Uhh, yeah, regular math does not apply here. A mod on one end can affect the results of the mod on the other - both positive AND negative. You don't really know until you do some dyno runs and try out different combinations. That's why I'll wait a while before purchasing these things. :)

SIGH.

colin204, what B-Nez and Lee Chun are saying is the HP gains from common bolt-ons (I-H-E) is rarely cumulative. You also need to look at the actual dyno results from some independent testers. I would like to believe that a Borla exhaust makes 12-15HP at the wheels and a simple filter kit makes 8-10HP, but I really need some more proof than what the manufacturer claims--that RX tuner mag might be a good source;) .

The Dyno chart David Borla sent me showed 10HP on their test car with 5 or 6 on torque. Just email him and ask for it.

Think I'll probably just do an intake change first.

Is it "header" or "headers"?

header

Boosting straight-line performance, what's your plan???
 

What would be your approach? And how far would you go, realistically???

here's my plan

1. Wait for a recall ECU reprogramming will happen, mainly to address mpg and hp loss due to the lame "hack" job they did for us yanks...

2. lower the car 1"-1.5" with camber correction.

3. Replace current wheels with lighter titanium wheels and wider tires overall (Front 275/35/R18 & Rear 285/35/R18).

4. Add Mazda speed frontend kit for improved airflow.

5. Swap out intake/exhaust system with aftermarket high-flow exhaust and intake/filter. (requires additional ECU tuning, hopefully will be available).

Re: Boosting straight-line performance, what's your plan???
 

Why camber correction? We ain't got no stinkin' struts - the RX-8 suspension is already fully adjustable. Since the limits of the front suspension are about -1.0 degrees right now, a bit of lowering will allow more negative camber at the limit of adjustment. However, you could still dial the camber back to a less extreme value with the normal adjustment range even with the car lowered.

Regards,
Gordon

Re: Boosting straight-line performance, what's your plan???
 

You know that this will NOT improve performace, and will drastically degrade fuel economy and acceleration, right?

errrr... okay well maybe there are a few things on this list I don't know much about ;)

I thought lighter wheels and thicker tires will not only reduce the overall weight, but gain some additional grip off the line...sounds only logical to me...

*BUT* I'm sure you guys will give me a more technical breakdown... :)

(Which, BTW, I certainly am interested in reading about)

I have no real experienced with souping up cars--I only make logical assumptions about these things...and of course I wouldn't actually go through with it unless I got some good opinions on it from this board.... that's why I threw it out here for discussion.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, the tire width could become helpful on a track situation -where handling is a 'must'

If you increase tire width, YES you will increase grip, but you'll also increase friction and therefore acceleration losses. The wheel & tire combo could be lighter than their OEM counterparts. However, an excess in patch area won't help you get better straight line performance. If you read some of the threads (sorry, its 2am and Im lazy to post them, maybe later!) you'll find that the 8 doesn't squeal its tires that much (even with DSC off.)

I agree that, according to some mags (take it from where it comes from) the best launch technique is a clutch dump at 8K rpm. I am pretty confident this will cause a huge amount of tire spin. But not necessarily beat up your 1/4th mile time...in other words I don't think the 8 has enough 'juice' to move its mass from a standstill that fast; it needs to get its tires spinning.

I guess I could get a bit more technical on it....but I would have to do some research to backup my (so called) theory.

I'll edit this post once I can keep my eyelids open!

Cheers!

true
 

i went to englishtown and raced my rx8 6 speed with a 8000clutch drop alot alot of wheel hop and spinning through 1st gear and i got 15.00 at best

My 60ft was 2.51 or something like that

TURBO
its just a matter of time

turbo... oh yeahhhhhhhh

how much would that typically cost to install on a car such as this one?

Installing a turbo setup on a naturally aspirated car usually ends up costing around $5500 once all things like proper engine management are taken into consideration.

The wider tires will increase your cornering grip, but it will reduce your off the line grip. Think about it for a minute ... the weight of the car remains the same. So that means that the tires still have the same load (ie: the same number of pounds per square inch). However, when you change the width of the tire, the shape of the tire that is actually contacting the surface of the road changes. A tire's contact patch always spans the width of the tire, which means the variable width is the front/back portion of the contact patch. Get a wider tire and keep everything else the same, and you reduce the front/back contact patch.

This is why people drop the pressure in their rear tires when at the track (unless the car is fwd, in which case they lower the pressure in front). The width remains the same, but the front/back portion of the contact patch increases.

Regarding weight ... the wider tires & rims will have more mass towards the outside of the wheel than the stock equipment. The mass at the outside is MUCH more important than the mass at the inside. With the wider rims, you'll be putting more mass towards the outside of the wheel, which will negatively impact acceleration.

