CLK_Racing

whats up guys... Im a newb to this chat. Im looking at getting an Rx-8. I know it wasnt "ment" to be like the rx-7 and its a touring car yada yada... but I want to get one and make it produce 500-600 rwhp. preferably running in the 10's. From what I have seen acosta racing has made or is in the process of making an 800hp rx-8 with a 20b and a single turbo. Anyone else know of any other performance shops that might be doing it (just to keep my options open). also If you see this Acostaracing shoot me an email with a quote on labor and parts. (i can get the car really reallllly cheap so I only need to do the mods).

also,

a list of what id need would be nice too.. i want to get it done right the 1st time.

and for those that would like to know... I want to do this to the car because
A i like how it looks
B i can get one really cheap
C I am a speed freak

thanks
Jon

syntrix

I'd find someone with experience in rotary engines, especially custom turbo setups.

Either way it's going to cost $$$$$$ to get it all done right the first time

CLK_Racing

yea, obviously... I just want to know how much before I get the car. If its too high Ill just pick another car to mod, not a biggie. Ive had an 800rwhp camaro before and I know more or less what Im in for in terms of $ and time.
Either way it will be a sick ride when I'm done with it =) and it'll be able to not only go in a straight line

Genom

Acosta did a 950HP 20B RX-8 and quoted an estimated 100G for it all.

Other than Petit Racing her ein SoFla I dont know any other specialized rotary shops and they are pretty expensive. I dont think your gonna get the car to 600HP for anything under 30G since your gonna have to get a custom turbo setup built, tuned and some internal engine mods as well, so a complete teardown and rebuild.

Thats right now since turbo kits arent out, SC kits arent out, etc.

But then again, what do I know :D

CLK_Racing

hmm, that seems like alot just for the motor work .. I mean I could be wrong. but I would imagine the ENTIRE set up (suspnsion, tranny, nitrous, injectors, ecu, etc.) might approach those numbers. Im used to dealling with american muscle (add an intake get 30hp) so i could be way off, but it seems acosta said the motor was like 3500-4000 ( i may be miss quoting) and id assume the complete turbo setup is like 6000-7000, thats 10-11 right there plus tranny tuning install ecu suspension brakes cage and all the goodies id say Im looking at about 20-23g. Mind you Im basing this on pure speculation. a shop can charge w/e they want Im just going by experience. after all is said and done I want to re do the body too (I have a shop that does custom widebody kits to my specs) so yea this cars going to cost me an arm and leg but hopefully when its done Ill pop a few pics in here and it will all be worth it



---edit

also If i do get to do this I will be selling the stock motor, tranny and misc part for cheap and the car will only have the miles it takes me to get it from the dealer to the shop =)

Genom

Yes, I meant the entire car. Engine, wiring, suspention, turbo, etc. Just a new installed 20B engine is probably mnore in the 6-7K range with nothing else done.

cueball

CLK,
You probably are not going to see the kind of gains your used to. This is true of most Japanese cars. They usually come pretty highly tuned out of the factory versus the LS1 that any little mod will get a ton of HP. If you looking for a car that goes fast in a strait line than the RX8 may not be what your looking for due to the price of mods. If your willing to go for the 20B engine swap than great, but that is probably the only way your getting the RX8 into the 10's.

CLK_Racing

nono, The reason I like the Rx-8 is because i dont want to just be able to go in a straight line. but what else would u recommend to get it into the 10's? without spray

thanks
Jon

Bridged13B

Since the RX8 is fairly new there arent a lot of turbo kits out there. If you want a 10 sec. car you will need to go turbo. If you are seriously interested in a 10 sec RX8 I know the person who can do it for you and they are based in Miami. If interested PM my and Ill give you the name of the shop and contact info.

Ike

Any DSM car (eclipse, talon), Supra TT, Evo, STi (running high 12s stock with lots of mods on the horizon), SRT-4, MR2-Turbo.

