G1User

Alright, so let me start off by saying that I have googled and read a lot of the turbo vs supercharge discussions. They all give advice to go with AccessPort or GReddy (with fixes). However, they were all 3+ year old threads.

So, I was looking for more of an up-to-date opinion on what exactly I should buy for a turbo kit?

Now, before you can answer that question, I am sure you need some information such as:

• What exactly am I looking for in a performance upgrade?
  • Well, I will be using this car as my daily transportation to and from work. I am not looking to bring this car to the race track, ever. So I really don't care about hitting speeds over 150+ mph. I am looking to be able to take off from a stoplight much faster than other cars.
• How much is my budget?
  • Definitely under $10k. Please respond with a nice array of options though. I am preferably looking for an all-in-one solution to which I can take to a mechanic to have installed (assuming they know how to tune it). Keep in mind, I am just looking for a good boost from take off, I don't care about reaching 200 mph. But I also don't want a turbo that will destroy my engine in the next 20k miles....
• What is my overall knowledge background of turbos and mechanics in general?
  • Absolutely none. I will not be the one installing this, nor will I even open the box. However, that doesn't mean I don't have connections or cannot get connections to those who can and have done it.

My car specifications:

• 2006 Mazda RX8
• 75050 miles on it at this exact moment
• All maintenance has been done by the manufacturer
• Daily driver, this is the car I will drive everyday, rain or snow.

Some things to reiterate and clarify, if you're going to post a solution than please explain it thoroughly. Don't just state buy X and apply Fix #4233213412, ok? Please treat me as if I am either a very, VERY valuable customer or I am a very close relative looking for advice. This means don't recommend me to buy a $9k turbo that is made for 24/7 race track use. But, do not recommend me to buy a $500 turbo that has a 95% potential rate to blow up my engine in the next 10k miles.

An example of a good response:

• You can buy GReddy and apply fix #2. Fix #2 is blah blah blah. I recommend this because blah blah blah. This would positively effect your car by blah blah blah. This will negatively effect your car by blah blah blah. The potential risks are blah blah blah.
• Or you can buy AccessPort, along with X, Y, Z, etc. I recommend this because blah blah blah. This would positively effect your car by blah blah blah. This will negatively effect your car by blah blah blah. The potential risks are blah blah blah.

Other questions:

1. Is a turbo too hard on the engine for my car? (consider the mileage in your answer)
2. Is a turbo bad for the engine in general? Will it shorten the life expectancy? How much?

Please help me turbo gurus!

Oh, and if you believe I should go supercharge due to the information above than please state that along with your explanation.

Thanks!

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

You have some nerve. Search the threads that already exist and make your own decision based on what you learn. No one is here to spoon feed you noob.

G1User

Sigh, first post failed to read even my first sentence .

This post makes a good example of the type of posts that will be ignored.

If I have found the answers through searching alone, than this thread wouldn't be here. Also, if there is a noob seeking similar answers than this post (with a thread date of 2013, not 3 year+ old threads) will come to the top. Please keep this in mind before you hit that flame button.

Thanks!

Lvis

if u have 7k for a turbo set up/tune then i suggest u get a winter beater first

Mr_Pieper

1. Your post asks for copious amounts of hand holding.
2. If you did your research then you should have some options to choose from.
3. If you did research then you would know how expensive boost on an 8 is.
4. If you did research you would know the Renesis doesn't last long with boost. Usually 30k MAX.
5. If you did your research you would see there aren't any readily available supercharging options without lucking out and finding something used.
6. If you read through those 3+ year old posts you would see that many of them are ONGOING.
7. Good luck staying under $10k.
8. There's more but I'm done. You obviously haven't properly done research into boosting this car or you would have all of your answers already. There is no go-to option and many of the well boosted 8s are one-offs.

ShellDude

iTrader: (12)

Xxoo ... Only one "real" kit out there... How'd you miss that in all your research.

Don't tell us how to respond... You're guaranteed to get bit on that part alone.