Your option #2 will also not help acceleration. In fact, depending on how you set up the car when you lower it, you could hurt it. RWD cars hook up better than FWD cars because the weight of the car shifts back to the wheels putting the power to the ground, which increases traction. Reduce the weight shift, and you reduce traction on launch, hurting your overall acceleration.

I don't know about option #4, but I doubt it will make a measurable difference in 1/4mi times. Your money would be better spent on other upgrades if you are only interested in straightline performance.

For a good 1/4 mile time with the 8 this is what I'd do

1. Get the base or sport model

2. Remove anything simple. seats anything in the trunk

3. Put some R compound racing rubber on the rear end i would'nt go any larger than 235 width and maybe on some light weight 16in rims

4. Drop the clutch at 7250rpms to reduce wheelspin/hop and be ready for the shift to second

5. HANG ON TIGHT!!;)

Tha'ts great and all, but can you suggest some practical solutions instead, rather than ones specific only to drag racing...

I don't think I'll be taking mine to the track anytime soon.. (for at least my 7/100 warranty period, anyway)

edit: speaking of maximum wheel sizes, can someone elaborate on this? Such as the ranges of sizes the typical 18" rim can handle.. or more specifically, the RX-8's 18s. The 8 comes standard with 225/45s... you are suggesting that you can put a 235 on 16s??? How large can I go before I need to replace the wheel to something wider?

I'd only look into some kinda supercharger / intercooling type setup. I'd like to get faster linear speed, but I still want that 50/50 weight distribution for awesome handling so its a tossup. Adding a supercharger and intercooler will change the distribution though :\.

We're thinkin some light wieght 19x8.5 up front and 9.5 out back for starters. Full exhust, grounding kit, intake, lowered with coil overs probably, along with lots of suspension work. That should keep us busy till the body kit comes in and gets painted.

For tire and wheel combos it really depends on the width of the rim not the hieght. the rx-8 has 18x8s so i would guestimate that a 255/35 tire might fit on it. I know i've been looking at 245/35 and 245/40 for when the stock tires are worn out. It just depends. For my miata i put 225/35R18 tires on 18x7 rims and the whole thing(4) weighs about 20lbs less than stock. I looked at some tires online while posting this and i saw a 275/50R15 and a 245/50R16 so yes a 235 tire will go on a 16 rim.

To make the rx-8 faster overall i'll probaby put a slightly stiffer suspension on the car and sit back waiting for some upgrades like exhaust or intake. Maybe a turbo, or lighter flywheel? Or an aluminum radiator and higher output fans? One can only hope....

Id do full exhaust and suspension and ecu when it comes out. I would definately investigate grounding kits as well.

lighter wheels will improve acceleration (and braking, and to a lesser extent, cornering). lighter wheels are very important because they are rotating mass as well as unsprung weight. this is the same thing as why a lightweight flywheel improves acceleration.

bigger contact patch with low pressures is one reason its good for drag racing, the other reason is the sidewall can then absorb the shock of launch. smaller diameter wheels might help too.

of course, i think a 90's DOHC neon can remove the air filter and run a 15.0- the rx8 is no drag car. not until we fix the ecu.

i am an autocrosser, not a drag racer, but my other car is a 2100lb 360hp beast, so ive done some amount of tuning for hookup.

james
http://thevenom.net

your link didn't work for me

any chance the RX8 against the S2000 in 1/4 mile???

Your plan on your RX-8, please input.....
 

Hi, new to the board, read a lot of post about the problem and return blah blah blah.
I really love the rotary engine, even this car is not as fast or better handling than my other cars but I will still buy it becuase I love the face lift and is ROTARY!!
Is there anyone here that satisfied with what they got and planning to do some mod soon? I notice the car can seriously use a turbo kit.

p.s. those 350Z guys no need to post here, your 350Z is just another pos compare to other cars I have.

Re: Your plan on your RX-8, please input.....
 

What are your other cars?

Re: Your plan on your RX-8, please input.....
 

I'm guessing he's thinking of it not so much as a new model but rather as an RX-7 with a facelift.

yes from some angle, I can still see the shadow of a RX-7, or I should rephrase to "I love how it looks from the front".

my other cars (not something really hot, but are ok to drive)
2002 M3
2000 540 6-spd
1 big ass 94 2 dr coupe and a 94 van not worth to mention when tallking about performance.

I'm happy with my 8
I've added clear corners, tint, lojack,strakes, two 12inch subs
I'm waiting for performance mods to hit

It's amusing... he mentions that his car doesn't handle as well as other cars, yet the only concern he has is that the car 'can seriously use a turbo kit'.

