Japan8

I think i speak for us all here when I say... daaaaamn.

bureau13

This does kind of make one wonder about all of the "tuners" with (one would think) significantly more experience and resources who have yet to show this kind of progress.

One question...does the stock DSC/Traction Control stuff still work effectively with the extra power and the different power delivery? I'm just wondering how good it would work to prevent the kind of wheelspin you described...of course if it was still on during your drive, I have my answer!

You know, you could probably sell a few of these if you make it into a kit...


jds

Rotarian_SC

Would you get a dyno for us. I'm not questioning your results but I think it would be good to see exactly how much power you've got and where to see how well the Renesis adopts quantitatively. I can understand if that would violate your budget.

dmp

Would you draw a comparison for me, of your rx8 to your MX3, in terms of how the power feels? I'm pretty well versed on boosted KL's...

2ks2k

As an independent 3rd party and turbo owner/maker, would you recommend the GReddy turbo kit? Now that you've seen Jon's and can compare it to yours would you buy it if you weren't able to make your own?

Just curious (and an **** information researcher when it comes to making large purchases). I thought it looked fairly standard and of good quality. I just need as much ammo as I can get when trying to sway the wife that she "needs" this for her car

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

I wonder the same thing. Of course, I already had months of development for the E-Manage programming under my belt as well as more than a few turbo build-ups. I just copied myself (and Greddy to some extent).

Uh, it "works", but it had a hard time keeping up.

But it would be difficult to make a profit. By the time I was done, I had bumped into my budget, which would only leave $200 - $300 profit. Hardly worth the effort.

My budget doesn't include use and abuse! I will attempt to dyno the car, but I don't have any real "before" numbers.
I will also post new G-Tech numbers which you can compare to my old G-Tech numbers.

Well, I haven't driven my MX-3 since I sold it more than a year ago, so my memory has faded a bit.
The MX-3 had monsterous torque steer and no limited-slip differential, so launches were nearly out of control. Through the first 2 gears, crashing always seemed like a real possibility. From 3rd on up it was much better.
The redline was only 75% of what the RX can do and the gears were very tall since they were meaant for a 1.6L V6. That car was a lot of sturm und drang.
By comparison, my Miata went through the 1/4 mile just as fast but was a lot more stable. 13.7 sec @ 109 MPH.

The RX-8 now feels exatcly as it did stock, only 50% faster. In fact, it will really open your eyes when you realize that this is probably how the car should have been from the beginning. The engine management is perfectly happy with the boost as is the suspension and everything else.

I would ablsolutely recommend the Greddy system. It is cheap, simple, completely bolt-on and easily upgradeable.
Honestly, even if you can make your own I'd have you consider the Greddy kit first.
Its short comings are acceptable, I think, for the majority of drivers who would not be looking to really push the envelope.
A kit like the Greddy (and mine for that matter) brings the RX-8 up to the level of performance for which the chassis was designed.

6 PSI makes the RX-8 the perfect car.

Broke_Apex_Seal

very cool jeff! My car is finally getting a motor. I should get it back by the end of next week and then the greddy kit which should be here thursday or friday. Keep you guys posted on how the motor job goes.(in another thread of course .

2ks2k

That's exactly what I wanted to know. Unfortunately for us S2Kers, there always seems to be some sort of glitch...idle, etc. (unless you get the $1200 AEM EMS + tuning) and it ends up being $6-8k depending on what turbo kit/tuning you get. And I think that's why everyone goes with the S/C (for $4-5k ) and you can tune it a VAFC or EManage for a few more HP.

I'm just glad to see GReddy made a quality kit for the RX-8 at a reasonable price. A new RX-8 turbo kit is less than I can get a used S/C for my S2K...go figure I wish FI was this cheap for my S2K Just glad I have both and hopefully I can convince my wife

foxman

Well since so many people have dynoed already in stock form, it doesn't really seem necessary and if you are getting about what GReddy is claiming with theirs you should probably be around 230-240WHP.


Boy, you said it! I sooooooooo want one of these!

Great project and great thread, thanks for sharing with us.

Pitlab77

Nice

QuantumTheory08

...Jeff (Jeff here), impressive work!

Congrates and may all things go well.

-jcs-

Spin9k

For philodox or MazdaManiac... does turbo lag exist for either of your installs? Or does it spool up enough by the time any useful revs are obtained that it is a non-issue?

twospoons_

Since we are speculating
If we assume that the car has 238hps then we have 25% loss when dynoing at 180hps. So, the greddy kit bumps us up to roughly 300 at crank which should dyno 225hps if these numbers hold up.

25% loss is outrageous. Either we have less hps, or we cant dyno the car perfectly. (but thats another discussion).

I'm really curious about the power increase and torque changes across the rpm band after this turbo installation. We should sponsor him with some cash to do some dyno runs if that is needed.

Anyhow, I'm exited as hell. How is it that somebody can fix the engine management and build a turbokit from "nothing" and with limitied resources in should a short period of time, when the other major companies fail?.

Impressive.

Remember all the discussions that the 8 wouldnt respond well to turbo?

dmp

I vote Mazda over-estimated the 238hp figure...since we are FURTHER speculating... The 8 has a drivetrain similar to the Miata in function; Miata's show, within 1%, 26hp in drivetrain loss.

not 26%...26hp. (actually, in the case of my 1.6L, that IS about 25% lol).

Anywho - :D

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Instead of cash, why doesn't someone in my area (DC, VA, MD, southern PA or NJ and DE) find me a dyno where I can spend some time without pressure?
My local shop is fine (about $100/hour), but they are a bit inattentive.

Yeah, I kinda wonder about that myself.:p

dmp

Jeff - are you still in contact w/ any probe people? I'm sure somebody from NEPO could direct you...I'll ask my pals back there, too

foxman

Maybe not fail exactly, but since the car has been out for 18 mos. or so in the U.S. and an experienced DIYer like Jeff can do it on his own in a reasonably short period of time, this does seem to be the question of the day.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

No. I haven't been on ProbeTalk for a long time.

dmp

I'll toss the idea around a couple ppl I know back there...and reply if they give me any good leads.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

OK. Well, Ive shared my success, now I give you a little bit of failure. (No, nothing broken except my ego.)

I have been blasting around with my CanScan running, watching my A/Fs and I was really starting to wonder why it took so much extra duty cycle to get the A/F to drop.
At one point, I was (according to the Profec) at 100% duty cycle and I was still seeing 14:1 under boost. Not good.
To make matters worse, this would only happen once in a while. At other times my A/F was in the 12.5:1 range like it should.

Then I read the E-Manage manual again. And again.
Then the little light comes on.

The injector lines have their own ground.

I had always assumed that the injector ground was tied to the main ground internally. Oops.

Now I'm rich as a bitch and I have to go back and start over with the maps.

rotarygod

Don't complain. Better too rich than too lean.

philodox

yeah.. the extra fuel will help cool everything off.. don't go too lean or you'll detonate.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

What really suprised me was how even at 14:1 or 15:1 at 3 PSI there was no detonation at all.

philodox

are you sure you were getting correct AFR readings? I would think anything over 12.5 would surely detonate with a FI setup.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

I'm reading it right off the ECU via CAN. This is the WBO2S built into the RX-8 FI system.

I guess I can mount my LM-1 just to be sure, but it was accurate before so I have no reason to believe that it has changed somehow.