Will the aftermarket get any better?
 

Ive owned my RX-8 for nearly a year now. I've been sitting and waiting for aftermarket to get better before I put any money into my car. I see the majority of people sinking $2000 into their car for maybe 10 whp and I just can't see the purpose of it. I understand no matter how many times they come out with a new intake or exhaust we just arent going to see any real difference. It seems like FI is the only way to make any gains at all and even then your still gonna only going to run low 14's. Well the turbo is reasonably priced, everything else seems like a ripoff. Is there any signs of great products to come in the future or are we seeing the peak of performance parts now? when my mustang was stock i gained nearly 30 hp to the wheels by gutting my cats, bumping my timing, and cutting a post out of the mass air housing. (that didn't cost a dime). I'd eventually like to go turbo once my warranty runs out but It seems like people are having nightmares getting the tune to be consistent. Is there anything to look foward too?

Turbo are starting to become stable and as more tunning options come out. Iam sure things will get better too.Right now mazdasports came out with a piggyback thats suppose to be the real deal tunning is not changed by the ecu .Will have to find out when members start putting them on there cars. The unit runs around 1600 a little pricey but iam sure it will drop.You can also go with nitrous i had it now for over 5 months with no problems. good luck

Basically any new car that has been optimized correctly from the factory is not going to see significant gains with IHE. Those cars that do are applications where those components were compromised by the factory due to packaging or cost concerns.

An aftermarket ECU or full-piggyback like the Interceptor may gain you up to 20 hp if you are lucky and you can tune it well and you don't care how long your cat lasts. Otherwise, there is no cheap hp available, you already bought it all when you bought the car.

I agree completely. I think the lack of enormous aftermarket performance gains is a testament to how well engineered this car is when it leaves the factory.

Though the car was tuned well from the factory, there also simply aren't that many 8's out there. And of the small numbers, how many of the owners will be upgrading their 8's? Economics and profits drive all these companies, which I think has definitely been limiting our options.

The Mustang market is enormous in comparison to the rotary. It simply will take more time for this market to get going.

just keep waiting...someone will eventually market a nice piece of power.

you can get tons of cosmetic goodies first

the only thing is , renesis is a brand new engine so it takes time and demand

This car is closer akin to the S2000, and that car has been out almost 6 years now & still isn't a huge aftermarket for it. I agree witht he posters above, this engine is pretty highly tuned from the factory. If you want 20 hp from a cat back exhaust, the answer is never gonna happen. You are never going to see a time when you drop a $1,000 in this car & get a 100 hp (hell, not even 50). If you are looking for massive hp gains then the Mustang GT's, Corvette/GTO's would probably be more to your liking. FI kits are coming but building large hp for this car will never match $ for $ of some other cars. Tradeoffs in every car.

tradeoffs is right

I think this is a good looking and you cant beat the way it drives

if you want gobs of hp then you probably want a american car like fanman said

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Yep. The problem with this car is there ain't enough aftermarket parts!!!

Seriously, a modern engine is hard enough to squeeze additional power out of and keep somewhat legal- and tractable for street use.

I find some of the threads interesting as far as standard features are concerned. A 15 second quarter mile is not fast enough, and even a premium sound system has to be discarded for "better" speakers and more power.

People have always sought to improve their cars, but you sure start out with a heck of a lot more these days right out of the box.

What's your point man ? :D. My car is "slightly" modified.

I like your slightly modified car Fanman. :D

Of course the aftermarket is going to get better, but it will be the demand for it that brings the aftermarket. I assume that the market will grow, but the amount of power that the people can get out of the renesis will be based on trial and error. And that will take more time. And even with that, we would be spending dollars far more than that of other cars.

The only way the after market is going to develope is if you spend your money now.

Buy the little things to show them ther eis a good market out there.

I agree with all that has been said here. Right now, there aren't that many RX-8's on the road versus the mustang, 350z, etc. so the aftermarket really isn't that large. But it will get better so we just have to wait and see who come out with what.

I wouldn't expect a big market to develop during the first 3 or 4 years of the initial release. Not that many people willing to toss their warranties. When the warranties expire and/or the used market heats up then more likely for people to start tinkering. More likely for a young guy to spend $10K on a used 8 and drop some bucks into major mods, than someone who spent $30K+ and under warranty.

I also think there is just a hell of a lot more you can do with a piston engine.

You can port and polish heads, install longer duration cams, bigger valves, etc., etc., but a rotary is essentially a five piece engine. Two rotors, one shaft, and a clamshell block. That doesn't leave much material for tinkering.

there is no aftermarket cause no one can figure out the engine

thats why this car is special p.s. its plenty fast for me

its already a pure sports car why srew with it

I dont think i will ever want to go FI with this car, but with the new INTERCEPTOR-X, i think NA has a more promising future for the 8.

Interceptor-x, flywheel, intake, exhaust, midpipe, lighter wheels, headers (dont do all that much, but an NA mod none the less), rb ram air duct, grounding wires. That should definitely be good for at least 25 horses (i think more like 30-35) to the wheels. but then again, damn thats a lot of money.

I like my 8 just fine the way it is, except for better tires. I never bought it thinking that I'd go stoplight to stoplight with a vette.

My fifteen year old Miata is plenty able to satisfy any desires I have to wrench.

To each his own, though. :)

Hello? there are multiple Turbos (not including homebrew versions) out for quite some time...we have 3 superchargers on the horizon

the ECU has been cracked and we'll start seeing more systems that take advantage of it plus we already have piggybacks and ecu bypass systems

not to mention all the other minor performance mods

I sense the poster is a troll (only joined this month after owning the car for a year and knows NOTHING about his car), we sure know he aint too bright that is for sure

The fact you are comparing a Mustang to the RX-8 is a sure sign of it...if you didn't do you research on a rotary before you bought the car that is your own fault.

http://tpitre.nikola.com/softcopy/as...ourpichere.gif

Color me stupid then, too.

Coming from the Miata community, the RX-8 aftermarket looks rather paltry. The 8 is simply too new and the numbers produced too small to support anything like what is available for the Mustang or even Miata.

the miata and mustang have been around for over 10 years...although there has been an RX-7 it was always a speciatly car where more RX-8s were sold in the first year than in the RX-7's entire production run.

I was calling that guy stupid since he has been an ass on the forum

you are just naive :) don't worry about it...the aftermarket support is there but really if you want something MAKE IT YOUR OWN :D (or modify something already out there and make it your own)

your the only one who has a problem with me, i dont really care. im just concerned seeing 10 different intakes priced from 3-400 dollars, 1,000 dollar catbacks, mid-pipes that throw CE lights, and turbo' cars that have to be retuned constantly because of the computers constant reflashes and learning features. I dont want to make the jump into aftermarket on this car if things don't pickup. I was hoping any vendors on this site would come foward and key us in on any possible future improvements. I bought this car to get to work but eventually when my warranty is up id like to do some things.

just ignore my posts if i irritate you so much. I can understand it if your a little sore, iv'e seen the vikings play.