good idea, of course.

The oil cooler screens are nice to have. The cuts behind the oil coolers are not needed on a street driven car. Oil has an optimal operating temperature range, and Mazda perfected maintenance of that range on street driven cars. That cutting may drop the oil temp a hair, which might be nice on the track, but is not necessary on the street. The difference is so slight, it probably does not matter at all either way, however.

PM me sometime. It is always good to meet another RX-8 owner nearby, and I like helping people with maintenance and mods. Payment in beer works for me. :D

Cheers!