I am not well off and never have been. I do okay now but as a young sailor making $1,000.00 a month I still had one of the cleanest cars (Z28, then a 280ZX Turbo, swapped CRX,etc.) on the pier. **** my Z28 was new, between the payment and the insurance I lived on $250.00 a month plus what I could hustle charging to take other sailors to the mall and still that car was always perfect (well for a 93' Z28). And as a young husband and father out of the Navy and not making much at all, I managed to build a show quality turbo Civic that ran 12's in the 1/4 mile and could hang at autox just fine. In my mid twenties I made a little more, owned three Maximas, a Speed Protege, a few SUV's, etc. etc. Using the lack of money to excuse half *** work is a cop out. It does not take money to wire **** correctly and do things cleanly. If you have a passion and are patient you can do it right. I know plenty of RX-8 owners here who are broke college kids working menial jobs and they get proper work done cleanly.

And Honda builds exist to save money? Maybe in Illinois. I had over $20,000.00 in my Civic ten years ago and now with K swaps being the thing, I know guys who make over 6 figures who own Civics with $60,000.00 plus easy in their cars. Don't even mentioned the S2000 crowd guys doing Turbo K24 swaps into those.

 

You earned a few points being prior Navy. I was beginning to think living in San Antonio you were chair force. FLY NAVY

 

I am 4th generation Navy/Marines on my fathers side, My Great grandfather was a Marine in WW1, My grandfather was a Marine Aviator in WWII, and My father is a retired Marine Sgt. Major who served in Nam, I was an OS on the U.S.S. Barry (DDG-52 Guided Missile Destroyer) since pre comission and served in Iraq, Africa, etc. My son just finished Marin Force Fleet training at Camp Lejuene last month and will be in Corpus until he gets placed with an MU and deployed. Lot's of Army too on my mothers side but we don't speak about that,

 

don't let 9k lie to you guys... he coined the phrase used by the Chappelle show: I'M RIACH BIATCH

 

I wish. I will be hood rich when my daughter turns 18 and comes to live with me for college though, .

 

haha you mean, you'll be bald...or severely grey haired

 

Here's some updates.
The mock up engine is sitting on it's mounts and ready for the real adapters to be made.
I finished the bulkhead and most of the most will be covered by the installation, shame it will be hidden but that's partly why I riveted it rather than welded the panels in, huge difference in time.

 

Looking forward to more updates man !

 

This thread seems to have died, shame, i have been thinking along the lines of -" rx8, nice car, shame about the engine"
Now i dont want to start an argument, and i can see both sides of the discussion on this thread. Against the engine, in my mind is the fact it sounds like a ford anglia 1200, has no low end torque, eats itself, drinks oil and fuel. Yes it does produce the beans at the top end, but as daily drive i would hate it. In fact, i would say, given that you can have a rebuilt unit for around £800, it says it all that many people just end up selling the car.
So a v6 would seem an ideal, simple choice, if it can be made to work cheaply and reliably, against the conversion would be the time taken to engineer it.
Apologies for not doing a search before posting, thats next on my list.

 

Good luck with that.

 

Plenty of unfinished build threads here.
Some fade into oblivion after a bunch of big talk when knowledgeable members here warn them how difficult it is to do with an 8 on a budget, especially those who say they can do a cheap swap.
Very few admit failure.
The ones who do successfully swap engines usually don't crow about it.

 

Here is my work, I am sure it will cause a wave in the pool. Mazda 2.3L V6 KJ miller cycle engine turbo. Borg Warner EFR 6258. 10 psi boost 300/300 to the wheels.

 

Very nice! Did you have to cut the bulkhead? I'm about 85% done! Should be doing the actual swap not long after Christmas.






Adapter plates to the engine mounts.

 

Looks good. You got that thing crammed back pretty far.

 

Can you post some pictures of the top view KFC. Yes I cut major material away from the firewall/bulkhead. Those RX8 mounts take up valuable space for turbo piping on the passenger side and on the driver side for the abs unit.

KFC--> is that the 5-speed manual transmission? I am using the 6-speed.

 

So how's she feel?

 

Yes please, how does she drive? I'd like to hear about the handling specifically, any changes from stock?

 

I only cut a bit away from the bulkhead, I'll post photos later today as they aren't on my phone. The time involved using the stock RH engine mount x2 with adapted plates took ages. Would have been better to start from scratch and I would have more room for later mods for a turbo.
I do want to run a turbo after it's built. I had to leave some fun jobs to do later. 😏
I'm using the 5 speed box as 5th gear is taller than the 6 speed. I didn't want to be doing 4000rpm at 80mph. Using a website to calculate the ratios, I rekon the 6 speed is about 400rpm higher at cruise speed on the motorway, I had to think about mpg as well.
If I don't like it, it's only £80 for a 6 speed then a straight swap.
I'll bet your crankshaft pulley is in the same position as the original renesis crank pulley? Mine is, making the weight distribution exactly the same. Engine package compare about the same, within 5kg. 😬

 

Who's engine?
Mine looks slightly further forward..

 

My crank pulley is even lower than stock. It sit behind the power rack and nearly touches the power rack with 5 mm clearance. The engine is as low as possible with the transmission being the lowest element just within the chassis envelope.

I weighed the engine-->

The rx8 engine 280 lbs with intake manifold, exhaust manifold, and flywheel.

The KJ/KL engine 286 lbs with flywheel, custom intake and exhaust manifolds and
turbo collector pipe.

So in my case the transmission is 1.5~2 inch low than stock and the engine weighs nearly the same and the battery is relocated and lighter. So I feel that I improved handling characteristics rather than the other common direction. I can not quinify the handling improvement at this time. Plus I never drove any other rx8, meaning I only ever experienced my v6 turbo rx8. Crazy I know, but it is true.

 

Here ya go.


Ally panels bonded and riveted in.


Sprayed up and ready to fit the insulation or sound proofing.


Re-routed the brake lines.


Mock up engine in.


Early mock up in.


My welding improving! Moved the thermostat to the front of the engine.


More of my welding, engine mount adaptor plate.


Chopped up the inlet for the flanges.


Deciding what will work


Nearly ready to fit.


Machined RX8 flywheel and adapter plate.


Just showing hiw close the clutch slave bleed screw will be to the cylinder head. In reality, the gap is slighty bigger. I didnt have an adapter plate at the time, I was deciding the minium thickness.


[I]Early stage of fabricating my sump (oil pan).




At work fabricating the exhaust.

 

I also went to town modifying the clutch slave cylinder to fit near the head. My engine to transmission adapter/sandwich plate is 0.25" thick 6061 t6 aluminum. I welded additional mounting tabs onto the engine block and filled several closely aligned holes and re-drilled so that 4 of the 6 transmission bolts directly interface with the engine block and the lower two bolt into the lower rear motor mount brace/cradle. So simply all the 6 trans bolts connect to the block which in turn makes the adapter more like a sandwich. A Solid connection IS A MUST. My work has be tested over 4000 miles of abuse with NO ISSUES related to MY work. That Is such an awesome feeling. Near or over 300 torque. Think about it... double the torque at half the rpm.

 

Updates?

 

Hi, I have been very busy with the build, it's coming along nicely. I'll try to upload photos this week.

 

Why you stopped to post ? updates ?