Catback should be here tomorrow, will start on that once it gets here.

Also ordered a few more goodies for the car. Going to be putting a tablet in the nav hood & setup a reverse camera with it. Will be able to run the Torque app or similar, which is more visually appealing than my standalone Ultragauge. Will probably stick that in my Subaru instead. Looking forward to setting that up tho, as I've been wanting to do it for awhile, as the 12 year old navigation is useless.. and I like the flip up hood so I really wanted to utilize it.

My homemade M badges were bugging me, as due to the design, it's basically impossible to make a gradual slope for the points at the bottom, so I just ordered some replacements. I also ordered a lil rotary badge to replace the Mazda badge. I hope it's just large enough to cover the alignment holes, we'll see. I hate badges on cars, so I figured If I have to have something there Id rather advertise rotary > Mazda, haha (I mean that's what makes these cars special). Already have the Ms for Mazda anyways.

Last but not least a rotary accent for the front bumper will be on the way as well. Still need to find one for the rear.

I think that's it for now. Here is a pic from yesterday.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...cb142b235a.jpg

Sexy Rexy & teh Scub

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6412abff99.jpg

Exhaust (& rotary badge) got here today. Will be installing it very soon.. Too tired today to do it.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...cda35ac027.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6cf341093f.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...76a89f00be.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...f9abe05cd.jpeg

Catback installed. Also pulled the mid pipe to inspect the cat again. Put new gaskets in as well. Everything looks good. Sounds good at idle, haven't taken it out for a drive yet.


Exhaust not fully connected. Only have the axle back sitting in the hangers and resting on the jack.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...a98781b93a.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...ef07b84b5f.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...8543073353.jpg



Cat looks good, so decided to continue using it for the time being.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...bd52d6b1ee.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...327fd15c43.jpg



All done!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...b04417305b.jpg

Just a little comparison, both pics taken today. Old vs new XD


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...69d26e2ea3.jpg

Old

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...0911c4e644.jpg

New

Front rotary accent arrived today! I had just set it on in the photo.. I had to put new 2x sided tape on and such, but just wanted to see it before I pulled the car into the garage. Figured it would break up the black a little.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...89389acc93.jpg

Tablet also arrived... just waiting on a few more components before i can start hooking it up.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...e7a60dc9d3.jpg


Annnnd a proper heiny picture with the new exhaust.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...c05ee5571e.jpg

Any Sound clips? Looks great, but have not seen his work first hand. Interested to hear it and see how it holds up over time.

Trying to upload a video now...

I am very happy with it thus far. Fitment was perfect. Sound is great (it's definitely smoother and less raspier than the previous catback I had). REALLY happy with the tone.

The video is kinda crappy, but you get a decent idea. It's very echoey in my garage but if you can ignore the background noise you can hear a decent example of the tone.

Was the previous one a no name brand? As for quality of work, only time will tell, after a couple hundred heat cycles, these pipes get pretty damn hot lol. When i was at work, after a 30 min drive, i backed into a spot where there were leaves, yeah... a nice amount of smoke came from the back, a fire was starting lol. Now im very cautious of where i park making sure nothing touches the tips! Luckily it was seen right away by someone and nothing was damaged at all!

Had to compress the video pretty significantly to be able to attach it as a file, hopefully it doesn't distort the actual sound too much.

Oh wow that's scary! Yeah Im not surprised though. Someone threw a bag out of their car on the highway on my latest road trip and it went right under my car, I was thinking OMG PLEASE BLOW AWAY as I looked in my rearview, I was so afraid it'd get stuck to the exhaust and melt and who knows what... it blew away after about 5 LONG seconds, lol.

I am not too worried, as he has sold lots of exhausts long before me, and he hasnt had any complaints that I am aware of. I've only seen positive reviews thus far.

And yeah eBay I think... One of the POs put it on at some point.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...5ef435ab57.jpg

I think the fitment of the new exhaust from the rear is excellent! It has a very nice look to it as well!

The front rotary accent also has two tiny christmas tree clips that press in near the top. One on each side. They are a fail safe in case the two sided tape fails. If you didn't get them with your accent you may want to locate them or ones similar. My two sided tape failed on one spot on the front accent and its a little loose. The little clip saved the accent from loosening up more and or falling off.

