importshowoff84

Has anyone been to this shop? I tried to search for it to see if any threads came up but haven't found any. Anyways, I ordered the Esmeril kit and was thinking about having them install/tune it. Are they any good?

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I've been there a couple of times for meets in the past. Historically, they have only wanted to work on FC & FD RX7's. They do good work and they get a lot of work on these cars and were backed up. On their website they advertise a turbo for the RX8, but I don't think one truly exists. And they do have an inhouse dyno.
Give them a call and see what they have to say.

mdw1000

I actually emailed with them about a year ago about doing a turbo kit. They were pretty helpful by email and were willing to do it. But I have also heard that they do get backed up with RX7s.

importshowoff84

I have called them, and they are willing to do it. But, they dont make a custom kit for the rx8 anymore. They stopped it because their focus is on the rx7 and they did a greddy kit on an rx8 and the guy's engine blew in 6 months. They say the apex seals cant handle 7 lbs of boost for a daily driver.

So, talking with Christian from Esmeril, he said theyve driven their car at 12 lbs for over 20k miles now. Kinda worries me that A-spec would say this, do they not know anyhting about the engine? Or, are they just not well informed. I mean they specialize in rotaries and this is why I would want to go to them. They said to do soemthing to the seals, it would cost about 2000. But, that's not necessary according to Christian.

"mdw1000 I actually emailed with them about a year ago about doing a turbo kit. They were pretty helpful by email and were willing to do it. But I have also heard that they do get backed up with RX7s. "

They are helpful and I plan on actually meeting with them before I commit to them. And they said they would be able to fit me in whenever I get the kit. I just wanna know if they're a good shop to go to esp. with their experience with roatories. Or what shop in chicagoland area is good?

mdw1000

The greddy turbo seems to have had a lot of problems over the years. Seems to make it really reliable, you have to upgrade a lot of the components. Others here would know more about that than me. The Esmeril hasn't been out for very long, but I would expect it to be more reliable than the Greddy. Sounds like A-spec had one bad experience with the Greddy and have blamed it on the engine. It could have been a problem with that particular engine, a problem with the tune, etc, but there are a lot of people running FI now without a blown engine. Check out the "major horsepower" section in the aftermarket performance mods section of the site.

I don't know of any other rotary specific shops in the chicago area. You could also try bribing/buttering up some of the more knowledgeable members here to help you install it. From what I remember the Esmeril was supposed to be designed to be easy for the end user to install.

importshowoff84

I feel very comfortable with the Esmeril kit in every aspect: reliability, performance, longevity. I chose to go with the interceptor-x with the custom maps from Christian. Just figured a shop would be best for tuning/install.

How shal I butter them up... shower them with fancy gifts?....or would unlimited supply of beer for time for install suffice?? haha

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I think A-Spec just doesn't know how to tune a RX8. They may do the install for you, but offer no warranty on their work. I don't know how you feel about that. Esmeril would be warrantying their kit.
That turbo kit comes from Minnesota, doesn't it? Ask Esmeril about doing the installation for you. It's not that far.
Or, you can contact Charles R. Hill. If you have a warm garage, he may be available.
Another thought, you could contact Banzi Racing in northern Indiana. They are another RX7 shop that maybe more open to tinker with a RX8 than A-Spec.

Red Devil

I'd be interested in taking a look at their kit, especially their new provisions for mounting the IC with the OEM crashbar...

mdw1000

You could put together an install meet, assuming you have a garage or find someone willing to let you use theirs. See who you could get interested in coming out to help you. Generally food and beer is acceptable payment for things like that. You just have to realize that if people are helping you out for free, you aren't getting any kind of warranty. But in reality, I don't think any shop is going to provide you with much of a warranty, especially to install someone else's kit. Only thing they would warranty is any sort of failure due to an error on their part, but you'd probably have a tough time proving that a problem was caused by their work and not the kit itself.

I would take the opportunity to have Red Devil look at it since he offered. He's very knowledgeable on turbos and has done some work on my car. There is at least one other person I'd recommend, but I don't want to speak for him in case he's not interested....

You can always take it somewhere to have it tuned after you get it installed, as long as you have their basemaps. The car should run fine with those. You may not really even need to get it tuned, but most people seem to recommend it.

tdiddy

I would be willing to help but I'm not going to be available until at least March. I am still waiting on some parts then I have to finish my install. I recommend Charles R. Hill. Just send him a PM. His prices match or beat any shop and he is willing to travel. He was instramental in the installation of many of my turbo kit parts and does top notch work.

importshowoff84

I expect the kit to arrive sometime at the end of February-ish. What do you mean mounting the IC with the OEM crashbar? Where is this located?

Well, where in Chicago are you located? Whenever the kit comes in you can take a look at it. Unless A-spec feels really comfortable doing this.

Another shop I'm interested in is located in Plainfield. It's called Performance Autowerks. They installed my exhaust. They do a lot of great work on many cars. Anyone know much about them?

importshowoff84

Thanks. Yea, I wish I knew more myself, because I am so skeptical with shops. I had a honda jdm engine swap 2 years back and they completely butchered the whole thing and ran away laughing with my money.

Red Devil

I'm downtown in the middle of the city. Like Tdiddy, and probably others, I'd be willing to help, but I really don't have much time right now or in the foreseeable future. The crash bar is right behind your bumper. Esmeril, last I checked, mounts the IC in such a way that it doesn't impede air to the radiator.

I've spoken with the guys at Autowerks a few times, they have a very good rep in other communities and do really good work from what I've seen. I had a good impression of them.

Another guy, I've spoken to here and there is Bill Hahn, from Hahnracecraft. He told me about a year ago he has tuned rotary engines and has done some custom builds through the years. His mentor was Corky Bell, and Bill really seems to know his stuff.

And as Tdiddy mentioned, Ray - Charles Hill, is another option and he can speak to his work.

Forgot to add, I've spoken with the guys at A-Spec a few times also, and thought they were pretty cool.

So really, you have a lot of options, I think. Though I will admit I've never employed any of them to work on a car of mine.

importshowoff84

It seems a rotary specialized shop doesn't really measure up to the other shops. Not much heard about A-spec. I'll still meet with them and see what they think. I will also give Autowerks a call and see how they feel also, as well as Bill Hahn and Charles Hill. I just dont want what happened to me with the honda swap to happen with this.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Here's another option: http://www.profunctionauto.com/
They are in Burr Ridge. I think they are mainly a Honda/Acura shop, but that shouldn't matter. Besides we need more shops in Chicagoland that do rotaries.

http://www.pandlmotorsports.com/
They are a Subby shop, but I heard that one guy there, Jorge, is good at tuning rotaries. For everyone elses reference, they are also a Cobb tuner.