Fanman

Well fellas, I finally got around to installing my SR Motorsports Pullies, SR Motorsports Hi-Flow Cat., Rotary Extreme Intake. Here is a before & after dyno read (I hope this comes out, 1st time I am putting a picture on this site).



Hope you can see it (2004 RX8 w/ M Flash):

Before mods (only Racing Beat exhaust) :

179.24 whp
133.33 wtq.

After mods (Rotary Extreme intake, SR Motorsports pullies, SR Motorsports Hi-flow Cat, Racing Beat Exhaust) :

183.72 whp
136.14 wtq.

About what I expected. The good thing is that the gains are across the board, not just on the top end. In talking to my mechanic he said it was about 2 hp for the intake, 1 for the pullies, & 2 for the hi-flow cat.

I also installed SR Motorsports lightweight aluminum flywheel, and I can say that this car revs up much faster. Mechanic told me that that is a combination of the lighter pullies, and flywheel really opening things up.

Also installed Hawk brake pads, & 6.5 mm wheels spacers.

Next thing is the Canzoomer unit. My mechanic told me that there is some room to play with the air/fuel ratio on this car as it is running rich right now.

Sociopath

Nice Analysis Fanman! Your data would definitely help =) Did you go thru all 5-gears during the Dyno Run, or did you run thru only with 3-gears?

dmp

uh? You gained what looks like 10 or 12 hp...what does your mechanic mean by 5hp(2+1+2)??

VERY Nice.

What gear did you dyno in? Much beyond 3rd gear a Lightened FW won't help near as much as it does in the 1st couple gears.



NICE results.

dmp

p.s., Did you unplug the rear wheel sensors?

Xyntax

I've been thinking about getting the SR Pulleys for my next mod. From what you have listed, I could only guess that the pulleys gave you that gain while the intake robbed you of it. The cat might have also played some gain at the top end. I'm convinced, lots of reviews from others, that the stock intake and stock exhaust have the most gains in power. This is why pulleys, flywheel, and high-flow cat are on my next list.

Fanman

No, they did not unplug the rear wheel sensors. Just drove it up, turned off the taction control (pushed the button for 10 sec.), strapped it in and dynoed it. I believe they did the pull in 3rd or 4th. I saw two of the runs after the mods were put in. Wow, my car is definitely louder at WOT. The stock cat & resonator part is a beast. SR Motorssports claims a 12 lb. reduction in weight, and after lugging the thing to my backseat I believe them. The stock flywheel is a beast to. That thing is HEAVY compared to the SR Motorsports unit.

I am thinking Canzoomer Stage 1.1, as I live in CA with the crappy oxygenated 91 octane gas (vs. east coast 93).

Take it for what it is worth, but my mechanic told me the pullies do the least. Other than lightening it up a little to rev faster (along with my flywheel). He commented that the filter element of the RE intake, and design is pretty good. I wouldn't be so sure it's the pullies giving me the hp.

All these claims of 10hp from an exhaust, 12 hp from pullies, 8 hp from an intake, etc is nonsense. I knew this going in. 5-6 whp was what I was expecting. I am happy that it was kind've across the board, and not just all on the high end.

dmp

Uh...but your graph shows what could be a 10-15hp gain in the mid-upper RPMs.

Richard Paul

iTrader: (5)

I'll give 0 for the intake, maybe 1 for the pulleys if you did it in 3rd gear. The rest for the cat.

Fanman

dmp,

Sorry, what I meant was that I was happy that I got something in the lo & midrange vs. it all being up top. I have seen some people do similar stuff on their S2000's and the graph up until VTEC (& above sometimes) look identical to the stock car, then there is improvement after that. People expecting 30 hp from any improvement other than FI or a lot of ECU tuning shouldn't expect it (I wasn't) from bolt on parts. I truly believe Racing Beat when they came out with their findings about the RX8 exhaust system, ECU, Intake, etc. I'm still debating about the Racing Beat intake. I love their products, and I might get it later on.

Richard,

It seems that the pullies & hi-flow cat (or one or the other if one didn't make power) did make some power throughout the rev range, but from the top end gain it would seem that the Rotary Extreme air intake is giving more hp (the high end gained more hp, than the mid range. Isn't that what people were indicating was that all the air intakes from the K&N, to the RE were giving power in the high end ? I would figure since the hi-flow cat & pullies would be the constant, if I got about 4-5 whp throught the rev range, and about 10-12 on the high end, wouldn't that mean the air intake is giving me more on the high end, from everybody is saying ?

XDEEDUBBX

thanks for the dyno info

Richard Paul

iTrader: (5)

Well I'd still give it to the cat. The top end is where it will show up. That is why it is called a HI FLOW. It isn't at the lower rpm that the flow is restricted. I belive what Jim Mederer of Racing Beat found, as you have already stated you do too. It seems Mazda did a very good job on tuning this engine, but they did get cheap on the cat. It seems that they could have gone for a better cat but decided that for most cases the cheaper one would be servicable.

This shows up in not only the flow but the ability to take higher temps.

So it would be my bet thatmast of your now better results came from the combination of the hi flow cat and RB cat back. Along those lines I would like to see RB do some A/B testing with their cat back both with and without the Hi Flow cat. They may want to offer the cat along with the rest of the exhaust. Maybe at a combined price that makes it a better deal since the labor will be less if all is done at once.

