200.mph

iTrader: (9)

thank you

Chezmanbespoke

Chezmanbespoke

**** yea! MORE GOODIES HAVE ARRIVED! :D



Big thanks to PST for their excellent customer service and insanely quick turn around! Less then 4 business days from talking on the phone with engineering about my specifications for it, to it being in my hands! Happy I went with the aluminum one in the name of weight savings, this is a beautiful piece!

Also got my Matte white vinyl to wrap the car in a few weeks once I get it running good, got V bands for the exhaust, fuel injector connectors, and new seat belts for it!

By the end of the week I will have every part I need to make this baby drive out of the garage!

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

again please stop using a pic hosting site and upload the pics here

Chezmanbespoke

I am uploading everything from my phone to my photobucket, then posting from work computer. I will edit all my posts later and host them off the site. For now this is easiest, still have pics on my photobucket from 8 years ago showing in my old threads, so I think we are safe that these will stay

tylerdurden

Post up some vids when she's road worthy.

Chezmanbespoke

Definitely!

Getting so close, few last parts hold ups, need intake manifold bolts, different oxygen sensors, exhaust tubing, fan belt, rad hose adapters, and a power steering reservoir, then it will be ready to run!

Over the next couple weeks after it runs, I will be having the car corner weighted, and then will be working with Ohlins to setup a coilover set specific to the weights after the swap! Very Excited!!

Got a fair bit of work done over the weekend, with the most painful being the wiring of it. Have a few more connections to make tonight in the harness and then tie the rest of it aside and out of the way!

(sorry, posting from phone again so cant upload here, will edit all posts later and attach pics hosted here)



Wiring is one of those things thats alot more fun in theory lol



Mocked the harness up to see how it will all fit, need to take it back out to do a little more surgery on it and create some brackets to mount everything



Modified a GM electronic throttle pedal to bolt up to where the OEM mazda went, then cut it and bolted the mazda pedal section to it. Fits and works excellent!



Got the whiteline poly diff bushings installed and my differential support finished and welded in, but looks like I didnt take any pics of the support.



This is my second favorite mod after the gold firewall.

..I guess the engine swap is pretty cool too.



More to come this week!

So close! Cant wait to sit on lawn chairs with a ice cold IPA and stare at it instead of work on it lol! Tonight I've got to finish getting the fuel tank back into it, install the driveshaft and finish last bits of wiring, then tomorrow night I will have the the rest of my parts to button up the front, and do the wiring to the battery in the trunk.

Wednesday I plan to take off work so I can finish fabricating the exhaust system, and with any luck I'll get to hear it run!

myrx8myhomework

im new to driving in general let alone rx8s but i was thinking about getting an 8 just to swap and drop but everywhere i looked there were no helpful outlines or info, an i was getting ready to give up the idea but i found your thread and i think i might do it for real now, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the awesome info

Chezmanbespoke

Hey, thanks so much for the kind words!! Glad my thread has been able to help you out!

Havent been updating much lately as between work and this car, Ive been lucky for 2-3hr sleep a night, otherwise working endlessly to get it done.

That being said IT ******* RUNS!!!! Unfortunately I follow that with saying I am currently fucked until i get the correct TAC module as the one I have is wrong. I will make a note to anyone working with electronic throttle, be sure to pair your TAC to your PCM, only 01-02 Red/Blue connectors will work with 01-02 TAC modules, which are extremely rare as only high end SUV's have electronic throttle in those years, the 03-06 PCM with Blue/Green connectors is easy as every 03+ pickup has DBW throttle. Praying I have finally found the right module, I will know this afternoon.

In the past week I've got the true dual exhaust system finished, diff support finished, wiring finished, trunk mounted battery setup with distribution box in the engine bay, brakes bled, wheels on, everything tested etc, and so far so good! Working on a tune for it while at work today so it runs properly!

Unfortunately my ability to remember to take pictures as I go has been horrid, too focused on getting **** done lol

Thankful for these 2 things to keep me sane during this



Had the tank out of the car to do the exhaust and diff support so I did some testing on it, the siphon seems to work properly as I tipped all of the fuel to the passenger side of the tank and it properly pumped it all out, so fingers crossed



And this is as of yesterday. Still some wiring to tie up in the front, and Ive gotta remove some connectors from the mazda harness that I dont need anymore. It moved itself there under its own power, however I cant control the throttle yet so it just idled its way out.

