HexRX's RX8
06-16-2013, 07:43 PM
#1
Hexrx
Thread Starter
HexRX's RX8
So I have wanted to put together one of these threads for awhile, finally found some time to do it. I also used a terrible camera filter in the first few photos, didn't really think about it at the time. 
4/17/12 - The day I bought and paid off my RX8 from South Coast Toyota in Costa Mesa California.
I wasn't exactly looking for a Mazda, let alone a rotary, but after driving it I had fallen in love with the damn thing.
Info:
-2004 Mazda RX8
-Galaxy Grey
-6 speed MT
-48,000 miles (When I bought it)
-GT Package
-Transmission replaced @ 30k
-Exported to Guam?!
-Imported to San Diego, CA
-Completely stock
This car turned out to be something of an obsession after awhile..
First thing I wanted to do was tint the windows as I live in the middle of southern California and it is pretty damn warm here a majority of the year.
Sitting pretty at the tint shop getting prepped.
After the tint.
I then started out with the first little appearance modification which was a VIS Carbon Fiber Trunk, I found it second hand for a great deal so I hopped on it.
After installing the VIS Carbon Trunk, I had plastidipped the wheels black as the previous owner had curbed them to death and they were a bit sore on the eyes, this was a temporary modification until I could find some new rims that I liked.
While I searched for some rims I decided I wanted to open the RX8 up alittle bit. I took her down to my buddies shop and made a full 3" mandrel bent exhaust with a 18" resonator and magnaflow dual tip muffler.
I was getting some gas when I noticed you could see the exhaust piping.
I finally had found some decent rims, ordered them, and damn were they sexy.
MB Battles 18x9.5 +15 w/ 225 45 18's
I had decided that the orange side markers were a bit ugly and since I see the clear side markers all too often I tinted them black. It came out better than expected!
At this point I was really enjoying the car and every aspect it had to offer but I felt that she was lacking in a few areas, I took her down to Racing Beat and had them tune it, that made the biggest difference! Yet I still felt that it needed some good suspension. I went down to Final Speed Garage in Murrietta, CA and was talking with Cyrus Martinez (Formula Drift) and he convinced me to go with Feal Suspension coilovers. Aurimas Bakchis (Odi) said he would make some but it would take awhile because he had not made any coilovers for the RX8 yet and had to get some measurements and specifications.
After a few weeks Cyrus called to let me know my suspension was ready to be picked up!
Fully adjustable dampening, 10k front 6k rear.
Now the fun began, time to install the new suspension!
Out with the old and in with the new!
The install was pretty easy, didn't run into to many issues other than a few stuck bolts. I feel that the suspension really brought the whole car together at this point.
After looking for awhile I found the aero side skirts and the front pieces as well! Since I picked them up off a Lightning yellow for cheap and plastidipped them black until I could complete the kit I was looking for.
I felt that the car was a bit loose in the back and since I was on the cheap side I went out an bought a rear strut brace, though I have read they do not do much at all, I feel it tightened things up nicely.
Now that I had some spare time and everything was going good I felt it was time to take the car to the track and do alittle drifting!
Since it was a 3 hour drive back home and gas money I didn't want to spend, we all camped out at the track for the night.
Now that I was semi satisfied with how the car looked I realized that I needed to make sure the car was operating at a healthy level so my buddies and I fabbed up an oil pressure and temp gauge bezel.
painted it black, it chipped on the install some how though.
I also invested in a scan gauge II, I really recommend that everyone get one of these, they are amazing!
Around then I had also purchased a Grom Audio Ipod adaptor for the RX8, the install was easy and it works perfect, made my own little Ipod area in the center console also.
Mazda Fest//Seven Stock recently had happened and on my way there my exhaust decided that it wanted to change tones on me, I couldn't figure out what caused it to get nasty loud, so once I got home from seven stock I got under the car and found this!
It was fixed later that day.
After searching for months I had finally found the lip I was looking for and installed it!
The side skirts, lip, and rear valence were all finally in order and ready to be painted!
I had also ran across a Siebon Carbon Hood for a price that I couldn't pass up! I feel it looks nice, I would really like the vented one but I can't bring myself to fork out the cash for a new one.
Before paint:
After paint:
It turned out that I had put the lip on a bit crooked, it has since been fixed.
4/17/12 - The day I bought and paid off my RX8 from South Coast Toyota in Costa Mesa California.
I wasn't exactly looking for a Mazda, let alone a rotary, but after driving it I had fallen in love with the damn thing.
Info:
-2004 Mazda RX8
-Galaxy Grey
-6 speed MT
-48,000 miles (When I bought it)
-GT Package
-Transmission replaced @ 30k
-Exported to Guam?!
-Imported to San Diego, CA
-Completely stock
This car turned out to be something of an obsession after awhile..
First thing I wanted to do was tint the windows as I live in the middle of southern California and it is pretty damn warm here a majority of the year.
Sitting pretty at the tint shop getting prepped.
After the tint.
I then started out with the first little appearance modification which was a VIS Carbon Fiber Trunk, I found it second hand for a great deal so I hopped on it.
After installing the VIS Carbon Trunk, I had plastidipped the wheels black as the previous owner had curbed them to death and they were a bit sore on the eyes, this was a temporary modification until I could find some new rims that I liked.
While I searched for some rims I decided I wanted to open the RX8 up alittle bit. I took her down to my buddies shop and made a full 3" mandrel bent exhaust with a 18" resonator and magnaflow dual tip muffler.
