Racing Beat Intake information update
 

I sent Racing Beat an email earlier this morning. Looks like it will be 4-5 more weeks until the intake is complete. Below is a copy of the email.


We are indeed making progress with the intake system , but the engineering
guys are in the middle of outsourcing all of the smaller subcomponents that
are required for the intake kit. I know from past experience that this
process always take a bit longer than anticipated. If I post a release date
that is too early, our sales guys are bombed with calls and then end up
having to explain the source of the delay.

It seems that all of the subcomponents are scheduled to be completed in
about 4-5 weeks, I should have more info around then.

Best regards,

Jim Langer
Racing Beat, Inc.
714-779-8677
www.racingbeat.com
- Hide quoted text -


-----Original Message-----
From: Jon [mailto:philodox@xxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 8:31 AM
To: jlanger@racingbeat.com
Subject: Intake System for RX-8

Greetings,

I have subscribed to the news letter, but have not heard any updates
on the release of the Intake system for the Mazda RX-8. Are you able
to provide any information on when this is to be released? Thank you
very much for your assistance.

-Jon

lol i swaer someone else posted about 2 weeks ago the same thing...it'll be 4-5 weeks until they get their intake out.....:( ah well i can wait of racing beat there stuff is great:)

Heh.. who knows.. maybe that's the standard answer for this type of question regardless of when you ask ;)

I already died from holding my breath...

^ i thought you seemed a little lethargic:) ^

lmao. what takes so long to make a relatively simple part.

If parts companies really got on the case and pumped out quality parts theyd beat out 90% of their competition.

Racingbeat pays attention to the details. They really make sure somethnig is right before they release it to the masses. I think thats why they have always been respected as one of the great rotary tuners in the US. Their intake will most likely be top notch and actually do what it's suppose to do. Give me something that actually works and take your time if need be :)

cheers
mike
Black and Red 94 Touring, Black and Red 2004 Grand Touring

Unfortunately that's the mentality of companies like K&N that just rushed to bring out a huge filter on a stick to market without really tuning it for the RX8. Just because it worked for the ricer civic market doesn't mean it's going to work for the 8. Wanna bet how many Typhoon owners sell theirs on ebay and buy the RB one? :)

I'll also add that while RB might lose some $$ in early adopter sales, they make up for it in reputation, which is priceless in this competitive market.

im with 94se7en... if they can actually make it add horsepower and not sound like K&N i think i could wait a year

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I'd given up waiting a few weeks ago and went with the HKS intake....... may or may not outperform the RB unit, but I'm satisfied with what I got. :D

that HKS intake is pretty pricey isn't it? It's clost to $500 right?

I guess i'll keep on waiting that seems to be the name of the game.......waiting for a good intake......waiting for a turbo.....waiting for a supercharger .......waiting......waiting.......waiting.........

waiting for your warranty to be up

one of the problems they faced which caused a big delay is that the first company they were dealing with that was going to be making the smaller parts had financial trouble and sold off the equipment needed to produce the parts. so then they had to find another source. that took awhile since they had to be cautious that the same thing wouldnt happen again.

I'll wait as long as it takes.

Actually I'm downunder and the kit set me back $1000AUD, and that was about $350 off retail! :eek:

All right, here is a quick update from the source! In order to maximize performance of the intake, Jim Mederer spent considerable time on the engine dyno refining the intake design. After the final design was completed, tooling was required in order to manufacture the actual intake box, Yes, this took longer than expected, and to our surprise we were forced to find another plastic manufacturing shop midway through this phase of the project.

Once we had the actual prototype box in hand, K&N informed us that we needed to wait until AFTER the SEMA show before they could develop a filter to our specs. We have since developed the filter with K&N, and are waiting on the arrival of the machined aluminum MAF housing tube, inlet horn, and bar-type hose clamps. We expect these pieces to be ready in about 4-5 weeks.

Posting a release date, or taking pre-orders, will cause headaches if the inevitable delay occurs! We know that you are waiting anxiously, and some have gone elsewhere during the delay, but we will not release a product until we are 100% satisfied with the results.

We have optimized the RB intake to produce maximum power, while still maintaining drivability and a comfortable sound level. This system is not a race intake, and we have designed this for use on a daily-driven car. If you are looking for maximum top end power, but are willing to live with substantially more engine noise, then other currently available systems may better suit your needs.