Its really ******* loud. Im sure my neighbors who are selling their house are pretty amped up that I was testing everything during their showings to scare away potential buyers



Tonight I will hopefully have the right module to finish the car so that I can finish tucking wiring, put the front end on and start doing some shakedown runs to make sure everything works okay! This weekend Im going to put coilovers into it, and start work on my vinyl wrap for it, I am bringing it to Ertefa Show May 21 in Markham, Ontario in case any one on here is local to the Toronto area and wants to take a peek!

Chezmanbespoke

Going to share some electronic throttle information that has been melting my brain all week trying to figure out wtf is going on.

My issue I had, was I bought a engine that came with a harness that didnt match the engine, I was reusing a TAC module I had from a previous project, and I was not aware of the differences between everything prior.

So first thing I will say, if you are going to use electronic throttle, make sure you have the appropriate TAC module to match your PCM, as they are not interchangeable.

The 2001-2002 Electronic throttle systems, with a PCM with the Red/Blue Connectors, must use a TAC module from a 01-02 Truck, or a 97-03 Corvette. The TAC module is a black plastic box with 2 connectors in the top, a 10pin and 18 pin, though only 9 of the 10 are used. To make things harder, the newer TAC will plug into the older harness with no issue but it will not function. The throttle body will have 2 connectors, a 2 pin on the right side and a 6 pin on the left side of it.

The 2003-2005 Electronic throttle system, with a PCM with the Blue/Green connectors, must use a TAC module from a 03-05 truck, van or SUV, which will be easy to find as all 2003+ trucks have DBW throttle systems. The TAC module has a metal bracket off the back of it, and the throttle body has 1 8 pin connector into the left side of it.

The other thing to take note of, which caused a huge amount of problems for me, is if your PCM is from a vehicle with a cable operated throttle body, you must update the software and do a WRITE ENTIRE with HPTuners to change the software, otherwise it will not change in the root of the system and it will still be thinking its looking for a cable to move something.

If you use a 03+ TAC module with a 01-02 PCM, the engine will have no idea what to do with its throttle, and will rev up and down all over the place.

If you have the correct PCM but the wrong software, it will idle fine, but will not respond to its pedal and you likely will see a P0122 Code for TPS low voltage. This was the issue I was having after sourcing the correct TAC module, which after confirming all my wiring was good, had me scratching my head. After using a C5 Corvette tune, and doing a Write Entire into the PCM, my DBW system came alive and works perfectly now.

I will also note for anyone with a 03-05/6 PCM system with the Blue/Green connectors, that not all of these PCM's are able to control a IAC valve setup. There is a list of which PCM Part numbers can control it if you are looking to go the reverse way from DBW to DBC, but you will have to dig up that information.

Similar things would need to be watched for if going from a DBW system to a drive by cable, you will need to do a write entire with a Camaro or similar tune that works for the cable throttle.

Hope this saves someone else the hassle and head scratching ive been dealing with the past few night

Chezmanbespoke

Suddenly it all feels worth it!

Logged about 75km onto the car yesterday doing testing, still lots of kinks to work out, but holy **** is it a dream to drive!! 130mph run was pretty fun!

With the 4.44's in the back of this, it makes my old '99 C5 corvette seem slow as ****, this thing is an animal!! at 80mph in 4th gear, the 235 tires have no hope of holding it and it will break loose if you throw it wide open lol



Took it out for a boot to show my buddy Jacob, pretty wild seeing it beside his STi which is almost 8" wider lol



For the rest of the weekend I am going to be finishing up the last details and getting coil overs into it! Excited to finally be driving it!!

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Gratz Chezman, glad to see someone doing one properly, and making clean solid progress.

archwisp

iTrader: (1)

Congrats, man! You've put a lot of good work into this and I've been following the whole time. Would love to see some videos!

G_ man

iTrader: (2)

Nice, good for you, make sure you come out to some of the GTA meets when completed. I'm sure there will be quite a few that are interested in checking out your build.

