ucbear41510

Hello to all my rotor heads a 7 guy just got 8 up. I will try to make this short and sweet but give all details so the wife can have a good taste of what I love for years to come.

I love my 7's have gsl-se t2 swap down to the re-speed rack and pinion and granny 8.8 also a 10th anniversary with haltech elite. Not a pro by any means but can rebuild my own motors and have the usual 20 year stock pile of parts for a little background.

Nothing against the 8 just not my style so while searching craigslist came across a 07 manual trans 6 speed with 108k and 23k on blown motor for $450 bucks and having my own trailer could not resist a quick flip so I thought. Again not a 8 guy I get it home red with red/black leather sun roof navigation no trunk taillights or back seats. Luck all paperwork from 70k up including the 23k rebuild im thinking gonna make a buck quick rebuild out the door. Wife sees it '' Its cute" uhoh.. Sooo ok you want it let me go do a thorough search see what I've stepped in. Damn ain't a rx7 but happy wife happy life.

Ok pulled motor carbon you could make a cake with but the coolant sprayed engine bay and broke coolant bottle nipple im still suspect. apex seals 5 mm luck luck again 2 at the local pick n pull 10 miles away she already ordered the back seats red/black leather on her paypal luck/win not only do I get both tail lights happens to be 10$ head/tail light week but complete black leather front and black. fronts go in the 10th backs for sale luck/win. No trunk no biggie picking up a black with spoiler this weekend.

Now have had the 8 9 days go on craigs again looking and see $1900 NEW ENGINE NEVER RAN.. yeh right text and the guy says mazda sent us this motor 7 years ago to put in a motorcycle call alex at my shop I'm the owner but in Italy right now.

Arlen ness motorcyles ok Im on my way.. I know long story but worth it. Talking to the son says I remember when we got this either mazda sponsored them or something cant remember too busy looking at new parts but now the owner of super luck/win 6port never installed still on crate from mazda drop in harness to the clutch for $1500 and his word when i install if it does not work come back and we can work something out but dont tear it down rebuild it it don't work and call us....

So for why I started this thread Ive been racking up brownie points with the wife and kids 8/7 yr olds who love it cuz 4 seats and ofcourse Its cute. Do not want to take any chances.. I know sitting all these years not good but still have to install as-is so far I have the sohn kit on way sending off oil coolers to american cooler for rebuilds. will get all new hoses from mazda trix..

1.what rad should I get Ive read the stock is fine but from rockauto Fine?
2. I have a couple light flywheels around from turbo 7's no way not to pay 200$ for 8 counterweight?
3.ecu mod? just started reading please dont say search think I'm doing good for 9 day newb
4.oil cooler -10 fiber lines or?
5 looking for gauge pod but not paying racing beat $200 forn under ashtray since has navi and looking into tablet mod
6 intake DIY I have new k&n Ls1 swap into 3rd gen doohickey I paid $300 for cant seem to sell?
7 ANYTHING else I have missed to do as to keep the luck alive???????ANYTHING

Thanks for reading my winded thread and we all love pics so by tonight I'll have some up motor plastic wrapped on truck still since it rained all yesterday..

CaymanRotary

That's quite a good story! Congrats on your new 8. My concern is the engine been sitting for so long it may not work. Can it manually crank or does it seem seized up? To answer your questions:

1. Toss the garbage plastic piece of **** stock radiator ASAP. You just need a full aluminum 2 row radiator. I've used them in all my RX8's, they perform fine. Another note on cooling, make sure the undertray is still on the car underneath the front of the car. It's needed to direct air into the radiator.

2. From everything I've read about it, the flywheel dimensions are the same. Should fit but I dunno if I would recommend it. The balancing may be different.

3. COBB Access Port.

4. I believe its 18mm x 1.5mm.

5. Best one is the center dash gauge cluster. Have to cut out a spot for it. Instructions in this video.


6. Try to get the stock intake. Regarded as the best intake for this car.

7. Read the new owners stickies! Good luck with your car!

NotAPreppie

1. Radiator: CSF 3164 or Koyo V2965. Anything else isn't worth it.
2. No idea.
3. VersaTuner or MazdaEdit. Both have varying amounts of support. VersaTuner has off-the-shelf tunes to get you started until you can get a custom tune done.
4. The stock rubber lines are fine. It's the hard pipes and connectors that rust out. Do lots of rust prevention there.
5. No idea. I just used a smartphone and OBD-Bluetooth dongle.
6. Stock intake is really the best intake unless your goal is p-codes and poor performance.
7. Buy an HEI coil tester and test your coils with each oil change (or more frequently if you're an automotive hypochondriac).

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Welcome.
The K&N intake isn't a good option according to veteran members.
The consensus is the stock is a good intake.
The A&I has good reviews, but stock is good enough.
Aftermarket intakes cause a lot of issues.
If you haven'tv ead the new owner stickies it's helpful.


https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...t-here-202454/

ucbear41510

Exactly what I’m looking for. I read the new owner after wife took it. Planned no performance upgrades but from reading a light flywheel is good for these cars have them in both mine she likes them should help her as she told me after her reading. A redline a day keeps the mechanic away. I’ll order the 8 auto counterweight.

Confused both my 7’s have aluminum reading says go oem but I feel aluminum prevents plastic breaking. Koyo what I lived by but mixed reviews on 8

motor turns freely even oil in omp lines a drop of oil on dip stick. Im thinking mazda shipped them this way?

Car has all underbody plastic but sat but sat under a tree for 2 years and can not reach all the crevices so going to pull fenders and power wash the front today.

ucbear41510

ucbear41510

Have not read anything about air fuel ratio monitoring? Is it because u can’t change anything anyway? Brings up my next question on this Ecu remap I’ve barley touched on reading. Sorry for the questions that I know I can do more hours of searching for hours spent reading guess I’m looking for the cheat sheet so I can start shipping/ordering at end of the day just because it’s wife got to jump the line I had no intentions 2 weeks ago of another project car have way too many. So thank you guys a bunch for all the help. I read all of the 30-60-100k maintenance and it’s do for all. With the new coils give me 10k I’m planning on before that upgrade. She might drive it 5k a year and I’m banned from it unless playing mechanic role ( redline or two here and there)

ucbear41510

I must have done something wrong my first reply never got posted. Said moderator needed to ok. I’ll try these pictures

ucbear41510

waiting for moderator to ok pictures and previous post explaining I did read the new buyers guide and mixed reviews on which aluminum rad. will wait see how this works before having multiple posts of same thing. thanks I did not read the post response delay part i guess when a picture is attached

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Let the computer do the monitoring and leave it well enough alone. This isn't a carburetor, there is no win in changing anything there.

The only thing you may want to remap is the oil injection rate.

2 things kill these cars: bad coils and clogged cats (caused by bad coils). Stay on top of those and you won't create new issues. You just have to find all the issues the previous owner included
​​​​​​

Have you already read the New and Potential Owners thread? It has everything you need.

ucbear41510

Yes have read the stickies but some things did not match up I.e people say Koyo is bad for this car so what’s a good aluminum rad? Also to Ecu map and change the temp and up rpm also more omp. I am trying to remove all signs of previous owner.

There is no muffler but a good cat I found receipt for when muffler was removed. If I delete cat and fab a racing beat presilencer and muffler from Rx7 will the Rx8 get too hot for it? I’ll keep searching just answers conflicting and starting with new everything motor wise some things don’t apply. Thanks again.