Let's not mention any suspension changes because you know... you might even need to know how to drive to actually make use of them. Any idiot can slam on the gas or drop the clutch, which is why I'm assuming that the turbo kit is of all great importance to the street-racing attitudes thrown around so cavalierly.

Ah well.... c'est la vie. Turbo kit is coming out for the RX-8 so be patient and wait for it.

I don't want a damn turbo kit on this car.. However, I would love a ported NA engine that can rev to 12000 and put out 300hp ;)

I see the shadow of the 7 when I look at the corvette. Definitely not the 8 though.

IMO the Rx8 handles at High Speeds Just as well, if not very very close, to my NSX

you see the 7 in what generation vette

"It's amusing... he mentions that his car doesn't handle as well as other cars, yet the only concern he has is that the car 'can seriously use a turbo kit'.

Let's not mention any suspension changes because you know... you might even need to know how to drive to actually make use of them. Any idiot can slam on the gas or drop the clutch, which is why I'm assuming that the turbo kit is of all great importance to the street-racing attitudes thrown around so cavalierly.

Ah well.... c'est la vie. Turbo kit is coming out for the RX-8 so be patient and wait for it."

Is amusing becaue you don't understand. My M3 doing corner pretty well, so is my 540 6sp with 255 front 275 rear and full set of suspension. Why I want RS8? Because I want some thing to mod to play with. Why I am asking a turbo? becuase I have been driving N/A since my 94 Eclipse turbo 10yrs ago and i am looking for something that has high potential to mod and UNIQE. That's why I didn't even consider the 350Z.

Christ i hope english is your second language.

ROFLMAO...Your to much WTF....

Well, let me tell you. I traded in my WRX for the 8. I've dealt with trubos, and yes, initially you notice the lack of the turbo around 3500 RPM. Your body and mind are used to the feel of the torque and compression into the back of the seat. But what you notice right away is the way the car handles. The smooth, stable acceleration. The prrrrr of the rotary. Then it hits you that this is truely a dynamic gelling of all its components combined. Refined and redefined. Absolutley a car for the true driving enthusiast.

First things first. TINT. It gets freakin hot here in the desert valley. The plan for us is to start with the wheels and tires. We're thinking 19s. Then move on to the suspension and exhaust. The rest of our dirty little mod list will be revieled soon enough.:D

"You see the RX7 in what generation vette?"


Many say the C5 Corvette took styling cues from the FD.

What are some safe/natural things to increase HP?
 

I'll be buying an automatic next year and it only has around 200 HP at it's peak and under really good conditions.

Of course I'm buying the car for other reasons but I would like to increase the HP even by around 20 HP....

what ways can I do it safely and naturally so it doesn't ruin engine life and/or other things. (By safe and natural I mean like, performance spark plugs or air filters etc.... or maybe even exhaust systems, would this fall under safe and natural? this is what I want to find out by this thread) by unnatural I mean things like NOS or a turbocharger..

so what I'd like to find out is what you would think would improve HP, how much it would cost and how hard it is to install

estimates

intake 250
exhaust 700
headers maybe 6 or 7 hundred

in other words its not cheap but those could add around 20hp

I would do an intake.. like that filter discussion goin on in another forum here.

I don't think exhaust right away cuz i don't want a loud whiney rice sound (shudders)

what about things like better parts, oils, plugs, wires, things like that... anything like that helps?

those parts help the car run longer and better but you wont get much hp out of them

Re: What are some safe/natural things to increase HP?
 

Someone tell me if I'm wrong but doean't the AT have less HP because Mazda didn't have a auto tranny at the time that could handle the "250" hp? So it may not be the best idea to get a AT and then mod it. Also it's hard to say how the 8 will react to certain mods some cars don't benefit from headers and intakes, and some will even perform worse. Right now it's wait and see, but MikeB's list will give you a decent idea and you can toss a ECU reflash of piggyback computer on the list for 400-1100. Removing cats will certainly help and you can get exhausts that keep the stock axleback so there change in sound will be minimal.
As far as plugs, wires, fluids, there really isn't much power to be had there maybe a few HP from better plugs, but nothing you will notice..

At the very least, I want my car to at least run at 200 HP like they said it would have (ok, 197..) but I know I will probably never ever get that under normal stock conditions

Want more horsepower? Why don't you buy a manual transmission? If you are any bit a car enthuasist, you will regret buying an AT

ike
I never heard auto tranny can't hold 250

Actually I believe that is the reason it's not 238. The auto only revs to around 7000 rpm (and hp = torq x rpm). If the transmission could handle the 9k rpm then it would produce the same amount of hp.

I think you might have better luck with Ecannaceia or Goldenseal...or maybe just learn to drive a stick.

Sorry but I think this is a lame thread.