I may not be at the Lakeland AutoX this weekend. There's an auction taking place that day that I might attend. I'm still deciding.

 

If he wanted to drive the MSP, I have no issue with it at all. John, you just need to get the car over to Bullitt Proof and have them lower your seat. Just give John and call and let him know what you need and he'll take good care of you.

 

I appreciate the offer Marlon but like I said...I really wouldn't be comfortable pushing an unfamiliar car to it's limits. Never having driven and autocross or your car just doesn't seem like a good idea.

As for Bullit Proof. I have to work out a time in which to get out there. So far the issue has been with me being lazy about it, or having things come up, but I will get there eventually.

 

Hardy har har.

Sorry to hear about the black cloud. Hope it clears up. At least you will finally be getting your pipe (allegedly).

Are you going to do the midpipe swap yourself or have a shop do it? I wouldn't mind helping if you need a hand or spectacting if you don't. Gotta see how involved it is to swap it since I'm gonna have to decide on whether I have to go with the Mazport pipe next year or get a racing pipe and swap the stock pipe out when I go to track events. I'm assuming you have to use a lift so you'll have a shop do it but figured I'd give it a shot.

Plus I want to hear it.

 

I never have a shop do my work... I love to get my hands dirty.
Plus it helps me learn more about this car!
I've always done the mid-pipe swap myself... though I take the car to my dad's because I have a slanted drive-way and don't want the car falling on me.
Just lift the rear of the car and remove 5 bolts to take out the mid section. Pretty easy!
The gaskets and bolts can be reused, but I wouldn't reuse the gaskets too many times. I've gotten away with 3 times.
I'm about to call my dad to see if he is available Friday or Saturday.

 

Its all good... family comes first.
I only cried for a few hours afterwards...
I'll just have to work more overtime to save up again.

 

I got a good shot of my midpipe when they had it on the lift for my exhaust install. I don't think I'd try doing it the first time on jacks since it will probably take a fair amount of pressure to loosen the bolts. With the pipe dead center in the car there isn't a lot of room to get leverage. Subsequent time I should be able to manage it. That's what's important to me because I'd like to be able to do it at a track/autox event if I'm using a straight pipe. Lots of tracks have lifts available so I just need to know someone to be able to swap off a lift.

 

At first the bolts were a little tight... but I was fine with two good jack stands on either side.
Don't be afraid to get under there and wrench it hard... you are turning a bolt, not shifting it side to side
I wouldn't try to wrench hard with cheapy jack stands...
My dad will let me know Thursday if I can borrow his driveway.
He will be out on the boat so I'll be by myself.
You are welcome to tag along.
If I can't make it to my dads, I'll probably go to a friend's house (in Parma).

 

RK:
I'll be installing the mid-pipe Friday at noon.
I'm going to my friend's house in Seven Hills to do it.
You're welcome to join if you want.
It'll give you an idea on how to do it yourself (and not have to waste money putting it on a lift... unless you have friends on the inside who don't mind you using it)!

 

I'm hitting a mechanic I play darts with up tonight to see what kind of access he has but normally I don't have friends with lifts. Which is a bummer because I'm planning on doing a fair amount of work in the fall/winter under the car with shocks/springs/sways. Definitely makes life easier. I even found a lift for $1500 online. I'm going to keep it in mind when shopping for houses... Get a big enough garage or a barn and then I can budget in my mortgage.

http://www.equiptool.com/

I'm definitely not able to get there on Friday but if you're not in a hurry feel free to take vids and push out a quick DIY. Like you said it's not exactly a complicated process to do the swap but never hurts to see it done for real before trying it on paper.

Plus you know you want to use your camera.

 

Ditto.

I can't remember the last time I had a shop do a job for me. (Unless it was something that was under warranty.) Although sometimes it would be nice to have someone else do the frustrating work, that's how you save money and learn how the vehicle is put together.

 

If you get that lift, you'll be my new best friend...

I'll see what I can do for you...

 

My personal mechanic has a lift in his barn. Very handy I must say. :P Although you really aren't going to want to drive out there to work on your car in the winter. If someone gets into a bind though I might be able to make a phone call to borrow the lift for an afternoon or evening some time. Especially since you won't need his help...all you would need to do is bring beer.

 

That's been in my plans too for the past 5 years. I can't wait until I move out of the damn city! Two more years.....

When I worked at The Home Depot years ago I designed a garage using their deck and garage design software. It gave me a printout of all the materials that I'd need to build it down to the last screw. I plan on putting at least 2 lifts in there -a four post and a two post-, a wash bay, a paint booth, and some storage area for my fleet of vehicles that I plan to amass one day.

Now only if I could afford the laser alignment rack......

 

My mid-pipe arrived a day earlier! It looks real nice!
It comes with both gaskets, replacement bolts, and a plug for the bung if not using a WBO2 sensor.
If you plan on swapping back and forth between a mid-pipe and the stock cat, having a second set of bolts and gaskets are real nice!
The second time I removed my mid-pipe, I had to take a torch to the bolts to loosen them from the pipe (because I had to reuse them).
The "dots" on the resonators are from the bubble-wrap for shipping (which the 6 year old is currently jumping on).
I'll give them a good wipe before installing so they don't become permanent!

 

Darn...it would have been really cool if it was clear and that was actually the inner workings of the resonator.

BTW...Party at Jon's?

 

Nice! I didn't realize it came with a pool table but I guess for that price I should have assumed.

You gonna even bother? I think I've read a few '04s have managed to escape the midpipe CEL but no one with an 05+ has managed to install a midpipe w/o getting the CEL.

Good they included all the parts and aren't asking for you to reuse stock. It also looks a little straighter than I would have thought. I was looking at the racing pipes at the rx7store and thought they had more of a kink in them.... Ummm. Here:



Straighter is probably better tho. Have they dyno'd that vs. a racing pipe or vs. a stock cat? Curious if the resonators have any impact at all to airflow. Probably not.

 

If you guys want to buy a lift I'll let you keep it at my house!

 

If anyone is interested in doing this, Tony and I are talking about going. It sounds really fun, and much safer that group road racing.


SCCA Time trial at BeaveRun Racetrack in Pa.

It's about an hour and half drive from here:


http://www.steelcities-scca.org/TimeTrials/index.html

 

Yes... I need to plug the front O2 bung because I don't have a WBO2 sensor.
The sensor that is currently on our car after the cat (rear O2 sensor) will go in the second bung.
Its not gonna serve a real purpose except to plug the 2nd bung, or else I could just remove the sensor.
When I had my single resonator mid-pipe, I could not "escape" the CEL.
Everytime I cleared the CEL, it came back within a couple days (sometimes the same day).

I wouldn't think that it impacts air flow enough to make a difference.
Yes, there have been dynos between the stock cat and MazSport Dual Resonated mid-pipe, but to get any REAL valuable data, you need to do it on the same day, same dyno, same car (and try to stay within the same temps and other stuff).
I'm willing to bet nobody has done this with the MazSport, RB, and stock cat... would be interesting to see.

 

Doc and Tony..you might also be interested in these events that Marlon posted about...might even be cheaper *shrug*

https://www.rx8club.com/mw-rx-8-forum-31/fla-out-fridays-%40-beaverun-150098/

 

Thanks. That is kind of interesting.

I need to pick up a single tire for roadwork. I tore one up. Thanks.

Jon, can I help with anything?

 

Stop being a Scared Sally, Mark.

Any word on cost yet?

 

Which Jon are you referring to?
What would you like to help with?

 

Not me...I have an H :P