Nathan Atkins

Welcome Doc, glad to have you with us, enjoy your ******* island paradise! Are you allowed a car there? the whole island is within walking distance!

RJay what is this service of which you speak?

Hey guys here is the consolidated DC area autocross schedule:

aprtur

I'm assuming Jay means a Zoom cleaning ....it'd be fun to gather everyone together again, that's for sure. I'll just feel like a bit of a twit with some newfound winter damage on my 8 .

Dr_Martin92

[QUOTE=Nathan Atkins;4566972]Welcome Doc, glad to have you with us, enjoy your ******* island paradise! Are you allowed a car there? the whole island is within walking distance!

Well Thank you, and HAAA Island paradise my ***! the only benefit is is that its like 85 degree weather but feels like 105+ ever day so no snow; but the down side is that the highest speed limit here is 35. I ended up buying my 8 out here and that's how i got into this. Pretty glad i did so far

BrokenRecord

Welcome aboard Doc! When are you expected to be back stateside?

Thanks for posting the schedule Nate. Only a month to go!

Dr_Martin92

[QUOTE=Dr_Martin92;4567058]I should be back May of 2016, but i haven't decided if I'm going to reenlist or not, btw if anyone ever comes to Guam really bad place for low cars. Not sure why but they have the brightest idea of having the highest speed bumps that will scrape the bottom on an RX8 and tons of pot holes that never get fixed , but on the plus side it gives me plenty of time to do some work and add some mods before i come back stateside

Nathan Atkins

Hahahahaha! he said "re-enlist" LOL

What's your MOS?
are you coming back here in 2016, or you're just from this area and are gonna be stateside somewhere?
do you autocross? this is a good group to get started with if your interested.

If you're interested in modding there are a ton of threads on it here and of course your Maryland brethren are here to advise and assist.
What are you looking to do? appearance mods or go faster mods?

BrokenRecord

Dr_Martin92

Well I'm a Personnel Specialist in the Navy but i used to be an Aviation Electronics Tech. and I plan on taking leave a few times this year to come home for a bit, but I'm originally from that area I'd like to come back but it depends where I get stationed next

I've never done autocross before and I have no idea what it's about too, but just from the name it sounds like fun haha.

I plan on doing tons of mods out here as much as I can before I come back, but since I bought the car second hand off another military guy he already did some mods before me. He replaced the ignition system with a BHR ignition kit, also took out the Cat and replaced it with a BHR midpipe and HKS Hi-power exhaust. He removed the battery and replaced it with a motorcycle battery (dunno why) and placed it where the windshield wiper fluid tank is and completely removed that tank, oh and replaced pretty much all the fluids he could with royal purple brand. From what I've seen now I want to replace the stock Air box with a AEM air intake first, then after that I'll go for some appearance mods like LED brake lights or relighting the interior of the car.

Strangely enough I knew nothing about cars when I bought it and i didn't know how to drive a M/T but i learned specifically to buy this car haha something told me to get it and not bad for a 2006 with 35000 miles on it.

Nathan Atkins

Nice, I was a H-60 crewcheif in my day, did a fair bit of Avionics as well. Once did a layover in Guam, I thought the hotel at the airfield was nice -___-

Sweet we'll do a meet and greet at cars and coffee or even better an autocross if there's something on the schedule! Of course on leave you wont be shipping your car over so your welcome to try mine, my car is like a village bicycle, i think half the guys in this thread have driven it.

It is, our local club is Capital driving club: Capital Driving Club
here's a super dramatic introduction to it:
And a more casual description:

Holy **** I bet that's loud! Ignition coils are a known failure point so you've done well to have the rated BHR kit.


Generally this is to save weight, but it's a bit "ricer" when you're not racing the car, maybe one out of a hundred drivers are good enough to take advantage of a weight savings of 40 pounds or so. And maybe you dont need windshield washer fluid there, but you certainly will need it in Maryland!

the brand name matters alot less than just making sure there's enough in there! although with a series I RX8 they have brass synchronizers in the transmission so its important to get the right grade of transmission oil regardless of brand, I use Redline MT-90 for buttery smooth 'bolt action rifle' shifting

I'd recommend keeping the stock box wih a K&N drop in(have you seen the SIZE of our stock box? o_O) as nearly all intakes for the 8 make it very loud and usually don't add power, the Mazdaspeed or Racing beat Intakes are the least of the offenders but even so, they only get you marginal performance gain
RIWWP has made an excellent newbie guide here on the forum it's a great place to start:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...rx-8-a-233937/

I like appearance mods for the sake of personalization, but in my experience, LED turn signals are harder to see cause the head/tail light housings are designed to reflect non-directional light and LEDs are quasi-directional so they end up looking dim

wow 35k?! thats incredibly low, but not altogether surprising on Guam. Everyone had to start somewhere and experience/age are pretty disconnected, I took to a manual gearbox like a duck to water when i was 11, contrast that to my wife who has been driving manuals for 15 years and ******* sucks at it!

An RX8 can be a tough car to live with, but it's a good car to develop good habits with, just keep oil in it and dont ignore warning signs and it will take care of you too!

and one more thing, this thread by RIWWP is excellent and you should read all of it, it's for new and potential owners, lots of valuable information in there that I found useful when i got my 8:
https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...t-here-202454/

bladeiai

iTrader: (1)

Sooo.... now that the schedule is up, what day do you guys like better for a BBQ, March 23rd or May 4th?

denim

Nice link Nathan, and thanks for posting the track schedule in a clean format. Printing now.

