BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Ha!
I've been driving sticks for almost 40 years and I still occasionally do it.
It won't be long until you get used to it.
Maybe go find a big parking lot to practice a bit.

Overall though, is it all you hoped it would be?
Have fun!

New Yorker

Congrats and yes, have fun! This initial few days/weeks of learning to drive a stick without thinking about it will pass in no time. You'll be so glad you went manual!

Skyl3r

Thanks guys, its really amazing. The feeling of being excited to get off work just so I can sit at the wheel again is really nice. I've never felt like that before. This is the first car I've owned that actually looks nice and feels cool to drive. I love the sound the engine makes. It's not a "Rrrrrr" type sound like my impala or grand am. It's this "whhhh" kinda thing and it just makes me feel so much happier to drive it haha

I guess the only thing that caught me off guard was how bad it really does on gas. I've been to the pump three times since yesterday. Admittedly, part of that is probably that I'm driving like I stole it and all day haha
I'm okay with it though. I'd rather pay the premium to have a car I feel good about and in then to not pay and have the grand am.

I'm very satisfied with my purchase, you could say

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I get about 14 mpg. My 40 mile daily commute takes about 1/4 tank.
Try to not let it get below 1/4 tank, that gets the fuel pump hot and could shorten it's life.
You should think about getting a midpipe to replace your cat, that will help a little on gas and give you a few extra horses.
Also, it's a known weak point. If you get misfires it could get damaged, and they are very expensive.
OEM cats cost about $1400.
Idk if the previous owner replaced it with an OEM or aftermarket.
Many aftermarket cats don't last long, and I'd bet clogged cats are the #1 killer of Renesis engines.
Find out if and what kind of emissions test they do for inspection where you live.
Check your inspection date and see when you have to get it done.
Cat deletes are probably the first mod most owners do.
My BHR resonated midpipe cost $500.
There are cheaper pipes, but BHRs are probably the best for sound and longevity.

Skyl3r

Jeeze, I hope they pay you well for that kinda gas money haha
I know there's an aftermarket exhaust... The guy said he has the original still and its in working order and I can have it if I want.

The BHR sounds good, but I'll have to wait a few weeks to get one (and do a bit of research before dropping $500 on car stuff)

TomX8

I could also recommend replacing the catalytic converter with a catalytic converter replacement. Which basically means you will have something that looks like a catalytic converter from the outside, but from the inside, it's empty.

Since the catalytic converter can get clogged because of the failing ignition coils, and start to overheat, which brings the heat back to the engine and destroys the apex seals. It still doesn't solve the issue of failing ignition coils, but it should solve the consequences of getting your engine destroyed, versus a towaway to the garage to replace the coils and go on again in the worst case.

Skyl3r

Hmm, I guess I'm concerned about how my car is gonna sound without the cat. I know the one I have is

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

If he has anything for it that he's willing to give you, take it.
It may come in handy.
He has the original cat?





OEM cat





Front half nearly gone, less than 20k miles.

Gravey

iTrader: (3)

No that's ok, I stalled a manual many times when I was learning too It just sounded weird that it was stalling when it wasn't even in gear, but that is not the case!

Skyl3r

Is a cat converter replacement primarily to avoid inspection fails?
Where I live we don't have emissions inspections.
I guess, I'd probably be more interested in a high flow cat or a straight pipe.
I was looking at DIY: Gutting out your Catalytic Converter Primarily it just seems like a ghetto rig... Is that basically a cat converter replacement?

I got an oil change, and I looked around to try to replace my air filter. Do you guys know those things cost like $50 and nobody carries them? I didn't expect that at all. But, oh well.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

You should be able to find an air filter for less than $30 at most parts stores.
A cat is for clean emissions, and in most places it's required for inspection.
Do not gut a good cat, especially an OEM one.
They are very valuable.
If your ignition is healthy then you don't need to worry about it yet.
Bide your time until you can buy a midpipe.

Skyl3r

Oh, the one I was looking at was a K&N. I guess you can just clean it and don't need to replace it. So that's probably got something to do with the cost. No one around me seems to carry it though. I don't really have a problem with ordering. I'll do that Friday probably.

Okay, won't do it I didn't really wanna gut it in the first place. I like the idea of a midpipe. First up though, I need winter tires. Winter is only a few months away

Gravey

iTrader: (3)

Don't bother with the K&N intake, your stock intake is better. In fact it's better than 90% of the aftermarket ones out there.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

You may be able to find a cheap gutted cat to use until you get a midpipe if you are concerned about it.

Skyl3r

Not an intake, an air filter.


