Bought a series 1 rx8 a little while ago for cheap cuz it had a bad tranny. Replaced the tranny and the car runs great apart from it seems like its heating up too much. I know i can't trust the stock gauges so I'm just looking for some advise from anyone whose bought high flow water pumps. I figure its a good place to start apart from inspecting for any clogs (ddnt find anything).

Thanks! 😃

 

oem is fine. i had the mazmart t stat and water pump. i think the t stat did more for cooling than the w/p

 

Legot's simulations show the Mazmart pump moves less water for a given RPM but requires less power.

You can retrofit an S2 pump but it's not an ideal setup.

As far as I know, there are no other water pumps that will bolt directly in. You'll have to do a custom job.

 

I stand by my real-world temperature improvement with Mazmart water pump. The catch is, it makes no difference in thermostat-controlled daily driving, it only matters at the track.

The car should be able to cool itself just fine with stock components. Is the foam around the radiator present? Is the engine undertray present? Is the rad in good shape?

Under what conditions does it overheat?

 

What he said...

I have Remedy, but that is track decision based a lot on the Legot data matching my experiences exactly. The lower water flow is a bit of a pain in the winter (less heat in the car) but this is Florida. All it freaking does is rain.

As for additional cooling, get an ultragauge. track temps. There are cooling mods in the congrats thread below that really work. And, a lower oil cooler thermostat really made a difference for me.

 

Just buy an OEM style pump, it's the most reliable solution and you can get a lifetime warranty on it. And installing an S2 pump is pretty much impossible unless you want to hack up the front cover and know how to fabricate.

 

Again, what he said.

 

Its not overheating to a critical level, shook the car down on a couple spirited runs up and down a mountain and everything seems alright. The area just under the shift *** got pretty hot but I hear that's normal for these cars? I forgot to mention that when the engine seems like its going up in temp I get a strange smell of fuel and a faint smell of melted plastic.

 

That would be your catalytic converter and you're going to want to stop driving until it is confirmed to be not broken up or clogged, or replaced. See if the cat glows after such a shakedown. If the ignition coils haven't been replaced, now would be a good time to do so. Coils kill cats, cats kill engines. No portion of the engine or cooling system is under the shift ****.

What do you mean "seems like it's going up im temp?". If the gauge is moving, you're in trouble. That is critical in itself.

 

Does your car still have a cat?

While the shift **** and cupholder can get warm, if it's uncomfortably hot, then you might have a clogged cat.

 

++ ^^

What he said

 

another vote for OEM water pump.
I ran the Mazmart pump for some time but unfortunately it failed prematurely. I'm sure it's a great pump for track guys but for most owners the OE will do just fine

 

I agree with Jedi...

Unless you are a non track guy that spends a lot of time above 6,000 RPM at full load...