reno

Hey guys! Its my first post here so i'll be brief. I'm on quite a few other forums, as 'carbon323' in reference to my old BMW 323i that I sold, so if I know you, nice to see you

Anyways I'm very close to getting my next car, and the 8 is at the top of my list. And it was a big list and took about 3 months of regular test drives to narrow out The lists included the likes of the nissan z, gti, mazdaspeed3, mustang gt, legacy gt, camaro, rx7, e46 m3, and probably a few more I can't even remember anymore. I've also been lurking around the forum for quite a while trying to understand all the posts and little rx8 quirks. I'm not a big guy, and for that reason I was the most comfortable and confident in the rx8, and I think that's why I like it the most. I love the huge redline and it handles better than my old 3 series. But i dont need to preach to you guys.

Now, if I do get the car, I will immediately boost it. I notice a lot of you have the greddy turbo kit and pettit sc, my question is about the esmeril kit. It seems like the numbers are significantly better, but there isnt much talk about it. Is there anything wrong with it? What makes the greddy kit so much better, is it just the price?

What have you guys heard about the kit? I have a ~20k budget, so I was thinking a good $14k rx8/6spd with the esmeril kit and upgraded apex seals.

I would definitely be doing all the work myself, as I always have, and I've heard the fuel pump is an intimidating challenge from the posts here. How about the apex seals? I have access to professional equipment, are the seals a reasonable DIY job? Also, with the esmeril kit, would I absolutely need to upgrade the seals?

My alternative would be something like an e39 bmw m5 which would cost about the same as the rx8+mods but I would be back to the same annoying expensive mods and maintenance. Anyway my main purpose for the post is for some rx8 enlightenment

thanks

Marklar

The 8 is a great driver's car. The handling is amazing, perfectly neutral, you can throw it sideways and and point it and it will just do exactly what you tell it to do. It is a fun, fun car to drive.

But it is not a powerhouse. You have to flog it hard to get any straight line speed. This actually makes it kinda fun on the street because you can go wide open all the time, but it's no street light racer.

Turbo will get you the power but it is not as easy as with a piston car. It's expensive, you really have to know what you're doing, and you are giving up the 100k/8 yr. engine warranty when you go that route. Think carefully before you jump into that.

If you need a practical 4-seater that can hang with the best driver's cars out there and don't mind the crappy mileage, then the 8 is for you, but it's best if you accept the lack of straight-line power if you go with the 8. If you are serious about a turbo 8 and are willing to do what it takes, grab a copy of Street Rotary by Mark Warner, that will tell you a lot.

The 8 is a great car, the only real question is whether or not it's the car for you. If you really, really want straight-line power then think carefully before jumping into this cult.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

1) Welcome

2) You will have to check out the Esmiril build threads and discussions in the Major Horsepower Upgrades subforum. If you are that set on boosting it, you should read each build thread to get a real good idea of the issues each possible option has. None of them are clean or "plug and play"

3) Allowing yourself only $6,000 for the boost kit is going to leave you short. Going FI of any type, expect to spend closer to $10,000. If you get the kit and parts for cheap, then you will pay more for the fabrication, tuning, and problem solving. If you pay more for the kit and parts, generally it's higher quality and better fit out of the box, so less additional work you will need. You can take some off that if you can do all the fabrication, tuning, etc... yourself, and some more if you can get really good deals on the kits. But getting a kit for $1,500 just means $8,500 in headaches generally.

3) Fuel pump needs a special tool, but if you have that, there isn't much particularly painful about it. At least it's easy to reach in the 8 vs in other cars.

4) Apex seals you are talking a full teardown and rebuild of the engine. The seals themselves become almost secondary at that point. There aren't all that many good engine rebuilders, and you will likely have to ship your car or your engine to them for rebuilding. Expect to pay $2,000+ for a basic rebuild, though you could easily spend $6,000+ with options etc... Contact Mazmart, BHR, RotaryResurrection for prices and timeline, members of the boards here. Others such as BNR you will have to ask around for contact info.

5) If you haven't read up on the basics of the RX-8, then check out my new owner's thread here: https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/new-potential-owners-start-here-202454/ You probably already know most of it if you have been doing your research like it sounds, but there are alot of oddities that catch people off guard with the 8.


Good luck.

yiksing

If you are dead set on turbo-ing the RX-8 with what resources you have, it is not too difficult if you have already done your fair share of tearing up a piston engine. Check out some of the engine rebuild threads in the DIY section. Although the rebuild is generally easy there are certain things that you have to pay attention to, such as making sure the seals aren't knock out of place from small impact when you assemble it, etc.

As for apex seals, its a double edged sword kinda thing. Strong seals wear out housing faster so you gotta research a bit from different vendors on what they offer.

The Greddy kit requires some upgrades for better reliability and performance.

Mazurfer

That's a long @ss way for a shameless plug there RIWWP!

Just kidding!

Lots of good info and I wish every newb was directed to that! Not that this guy is a real "newb", he seems fairly on the ball at this point.

reno

Thanks for the helpful responses guys. As far as fabrication, ill redirect my question to the major hp upgrades section. That new owners thread is very informative btw.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Is it any different than continuing to quote myself like I used to?

Hardly a shameless plug, rather an honest attempt to help