Engine mods BESIDES Intake and Exhaust
 

I have never seen so many threads discussing intakes and exhausts. If you scroll down the section, I'd say half of the threads are discussing the gains of intake and exhaust. You know, there are more ways to modify your car to make it faster. For the people looking at turbo kits, it wont matter which intake you want to buy because you will need to get one that goes into the turbo. You will probably need a different exhaust too, since it will be coming off the turbo as well. Is anyone else worried about the engine management for the 8? what about some lightweight pullies and flywheels? Lets expand our horizons everyone.

not everyone is looking for such wild engine modifications such as turbocharging. intake and exhaust are usually a fairly inexpensive way to bump up some power, and for those looking for a few aftermarket goodies for our 8's, we want our hard earned cash to go well spent, so we try to research as much as we can before we buy.

true, there are ALOT of intake/exhaust posts in the aftermarket tech forum. i just take it for granted that i am able to use the search function and keep myself updated on most new happenings in the rx-8 community. some are not so computer literate and may have a hard time finding a specific answer, so they just post a new thread because they don't know any better.

personally, i need to keep the factory warranty so im probably only going to be putting on mazdaspeed parts. as for exhaust, thats probably going to be the only engine mod i can do, so im gonna wait until most new systems are out.

People are talking about intakes and exhaust because that's about all that's available! I guarantee you if there were turbo kits available someone would be talking about them.

jds

I agree with Rex, There needs to be a broader range of things to do. A flywheel is inexpensive, and the lighter weight makes the shifts quicker, increasing acceleration and performance just for an example. Engine management is of the utmost importance for this vehicle. its not about being computer literate, its about knowing how a damn engine works. It seems like everyone here has just watched fast and the furious, and looks at the intakes and exhausts. I guarantee there are things less expensive than the fricken rotary extreme intake which is way too costly for the measly 10hp it gives. Lets get educated folks, this car has so much potential, it just needs some learned, experienced attention. People need to stop stupifying this forum, whether they mean it or not.

Agreed. So let's talk about what ELSE can be done to the car. How about someone lists out all the other possible mods?

its perfectly natural to be talking about these things. the car is too new.

well i think if we start talking about what we want to get done, and what we wish was in the market, hopefully the manufacturers will see the demand and make the parts. I guess mazdaspeed has a pully kit that is available, but i doubt that is much lighter than the stock pullies. It seems that really lightweight pullies should be easy to manufacture, and deffinately an easy way to make power. We can start with those. What else do people want to see go on the 8 to have it make more power. This can be everyone's wish list, throw something out there and we'll expand on it, discuss its feasability.

Lighter flywheels are always a great mod.
I am reluctant on underdrive pulleys though. Lighter underdrive pulleys are, in some engines, associated with harmfull engine vibrations that can shorten the life of the engine or simply cause engine failure. This is due to the fact that many aftermarket underdrive pulleys are not harmonically balanced, which, from what was explained to me by some master mechanics (they mainly worked on ford, chevy, and honda engines), amplifies the engine vibrations.
This may not be applicable to the renesis, but its certainly something to consider. Many people use underdrive pulleys without a problem, but some do face concequences... Time to start getting some renesis mechanics in here to comment and enlighten us I guess.

How about some port and polish work? Are there manifolds in the 8 that can be optimized? Throtle body?

Yes, I have heard that with pullies. Deffinately something to consider before purchasing. The lightened flywheel along with strengthened clutch is always great. I'm not sure of the strength of these 6MT's but I'm sure time will tell with that. I am not too familiar with the port and polish work because I am ued to 4-strokes, anyone else care to comment?

there's a few bolt-on turbo systems avail in japan. also a bunch of intakes and exhaust systems too. i do not know when or if they will be available in the US though.

A: It's what people are talking about because of a lot of 8 owners, such as myself, are new to this sorta thing and it's some of the easiest places to start.

B: Alright. We need ot be educated. Then educate rather than critisize. It's easy to say the car has potential. Why does it? I understand some of it so far, but cars are not my life and is a rather new hobby. I am still learning. You sound like you know stuff. Lets hear it.

Rotary engines are 4-stroke just like pistons...

As far as power pulleys, SR Motorsports has some that are already available. I'm not sure whether they are underdrive or just lightened, though.

I also was curious about Throttle Bodys for the 8, but I don't recall ever seeing that as an option for any other NA rotary like the FC.

shadowcougar...

For most of us, a light flywheel would not be a great mod. Sure, it would allow the engine to increase and decrease revs faster, but the reduced mass would make the car less driveable. Great for racers, not so great for us average Joes. CAT back exhausts are mainly cosmetic and no CAT is not an option to most of us, leaving JUST released intake systems and NOT YET released and unverified Canzoomers' CZ mod the main stories so far. I'm with djmano, except I am not as worried about the warranty and ordered Rotary Extremes intake. I don't have the budget for any turbo!
Tom

Throttle bodies are largely pointless. Anyone know how much the stocker flows and what the max amount of air the stock engine can *take* is? Bigger isn't always better. You want to make a throttle body worth something you need to go internal on the engine to increase the flow *there*, thereby necessitating the larger throttle body.

