wackemandstackem

I have played with many cars over the years. I have rebuilt engines, modified engines, added turbos, added superchargers, and other wacky stuff. But I have never got to play with a rotary.

I have had an interest in tearing apart a rotary for a long time, and since there seems to be a healthy supply of Rx8s with bad engines for cheap, I purchased a low compression 04. front rotor 60 psi, rear 80 psi.
It still runs,and drives nice. I knew this car had a bad engine, but i was surprised by how smooth the engine ran, and the engine was quiet. I expected it to run rough and make loud knocking sounds.
I never drove a rx8 until I picked this one up, and the car is impressive with both its handling and comfort.

My primary goal with this project is the enjoyment of tearing the engine apart and rebuilding it.

This car is my toy and will be driven maybe twice a week at most, so I am open to any suggestions about obnoxious power mods.

I have been reading and searching the forums about adding more power and longevity to the engine. I have some questions.

1. has anyone tried COPs (coil on plug)? You could eliminate spark plug wires(a failure point) and switch to a more reliable hotter coil. I have done this to other engines with great results.

2. I couldn't find anything on adding a third oil injector to the rotor housing. drilling, tapping the housing and adding lines to emulate the series 2 car's third injector shouldn't be too difficult(at least for me).

3. Since i will have the motor apart I planned on doing some porting. However after doing some reading, it doesn't seem to be much of a power benefit. Am I wrong on this.

4. Are there any rotary gurus or shops in North East oHIo?

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Not yet, though you will find plenty of people that agree with you. The problem is the packaging. Unlike piston engines where the coil can sit almost flush with the valve cover and extend down through the valve cover to the plugs, the rotary's plugs are protruding from the side of the housing. I haven't see a COP that is short enough to fit on there without A) adding leverage strain on the plug and B) hitting the frame of the car for the rear rotor

It's a whole lot more than a simple drill and tap. You also have to use an OMP that can feed it, an ECU that can control the OMP (no, not compatible between s1 vs s2), and then you are into the problem of getting the rest of the car to work with a different ECU. It is 95% of the rather expensive and painstaking process to transplant an entire S2 drivetrain into an S1, which is still far more expensive and troublesome than just buying an S2.

There is porting benefit, just not so much in the common shallow street ports or the basic templates. BDC specifically has some outstanding success on porting. You are still talking 10-15, maybe 20whp though, not huge numbers.

There aren't many in the entire US...

A rebuilder is in TN, near knoxville, i think is the closest.

OnebaddRx8

Banzai Racing is straight down US 30 on the other side of Ft. Wayne going towards Warsaw in Pierceton, IN.
Good people and very knowledgeable. They have done my last 2 motors in my 7 & 8.
Good luck.

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

wackemandstackem

I was going to use the existing omp. it will be manipulated/modified to supply the third injectors. i have all winter to figure this one out. I thought maybe somebody had tried traveling down this path before.

i can see why COPs could be more trouble than they are worth. I will probably switch to GM truck coils for a hotter spark, and better reliability. i don't see why anyone would stick with the mazda coils since they are a huge point of failure.

I will look into this porting business more. seems maybe worth doing while i have the motor apart. Mazda originally claimed the Rx8 would make 250bhp, but they had to lower that number to 238bhp. I think some smart porting and better flowing exhaust could get me 12 more hp or the original claim of 250 hp.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

238Bhp... And even those numbers aren't considered accurate. 10hp increase from porting shouldn't be too hard. But the cost/ work vs the effect is why people don't generally attempt it.

niteshade247

All your inquiry's are valid but one. The drilling of a 3rd oil port you could spend more than what the car is worth to get a 3rd to work (remember your trying to add two new oiling ports not just one) the smarter and much cleaner and cheaper way to get better oiling is pre mixing. Don't try to reinvent the wheel instead just put a better tier on it.