G1User

Nobody is forcing ANYONE to respond. I am an IT guy, so when it comes to computers I can answer questions and ramble on with no problems. I could easily give 5-page answers to questions. Why? Because that is my passion. THOSE are the people I am looking to respond. Not people who find answering questions tedious and a waste of time. If you like to read about current build projects, than there are other threads to open. You can only reply to questions with "use the search button" for so many years before the answers become outdated .
Hence again, the answers I would note are 3+ years old which is why I am opening a new thread for more up-to-date information regarding options.
Exactly, and my research doesn't tell me it goes over $10k at all. Boosts like GReddy are supposedly $3k. My connections would install this turbo for free due to being very close family friends. Thanks for the BS though .
So you're telling me you cannot buy a turbo and set the PSI to something low and still keep the engine intact longer than 30k miles? So everyone who installs a turbo has (according to you) over $10k laying out that they can dispose of every two years? I highly doubt it.
Based on 3+ year old threads, you can buy a brand that is the best all-in-one kit from Pettit or something. Does that mean they are still available? Hence this thread .
Sorry, I won't weed through hundreds of threads reading 10k+ posts, most of which are far outdated, in order to gather a list that won't reliably be current.
Read earlier response.
If I knew all of these answers than I wouldn't need a thread. If everybody knew all the answers, than there would be no questions. The only threads in this area would be about "oh look at my super awesome project with pictures".

But hey if the consensus is that this guy is correct and everybody is hand building their own turbos by cutting steel and dropping over $10k every two years, than I will gladly toss this idea out.

G1User

Actually, I kind of already have a winter beater but still prefer to drive my RX8. It has full coverage so if it does get hit or hailed on than I get a nice free paint job .

The winter beater is a 2001 Honda Civic with a newly built engine.

Mr_Pieper

Read any of the build threads towards the top of the major horsepower sub-forum. 9k, the 1st one to answer you, has a very good one that has lasted many years and 4 engines.

Yes, 30k is usually the top end a boosted Renesis will last. Many only make it 10 or 20 because of tuning errors.

Many of the people that boost this engine successfully are dedicated to the platform and do a lot of their own tuning. They have a lot of knowledge and it is well documented in their build threads. There is no reason for it to be regurgitated again here to screw up the search engines.

Read these two threads before you get too far into the 8:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...rx-8-a-233937/
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...t-here-202454/

fallafalla

You wont turbo an RX8 for 10k nor is a turbo 8 something you can daily without a backup as it will die at some point. The best bet you have is to sell it and get an RX7 leave it all stock and it'll last many thousand miles. But if you are really set on a turbo 8 the greddy kit is about the cheapest that i know of.

ShellDude

iTrader: (12)

40000 miles boosted still on original motor (kneels to the rotary gods).

third GReddy though. I even have a spare now.

Lvis

yes on second thought if u want lots of power on the 8 just go sell it and get a boosted rx7. If u purchased the 8 with the hopes of 300plus reliable hp then its going to cost double the cars value. Be happy with bolt ons/tune and the way the 8 handles

G1User

VERY interesting read! Thanks! The video on how the rotary engine was EXTREMELY (cannot stress this more) educational. Seriously. I may share the video with some friends in the office (as if they would care lol) just because of the "GOT IT" moment.

Anyways, you answered my question. I will be staying away from boosting my car at all and just enjoy what I have. I was hoping to spending a couple thousand on increasing my torque by going turbo and perhaps even getting more efficient gas usage due to "wasted" emissions being used to further power the car, thus reducing the amount of gas intake to give the same out of power. Also, I was assuming that a turbo on the RX-8 would be the same as a turbo on any other sports car, meaning the car's engine expectancy wouldn't be negatively effected to such a degree by reducing it's life to 30k miles lol.

Thanks!

WingleBeast

I think you will find most responses to this post you will have to ignore...

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

skc

You gotta pay to play in the boosted world however, you do get the benefit of the extra power on demand. My car had 61 000 miles before boost and I have added just over 13 000 miles since the supercharger. However, being a pioneer meant a lot of R&D needed to be done and still continues. This equiates to a lot of extra dollars.

Almost all FI guys will have a similar story. The standard GReddy kit may be an exception however, power is limited and you do not get any more power beyond 7000 rpm which may not please everyone.

If you have a big budget and want the RX8 as an occassional use car then go FI.

yomomspimp06

Welcome back Team

Stephen T

Actually, I wouldn't mind tagging along for the ride and read the opinions that are currently out there. We seem to have some knowledgable guys in New Zealand, probably due to our isolation from the bulk of suppliers. Maybe some of the older threads should be retired or at least the older posts archived(just a thought). I'm probably staying bog standard but never say never!!!!

