First Performance Upgrade?
 

I just bought a 04 RX8 M/T last week and am already looking to make some performance upgrades to it. What would be some of the first things anyone would recommend to improve the HP.

The cheapest thing is to upgrade the grounding wires. I noticed that the idle was alot better and it sounds nicer at higher rpms. Also the fuel economy improves alittle..

a turbo ? haha or more realisticly i would say exhaust or sways. sways would give u the most noticeable difference.

Take a few driving schools. Upgrade that first. I'm not trying to be a prick, but you'll be amazed what the car really has in it. It is impressively engineered.

Handling - Braking - Power

In that order ;)

Here is the list I made awhile back: https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...&postcount=317

driving school should be first on your list. even if youre an experienced driver itll teach you something and youll get to learn the car. from there nemesis has it down

First thing I got was the Racing Beat Suspension package (springs, F/R Sway bars) & front sway bar endlinks. Car handled quite a bit better than stock, probably the best investment I made on this car.

hehe i've done no suspension :( which will be changing soon as i am goin gto get the racingbeat swaya..but i do have the racingbeat cat-back, and clutch and pressure plate. as well as the mazdaspeed flywheel.:) now for the turbo (come on mega millions gimmie some money:D )

I would also be one to suggest a driving course. I drove for two days at the track with legokcen and not only can he drive a car but he is right about the RX-8. These cars from the factory are far more capable than 99% of those who own them. Even well-experienced instructors are amazed at the RX-8's performance. We were passing all sorts of cars that one would think could run circles around the RX-8. Just as Nemesis says, too. A particular car needs much less power when the brakes are never used at the track. You shoulda seen the Hondas. They were using factory brakes on racecars because they don't need them.

If you're looking to street/drag race, that's a different story when it comes to the above advice. Please make the distinction so we may better help you achieve your goals.

CRH

I am looking for street performance upgrades not track and if I could only afford that turbo!

Meant to say not drag

save your money, the turbo is only $3000 - you'll wind up spending that on bolt-ons VERY quick and kick yourself for not just getting the turbo in the first place.

Does "street performance" mean light-to-light racing? So you're saying you want to mildly upgrade your h.p.? Most of us do the simple stuff first like tires, swaybars, flywheels, etc.

CRH

If it's HP go with the Racing Beat REVI intake, then get their exhaust.

The car handles great, needs some more straight line acceleration power.

1) aluminum flywheel (Racing Beat)
2) Under drive pulley set (Unorthodox or SR Motorsport)
2.5) Canzoomer
3) Hi flow filter : Direct OEM replacement. (Racing Beat sells K&N direct replacement)
4) You can upgrade the tires to be wider in the rear (245)

Muffler is only going to add maybe 3HP, no muffler = 4HP gain. Racing BEat advised the some muffler actual lose you power.

Check out these dealers:
http://www.srmotorsport.com/RX8-Parts.html (I do not believe their HP claims)

http://racingbeat.com/FRmazda4.htm (Trust these folks HP claim...read everything you can on the Racing Beat website)

http://www.unorthodoxracing.com/

Get the N flash! :p

I would strongly recommend against the pullies. They have not shown real gains on dynoes other than the manufacturer's, that has been widely discredited (SR Motorsports claim 12-18 whp...yeah right). When I did my dyno it only gave me about 1 whp peak & a few in the mid range. Definitely not worth it, and to top that off it worsened my idle a bit, made my car run rougher. Nice pieces but don't waste you money. For the $400 that you will spend you are halfway to a Canzoomer piggyback ECU unit.

Fanman, you are mostly likely correct. I know that CORTEC? CORTIC? posted some pullies that he is/was having built. He claimed ~9-11HP gain depending on the amount of underdriving. I have a pulley set on my 300ZX and I could tell a difference with them on it. As for rough idle, never had a noticable issue. I agree that it would be better to get a Canzoomer Piggyback ECU before the pullies.

I have a lot of respect for Cortc, maybe he found something that SR Motorsports & UR didn't. BTW, he said that project is on indefinite hold as he is working on other stuff. The #'s don't lie. I got about 1 hp from my dyno of the pullies. The material & the build quality of the units are great, it's just the concept/application of this product on this car. It would be different if I got 9-11 hp, & maybe we could extrapolate getting 12-18 hp somehow, but I got 1-2 hp, that's a hard stretch to 12-18 hp that these pulley makers claim. Boosted (300 ZX) cars are different, & cars that are 10-20 years old are different. It is getting to the point where these power enhancement products are showing less & less improvement over the stock parts, because Mazda is making the OEM units so well. For example RB commented on how it was very difficult to get more hp from the cat back exhaust, or the header, or the air intake. Hopefully, somebody will be able to dyno a set of the UR's at a real 8-10 hp (what they claim) and prove me wrong. I would be the first in line to buy them then, but right now I got what I got & basically pissed $450 down the drain & I don't want somebody else to do it too.