Heres what you need to get about 20whp out of a N/A 8 give or take.

1. catback with midpipe 6hp w/ tune
2. either a CAI or Racing Beat Revi 5hp w/ tune
3. MM tuned Cobb AP 10hp with said parts above + like 1-2 better mpg
4. BHR Ignition Coils


Total around $3000.

Also tires and suspension make a lot of difference on the car.

 

My car feels more powerful when I'm in the passenger seat too. Something about holding onto the steering wheel and having your feet against the pedals reduces the effects of all the various G-forces from speeding up, slowing down, and turning.

If you want lots of torque off the line, rev the engine way up and slip the clutch a bit longer than you normally would; let the clutch-slip act as an extra transmission stage to convert the engine's angular momentum into extra torque. When I rev the engine above 5000, I can easily get the tires spinning at half-throttle despite having traction control enabled. (just don't do it over and over and over unless you want to glaze your clutch. )

Beyond that, as others here have said, don't shift before redline if you want to go fast; the torque band doesn't drop off until well after redline on this engine, so there's absolutely no benefit at all to shifting into a higher gear and lowering the engine speed until you have to -- the math (engine torque * gear ratio = wheel torque) makes that very clear. Hell, I cruise around town at 3000-3500rpm, which is fine because that's how the engine damn well works.

 

when not cruising at 3000-3500rpm it feels like my engine is going to cut off.

Another lesson, to save on gas always shift before 3750rpms. But never less than 3000rpms.

 

Just buy one - you will love it .
Put a midpipe on it and get the AP . That will keep you happy for maybe a yr after which you will not be able to resist the lure of FI .
You will break a few engines but you wont care because no other car (close to the price range it is in) will give you the same feeling as a 300whp 8 .

 

Feel free to ask Bret how he knows.

 

not everyone has problems, online forums make things seem worse.

close to 100k miles and everything is still good. Odd thing here and there, but nothing I would have avoided with a different car.

I feel better driving the rx8 knowing that i'm not going to skip a tooth on any timing belt and destroy any valves... big problem I had with conventional motors, when you let off the gas at high rpm's the tensioner would slack and timing belt would skip 6 out 10 times