OK

 

Dave the car is looking sexy... I've been in love with those wheels since I ever first saw them; I think they'd look good on my LY!

You raise a valid point though, unordinary car... unordinary trends.

Oh well, the less FI 8's I see around here the more prestigeous I get to feel

 

Based on professional experience.

The most prestige one can feel while owning an F/I Renesis is by having it run strong and not be a PITA on the maintenence, which is completely possible.

 

It's a direct wire-in, so a bit of a PITA compared to a OBD-II device but still very easy to do since the ARK wiring harness has nice little plugs built in to connect to their optional temp and pressure sending units. It also has a line built-in for vacuum. I'll post some more detailed pics when I get a chance.

 

Thanks! I've had it since '99 and have slowly built it into a full racecar (ran it for a few seasons in the Canadian Touring Car Championship). I'm actually thinking about selling it since the 8 is probably going to evolve into a racecar eventually (or at least a dedicated track car). If you know anyone looking to buy a supercharged K24-powered Civic making 412whp, lemme know

 

Dave, I am interested in your comparison of the RX-8 to other cars you can buy for under $15k and take to the track. For me it has to be a daily driver, so I am not asking about a car to make a dedicated track car.

This is the best handling car I have ever owned. When mine was stock, it was very neutral but the springs were too soft for the track. I have added KW3s and have R comps and track pads for track days. I would love to add power, but that is unlikley. I cut 3 seconds off my lap time the first day out compared to my E36 M3 (also lightly modified) on Brainerd's long course.

 

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At a recent local Time Attack event I ran against a similarly prepped S2000 on street tires with a top quality driver and I ended up being about 1-second off his best lap time. The S2000 driver, Jonathan Weir from Honda Canada and Enmo Racing, took my RX-8 for a ride at the end of the day during open lapping and he was surprised how long the gearing is and how down on power the 8 is compared to his S2K (he came within about 6/10ths of my best lap time in the 8, which was impressive since he only did 6-7 laps). There was also a fast 350Z in our class that posted some very good lap times, and both the S2K and the 350Z can be had in or around your price range. But they're both 2-seaters so not as practical as the 8 for daily driving. Both have distinctly different characters to the 8 as well.

The S2000 feeling harder edged and twitchier at the limit but once you get a handle on it you really feel the chassis communicating to you. It also has a wonderful engine (makes about 200-205whp stock but has lots of tuning potential in both NA and FI forms) and excellent build quality, LEV status, and surprisingly good fuel economy.

The 350Z feels like a bigger heavier car but is still very responsive also has a nice V6 that produces good torque, something the 8 is seriously lacking. The Z also gets better fuel economy than the 8 (my G35 coupe averaged 24mpg city/highway combined). The V6 isn't all that receptive to NA tuning, though more so than the Renesis.

Another interesting option might be a E46 M3. These are really coming down in price and they're a heck of a lot of car for the money. You'd have to go for an early one to get down into the $15k range, but these cars are really fun to drive, have a great high revving engine, are very nicely put together overall, and have tons of aftermarket support but are a bit pricier in terms of modifying them.

Man, I could play this game all day

 

The S2000 is always high on my list. Is the oversteer issue on the early ones a problem or is it a good thing for someone that knows how to use it? (I don't know how to use it yet, but that's why I moved to the RX8 from the M3 is to learn skills in a more neutral car.) Two of the tracks I go to have high speed corners (Brainerd turn 2 at 115 and Road America), so I don't want it to oversteer insanely.

 

So could a lot of us . I had a 350z for about 4 months. Sadly the dealer could not get the paperwork together (stolen?), but they made the mistake of letting me take it home so I never paid for anything but insurance :D Honestly, it was more like a Japanese version of my classic mustang than the 8. It was great at drifting, straights, hairpins, you name it. I even go to take it to Asheville where my parents live and rip through a few mountain roads I know like the back of my hand. I had zero complaints. Sure there was some stock issues like the rear hatch not working and all that but I'm a mechanic. I don't care about all that little stuff. I'd just assume gut it and drive a frame around. I was actually looking for a 35o when I found my 8 :D
Another car I know very well is the MR2 spyder. Talk about a fun car. The layout was so good and light that you could have fun going 5 mph looking for a parking spot in a buisy parking lot or during spirited mountain driving. The engine lays down a whole 95 rwhp! but the 2100 lbs. makes it all ok (unless you like straigt line speed). I would say it turns as good or better than the 8. The difference is that unless you have a few grand in suspension upgrades you will go flying off the road at the higher limits. I lost both my cars because once I lost control there was NO getting it back. The mid engine is great for cheap exotic-like performance. Stick a 2zz (celica gts motor) with a turbo and a new suspension and you'll be golden.