Mazdaspeed RX8 ver2

Damn, rx8club members are ********, not like 5 years ago... don't hurt me!

Carbon8

iTrader: (4)

You may not like the facts pointed out in this thread, but the validation is there.

Yes you can go FI for under 10K, but don't expect any sort of longevity or reliability out of it, seeing as you are already at the 70K mark you might want to compression test your own engine as I doubt you will be able to FI it. (I know I wouldn't waste the money on it).

In my opinion and you can check my build, 10K isn't even enough for a proper N/A build as my projections put me over that already.

Your biggest problem FI is tuning, as the well know and reliable tuners are few and far between (yet they seem a dime a dozen the legitimacy of them is low) and I would only trust maybe 3-4 tuners in this community and even in the states to tune my 8. Tuning will be your biggest headache and one slight mishap and your engine is gone. Hence the need to budget at least 3K for a new motor as you will need it. When depends on the depth of your pockets and the shortcuts you don't take. FI its inevitable you will be replacing engines, might want to swap one whenever your need a new air filter as 30K is about all an FI Renny is good for.

Synapsis if you have only 10K an aren't looking for a headache, just don't do it. As your next thread will be an unproductive ranting of how much you hate the car after you invested 10K into and now need a new engine. Save yourself and us the hassle.

Side note, those 3 yr+ threads you mentioned cover all of the information thats been stated in this thread. Every turbo kit on the market has a thread here and any and all information you need is on here. This thread is asking for spoon feeding and I think that even with the audacity of the OP to dictate how we format our responses we were more than leniant, I vote this is a prime example of why 2% of our members are not a**holes

We are here to help the deserving, not spoon feed. We are here by our own choice next time don't be so arrogant as to tell us how to help you.

Mazdaspeed RX8 ver2

I understand that we are all here by choice and we choose to respond to threads and not to respond to threads. Funny thing is that people choose to be ******** in a thread that they choose to click on and choose to read. The OP isn't demanding to get answers from everyone who clicks in here. Though if the OP said "Best turbo kit out there in your opinion and why?", that would not be really as different though of course the OP is asking for everyone's opinion. Would he be flamed as hard if he were to write it like that or would he get real productive answers? I believe it would be better to not answer a thread at all if you have nothing really productive to say at all unless you're just trying to get your post count higher. I don't mean to be an ******* right now about this but i've been seeing a lot of this lately on this forum and instead of making a lot of frustration for the OP, people should just not respond with "search the forums" and stuff like that.

I apologize if i'm coming off as a douche, i'm at work and a little bored.

Newbies, here's a tip for you, word your topics right, ask for opinions rather than try to get facts, opinions will be different all the time regardless of the same question and opinions are less relevant to the older they are asked. When people tell you to search for an opinion from a year ago, things may have completely changed from then to now. Just saying.

bse50

Who replied by telling you to search and read was actually offering a solid bit of advice.
Boosting an engine with 75k miles means that you will need a rebuild soon after. Uneven seal wear + boost = lots of blowback and pinging, especially if the tune isn't spot on.

You also had the vehicle serviced by Mazda, this means 5w20 oil and other silly things that aren't optimal.

The bottom end is... there's no "perfect" kit out there and you will need some knowledge to find the best compromise and modify it to suit your needs.
This engine has a lot of drawbacks when boosted, while a kit may possibly be "Bolt on" or "Plug and play" the knowledge to properly use it (not even install it) isn't. You need to read, study and educate yourself on the subject before tackling a project that may be too much to chew in the long run.

Have you considered other mods that are considerably less invasive and expensive? A shorter final gear will improve acceleration. A better catalytic converter(needed anyway if going turbo), solid ignition (again, needed with a turbo)and a tune (same as the other parentheses) may be enough for you. You might get everything for less than 4000$, too.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

The OP's response in post #13 notes that he is no longer trying to boost his 8.

Feel free to continue to discuss the topic, but keep that point in mind.

bse50

That's why I told the OP about his NA alternatives.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Understood, my comment wasn't targeted at any one person.