Or a regular WRX could be in the 10s for about 37k if you were to buy a used one. Keep in mind you could do it for cheaper but there's no telling how long the car will last, ESX makes cars that are daily driveable and they upgrade all tranny parts to prevent premature destruction.

However you do it you're not getting any car into the 10s without a large investement.

JimW

CLK if you really must have a 600 + RWP RX8 check with Ruff Racing in Davie, I don't know if your familier with Broward or if Ruff Racing is still around, but I do know they have a lot of experience modifying and racing RX7s.

!WWFK!-Fish

Hey, wow... i don't understand any of this stuff haha, only thing i noticed that i like(well.. actually understood) was the 950 horses but 100G's? crap man.. i can't afford that ... i only want like 500 at most, 950 is just a little too much for Daily Road Driving, but 500 would work just nicely... too bad they don't have anything out yet, guess we gotta wait a while.. i guess thats what we get for getting a Rotary ... lol o well Rotary Rules so.. that doesnt matter

CLK_Racing

I ment what mods, not what cars. any car can run a 10 sec 1/4 mile... ive seen snow mobiles run 10's... its just im not at all familiar with the rx-8s motor set up and dont know what other motors/trannys are compatible, nor what that motor is capable of... I mean I know very few people know this info since teh car is new and not to many people have modded them. Thats the whole reason Id like to mod it since its not every day you see a 600hp rx-8 at car shows. =)
but yea those cars are good alternatives, its just none of them are as rare as the rx-8 which is why I am partial to it. I would get an Sti or evo if not.

Efini 8

dude if u are a driver's driver and love to mod cars, the rx-8 is NOT for you. The engine freaking blows, and I know I am going to get flamed by saying this, but I really dont care! Acosta Racing's RX-8 is an RX-8 SHELL WITH a 20B (3 rotor). Personally I know you are going to run into reliability issues if you go that route. Its a motor swap, which can be done with any car. You can make a cardboard box run 8 sec 1/4, but after all its still a cardboard box. Sure u can swap an engine into any car and make it fast, but its not that car anymore. Thats just my take. Personally I am looking into an EVO 8 currently, cuz the RX-8 engine isnt so hot, and own a RX-8... oh ya... and turbo kits have been scraped such as the GReddy aka Trust turbo kit - because it was harming the car more than providing performance gains. And I even talked to Mazdaspeed's engineers, and they even said the Renesis cannot take over 5-6 PSI boost safely.

I suggest an Evolution VIII - mod friendly, decent looking, very fast, and fairly cheap.

CLK_Racing

yea, the renesis motor is pure garbage. I donno, the interior of the car kinda gives me a boner, but I'm starting to doubt the car is worth the investment. Acosta wants 41,000 for it fully built... which is not unheard of for a 900 hp car. but since all I want is 600 there is no "In between" motor that can get me that safely. the 3 rotor is nice and all but having 600hp on that motor is a waste of a motor... its not like I will be safely underpowering it, itll be more like having a v8 running on 3 pistons.
...and putting 600 to the renesis POS isnt an option since it will pop faster than a virgin guy in a **** star.

grr... mazda pisses me off.

why would they put a crackerjack motor in it??? didnt they say that they wanted to give you the option to mod it somewhere? I know I saw some mazda official say that somewhere.
(if i get flamed for that I swear Ill stab you....
...in the neck
... with a spoon
.. the motor is garbage)

Id love to keep the stock motor, but like i said its crap...(obviuosly if your running stock its an ok motor ), but even if you strip the motor down change all the seals and strengthen the hell out of it the MAX ill get out of it is like 400-500 and ill be overpowering the hell out of it til it pops, what sucks is that i can get in any american car to beat that for peanuts (which means ill get my *** handed to me everywhere i turn here in miami)... my mercedes has more HP than that... which is sad.

a kleeman supercharger upgrade (for mercedes) is $25,000... mind you that is a SH*T load for just a s/c kit... but it gets you 550hp to the wheels since the car is built well it can take it and not even feel it.

so

$41,000 for a mazda to run practiacally the same is retarded (taking into consideration that I dont want to run 900hp and ethenol).


thats 41000 + 30000 for the car so 71,000 for a mazda
or
71,000 for a mercedes... both running the same hp....
...hmm...
tough choice here... you can get an m3 turboed for that and run the same.... UGH




:p


so yea... to make a long story short I guess there is no way to get 600 hp out of that car within reason... from what i hear you either pop a 20b in there and get too much hp or keep the renesis and blow it to high heaven. I thought since it was rotary it might have some potential to make some easy power ...but i was wrong.

