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Can I first say that I had just been typing it up for a few months now waiting till I actually got a decent amount of content to start a post. Also disclaimer I am not an expert I'm just taking my time and taking it one problem at a time and as fast as funds allow. thanks for reading any input is appreciated.
Started in 2016 when I bought the Rx8. Daily drove the car for about 9 months then the modding ich started. At the same time I acquired a new great daily driver a Toyota minivan, great a reliable daily car. So over the next couple years I modified my Rx8. Basic mods intake, ignition system, exhaust, wheels, lots of suspension mods and cooling as well
So this brings us to summer of 2019 early summer start having issues with clutch (again), trans (synchro rings) and a misfire ends up being ESS. So I Dropped the trans and half the clutch was gone and I was sure the synchro rings and trans was going to go bye bye soon. At this time I was also wanting more power (go turbo) and with half the parts already out I decided to pull the engine.
I then needed to think about what I wanted to do with the car turbo renny or rew. But to start i bought a jdm 5speed rx8 trans for 3 reasons figured no matter what route I go that trans Is usable, obviously no drive train modifications is needed and I got a killer deal. Well and I guess it's better than the shitty about to grenade 6 speed. So after a lot of thinking and going back and forth between options I decided I was going to go rew. Took some time and got the build planned. Did lots of research to find out what parts I would need, problems with the swap and solutions. In mid august 2019 still nervous I committed to the rew swap and got a completely stock 13b rew complete engine with low compression. Got a great deal on the engine and was going to rebuild anyway so the compression wasn't an issue.
Engine and trans showed up today. I have way too many transmissions haha. Tans in the middle is the new five-speed needs a little cleanup then should be good to go. Top is the old FD trans will be selling or binning along with the one on the bottom which is Rx8 six speed
Took apart the rew and now it's time for a rebuild. Plan on porting all new seals. Housing, rotors and irons as needed. Balancing the rotating assembly and oiling mods to be done as well. Just need to remove the fly wheel (we all know how fun the fly wheel nut can be) and oil pan and ready for shipping.
While saving funds and getting ready for the rebuild started to clean up the trans and did some mods in the engine bay. Removed all the corrosion,dirt and grime off of the trans and polished up looking good to start still got a little ways to go. I also did some shaving in the engine bay cut out Reny Motor mount points welded in the holes ground it smooth and repainted. Cut and welded some other things in the engine bay as well as repainted the front crossmember where the bumper bolts to. Removed the fly wheel and oil pan. Had a little bit of trouble with the fly wheel nut. Purchased the RB fly wheel nut wrench seamed like would make it easy boy was I wrong. Tried and tried with the wrench but no success. Frustrated I bit the bullet and bought a 54mm socket and slapped it on the impact. ****** came right off should have done that first, oh well at least I got it off. Oh and thanks Milwaukee you make an amazing impact wrench. Removing the oil pan was business as usual.
October 2019 rebuild ready. Engine is to be shipped out soon. Shipping it to Banzai Racing in northern Indiana. Chose them because the are a very reputable rotary rebuilder and the are close to me in Wisconsin. Will be doing a complete rebuild no corners will be cut and a large street port. Hoping to get some brap brap at idle out of the large port but we will find out I guess. Also built the pallet for the 13b to sit on during shipping. Got a 2'x2.5' pallet from work screwed down a 1'x1.5 piece of plywood for the engine to sit on then nailed on the 2x6 support boards to hold it all in place was happy with the end result. Now time to start getting sub frame and turbo bits. More to come
Got some parts today yay. Got the exhaust manifold, down pipe pieces and subframe engine mount was very happy with the quality of everything and all arrived very quickly and very safely wrapped Manifold is very nice beautiful welds and should do nice for the swap. Plan on wrapping it in manifold heat wrap and also plan on a turbo blanket to help with heat soak in the engine bay. Engine mount was just raw metal probably would have been fine but decided to paint it going with matte black as always primed it first that is the gray. Painted the black and beautiful paint job very happy. Installed the new engine mount after the paint dried of course. good to go centered and all bolts torqued.
Still waiting on the engine to be sent out for rebuild a little frustrating but I understand banzai racing was busy over the holiday season so decided to wait till after the first of January unfortunately. That what was worked for the shop and worked for me as well so better to wait. But all wrapped and strapped for shipping.
Finished up the trans today. Got it all the corrosion off and it's all polished up. One of the sensors on the trans the wires where completely frayed and wasn't going to work. So since the RX8 five speed and FD trans are almost the same took sensor off the FD trans just had to change connectors. Thankfully the Rx8 trans and harness is just spade connectors so that made it easy crimped those on and good to go. Also purchased T4 turbo blanket and exhaust manifold wrap. Plan on using GT35r BB turbo. 68mm 84 trim 1.06AR T4 flange turbine side. 82mm 56 trim .70 compressor side. Basic turbo I guess but hopefully works good for my goals. After the purchase of the manifold wrap I was doing some reading and now I'm kind of skeptical on using it. Pros will reduce engine bay heat. exhaust scavenging? Cons exhaust manifold can become corroded from condensation and will basically melt it self from the inside out from too much heat because the wrap doesn't allow it to cool. Your guys thoughts on this any advice would like to keep heat down in the engine bay but don't want to damage manifold. Half wrap? Thanks more to come.
...Cons exhaust manifold can become corroded from condensation and will basically melt it self from the inside out from too much heat because the wrap doesn't allow it to cool. Your guys thoughts on this any advice would like to keep heat down in the engine bay but don't want to damage manifold. Half wrap? Thanks more to come.