 

I think the AP1's oversteer is actually a really good thing for autox but can be pretty sketchy in high speed corners. But with a big front swaybar you can neutralize the AP1's tail happiness quite well and a rear wing will work wonders in those high speed corners. We put a APR splitter (mostly cosmetic, I think) and GTC-300 wing on our S2K project car a few years ago and it completely transformed the car on the race track. Went from really twitchy and loose to super stable with a touch of understeer in higher speed turns. FYI we were also running a OE hardtop on our S2K and perhaps that helped the wing work better than it might with the ragtop down.

 

Dave, are you going to be at Nationals next week? I have not seen you on the list yet..

 

Unfortunately I've had to put off the Nationals until next year. Progress on the car has been slower than expected and it's nowhere near STX prepped yet. Having just moved and with a pregnant wife, I haven't had enough time to build the 8 for the Nats. But on the upside this will give me plenty of time to get the car fully sorted for next year.

 

Just picked up the October issue - good article! The pics are great!

How'd you get -2.75 degrees of camber up front? I got -2 (I have dropped the front a little bit since I had the alignment, but not enough to get another -.75). If your tail happiness isn't cured, can you get some more negative camber in back?

How do you think the dampers work? That was a good price! I bought used KW3s for $450 and have been happy, but finding used is hard and risky.

Do you think the 8 will ever move up to a more prominent article? C&D just called an R3 the 3rd best handling car under $100k. That is impressive! Thanks for your good work!

 

Glad you liked the story and pics. I didn't do anything special to get -2.75 degrees of camber. I just maxed out the adjusters and that's what I ended up with. Actually, I think I had as much as -3 on the passenger side by dialled it back a bit. Is that more than these cars can normally get with the stock arms and adjusters?

The tail happiness continues to be a problem, but I've got a big front sway bar on the way so hopefully that'll help, but I'm also going to try some more rear toe-in and perhaps some more rear camber as well. Definitely worth experimenting with alignment settings as a way of taming the rear a bit more.

$450 for a set of used KW's is a smokin' deal. Having run Variant 3's on my previous project car, I am a big fan of these dampers. The BC coilovers are more street oriented in their design, especially the rears which don't have quite enough travel for the track (I'm still getting on the bump stops pretty badly despite having raised the spring rates and rear preload quite a lot). Ultimately I may have to go to different dampers to get the car handling the way I want at the race track.

In terms of the 8 being moved up to a more prominent article, the next issue is dedicated to nothing but our project cars, so there's a 5 page story on the 8 including two large double-page spread photos, so I guess you could call that more prominent. And as the project evolves there will no doubt be issues where its story features more prominently than others. For example, when I go to the Nationals next year and win a trophy (LOL), I'm sure the car will be on the cover

 

Yo Dave,

This is an awesome build, im happy to see the RX-8 getting some attention from Modified as a project car (Actually I think you guys have always been good about featuring rotaries pretty regularly). The articles are great and I'm loving following the build. I thought you might want to know though that for what it's worth (and for the sake of authenticity I guess) that the front strut tower bar is actually just the stock bar with a mazdapeed sticker on it, the mazdaspeed bar is carbon fiber. Anyway, keep up the good work, I can't wait to see the car in the next few issues!

 

I think the MAZDASPEED bar is an aluminum bar with a carbon fiber sticker over it for bling. An actual, structural, carbon fiber bar would cost way more than $250.

 

Well, it says Mazdaspeed on it, therefore it must be a Mazdaspeed strut tower bar! Kinda like my tattoo that says "world's biggest stud"

On the upside, I do have some legit MS parts coming soon, so that'll help the strut bar blend in.

 

Check out corksports upper strut bar its the best imho cuz it connects to the firewall

 

 

Not to mention that it would be illegal to run it in STX...

Great Advice!

 

And unnecessary. No bar here.

 

all true, and yea its definitely aluminum covered in a carbon wrap (to amplify rigidity and strength of course!)

 

Great thread, having just picked up an 09 R3 that I plan on using to go cone killing, looking forward to the continuing story.

 

IMHO = in my humble opinion

I don't know stx rules...link?