Nathan Atkins

May 4th works best for me cause I'm doing SCCA on the 23rd of March

BrokenRecord

I'd say May 4th, simply because a March barbecue might be a little chilly for some folks. However, May is way too far off, so maybe I'll have to actually get a cruise together so we can all have a reason to hang out before then.


Incidentally, I'm finally getting off of my brutal 7-days a week schedule, so I'll actually be able to participate in events again!

Genocide

iTrader: (1)

I would have to say may 4th too.

Dr_Martin92

See you already know how Guam is then and for me being an E3 and at 21 years old it really blows!

That would be awesome!! Especially to see how everyone else handles their car and their driving styles!

It is pretty loud yes, but I've gotten used to it already. Sadly a few months ago I was getting a problem with my engine misfiring really bad when I would give it partial throttle so I was researching through here and decided to see if replacing the BHR kit with the OEM ignition system would fix the problem and strangely enough it did! So for now I'm running stock ignition coils again, but I might try and test out the BHR coils again to see maybe if the spark plugs or wires were the issue.

So far I've been able to manage without a windshield washer tank but I kind of miss it at times but I like the open space that was created when the battery was removed kind of airs the area in front of the engine out a bit better.

That’s my next upcoming project when I get paid again is to drain the transmission fluid and to replace it but I'm still looking up the DIY threads here and seeing everyone's different opinion on each type of fluid

I've been reading over this thread for about the past month and sad to say I would like the intake just for the fact that it makes it easier to get to things underneath it and I kind of like the sound as well (I know I’m a horrible fan boy for that). If I may ask what is a K&N Drop In?

Really? I had no idea about that I originally planned on changing the 3rd break light in the trunk to a LED light maybe I might just make it simple and get a rotary dragon sticker to put on it

I felt really lucky when I got it! Cause of the low mileage and good condition of the car but I learned how to drive manual in about a week so I could get it ha-ha. It’s been since July of last year when I bought it and I’m definitely a lot better than when I first started but I still have a long way to go to make it smoother

I've noticed that already! I make sure to keep an extra bottle of oil in the trunk in case I need to top it off and the previous owner threw in a scanguage to monitor the car's ECU and stats and its saved me numerous times when figuring out the cursed CEL

I've also looked at this thread too and I'm still making why way through it as well. I feel like I'm going to learn a lot here and get some good ideas on how to enjoy my car a lot more than I already have been

Nathan Atkins

I cant say enough for Redline MT-90, the stuff is awesome, but really any transmission oil that fits the specs for the car would be ok, I cant remember if its GL-4 or GL-5 but it MUST be the right one.

It's a high flow reusable air filter that fits in place of the factory filter, usually costs no more than 30-40 bucks, way cheaper than an intake kit, and you really get similar results. The trouble with power mods on the RX8 is that the biggest breathing restriction is the exhaust ports, so everything else doesnt do much if anything for power gains until you get porting done (or forced induction). But don't worry, the car makes plenty of power to get in trouble on twisty back roads and stomp corvettes and STIs at autocross :D

Dr_Martin92

Hmm i might have to see if my local NAPA has some MT-90 then but i still have to do more research

The K&N drop in just replaces the whole air box or the sir filter itself? and i wouldn't mind saving money on that if it gives me the same benefits of another intake. Maybe I'll save power mods until i can get back to the stats when I'm not restricted to the delivery of custom parts which take about 45 days.

What appearance mods would you recommend to make a nice statement??

denim

The drop in is just the filter. As for appearance, I tinted the windows instantly. Can't stand it otherwise. Suspension change, will be a subtle change but both appearance and handling.

I also vote for May on the WTFrotaryBBQ as I will be unsuccessfully chasing Nathan's numbers at FedEx, regardless of which car I bring. :P

Roush

i want to start autox but never done it is anyone interested in helping me out before the season begins? ive read the cdc site and it makes sense on paper but i need to practice.

BrokenRecord

Honestly, the best way to practice is just to do it. I went to my first event last year with no practice other than driving like a punk on the street, and I did well enough that I didn't feel embarrassed. In all the events I've been to, I've never once left second gear, so it's not like you need to practice shifting or anything. If you're really nervous about it, you could go into an empty parking lot and try to get a feel for the steering and braking limits of your car, but it's kind of hard to safely replicate the Auto-X feel on the street or without a ton of cones. If you ever feel like hiking out to Frederick, I'd be happy to go on a high speed run of some of the tight roads in Gambrill State Park to give you a little practice, but it might not be worth the gas for you!


Glad to hear you're interested in Auto-X, it's a ton of fun and a great way to become a better driver. Most of us met in person at an Auto-X event, so it's also a great social opportunity. Don't stress about kicking *** the first time and you'll have tons of fun!

BrokenRecord

How dark is your tint Aaron? I remember liking the look but I don't think I asked about the %. Any issues with the police? I know the TurboXS exhaust we both have tends to invite a lot of unwanted attention.

Dr_Martin92

That reminds me i need to get the tint redone too, I think i have like 17% all the way around but its really bad int he back that i cant see out of it cause its wavey and bubbley. I'm pretty much driving without a back window hhaha

Nathan Atkins

I agree with chris, doing it is practice, it's really intuitive and lots of fun

BrokenRecord

I figured you'd agree with me; I was repeating verbatim what you told me when I asked that same question a year ago!

Don't be nervous Roush, come join the fun!

Dr_Martin92

It does look like lots of fun. I really wish i could see how much work a rx8 can take around sharp corners.