Might be a dumb question, but does anyone ceramic coat just the inside of the exhaust manifold? Thought being to put an insulator between the hot gas and the metal. You would probably need to have some air circulation around the manifold to insure metal temperatures stay low (relatively speaking of course) during extended periods of WOT.
The way the manifold sits is low mount pipes sit down next to the oil pan was thinking the lower parts might get some airflow just from driving leave this part unwrapped to cool it some and wrap a little bit up top by the turbo just to help with engine bay heat soak. Just a thought don't know if it would work. The ceramicoat is the way to go though isn't it but spendy
After talking with Banzai racing got the rebuild figured out.
•Level 3-4 rebuild*
•Aggressive Street port*
•Omp block off/delete*
•Rear Oil return delete
•Super apex seals
•Pilot bearing*
•Painting included with rebuild but black for the irons silver for the housings
*Level 3-4 rebuild is Banzai's rebuild levels 4 is the highest once they receive the engine we will determine what level is needed. If you are curious what is included in the rebuild visit the banzai racing website
*Porting obviously will get some power but was mostly looking for the rough idle so hopefully we get a decent brap brap but I understand it still is only a street port.
*Going premix anyway so make it easy and painless just have them block it off.
*Pilot bearing is again just to make it easy on me so I don't have to buy the special pilot bearing puller.
Today is a good day. The engine shipped out to banzai racing earlier today so now time to save funds and wait for the engine. Also received the turbo blanket and manifold wrap. Turbo blanket is very nice and should work great. Wrapped the manifold a little bit just did the top. I don't know about it still may take it off. What do you guys think will it work to keep the manifold cooler but also reduce engine bay heat soak. Should I wrap the whole manifold leave it or take it off thoughts. More to come thanks.
Last edited by F***APiston; 01-09-2020 at 08:23 PM.
Reason: Added something
I wrapped my entire manifold with header wrap and the first time I started the car a small oil leak sprayed down the header wrap..... Removed the header wrap and haven't looked back. Being able to see the color of your manifold can help you with any timing issues... Just my 2 cents...
Hope it all works out. I have had nothing but good interactions with Banzai....
Engine showed up at Banzai racing earlier this week. Engine is currently getting tore down and some pictures were sent to me. As mentioned before I purchased the engine used with low compression in the rear rotor. Unfortunately the engine was in rough shape with signs of overheating and/or oil starvation. Feeling disheartened about the situation. What should I have expected it was a used engine with low compression it wasn't going to be in perfect condition but was hoping it would be in better shape than it is currently. Aforementioned my goal was to not cut any corners on the engine build. I would still like to accomplish that. Based off of what Banzai suggests and what decisions I want to make this could get expensive hehe. So almost nothing was salvageable from the old engine which is unfortunate. I decided to bite the bullet and getting a new REW from Mazda then to have Banzai do the modifications that I wanted. Obviously quite a bit more expensive this way but like stated before I'm not going to cheap out on the engine build. So banzai should have the engine by next week and then probably 2-4 weeks until it's in my possession. Now it is just a waiting game for a while as my funds are drained after this engine hiccup. More to come slowly but surely.
Lol did someone fill all the coolant channels with epoxy, or is that an optical illusion? That motor musta smoked like hell with the oil control rings in that condition.....
Probably a smart move scrapping that engine, if you buy all the parts individually it will cost more than new engine..
Looks like the rotors may be the only thing worth salvaging.
Yeah I don't know what the hell the previous owner did but I don't think they knew what they were doing but that's the risk I took getting a used engine. That's what I figured I wasn't going to risk using that engine and was way cheaper to just get a new one. No Epoxy like teamrx8 said just the rust and corrosion in the water jackets. Chris from Banzai said the front rotor was usable and the front iron. rear rotor and everything else was scrap.
Well you did good with a new REW from Mazda. I was a bit shocked to see how low the racer net price was through Motorsports when they announced new inventory a while back.
New engine showed up at Banzai last week they are starting the disassembly and porting this week. Still just waiting. Pic new REW next to the old one. Looks so much better feeling good about my decision to get a new engine.
Hey all hope all is well. Very exciting to say that the engine is done. Should be shipped out form Banzai tomorrow or Friday. Pics of engine and porting included. Very excited to receive the new engine looks so sexy haha. Once the engine is received going to start putting new and upgraded parts on the engine. Manifold, water pump, trigger kit,oil pan, excessive lim, ect. Also sold my enkei ts9 wheels I had for the 8. Looking at getting a set of Volk TE37 time attack edition in black 17x9.5 +22mm. More to come.
Has been a while since I posted but the but finally making progress in the build. Obviously received the engine from Banzai very happy with that. Mounted the manifold. Many parts on the way water pump, pulleys, waste gate, oilpan, and some adaptors and more One those parts arrive I will post some more pics and go into detail on what has been done. Thanks
Port matching the oil filter pedestal. I think it turned out great but is that enough should I do a little more or is that good. Just wanted a second opinion on it. top is picture from Banzai racing on what it should look like for comparison. Bottom two are is my pictures of the porting I did. Thanks guys.
Really okayi will take a look. is doing the porting a problem works fine right was just trying to save a little money and it's easy enough especially since it's bolts right up other wise
hey sorry, forgot this is an REW. The link I gave you was for the Renesis, which is different. I wasn’t getting why you were modding it like that, but now it makes sense. There are a bunch of different pedestals for the REW, the main thing imo is getting the filter somewhere easier to access and providing more hot airflow out of the engine bay.
01-07-2020, 10:52 PM
