Great job on the build so far! Sorry about your adapter troubles. I'll be following that closely as I'd like to use the 5 speed as well.

That said how did you like the adaptronic? Did you use the 1J harness or Rx8 harness? Do you happen to have any write up or diagram on how you wired up the 1J?

Sorry for all the questions!

 

I used almost all of the Rx8's Sensors minus the cam and crank sensors. I used the Rx8's engine harness, I just shortened/lengthened it is certain places and repinned some connections. Nothing to major there. And as far as a wiring diagram, the adaptronic software has a built in ecu pinout to reference to.

 

So after taking a pretty long break from the car due to all my troubles (sometimes its just healthier/better to just walk away for a while), I have finally decided on what to do next. Its time for the 5 Speed R Box, PMC Adapter, Flywheel, Clutch, PPF...... ALL OF IT to say goodbye. I just purchased a Aisin AR-5, the donor vehicle was a 2007 Chevy Colorado. The transmission can be found in many different cars(Pontiac Soltice, Saturn Sky, Hummer H3, Colorado and believe it or not the Polaris Slingshot), but its just a up to date R-154 and all of its parts are interchangeable between an R-154. Biggest difference is the input shaft. A Toyota R-154 has a 1" shorter input shaft and different spline count 21 vs 26. Also the 1j/2j bell housing bolts right up.There is an easy way around the input shaft issue, Ill post the link below. Ill keep everyone up to date as i progress further.


https://cpr-manufacturing.com/produc...jz-adapter-kit

 

Would you be interested in selling your rx8 trans to jz stuff?

 

Yes, as long as your are aware that there is something wrong with the stuff.

 

lol yeah, I'm aware. I'm hoping it can be salvaged. first, where are you located, about. second, Would you consider shipping everything but the trans? Third, what's a fair price?

 

Just checking, Location West Tennessee, Shipping Yes. We can discuss everything else through my business email. david@musehvac.com

 

Hi there. Would the RX pressure plate not work with this set up?

 

Just read your whole thread on your build, just made an account cause I feel I may need it in the future and love the build btw. I'm installing my 1jz vvti tomorrow (into rx8). I have the PMC 1JZ adapter kit and just realized that it could be a piece of **** 😆😆. Had a question, they have two kits available, one uses a Ford pressure plate and another uses an E46 m3 pressure plate matched with the same custom flywheel (only reason I knew this was because they sent me the wrong combo). I ended up going with a stage 3 SPEC pressure plate (e46 m3) and ACT stage 3 clutch disc (rx8 6 speed) cause I had to send the original one back anyways. My main point I'm getting at is if they may have fixed this vibration issue with the newer model (depending on which one you have).

 

Looking at your picture from what I can see, it all looks the same. I was unaware of a design change, but to be honest I'd rather sand paper a wild cats *** in a phone booth than keep up with anything that company does...Since the making of this entire thread I have re-invented the wheel (Again), and installed a Aisin AR5 transmission, and to my surprise I have no more vibrations. Hope yours turns out better than mine.

 

nice work.. I am interested in the wiring of this swap. how u got the AC amp to talk the jz ECU to turn on the compressor?

 

Looks great ... good to know about the ECU toot

 

Only thing on the a/c wiring i had to touch was 2 wires. And those were the 2 going to the compressor. And since I have just gotten around to having my a/c lines made, I have not actually used it yet. If the a/c system is Can Bus, then the Adaptronic must take care of it like everything else. In fact, that was one of my first questions I asked Adaptronic was if the a/c would still work. They told me "Sir, everything will work".

 

Okay, so an update.

I have since grown tired of the electronic power steering, the dropped rack, the bump steer kit and the darty steering at highway speeds and or faster. Not to mention the power EPS started flaking out out on me, then just plain would not work. All of these thing together just pushed me to start over.

I'm going to hydraulic rack and pinion steering. So I bought a portion of the BMW E36/46 rack and pinion kit from Wisefab, the template and the steering extensions. Here is my progress thus far.

1997 E36 318i steering rack and 1jz-gte power steering pump.

Rack template from Wisefab.

