Just like with Ryan...I don't know **** but I have two hands and would like to learn if you'll have me around.

 

That won't help, cause I don't know **** either!

 

Which sway did you get? Unless you got the RB endlinks - which I think are illegal anyway - you probably don't need help doing the rear sway. It's very, very easy. Literally undue 6 nuts, take out the old sway, put in the new sway, grease your bushings, and screw the nuts back on. You don't even have to take the rear wheels off. Just jack the rear up, put it on stands, and then do the swap.

The front, OTOH, was an epic pain in the ****.

As far as shocks they're a pretty rough home DIY. I'm trying to convince a Brian to help me with mine - either the one here or another one I know in Akron who I haven't been able to get a hold of - because they both have air compressors. But when you replace the shocks you have to decompress the springs and then put them back on. That requires a spring compressor and has a fair amount of risk associated to it which is why I've been waiting to do mine.

I'm probably going to break down and just put my car up on Labor day, change my diff/tranny fluid, and then take my current shock/springs to a... oh crap. No one's gonna be open. Stupid Labor day.

 

Got a Mazdaspeed front sway. It's legal. Koni adjustables are legal too.

I'll probably take it to a garage.

If you'd just get that lift for my garage, errr, I mean store it there. I have a compressor if you ever need it. Needed one back on the farm for all the equipment.

 

here's my expertise on installing shocks... that binding cable that keeps the thing compressed, ya... don't cut that until after you attached it to your car.

/nod

 

btw...here are the prices from that place Marlon recommended in case anyone is interested since they don't put prices online...

 

didn't somebody mention that there was a screen refresh setting in firefox?? how do you turn that on.

 

OUCH!

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/115

 

Was it front that was legal and rear that was illegal? I'm so glad I'm done with BS.

I wouldn't have a garage do your front sway. Honestly it's difficult but not complex so it's something that you can and probably should do with someone. It is a real 2-person job and it does require a fair amount of patience. You have to just keep adjusting till you figure out the way to get the front sway in. Give yourself a couple hours.

The biggest 'trick' was figuring out which side to get in first, get out first, and how to move the steering wheel so that you had the proper clearance at the proper time.

Going to a garage for your shocks are going to cost you a decent chunk. It takes at least a couple hours and you may need to have an alignment done afterwards (I think I've read that it's not really neccessary if you're just doing shocks - only shocks and springs - but you may want an alignment done anyway).

 

There is a FireFox add-on called ReloadEvery:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/115

Once installed, you'll see a drop-down arrow next to the refresh icon in FireFox.
Click on that to enable it and to select the duration til it reloads the page.

 

Damn you DB...

 

muhahahahahahaha

 

tnx on the refresh thing. got it.

 

Heh, ya it's not a good thing. Wasn't me that did it. Was at a car show at Summit Racing 2 years ago and some civic kid bought a set of shocks from there. he and his friends were being your typical rice-head kids walking around, talking trash about all the cars that were there. Anyway, They decided to put them shocks on right there in the parking lot. Trying to show they were experts i guess, able to work on cars anywhere. Got the car up on it's car jack (not a lift or hydraulic jack... just the pos from the trunk for emergency flat tire repairs, etc), opened the shocks up and started working on pulling the first wheel off. One of the "experts" decided to unwrap them from the protective plastics and didnt realize that band attached to the top and bottom was to keep the thing compressed... so he cut it. Damn thing sounded like a gun going off! lol. Needless to say, the one that bought the set wasnt happy with his "expert" buddy.

good times!

 

Found a VR 8 today. I guess the president of Dodd Camera drives a VR 8. I told one of his employees to have him come find us. According to the employee he has been doing some spirited parking lot driving.

 

Hmmmm.......I should start offering my services in return for cold hard cash. That way I could afford to by more parts.....that I would learn how to install....after which I could charge you guys to help you install them on your cars.....then I buy more parts......




Now if only I had the time.....

 

I just received my spark plugs from BHR (the 7 & 9 plugs).
Seeing the actual part number on the box, I went to Summit Racing's website and found that they sell the exact same plugs for $19.69ea!
Most people here buy them from Sparkplugs.com, which charges $20.55ea (and then you have to pay for shipping).
I know some of you live way up north, but if you ever need spark plugs, its a good excuse to drive down.

 

Cool. I knew those plugs were relatively inexpensive. Nice to know Summit carries them. I'm sure I'll pick up a spare or two the next time I'm down there.

So they just shipped you your plugs early, right? Not the entire coil/wire/plugs set?

 

LOL... wouldn't you be pissed if I did get mine early?
Unfortunately, I only received the plugs.
I asked Ray if I could have the plugs early because I was having rough idles and a couple misfires, so he gave them to me for the discounted price because I was on the list for the coils.

 

Today I decided to change my spark plugs.
Most of you may remember me saying that I had rough idles and a noticeable power loss.
It got so bad that a couple times I had to crank it for a good 5 seconds before it started.
This made me park the car until I got new spark plugs from BHR.
I was running the RX7 plugs from MazSport for two years.

Sitting around bored and not wanting to wait until I can go to my father's (he has a nice flat driveway, unlike me), I decided to install the plugs.
I've read that some people have changed them without taking the front wheel off... so I wanted to try it out (remember.. I was bored).

The removal and installation is pretty much the same as with the tire off.

1. Get a 13/16 spark plug socket (I got mine with a swivel... VERY helpful)
2. 12" extension
3. anti-seize
4. Long arms
5. 1 hour (and that's with gathering tools, taking your time, double checking everything)

I did disconnect the hose line going to the charcoal canister so I could reach down through the top (may not be necessary if you have skinny arms).
It has a quick disconnect that is blue. The red one is the fuel line (which has a small amount of fuel in it) and does not need to be disconnected.
Attached below is a pic of the RX7 plugs I removed.
I found it easier to start threading them in from the wheel well and then hand tighten from up top.
After I got it hand tight, I went back into the wheel well to tighten with the socket.

After resetting the KAM, NVRAM, DSC and letting it sit idle for a few minutes, I took it for a run around the block.
Throttle response feels MUCH better now, but I still need to give it a few drive cycles to relearn the fuel trim.

So tomorrow I'll be jacking the car up to locate the rattling sound (I'm thinking the heat shield or exhaust hanger).
While its jacked up, I'll finally change out the trans and diff fluids (finally get to remove the "switching to" reference in my signature).
Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday!

 

Vyn...look...a shitty non functional rx8 part that the previous owner didn't buy. I think you should order it to keep the tradition going.

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/new-dress-ups-motor-155060/

 

Jon - let me know if it seems to start better too. I'm obviously getting these anyways but I'm hoping that this helps reduce my crank time. Mines always been hesitant.

 

. . . ha ha ha. . .
The reason I don't have one of these on my car is because . . . I already have a rotary oil cap from racing beat, so you know its good


Putting the exhaust on today, hopefully. Then we'll see how it goes!

 

Good luck!
Tip.... all the bolts are metric EXCEPT the O2 sensor (which is 1" I believe).