Let me know if you have any questions,


Jim Langer
Racing Beat, Inc.

so we are looking at another month or two

what kind of horsepower gains are yall looking at? Or is it too early to divulge that information?

wat other intakes would be considered racing intakes?

Dunno, but the HKS intake is called Racing Suction....

That is some funny crap, I'm still laughing

Getting close to the release date so i'll bump a bit.

mmm i'm definutly getting this intake..b/c it's a lot less than a turbo and i sure can't afford that:( (oh and my warrenty is still good for about 20k more miles:p)

Let me reply to the last few posts...


1. We really aren't trying to extend the release date any longer than possible, but we just have to wait until the production guys get all the parts finished. It is hard to factor in the the "flake factor" when dealing with small vendors, several of the setbacks are due to missed deadlines due to a couple of vendors. I hate to even mention a possible release date because we only get into more trouble if this gets delayed again!

2. Power gains are projected at 3-6HP, with no rough idle issues, and a very modest sound increase.

3. "Racing intakes" (as defined by us).... units that feature simple tube and open element filter designs.

4. Sorry, but R&D can be a hurry up and wait process. Many projects that are started do not result in finished products because they simply do not yield significant results. Once a project is "uncovered" or revealed, than the expectations rise by customers in antcipation of something "big" coming out. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't.

Jim L
Racing Beat

I'm really curious about this intake too. It has been so extensively discussed...
I wonder, Jim, do you guys deal with international orders? I love the exhaust too...

<3 Racing Beat. Thanks for keeping us in the loop and posting this information!

I too am waiting with anticipation :D.......

Racing Beat....on a side note.....do you have any info on how the ECU project is going???

Thanks for the update. Getting it right the first time is definitely the most important bit and worth waiting for.

This is why RB has such a good rep, when it comes time for a new intake I'll def be picking this one up.

It seems that some of these projects take on a life of their own once news gets out. We had sincerely hoped that the intake would have been completed by now, but a series of problems with some of our vendors has pushed things back. When a vendor “flakes”, it usually means finding a new vendor…. and starting the process all over again. Frustrating to say the least!

I have been taking photos of the final prototype units in preparation for promotional releases, and the unit looks very good. The air box is a rotationally molded structure that features a specially-designed K&N filter insert. The filter has been designed with a internal rubber collar that will an aluminum air horn to extend into the filter body. The MAF sensor will be seated in a machined-aluminum tube that is mated to the box.

Addressing the question regarding international customers, our parts can be purchased through any US RB dealer, or directly from us. Visit the site or contact us for more information.

The ECU project slowed after initial research revealed that our findings only produced modest performance gains. We have full access to the RX-8 programming data, and Jim Mederer has tried many different mixture and timing variations, but the gains have been modest on the stock engine. However, significant improvements have been made when changing the programming to run with forced induction applications. TheECU program is an on-going project and more will be posted when we have news to release.

Jim L

Thanks Jim.

I will

What about the bodykit? :D It's the only one out there I would really consider.

This is kind of surprising. I know a lot of car-to-car variability makes piggybacks such as the Canzoomer/EManage stuff a hit and miss with generic maps, but I thought most people were seeing worthwhile gains once they actually tuned it. Given how rich these cars are set out of the box I would have thought decent performance gains and perhaps even better mileage would have been relatively easy to come by. Damn, this is disappointing :mad:

i bet there is good gains in the computer if people can get 15hp easy from a canzoomer theres many more from the our ecu .i have to disagree with jim.more work is needed .

The thing you guys have to remember is that Racing Beat is only concerned with LEGAL power. In other words, where people like Canzoomer have gotten good gains from aggressive tuning and cat replacement/removal, Racing Beat is concerned with keeping emissions legality. There's only so much you can do when you want the cat to live and for it to still meet emissions standards. Even Canzoomer will admit that.

very true i bet there concern with the emissions test on so on

i love how Jim Langer says stuff without actually saying it:D translate the above to read:

"we like the results we're getting with FI and a re-programmed stock PCM"

or in other words- their FI project is coming along nicely thank you:)

i never new they were working on that ?? what is it a supercharger or turbo

such a sly guy...

you talking to me

i know they ran a renesis with a SC on their engine dyno awhile ago.

no..i'm talking about Jim...

So, when is the release date? Or did I miss it in the above text?

You didnt miss it...no release date given as of yet. Soon though.

It would be nice to see some pic's !

Racing Beat makes good products so I am very curious to see what it looks like.

Here are a few pics from an old post a while back.