Rack template from Wisefab.

Steering rack extensions from Wisefab.








Steering rack mounted with rack extensions installed.

There is still much to be done, but at least the steering rack is back where it's supposed to be. I'll keep everyone updated on this.

 

Got the subframe back into the car today. Taking measurements for inner tie rods so i can get them ordered today as well. On a side note, I was able to lower the engine down further into the subframe by a 1/2" or better now that the massive stock rack isn't there,

 

Just a quick update. Now that things are finally working correctly, I finally made it back to the dyno. Since my last post I have changed to a Borg Warner S366, ID1050x Injectors, Now Flex Fuel and BC 264 Cams. I am posting a link of the video here. The highest power it made was its first and only pull on E85 and yet again, I ran out of fuel pump. I have since upgraded the fuel system again and am now on twin AEM 400's.

 

Nice work! Going back through your fuel system woes, I found this really interesting:

This seems like textbook case of fuel staying on the wrong side of the saddle. The return system can't draw enough fuel over from the other side of the saddle, so once the level gets below 50%, your driver's side saddle empties out and starves while all of the fuel sits in the passenger side. Your gauge will tell you there's still half a tank left but the pickup can't get anything. It seems that the best solution to stay return-style is with a surge tank, which you did.

This is wild! The AEM 400lph should support 800+hp on E85. You're still well under 600hp crank, you should be fine, no? Is the pump getting full voltage? Is there a flow restriction somewhere that's limiting fuel delivery?

 

I had pressure drop, when I took it apart I had also found my fuel pump connector was starting to melt. So I could have had a combination of issues, bad connection at connector, failing pump or my 6an feed from the pump/s wasn't adequate. Either way, with twin pumps, repaired connection and the 6an feed I dont have pressure drop anymore.

 

I've been through a few racks on my M3, and one of my least favorite things about that platform is how slow the steering is. I did the Z3 rack and now I have an E46 330 ZHP rack, those are the quickest ratios available, and it's still hella slow. I spend the entire time on the autocross course all sorts of crossed up. Does the RX-8 have shorter steering arms on the knuckles to negate some of that? If you need a quicker ratio, the ZHP rack seems to be the holy grail.

 

To me it doesn't feel terribly slow. I did a track day in the car once and I didn't get my arms all crossed up. Probably has allot to do with the position of the rack as it retains the factory location. I do know however that I have way more steering angle than the car did stock.

 

Worth noting that the ZHP steering rack has exactly the same ratio as a regular E46 rack. I've owned many of these cars including a ZHP and verified this myself years ago.

 

Nice job on the dyno, looking forward to an update once you get the fuel feed straightened out. An aftermarket surge tank with dual pumps is likely what it’s going to require for that power level.

Having extensively autocrossed an E36 M3, Z3 Coupe, and Z4 it sounds to me like it’s the loose nut behind the wheel that’s all crossed up ​​​​​​
.

 

Thanks! Be a little while before I hit the dyno again as I have to get this 8.8 swap completed. I'm on my second stock 4.44 diff. 1st one I blew the guts out of the traction cones, this second one im on has started to whine, along with something going on with the traction cones in this one. At times it seems to want to lock up a wheel going around corners. Have not broke an axle yet though.

 

Before I put my yellow tag rack in, I measured 50mm/360 degree rotation (13.7:1 ratio), same as I measured on my Z3 non-M rack, considered the "holy grail" of E36 racks. The 712 rack wasn't exclusive to the ZHP, but not every E46 rack got the 13.7:1 ratio, some were 15.5:1. I think '02-up non-M got the 13.7:1, and the M3 rack was slower.

 

you aren’t going to break an axle, what happens is the hub stub shaft through the wheel bearing shears and the 8.8 kit reuses those OE parts. You don’t shear those until a lot more power and torque output than you have now regardless.

the factory lsd is pretty crappy even for an NA Renesis engine, why not just put an OS Giken LSD in it? You really need one in it even if you go to the 8.8, but unless your engine putput goal is a lot higher than it is now then imo you don’t need an 8.8 conversion.
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