Japan8

Takahashi.... do a search on "Octane" and read those threads. There is no difference in US and Japanese fuel.

Testing conditions are similar. Ever live in Japan AND California? No? Well that'd be why you don't know. I live in Japan and have visited California. A very good friend of mine here in Japan used to race motorcycles in California and goes riding with me here. The "twisties" are pretty smiliar... a few more sweepers in the US and a few more hairpins in Japan. The racetracks are of similar quality.... Ebisu Circut, Twin Ring Motegi, Tsukuba...

You don't need an engineering degree to know that at the end of the day things have to be OBJECTIVELY comparable. A meter in Japan has to be the same as a meter in the US. More complex things... such as saftey... well they have made something called standards which dictate in detail the specs and requirements. And they are comparable that is the point of their existence.

First... Racing Beat says only low power gains can be made on the RX-8... so not everyone in the US is making big claims. Have you also thought about this... RE Amemiya and Knight Sports both have upcoming FI kits. You don't want the ECU or ECU + muffler package to put out similar peak power as your FI kit... so maybe they underrated their stuff to make the FI kits look better?

As I mentioned in the "L flash" thread... there are various flashes out there, but there is no "J-spec" and "US-spec" where the JDM tune is making 250ps. As I said in that thread... owners, mags and tuners here have rated the car at similar numbers to what has been found in the US... ~180 rwhp. And yes there are emissions laws in Japan that are getting more strict and in Japan everyone has to worry about a bi-annual vehicle inspection.

takahashi

so what do you think the way to go here...?

I just want to spend my money happy and wisely but I ended up spending nothing coz there are so many opinions out there... hehe

Japan8

You have hit what I see to be one of the biggest problems. Everyone loves choice, but there is a point where there's too many. To make matters worse... perfomance gains among them all are similar.

What to do in the here and now? That's a tough one. I'd say buy whatever looks/sounds best to you... and maybe you want to consider price as well. Check some of my reviews/comments in past threads on exhaust... I'd go Borla, RB or magnaflow. If you still have the urge for a JDM system think of it like this.... that cat-back will cost you $1,200, but a Borla will cost you $575. So you are left with basically $600 to buy.... an intake? ECU? midpipe? tires?

takahashi

............. a cat back cost $1200... US? is it around 80-100K yen?

Borla plus shipment will cost the same. USPS is too expensive. Don't forget the bas *** Oz tax department - f'ing mean

Hymee is cheap and friendly. I will hear it tomorrow.

Tunable Suspension strut bar and stabilizer sounds like the best money at this point. - everything else is bull **** (must wait) at present. Too be honest. I don't want to be a guinea pig for anything - so patient :ninja:

rotarygod

My recommendation is to choose what looks and sounds best to you. Since I am not going to name anyone here driectly or any direct companies, I will say that there are a couple of people on this site who are using some of the very well known aftermarket exhaust systems and are getting gains at some spots and losses at others. Others are just getting gains. Find out what others have and see how well they like them. No one can claim any one system definitively better than another without an independent 3rd party comparison.


Japanese fuel is measured in RON. US fuel is measured in Octane. Each grade of Japanese fuel is basically the same as each comparable grade of American fuel.