Phoenix_'s small upgrades
 

Hi!

Thought I'd write a small build thread here just to get some feedback and to remember what I've done later on.

I bought my '04 High Power November '13, and I've been fixin her up since. Hot start issues were present almost from day 1, even though I tried to test for them when buying the car.

This is how she looked with winter wheels on after a wash and after swapping some LED bulbs:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2017.25.17.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2017.23.04.jpg

Car was still running fine at this point, so I focused on some small issues.

Ordered a new gear gaiter from the UK (black leather, yellow stitching). I have a new gear knob waiting for install, you can see that the old one is a bit worn out. New gaiter installed:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2019.40.14.jpg

The lock on the front console lid was broken, installed new lid. I found a guy who's racing with RX7s and 8s here in Finland, and I bought a load of stuff from him for really cheap. Everything brand new, original Mazda parts. Front & rear console lids, gear knob, exhaust shrouds (shiny!) and a new e-brake handle (the whole handle, not just the plastic part) for a total of about $120 incl. shipping.

Old e-brake handle had that small plastic strip, that covers the opening when the handle is up, snapped off. This and the exhaust shrouds are still waiting in the garage.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2019.11.07.jpg

Then had to fly to Austin on a business trip and ordered some parts to my hotel:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2013.29.47.jpg

New fuel pump, plugs, coils, wires, air filter and a can of Zoom Zoom Engine Cleaner.

The fun starts here. When I was on my way to replace the coils etc, the car decided to die on me on the way. After about ten miles on the highway I got off on a ramp, and got thru two intersections before the engine stalled while slowing down. I sat there for an hour (was a bit cold, it was -20°C or -4°F outside) waiting for the engine to cool down (normally it took like 20 minutes max to be able to restart), and my battery died from the cranking. I got my father to come and jump-start the car, and she fired up but ran really awful.

I almost got to the garage where I was going before I had to stop because somebody towing a car in front (oh the irony), and she stalled again. We towed her for the last couple of hundred meters. I swapped the coils, plugs and wires, and finally the fuel pump (snapped the retaining ring at the process) but she wouldn't start. No compression judging from the sound. We came back with my brother the next day, and got her to start with jump-starting, but had to keeps revs at 3k rpm not to stall. At this point I knew the engine was gone.

I started looking at the options, and after some calls (Mazda Finland quoted me almost $10k for a new engine replaced), I ordered a rebuilt short block from Apex Rotary in the UK. The block comes with a oil pressure mod and thermal pellet removed, and I ordered some port work done (street port).

Before the engine was shipped to me, I got a couple of photos in email:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2013.24.12.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2011.34.24.jpg

After a couple of weeks I got the engine, and this weekend I started pulling out the old one.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2014.09.01.jpg

All ancillaries swapped to the new block:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2019.58.03.jpg

This is where we had to stop last evening. Clutch disc is worn out, no sense putting everything together just to replace the clutch in a few months. Today's mission is to hunt down a new disc, or better, a complete kit.

Any idea if the RX8 disc fits other cars, just to help me search?

One parts shop told me their supplier has one disc, but the price is over $400. Dealer quoted over $500.

I got a TDX stage 4 clutch off of e-bay for cheap had it in for a year now and still good the kit came with pressure plate clutch disc through out Bering and the pilot Bering. Only thing it didn't have that I had to get from the dealer was pilot Bering seal.

Pilot bearing is luckily new, new block came with the bearing replaced and the flywheel attached. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get the OEM Exedy disc from the parts shop to get the car running.

You've got it all out don't put a new friction disk and the same pressure plate and throw out Bearing putting in one or two new parts with old ones that interact with the new one is not a good move. That can cause things to fail.

Get an exedy stage 1/ OEM clutch, anything more is useless and prone to premature failure.

So is the Stage 1. I went through 2 in 20,000 miles, with all but 100 of that on one of the two.


Stick with OEM.

I was more towards the OE, thought the exedy and OE where the same, if thats not so just stick with OE.

You will never need anything more.

The Stage1 has quality control problems. Same company that makes OE, but for some reason there are quite a few problems with it. Here is a thread where a bunch of us chime in on the problems that we have experienced with it: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...clutch-244381/

Gotcha, side not I had premature TB failure on a OE S2 bearing (2K Miles) that came with my trans last summer from Mazdatrix.

Not saying its their fault, but something may even be up with the OE bearings as well.

The pressure plate surface looked fine, I'll replace the throwout bearing and the plate later if needed, and order them from the US.

I've had some problems with the clutch, grinding on high RPM shifts to 5th and 6th. Syncros are probably worn out, but it also feels that the clutch isn't disengaging properly when hot. Might be water in the fluid. I'll replace the fluid and bleed the clutch when I'm done with the engine.

New engine in. Wouldn't start at first, double-checked everything and noticed that the coolant temp sensor was disconnected. Removed alternator, connected, and she fired right up. Let her warm up til the fans kicked in and changed the oil and filter to clear possible debris left from the old engine.

After I got the new engine in I noticed that the clutch slave cylinder piston wasn't properly aligned when I was testing the clutch and the pedal went to the floor. This pushed out the whole piston and I had to remove the cylinder, clean it up and reassemble. Now I can't bleed the system properly, can't get into gear when engine is running. Got her home by starting with 1st gear in, clutch pressed, and then shifting with rev matching. Clutch is just on the limit of disengaging so I wasn't too worried about the new disk. I'll probably try the "hose from brake caliper to slave cylinder" -method or gravity bleeding today.

It still takes roughly a couple of seconds of cranking to start, is this normal? I read from somewhere that it might take some time after a rebuild to build up nice compression.