Hmmm, that is interesting. Weird shit can happen, like when my alternator was overcharging, that was a mess getting diagnosed because it was intermittent.

Not sure how related but is the ESS self aligning?

It's secured with one bolt and I never payed to much attention when putting it back on if it can be adjusted or moved.

Dunno the exact details, since it aint my car ;)

But the original engine fked up, prob the worst motor i have seen.
Spark plug snapped and gutted the rotor and housing, crushed apex/side seals.
The exhaust port was atleast 50% blocked by carbon.... i have a pic somewhere.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1387324457

Anyways fast forward, new motor was put in, slightly ported/ balanced blah blah.
Drove fine for first 200-300 kms, just before customer came to pick it up, car started developing misfires, Generally first misfire started as soon as car was under load, then it will continuously misfire even at idle. Tried resetting fuel trims/crank sensor, made problem go away overnight.

Customer picked up car, all was good, came back a week later saying misfires... when inspected showed the previously listed problem, frayed wires for the OMP. Once that was fixed the problem never showed.

No idea what happened, but the CEL definately showed Misfire, it would vary between front and rear.

Like i said long shot, but it seems you have looked well into all the other issues, and you never know could be one of these random fiddly issues.

In regards to your compression issue, when i first put ceramic 1 piece into the motor, the car will not even start due to low compression even if it did start it will die. I did use almost new OEM housings that has been treated, however apparently these were still not enough. According to my builder, ceramic 1 piece apex seals requires almost flawless housings, and even brand new parts from Mazda, he needs to send 2 outta 4 back since they will not work with 1 piece ceramics.
Even the ones that work still suffer initial compression issues but will eventually wear in to the housing at or around 2000-3000 kms, and fully set at around 10,000.

In my case i swapped out for metal apex seals from a RX5 cosmo. I am thinking you will need to just wait until 10,000 and see what condition your compression is at. In recent compression test, my car reported back very nice numbers, generally 130+ @ 250rpm but it was lower when the motor was first put in, this is with metal seals.

Does anyone know where I can get the needed hardware to overhaul my suspension components

Front Upper Control Arm
Front Lower Control Arm
Rear Camber Arms
Rear Toe Arms
Rear Lateral Arms
Rear Traction Arms
Rear Trailing Arms

Looking for new bushings for them, found bushings for the front, but cant seem to find anything on the rear or what to do to replace the bolted bushing on the front arms and some of the rear. Kind thinking the only way to do this is gona be to just get all brand new parts which I really don't want to do.

Any thoughts?

Your choices in the front are staying OEM...going with the Energy type Urethane stuff...or going to the Speedsource Delrin/Alum stuff. I think Drop Engineering made some copies of the Speedsource stuff that looked good

I have the Speedsource stuff...and for a street car I would stay OEM. The OEM ones are quite well designed...and the solid stuff is rough

Rear you can get some Urethane stuff for some...but again OEM is likely better...they are not like the '80's rubber.
If you are going to go to Heim stuff you can look at the Megan Racing stuff...but if you can do it...just fabricate them using the OEM arms...I haven't been that impressed with the Megan arms...especially the camber arms...they don't like getting pounded on curbs. I am getting a set made from CrMoly to stop them from bending

From what it looks like, they are non servicable ends on the hub side at least so it defeats the purpose of what I was trying to achieve.

Basically their is nothing wrong with my components but they are fithly, scratched, dented, and just look worse for wear. I wanted to get them coated then install all new bushings and hardware which you can't buy anywhere.

So to get what I want it looks like all Megan components for the rear and SOL for the control arms. Unless someone makes control arms besides OE.

Anyone one here done control arm coatings? Are the ball joints on the front arms removable, any chance of them holding up to the heat?

Not sure what my other options are besides paint :(

Why coat Aluminum :)

A bit of an acid rinse ( wheel cleaner) and they clean up nice

Simply I want them black. I know the miata guys have some threads where people just removed the boot, the grease and taped off the joint for coating and didn't have any problems.

