Tune up time, talk me out of C coils and into??
 

Bought my car with 68k and Im driving quite a bit and dont think the previous owner was a big maintenance guy.

Im slowly fixing and repairing and cleaning up random items on the car that needed attention and being Ive put 4000 miles on it already since nov Im planning a full array of maintenance.

I already put a cat delete on the car and I have a greddy trust full ti catback to go on.

Planning to do the Coolant to Evans cooling coolant, bypass the oil cooler stats, and a minor economy tune to lower the fan on temps and try and lean out the car a bit so it doesnt run so pig rich.

Also, plugs, wires and coils. I keep seeing everyone push the LS upgrade conversions but I dont plan to do much more work to the rotary except what I have already. I was going to have abuddy in japan get me a set of the newest C coils and just run them with some NGK wires and plugs.

Would that not be enough for what I do which is basically commute to work and have some fun on the way? I just want to pull 20-30k out of the motor and then turn the car into the dreaded swap project?

Ive done searches and read the arguments. Just need to make a final decision.

From what I've read, the C coils would be fine for your purposes.

I had stock, then the BHR kit, now SakeBomb.
I bought the BHR for longevity, and the SB just for the hell of it.
(NA, maybe overkill)
I liked the idea of the Mercury IGN-1A coils with the HD wiring harness.
They don't fit properly on Sport models.

Thats kinda my thoughts

Most of what Im doing will be transferred over to the swap when it happens so I dont want to buy overkill for the rotary knowing it isnt long term.

Sounds like you answered your own question.

Any luck helping me with what items I need to delete the oil cooler thermostats?

If your car is running pig rich, it's broken. It should idle and cruise in the 14s and WOT in high 12s.

Its not broken, its just too rich for a stock N/A motor. ranted Im sure the tune up will help a little.

I only used OEM.

If it's running rich it's because you have a problem, that is what he means by broken. It has an adaptive ECU it should adjust fuel trims so if it is not it is because something is wrong.

My statement wasn't in response to me feeling its unusually rich for what it is supposed to be.

Its more my thoughts that the ecu settings allow it to run too rich based on the pre-programmed parameters.

So you don't think unusually rich or "pig rich" is too rich?

That's not how ECUs work. You need to get actual data from the ECU, it'll tell you exactly what the sensors are seeing and you can diagnose from there. Or, you know, don't and see how far that gets you.

Id say a wideband along with OBD scanner is a great way to get data. Some people in the professional tuning world would swear by it as a matter of fact.

I guess the assumption was that Im clueless and dont know what Im talking about. My question posted was for opinions and if its worth the coin to buy a BHR kit even if my end game isnt the rotary but the more I read on here the more I notice the trend of how people reply and speak to new members.

I appreciate everyone feedback just the same.

You always want your oil up to temp ASAP. I'd leave those in place unless you suspect they have failed closed or something.


It would for sure. Unless there's some other impending problem.

The LS coil "upgrade" is questionable anyway. The coils themselves certainly seem to last longer, but no one has ever demonstrated that they make engines last longer vs. regularly-changed C coils.

I'm not sure why this is a point of contention. The car knows exactly how healthy or unhealthy it is, and the symptoms indicated point to there being an issue beyond needing coils. It already includes a wideband O2 sensor, and a number of others than have nothing to do with tuning. You need only connect to the ECU. This isn't an emotional point, I'm trying to help you not drive in a condition that results in thousands of dollars in repairs.

The car is running perfectly. The way it should from the factory. No issues, no problems.

I am doing the tune up and replacing the coils as preventative maintenance. I just wanted opinions on whether or not its worth it to do the LS ones. That time has passed since I already purchased the C coils.

The ecu knows if the car is healthy based on the settings its told are optimal. I disagree with what mazda says is optimal. I think they are rich. I came to this conclusion based on what I see the car is running and looking at stock base maps which are what it uses to determine optimum afr's. You can find all the base maps online thru a search. Take those along with data logs of the afrs and injector pulse/timing/latency and ignition timing and you can determine if there is room for improvement. If every car manufacturer used optimum afr's in cars then tuning would not be the huge business it is. Why are we still debating this?

The only thing wrong with my car is what the stock map tells it to do. So ill tune it and when thats not enough Ill swap in a different drivetrain.

Well RX-8 tuning is far from big business and there is room for maybe 20HP on a stock ECU with full bolt ons so yeah there is room for improvement, but very little. The comments were in reference to you stating it was "pig rich" which indicated you had a problem.