Thanks for the heads up! I will take look and see if I can find em.

theres only two hangers on the mufflers? isnt there supossed to be one on the pice connecting the mufflers to the cat? i havent done an exhaust in a while and dont remember.

did you check the back of the cat too? at one of my meets at my bros shop we found a cat that looked perfect in the front but after using his fiber optic camera we found the rear was melted badly

There is the 2 on the mufflers than there is one on the strait piece of the catback as well. I think the stock one must have 2 on each side of the mufflers? As there is a chassis side hanger which would go towards the back of the muffler as well, but I havent used it with either catback. It's not really needed tho, nothing wiggles in the slightest (the old one did a bit, but the new one is nice and tight).. it's also not very heavy. (I was able to "bench press it" to finagle the last joint with my skinny little arms. lol. Id imagine the big ol stock muggler is quite a bit is heavier.

I had no means of checking the rear of the cat, I did try, I couldnt see anything :-\ I don't have a boroscope. I am having ZERO symptoms of catalytic failure so Im not toooo concerned. No stink. No high cat temps. No loss of power. No MPG changes. etc. I will continue to watch it like a hawk while it's in there tho. I just felt it to be dumb not to take 10-15 minutes extra while installing the catback, and to pull the midpipe and at least double check it where I can get a visual.

Does the pipe bolt to the back of the OEM cat?
I see this bracket looking thingy here, is that a part for your pipe, or is that a part of the jig?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...68addbf7f1.jpg

Annnnd a proper heiny picture with the new exhaust.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...c05ee5571e.jpg[/QUOTE]

Not the heiny shot I was hoping for.
Such a tease.
;)

^^ Haha

That must just be part of the jig.

You can see the flange here (to the left).

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...418f483896.jpg

Another item checked off the list (then I think I'm done for awhile, lol).

Ac Delco D585 coils with 10mm wires. Also included is the custom bracket and a spacer. These particular wires have great heat resistance. Put together by a friend of mine at Grewvin Tuning who also did the mild tune on my 8.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...e72ee49a7f.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...32abd9aa3b.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...8122057c50.jpg

I have a BHR I took off and now I have SakeBomb.
It's probably overkill for NA, but I wanted to try it.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...b4eadfa940.jpg

Successfully installed the tablet into the nav hood today. All went very smooth, I had no issues with the circuit board/ribbons/motor etc.. Everything worked perfectly when hooked back up. I do wish I was able to find a slightly smaller right angle aux coord, as this one, even after being shaved down is still a little big. It pushes the tab off center by a hair (I will probably get a new one at some point just because I am OCD, lol), but all in all it looks great, and works great.

My only qualm is that it isn't liking any chargers I've used yet, not even the Samsung plug that I use for my Galaxy phone (tablet is a Galaxy 7.0 tab)... Going to order a Galaxy tab specific charger and hopefully that will remedy the trickle charge that Im stuck with atm..

The Gravity screen app is working flawlessly to turn the screen on/off with the nav hood.

Video shows a lil run through of it working, etc.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4...lR2Z3pHLWM2Nms


Only pic I took part way through the project.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...af0acee9f7.jpg

That's pretty cool.

Got the Bluetooth OBD2 and Torque mostly setup.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6ae60013e8.jpg

Not much of a noticeable update, but I got my new charger & flat/low pro aux coord. While my tab still acts finicky about charging properly sometimes (even in the house) I got it to charge normally (no more trickle charge) even in the car atm, it's cooperating, YAYYYYY. My understanding is they have a tendency to default to connect as a memory device as opposed to just charging (which causes the lower power charge signal). I found this adapter that should force it into charge mode and help in case it acts finicky again. Also the flat aux coord leaves plenty of room to align the tablet perfectly center. Yay.

I also decided to drill a small hole at the top of the hood so I can shut the tablet off without pulling physically pulling the hood up. I did make the hood able to be pulled off without dash disassembly, but I'd prefer not to have to do that here and there (it's more of a quick emergency accessibility type deal). I Intend to get a small hard piece of rubber and fit it into the hole so I can make a button (like how phone cases work).. In the mean time, I can use a small pick to stick in it and tap the power button. It's not much larger than a toothpick so it doesn't detract aesthetically. Especially once I put a little rubber foot in there to make it a button, no one would know any better.

Couple pictures from today. Took my daughter by the airfield so I snapped a couple pictures. I am happy with the front rotor accent. Also removed the front M badge so I could put on the new one.. but it looks so much cleaner without it... I think for now I am just going to ignore the holes, lol. Definitely will have the holes filled once I get the front bumper repainted.

Also showing the new Rotary & M badge on the rear. I like it better than the modded stock M.. Comes to a much sharper beveled point.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...fb0d26bfc4.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...35397d9709.jpg