I was getting some gas when I noticed you could see the exhaust piping.
I finally had found some decent rims, ordered them, and damn were they sexy.
MB Battles 18x9.5 +15 w/ 225 45 18's
I had decided that the orange side markers were a bit ugly and since I see the clear side markers all too often I tinted them black. It came out better than expected!
At this point I was really enjoying the car and every aspect it had to offer but I felt that she was lacking in a few areas, I took her down to Racing Beat and had them tune it, that made the biggest difference! Yet I still felt that it needed some good suspension. I went down to Final Speed Garage in Murrietta, CA and was talking with Cyrus Martinez (Formula Drift) and he convinced me to go with Feal Suspension coilovers. Aurimas Bakchis (Odi) said he would make some but it would take awhile because he had not made any coilovers for the RX8 yet and had to get some measurements and specifications.
After a few weeks Cyrus called to let me know my suspension was ready to be picked up!
Fully adjustable dampening, 10k front 6k rear.
Now the fun began, time to install the new suspension!
Out with the old and in with the new!
The install was pretty easy, didn't run into to many issues other than a few stuck bolts. I feel that the suspension really brought the whole car together at this point.
After looking for awhile I found the aero side skirts and the front pieces as well! Since I picked them up off a Lightning yellow for cheap and plastidipped them black until I could complete the kit I was looking for.
I felt that the car was a bit loose in the back and since I was on the cheap side I went out an bought a rear strut brace, though I have read they do not do much at all, I feel it tightened things up nicely.
Now that I had some spare time and everything was going good I felt it was time to take the car to the track and do alittle drifting!
Since it was a 3 hour drive back home and gas money I didn't want to spend, we all camped out at the track for the night.
Now that I was semi satisfied with how the car looked I realized that I needed to make sure the car was operating at a healthy level so my buddies and I fabbed up an oil pressure and temp gauge bezel.
painted it black, it chipped on the install some how though.
I also invested in a scan gauge II, I really recommend that everyone get one of these, they are amazing!
Around then I had also purchased a Grom Audio Ipod adaptor for the RX8, the install was easy and it works perfect, made my own little Ipod area in the center console also.
Mazda Fest//Seven Stock recently had happened and on my way there my exhaust decided that it wanted to change tones on me, I couldn't figure out what caused it to get nasty loud, so once I got home from seven stock I got under the car and found this!
It was fixed later that day.
After searching for months I had finally found the lip I was looking for and installed it!
The side skirts, lip, and rear valence were all finally in order and ready to be painted!
I had also ran across a Siebon Carbon Hood for a price that I couldn't pass up! I feel it looks nice, I would really like the vented one but I can't bring myself to fork out the cash for a new one.
Before paint:
After paint:
It turned out that I had put the lip on a bit crooked, it has since been fixed.
06-16-2013, 07:44 PM
#2
Hexrx
Thread Starter
I sat for awhile like this until I ran across a piece of carbon the was made to go behind the licence plate, I decided that I could spend some money and wanted it.
A few days later it was here!
When I originally installed the carbon piece it looked great. Yet I felt that the trunk was just too much at this point and opt to remove it and go back to stock.
After I sold the trunk I invested in a Seibon Carbon Spoiler in hopes that it would bring the *** end of the car together. It did just that! Sadly my memory card in my phone decided it wanted to die and I lost the photo's of the install.
I eventually figured that I wanted a different look, the rims were nice and all but I wanted to see if I could find anything better, I put them up on craigslist and got a great response. I finally settled on getting some Enkei RPF1'S! The girlfriend also liked them!
Yet after a while I found that these rims were just not what I was looking for, so once again I put them up on Craigslist and got an offer for some decent rims that looked pretty nice. I was skeptical of the fitment as I had always ran 225 45 18's all around and I was going up to 265 35 19's for the rear and 245 35 19's for the front. I feel that it worked out great! I had no issues after I trimmed the damn bumper tab. (Fenders were rolled a few months back)
As fate would have it, I eventually ran into a problem. The radiator nipple snapped off and I had to replace it. I went with Koyo Rad to replace the old crappy nasty radiator.
Out with the old:
In with the new:
And as of 6/16/13 this is how she sits
A few days later it was here!
When I originally installed the carbon piece it looked great. Yet I felt that the trunk was just too much at this point and opt to remove it and go back to stock.
After I sold the trunk I invested in a Seibon Carbon Spoiler in hopes that it would bring the *** end of the car together. It did just that! Sadly my memory card in my phone decided it wanted to die and I lost the photo's of the install.
I eventually figured that I wanted a different look, the rims were nice and all but I wanted to see if I could find anything better, I put them up on craigslist and got a great response. I finally settled on getting some Enkei RPF1'S! The girlfriend also liked them!
Yet after a while I found that these rims were just not what I was looking for, so once again I put them up on Craigslist and got an offer for some decent rims that looked pretty nice. I was skeptical of the fitment as I had always ran 225 45 18's all around and I was going up to 265 35 19's for the rear and 245 35 19's for the front. I feel that it worked out great! I had no issues after I trimmed the damn bumper tab. (Fenders were rolled a few months back)
As fate would have it, I eventually ran into a problem. The radiator nipple snapped off and I had to replace it. I went with Koyo Rad to replace the old crappy nasty radiator.
Out with the old:
In with the new:
And as of 6/16/13 this is how she sits
06-18-2013, 02:29 PM
#6
Hexrx
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