... thanks guys for all your help.

and Im sorry for wasting anyones time.


If anyone else knows any other options other than the 20b and the renecrap... let me know

Red Devil

I would suggest that you've come to the RX-8 too soon. In another year the aftermarket rotary tuners will have many options and I'm sure 3 Rotor Renesis engines will follow, with appropriate compression levels for boost applications. By then, however, the car will not be nearly as unique, which I've seen is one of your points.

I'm not saying that building-up an 8 will be any cheaper. But achieving 600hp should be attainable, and fairly reliable.

If you're main concern is power vs. cost, then the 8 is probably not a good fit at the moment.

Genom

And 41K from acosta isnt bad since you said before you could get the car for almost nothing.

And I would like to see where Mazda said they wanted the engine to be moddable. And upping it to 600HP is not light modding no matter how ya go. Your almost tripling engine power output. I just think your expectations are way off.

Efini 8

dude the E55 AMG is a decent car stock, but its not a platform for going up through modifications. E55 will 0wn all, its an awesome car and a sleeper.

Believe me, my good friends are all into the aftermarket import performance scene and we all know the Renesis is a piece of crap, and I am not even sure why it won that International Motor of the year... probably cuz it was like the only "NEW" motor to be developed.

My friends drive Mercedes Benzs and they all say the Kleeman Supercharger with stroker kit will kill all, and I KNOW that it will, NO DOUBT, but its just not worth the price. The E46 M3 engine is already maxed out and supercharger does little for $8000 + . These cars are fast out of the box, and making them faster is difficult.

Mainly I suggest narrowing it down to what YOU want from a car, it sounds you want to MOD the hell out of it and for PURE PERFORMANCE FUN AND BLISS. I suggest another car rather than the RX-8. RX-8 is a great car, dont get me wrong, but it just wont meet your expectations and your desires for a performance driven vehicle.

CLK_Racing

yea, thats basically what im saying. when i 1st posted this thread i figured hey this is a semi-cheap car with a rotary. and every time i turn around i have some shmuck telling me rotary is the best yada yada. so i basically came here to get some options and to price it out to see if it was worth getting and hooking up to my liking. it just turns out that it will cost me more to mod this car to 600hp than it will to buy a mercedes like the one i have and mod that to 600hp. my 02 clk (old body... hate the new body)has 589 rwhp and the car plus the mods cost about the same as the rx8 modded... and an rx8 is a sh*tbox in comparison. so its not worth it @ all. 70k for a mazda or 70k for a benz... hmmmm

I was just like hey its got a nice interior and looks modern i could make this a second car to mess around with. since i figured a turbo kids like 6000 plus modding the motor work should be like 5000 and 1500 for the tranny. so maybe 40-45k for the car and the mods total. but lol to spend 41 on top of the sticker is retarded specially since thats more than the price of the car! i mean... Mazda put a whole car together for 30k and just a motor and turbo and tranny are 41k... somones heads in the clouds. a chevy crate motor that produces 600hp is only 9,500, trannys like 1500 and the parts for a single t80 turbo kit are only like 7000 thats 900+rwhp and an 8second car on pump gas. soooo i dont see how a little baby 20t motor and a smaller turbo kit run so much. maybe acosta is just inflating the price... i dono... im going to check around here in miami though

so yea I def. agree with you the way it seems its just not worth it when i can just get a used benz and mod it...