Keep in mind that by taking the mounts off without having anything to replace them with, you could back yourself into a corner pretty quickly.

My passenger side mount was so far gone I had spent about 2 hours trying to get the bolt out. I eventually said **** it and snapped it off with a breaker bar. There's absolutely no way it could have been re-used though.

 

Could someone post a picture of the 8's engine mounts? I had a friend's car on my lift s few times but can't remember how they compared to mine. Just curious.

 

Use the Search, Luke.

 

When my mounts were bolted to the car, they looked completely fine. It was only after removing them that you could tell the passenger side was shot.

 

Question about DSC

I did an auto to manual swap on my car. Had a dealer reprogram the ABS/PCM connection so they play nice again (left the ABS module in the car, dealer paired it to the 6-port PCM). I did not however change the differential. No matter what I do, the DSC light comes on as soon as I move the car. It isnt on when I start it up, and there are no codes for ABS/DSC. Only code is air pump.

Would having a different diff ratio cause the car to activate DSC?

 

I'd imagine so. The car gets speed-related signals from more than one place, and if they don't all match (within tolerances), I'd imagine it'd make DSC unhappy.

Don't autos have open diffs? That'd be another reason to swap the diff -- more important than the ratio IMO.

 

Before all the mods, the car was a 4 speed 4 port auto with sport package. AFAIK that came with the LSD.

 

The wheel speed sensors are where I would look first. Then either the Yaw sensor in the cabin? If you have a scanner you should be able to check the output of all of those

Does the ABS work properly? It is wheel speed dependent as well

 

We checked it with Mazda IDS, it passed all of the self tests. The weird part about the DSC light is that it would come on during a drive, then when we plugged up Mazda software and ran the ABS self test, the light would go out. No codes on ABS or DSC. We tried to calibrate the sensors a couple times last night, that didnt help. The car seems to drive normally, it just wants to be in DSC.

 

Thats a bit strange......but there are a lot of sensors in that system so it could be a bitch to diagnose

I disabled mine....like it a lot better that way for the track anyway

 

I came across this document when searching for information regarding Friction Modifiers on RX8
https://www.rx8club.com/attachments/...e-your-rx8.pdf
I cant seem to find the original thread/post..

I have a couple of questions:

1) on Page 5 where they are talking about syntetic oils it states:
The premium 98 fuels here in Australia use friction modifiers. Should I be switching to 95RON without Friction Modifiers?

2) the last two pages, 7 and 8, reference a red bar in the tachometer that relates to the temperature of the engine.
a) Mine doesnt have this, was this a US only thing?
b) The article says it will reach 'race temp' after 4 mins, I usually wait 10-15 mins before increasing the revs - is 4 mins really adequate?

Thanks in advance guys

 

2a) Do you have a S1 or S2? Both cars have a dynamic redline depending on the engine temperature. The S2's actually show this on the tachometer though.

2b) I'd say 4-5 minutes is about accurate. By that point I'm at the 150-170 degree mark.


People swap the final drive ratio on their diff all the time without running into this issue though. All 4 wheel speed sensors would still read exactly the same regardless.

 

2a.. ahh I see, I have an s1
2b.. 150-170 F? and is that oil temp? or coolant?

 

Coolant, and yes Fahrenheit. 160C and I'd expect something to catch fire.

 

Thanks Reoze!

any idea about 'friction modifiers' in fuel?

 

No. Keep using 98 RON with the friction modifiers.

The document you posted seems to be saying not to use certain third-party oil additive products. That's good advice. ANY third-party oil additive might be problematic because the oil itself already has its own balance of base oils and additives in it (including friction modifiers, by the way). Throwing something else into the mix might throw the balance off. It might also introduce other undesirable substances, e.g. low quality base oils.

Friction modifiers in fuel are good, as are friction modifiers that are already in the oil you buy. They're part of fully formulated products, not some third-party stuff being thrown in without careful testing.


Does the ECU actually limit RPM to whatever the dynamic redline is, or is that just an indicator? Never tested it myself, but I have seen a needle accidentally rise slightly into one of the red zones and I'm not sure if the ECU was actually cutting things off.

 

Hello All!

I am new here. I would like to share my experience in a rebuild engine and the servic in general from a well known (erm) builder... Is there a thread like that? Could you please link it? I could not find anything like this, but I am sure there is at least one like that.

Thanks,
Cs.

 

https://www.rx8club.com/good-guy-bad-guy-74/

 

Just realized I had forgotten something in my previous response to this.

I feel like I read somewhere that friction modifiers in the oil could cause apex seals to chatter rather than slide smoothly, worsening both sealing and wear. If that's true, that's something.

But again, that was about friction modifiers in the oil. No idea if friction modifiers in the fuel could have a similar effect. My intuition is that they won't, but I'm not exactly a powertrain engineer, so take that for what it's worth.

 

Bump for this question. Anyone know?

 

I'm not game enough to try it, but I did rev to just over 5K for a short moment - car was only on for 2 minutes..

car was stationary.

 

I cant speak for the S2's, though I know my redline varied a bit immediately after startup when I drove my 2004 in the winter. I would occasionally find this out the hard way.

 

I have a couple of questions. First off, I'm trying to rebuild my calipers (front and rear) and need all the parts. I can't seem to find a complete kit. I ordered 2 now that said they were complete (Piston rings, pin sleeves, rubber bushings/boots, clips) but each one did NOT come with piston rings and pin sleeves. Googling has brought me to a bunch of places that say these are available, only to later find out they are out of stock and not coming back into stock.

Do you know where I can find all these parts for the front and rear? Mazda is charging nearly $300 for all four corners, just in parts.

Second, I've been wanting to replace the thermal pellet in my car but wasn't sure where the location is. Is this just behind the bolt to the crank shaft pulley? Or is it somewhere else? What would you recommend I replace it with? OEM or would you guys suggest the atkin's one (ARE50)? Or a different one?

 

... That would be interesting to verify. Possibly adding 'x' amount of 2-cycle oil to the fuel tank to help possibly extend engine life. (esp. on ser. 1, lol)... and what a good average amount to ad is?

 

When replacing the steering rack is there a better way of aligning the steering wheel besides eyeballing it?