I'd love to see a twin-plate clutch/lightweight flywheel combo. I dunno what people are complaining about as I have found 11lb flywheels to be perfectly accesptable for everyday use, even in larger cars driven in snow ;)

Lightweight pulleys are one thing, underdrive is another. I'd take lighter pulleys, but stuff the underdrive units. Especially considering the weakass stock battery, the last thing you want to do is underdrive your alternator.

The most important thing is really going to be programmable engine management, same as with any car that will be modified. Consider that your "foundation." Without that, any intake/exhaust/turbo/NA porting is a house of cards...

I am new to the whole rotary scene, but my understanding is that these motors are not balanced the same as a conventional piston engine so the vibration issue (with pulleys) is irrelevant? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I know that most of us can't remove the cat, however I keep hearing about how the ECU is so concerned about keeping the exhaust temperture down so it doesn't fry the cat because rotaries tend to run hot. This would make me think that removing the cat and tuning that would take advantage of it would yield some serious power increases. A bolt- in "race" pipe that you could switch out for the cat once every year or two when emissions comes around would be perfect. Any thoughts?

Rikki, I mentioned lightweight pulleys..

I'm not endorsing their effectiveness.. its one of those "placebo-esque" mods anyway. But we were talkin' about every possible avenue..

Aren't you gonna chime in with the tornado? ;)

Ok, so here's a synopsis of what's been suggested so far:

- Lightweight pulleys, standard size or underdrive
- Lightweight flywheel
- Twin-plate/Strengthened clutch
- Port and polish work? Are there manifolds in the 8 that can be optimized? Throtle body?

Is this it?? Seems like a pretty SLIM list. And a twin-plate/strengthened clutch isn't even a performance enhancement per se, but more a way to keep things from blowing up your tranny and/or differential when your engine puts out more HP than the car was originally designed for.

Back in the day when I was into hotrodding cars, the rotary was not something I worked on. Mostly worked on small and big block V8s, with the occational I4 or I6 mixed in. I have no idea about ECU tuning, although I can understand the theory behind it. But the basics remain the same, and back in the old days we used this basic formula for "souping up" an engine, in roughly this order usually:

- Intake element and manifold (reduce restriction)
- Exhaust: Headers/manifold, piping, and mufflers (reduce restriction)
- Hotter ignition system
- larger fuel system (bigger or hotter carburator and fuel pump, and in later years, adding fuel injection)
- porting and polishing heads
- more radical cam(s)
- changing gearing in the transmission and/or differential
- higher base compression
- forced induction, usually via a Supercharger
- strengthened internals (usually required with higher compression and or forced induction)
- strengthened clutch and/or transmission (usually required with more power from above mods)
- balancing (and/or blueprinting) engine

Now a few of these don't apply to the rotary, such as the hotter cams, and others have been discussed ad naseum (intake, exhaust and forced induction). Pretty sure we don't want to boost the base compression of the engine, as it's already pretty high. So that leaves

- Hotter ignition system
- porting and polishing
- changing gearing in the transmission and/or differential
- balancing engine

I have no idea if a hotter ignition would help the rotary, although I suspect modern ignition systems are so much better than the old "coil and distributor" systems that they don't need much improvement. Dunno, does anyone think this could help?

I'm pretty sure both the intake and exhaust ports could at least use a smoothening. Seems I also heard somewhere that adding headers to this car don't do much either because of the angle of the exhaust ports negates the potential flow increases of the header, but if it were cut down by some angle (perhaps 22 degrees?) it would flow much better.

I'm also sure changing the gearing would help, although I doubt many of us will tackle it. Back in my day, a 3:96 or 4:11 differential gears were the hot setup for drag cars... does anyone know what the gear ration is in the 8? This area has potential....

Also not sure if balancing this engine would help. Anyone?

Then there's the lightweight flywheels and pulleys mentioned at the first of this post.


What else? Come on folks, let's brain storm here....

Not sure if this applies to the 8, but would limited slip differentials help??? (try to put some more power to the ground...)

Good thought, but the 8's differential is already limited slip.

I'm going to throw nitrous out there just because no one has said it yet. I heard the renisis can't take it, but can anyone confirm this? It might be good for some decent power.

Well, worth a shot...

Don't think this will work as the renesis is such a new engine, but short of an engine swap, are there any other compatible rotary engines that have parts that can be adapted to the renesis? If so, there's always the possibility of some hybrid work...

I have a friend that put a 6oz underdrive crank pully on his turbo civic to replace the stock 7lb one! He saw a big increase on the dyno. I dont know the exact number but he lost .2 in the quarter mile.

Good thought, although not for everyone. Ok, I'll add it to the list.

So here's the updated list:

- Lightweight pulleys, standard size or underdrive
- Lightweight flywheel
- Port and polish intake/exhaust?
- Intake/MAF and exhaust/header (manifolds) improvements?
- Throtle body improvements?
- Hotter ignition system?
- Changing gearing in the differential
- Changing gearing in the transmission
- Balancing the engine
- Twin-plate/Strengthened clutch
- Nitrous Oxide

And of course, the old standbys:

- Cold Air (or less restrictive) intake
- Less restrictive exhaust
- Less restrictive (or completely removed) catalytic converter
- Supercharger or Turbocharger

Falls into intake, but its only worth it as one of the last mods:
Calibrated MAF

Please keep in mind that i'm tossing ideas based on my knowledge of ford engines, which might have no significance to the renesis.