BigCajun:
I'm not really concerned about it, you just made it sound like a dire concern :P

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Well, it is a well known weak point.
The good news is you usually get some warning, usually misfire CELs first, then P0420 after it goes bad, but it's best to not let it get that far.
Plus the BHR midpipe sounds good without being raspy or really loud.

Skyl3r

Okay, well, I'll try to get the midpipe before winter. I'm not entirely sure if the financial situation will permit for that at this point. I'll just have to see.
On a side note, is this the website for BHR? Black Halo Racing
I googled it and that's all I saw, but it looks really sketchy.

Everyone seems to say go with BHR, so I wanna figure this out.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, that's it. Sketchy?
Here's the midpipe. It's not polished like this one.
It used to be an option to have it polished for more $$, but not any more.

Colon Terminus

The K&N air filter is a bad choice. It is too porous and lets bad poopoo into your engine. Stick with the stock filter.

There's lottsa empirical evidence on this forum to support this.

Skyl3r

Good to know. I'm glad you told me this before I went and bought one. I had heard bad things about K&N before, so I'm not terribly surprised.


BigCajun, I did notice they said polished was not an option anymore. I guess it's not a big deal to me unless that is somehow bad for my car. I meant the website is sketchy because it doesn't seem professionally made. It's not a problem with me if it's legit, but on a general basis, I would not provide payment to a website that looked like that.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I got the ignition kit from him also.
I never thought the site looked bad, but I don't buy a lot of stuff off of the internet.
My wife is a different story.
The polishing is just for looks.

gwilliams6

BHR is a trusted vendor and member here in the RX8 club. Don't worry how the website looks, not everyone is a great web designer. Just know that his products are top rated, tried , tested and trusted by RX8 club members !!

You are not buying a web page, you are buying the best aftermarket stuff for your car, from a guy who has designed , engineered , tested and delivered great products for our RX8 community. If you only buy RX8 products from the person with the fanciest webpage, you are being foolish.

Skyl3r

I'm sorry if I came off as ignorant. It's standard web safety to not provide payment information to websites without validating their authenticity and legitimacy.
I work as a network administrator, which means (when nothing is broken) my job is to secure my employers network and protect our employees against threats. When you spend 40+ hours per week researching the latest viruses, exploits, malware, ransomware, scareware, etc. etc. etc. you begin developing a certain sense of paranoia when dealing with new websites. Especially when they appear as though they were thrown together rapidly.

I mean no offense to whoever is behind BHR. I've heard many great things about their parts. I intend to own a few. If that website is theirs and that's the portal to owning BHR parts then that's completely fine. I just wanted to make sure; that's all.



Anyhow, on another topic, I am absolutely loving my RX-8. I'm getting a hell of a lot better at driving it and it's really fun. Even when I'm hitting the gas station for the 5th time this week, I'm gassing that sucker up like "Oh man, I can't wait to get back in and drive again."
Seriously though, I gassed up last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. Almost every time from half a tank or slightly lower.

I was able to go on a drive through some country roads too which was super fun. Some guy ran me off the road at one point. He just switched lanes right into me. I was right next to him and he just came right over. Country people are crazy. Fortunately, I saw him coming and got out of the way and just got back on the road with no damage done. It freaked my friend out a lot though.

Then like two days ago it was raining and I was going to make a turn to get onto an onramp for the highway, normally I make the turn going like 40 or so (it's not very sharp, just gentle curve), I knew it was raining and I had heard about the RX-8 not doing so good in inclement weather conditions, so I slowed to like 25-30. I turned to go on that ramp and went into full drift mode. Fortunately I caught it and didn't lose control beyond that, but it sure scared me for a moment. After that I drove 5 mph under the speedlimit the rest of the way home haha, not taking my chances with my new baby :')

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Check your tire tread. If that's good, check what kind of tires are on it, Performance, All Season, etc.
Go to a site like Tire Rack and see what kind of rating your tires are.
I got Potenza AS and even though they are supposed to be good for rain, they really aren't, I've had them break loose on me unexpectedly at times, and they really really suck in snow.
They are decent enough in dry weather.
Some performance tires are not good in rain.
Next set I get will be perfomance, and I will just be careful in the rain, as I'm already paranoid with these.

gwilliams6

with the proper tires and tread depth you should be good in the rain. I use ultra-high performance all-season Continental DWS (top-rated from Tire Rack) and they are fine in the rain. There is now a newer version, DWS-06, testing even better in all categories. I am almost at end of long life for my DWS and will be getting the new DWS-06 before winter hits in the Northeast.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...jsp?type=UHPAS

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....Contact+DWS+06