I know nothing about RX8s, I just got mine like a month ago, I just wondered why all the turbos made for the car are for manual transmissions only. the only reason I could think of is that the automatic transmission can't handle any extra horses. If anyone knows the maximum horsepower I can put on my automatic RX8 tranny, I would appreciate the info.

 

Welcome to the club and congrats on the new car.

I don't know much about the auto but you might find your answers in these links:

There is an auto specific ugrades section here: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-specific-performance-mods-97/

Here is a thread on turboing an auto in that same section here: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-specific-performance-mods-97/turbocharging-auto-rx8-120885/

 

Well i have burnt my auto tranny and had to have it rebuilt. To have the tranny built back to stock would have cost around 3400. Since i brought my car to Level Ten ( www.levelten.com ) to get fixed i went for their performance upgrade which came with a 3yr 50k mile warranty and cost 4400. I know that is a lot of money but it can handle up to 1000 hp. Also heat is the number one killer of auto tanny's

 

Welcome!

You pretty much nailed the issue on the head. Nobody makes turbo's for the AT because they detune the engine so the AT can handle the power.

Also, most of the people who are willing to have a turbo installed on their 8 already drive MT's, so theres no real market.

 

Yeah, I kinda figured that about the power thing. I live in a small town in Texas, and when I got mine there were only two for sale in this whole area, even the mazda dealership didn't have a used one, and I couldn't afford a new one. The other RX8 was a manual, but it was like violet purple, and I just couldn't bring myself to drive a purple car, so i got the auto.

 

I also thought that if i kept the hp below like 260-280 the tranny would be fine, but I dunno exactly how much the automatic can handle.

 

wouldnt the ports be an issue on earlier models as well? I know it wouldnt be too much of an issue if you know what you're doing... but I wouldnt be surprised if earlier kits just didnt want to mess with it...