Chezmanbespoke

Thanks for all the positivity guys, it really means alot!!

Definitely will be out to the GTA meets, have been trying to find info on them so I know where to be and when lol.

Drove the car to work this morning and it behaved flawlessly (Knock on wood it continues)

The only thing I need to work out now is getting colder air into the intake, as its fine when I am cruising but the elbow heat soaks like crazy when sitting in traffic. Drove it through traffic this morning and cooling temps stayed nice and cool, feeling insanely relieved!

About to go scale it this morning, so will update soon on how upset I am by the numbers lol

Going to need to do some more body work with it, the hood is in worse shape then I had realized from the front end bump, it seems to be bowed. Also the front bumper I got for it is pretty much garbage so I guess Im ordering a new one. It isnt quite dont making me bleed cash yet lol

Sitting happily inside the warehouse at work, about 218km onto it so far! I lost my hood prop rod at some point during the past 2 years ive owned it lol, so thats why its propped up.

Chezmanbespoke

So an update to my earlier post,

Took the car to the scale, this was scaled with me in it (153lb), full tank of fuel, all fluids full, interior complete, all panels on!

The car is a 2005 GT 6 spd, full load, leather, sun roof, electronic **** everywhere etc.





Have this video on my photobucket from friday, this was before I got the tune ironed out so excuse how ******* rich it is running here lol


http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m225/SheldonZ28/Mobile%20Uploads/VID_20150515_204036_zpskm1ap1fl.mp4

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Nice, 40lbs more than my 2004 Touring with the turbo kit, 19" wheels, and all the extra coolers, full size fore extinguisher, etc..

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

My buddies rather highly modded NA 2004 GT with nav, aftermarket wheels, etc.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

We have battery relocations to the trunk using the same lightweight Odyssey battery.

Chezmanbespoke

Badass!! Thanks for the comparisons!! I have a lightweight racing battery I put in the trunk, it was either a Braille or XSpower, cant remember as I bought both before I could figure out what I wanted lol

Both of your car's are stunning BTW!

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Thanks man, I was expecting mine to weigh more but I guess I have lost weight in areas like the battery and BBK and such so it sort of balanced out.

OH and I forgot, on important thing was that my buddies GT was low on fuel and I was full so by our calculations our cars weigh about the same. So basically I made my car weigh as much as a GT since nothing he has done aside from the battery has really reduced weight on his car.

Edit: I am 200lbs, he is 180lbs.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Post some video!

Chezmanbespoke

I finally got some GoPro mounts in the mail so I can make some videos of it!

Have logged about 2000km onto the car so far, and it is running excellent! It is a true dream to drive, though for my 1100km road trip yesterday, I will admit the RX8 isnt the most comfortable place for a 6'4" guy to sit for hours on end. That being said, I am used to my loaded luxobarge silverado which is like sitting on a couch lol

Otherwise I am absolutely in love with the car, love the steering feel of the mustang rack and holy **** is this things quick. Still need to get the coilover suspension into it as I can feel the OEM shocks are probably on their way out.

This week I will start getting the vinyl done on it, also have to get it through emissions testing.

Ertefa was quite the night! Kinda sucks how they changed the format for the show, it used to be amazing, now it pretty much blows. Probably wont go to another, but that's not to say it wasnt fun



Brought it up to Wasaga Beach to see how many people I could offend with my catless true duals through Dynomax Racebullets (A lot lol)



Found a Corvette meet going on so trolled a little (Ive never heard a rotary sound like that, is it a special exhaust system?)



Hanging out with my Duramax and Camaro at the cottage





And finally last night around 2am, after 966km of straight driving

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Nice curves man, is that 3rd gen yours?

Chezmanbespoke

Yes sir! It's a 1989 Iroc-z, It was actually my first car that I got as a project for my 16th birthday! Sold it when I was 20, then bought it back last november!

Its just a shell right now, needs alot of work, but its a long term project as it will never leave my hands ever again haha. No rust anywhere in it, just was stripped by the guy I sold it to, then I bought the shell back off him and I'll make something out of it

That car started it all for me, was my first automotive project, first car, first LS swap haha. Looking through it now I see lots of hack work from when I was young, but I guess it was a learning tool!