That would give the user a premium for buying their system complete. At that point everyone will know what does whst. I have an interest here in that when my supercharger comes out these two items will be even more of an improvment as the exhaust must flow more mass. These items on a SC car will show a dramatic improvment.

This might answer some other questions out there. People keep asking what they can do now that will be compatable if they go FI in the future. This is it, stick to the exhaust. Underdrive pulleys will have to be taken off because the SC needs the stock pulley size.

RX3+5

Thank you very much for sharing the dyno info. Get the Canzoomer unit you will love it. It REALLY does as advertised and it only takes about twenty minutes to install. Stage two runs just fine on our crappy gas with just a little detuning.

Vince

davefzr

Hey fan.. where did you go to get your car dyno'd? I live in san dimas so if you could let me know the place you went I would appreciate it. It's funny though, your experinces are identical to my own right now except for the rotary extreme intake. I have all of the same mods that you do and just bought myself the CANScan, Laptop, CZ unit etc... to do the tuning..

Cant wait...

Oh.. and thankx for the dyno/info.. we always love that...

Fanman

Richard,

I have the SR Motorsports hi-flow cat with the resonator unit, which out of their 3 units (midpipe, cat with no resonator, & cat with resonator) probably makes the least power. But I guess I'm old, and I don't need it too loud (or ricey) so I went with what I got. In Racing Beat's tests they got about 6-7 hp with a straight through midpipe (no cats or resonator). I think I would have been lucky to get about 4-5 hp with my unit. Somewhere the extra hp on the high end is coming from. Since I have all three additions it's not like I have a bias for any of them. Like dmp pointed out it was about 10-12 hp on the top so i could see about 4-5 from the cat, 3 from the air intake, 3 from the pullies. I actually already had the RB exhuast on the before dyno (on my car for the past few months). Unfortunately, the dyno time is ridiculously expensive. In an ideal world, I would have been able to dyno each part seperately and had a more definitive answer, but when dyno time is $100+/hour you learn how to economize a bit. I will be going back to do another before/after when I get the Can Zoomer unit.

Dave,

I did the dynos at Los Angeles Performance Division, over in the San Fernando Valley. Kind've a trek for you. Out near Richard's neck of the woods. I'm sure there are some good dyno shops near you, or out in Riverside. Let me how the CZ unit works out for you. I'm thinking that may be a Christmas gift for myself.

Xyntax

The CZ will definitely work out for you. Mine is only pushing me more to get some lightening mods. There's just so much possibilities after you've had your share of tuning it.

Red Devil

Thanks for the post Fanman, very informative.

foxman

Thanks for sharing this information. There have been reports of loss of HP by changing out the intake. Richard Paul said it better, but I would really wonder about the gains related to that and attribute it more to the others.

Fanman

Yeah, I'v the threads on the K&N Typhoon intake. I do think that the Rotary Extreme Intake is better designed than the K&N unit. If you read the thread on the unit, Chuck Huang knows what he is talking about, especially with this rotary car. Even on the K&N unit it was a loss at lo end, for gain at the high end. In this case if you look at the dyno, I did gain some hp across the band, but at high revs I gained about 10-12 hp. Just thinking it might be from the intake, as many of the people commented that is how there unit worked (the gain was on the high end).

Richard Paul

iTrader: (5)

Yup, they are on the same street, about 200 yards away.
Bet you wish you knew that when you were up here.
I still will not give anything for that intake.
If the pulleys are underdrive you can give them 2, if they are just lightweight then give them something only in the lower gears.
By the way what gear was the test done in?

Fanman

I think the SR units are underdriven (at least that is what is on their website). I think the test was in 3rd or 4th (from the chart). I'll be back over there probably in Jan. having my mechanic put in/tune/dynoing a CZ unit. I'm still kind've leery with FI on this car. I really want to see the reliabilityof the kits/renesis before I commit. Just witnessed too many bad experiences with the RX7, and finding out that RB had some issues with their SC'ed Renesis doesn't put my confidence at ease. I think I might be going with the CZ unit, and that is about it. Nothing else really out there.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

Fanman, were you running 18" or 17" wheels during the dyno?

Fanman

Hi Nemesis,

Did you finally get the KDW2's ? I have my standard 18" wheels on there. The only thing I have done around them is put 6.5 mm spacers, upgraded my brake pads, changed brakelines to stainless steel hoses. Don't think the spacers would have any affect.

Fanman

Well, just took my car out today after unhooking the battery for a day & 1/2, did the 20 brake tap rest 3X, and drove it for about 50 miles. The CEL was gone. What was strange was my traction control light was on as I left for the trip. On coming back to Glendale, I stopped off for lunch at Subway, and when I started the car again, the TC light was off. So all things are working now.

Acceleration in first in second is great. The revs build so fast now. Wow, is all I can say.

The exhaust is now a little loud for me (I am 33 so a little older). Some might like it. I think I will be getting some dynamat to put into my trunk.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

At 33 and you think your old? Try 47

Don't have the KDW2's yet by the way. Can't wait to get my fly and pullies installed to see what this is like.

JeRKy 8 Owner

Gain of 4 horsepower after blowing nearly a grand. Thatis just sexy right there