Will have to look at it closer once I have them removed.

you have your own lift? that's nice..

Best investment I ever made!

we will have to meet up whenever you have time for the compression test, so I can introduce myself, since you are local..
steven
I meant, when my car is ready..:)

Mid Winter update,

Finally have everything off except the rear suspension, diff and subframe. Looked threw the service manual for a while and could not find anything about the suspension about marking them for alignment for re installation, I would imaging you just install everything snug it up in place before you tighten everything down then take if for an alignment.

Looks like the front sub-frame is self adjusting, meaning it mounts in one place, the mounting holes are honed to fit snug over the studs so their is virtually no moving it around which was a plus, hope the rear is just as hassle free. Found a shop in PA to do my coating and they advised how to do the control arms which seems like it will work nicely. So now while I am away for the spring I will have to source my other components. Here's my list for this winter, I may be a little overzealous with it but I will get as far as I get.

To-Do

Coat:
Subframes, PPF, Transverse Crossmember, Tunnel Crossmembers, Brake Dust Covers, Battery Tie Down, Wheel Hub Housings, Upper and Lower Control arms, Rear Laterial Arms, Rear Chamber Arm, Rear Toe Arms, Rear Traction Rods, Rear Trailing Arms (I may be replacing the rear components with Megan Racing parts, I have not decided yet but I have heard good and bad hence the decision is not yet made)

Parts:
Upgraded Sway bars (Havent Decided on Brand)
Agency Front and Rear Endlinks
Coilovers (Was going to go with Cusco Zero -2 but I have not heard much talk about them here if anyone has anything good or bad to say about them I would appreciate it).
BHR header w/ midpipe (When it gets released)
65 Shot (BHR)

Lastly, send my injectors out to be flow tested

Will also be going over my block again, looking for anything that may be causing my misfire issue, will be trying out Denso plugs this spring, was going to back to my OE pulleys, and just cleaning everything up.

Progress so far
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/707/6mcb.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/841/ae18.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/822/dbqs.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/40/czu6.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/43/d9y9.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/577/v2ky.jpg

Anyone know what these washer are used for specifically, I saw no reference to them in the service manual? I am assuming for alignment purposes but I don't know exactly in what way.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/18/esvi.jpg

Camber adjustment I think.

They are only on the front lower control arms.

Should be more than a couple. All 10 alignment points should have one (maybe not for front toe? I forget if that one is set with an eccentric bolt or the tie rods). The washer pushes against a lip of metal, which makes the center of the washer the rotational center instead of the center of the bolt. This moves the bolt around within the a-arm and changes whichever alignment measurements are affected by it.

I have not done the rear yet, only noticed these on the front setup.

All in all am I right in my premise of reassemble in that just get everything roughly set up snug then once its all in position to tighten it. Then let a shop worry about the alignment?

Yeah, that's the best course. You can use some of the quick methods to make sure your car doesn't behave radically bad, like using string to check toe in/out, but you will need something more precise to get to what you need.

I'm aiming to never have to purchase an alignment again this spring, with a set of hub stands that have build in angle measurements. At ~$400, the break-even is about 5 normal alignments

Flyin' Miata 1 800 FLY MX5s
Yeah, a Miata site, but they have a range of plates available.

Yeah, I don't care to know or want to be doing suspension alignments. For me its a set it and forget it for my application. Its not something I will constantly be tweaking.

So for me a shop can just put it into spec and that's perfect for me. I just found some reading tho on how those washers work, its a simple little thing just seems like a tedious pain in the ass with all the measurements plus I have no where near a level floor in my garage.

Look under Suspension, specifically the alignment section. It details all of this out in detail.

if you coat the arms black it is just a matter of time before they become pock marked with chips. There is all kinds of rocks, grit, etc. sandblasting everything in that area.



.

Yeah, I did some reading on those washers and playing around with the rear links. Easy enough to understand. I'll just set them all neutral when I reinstall and let a shop finish it up with an alignment.

As far as the black I am really not to worried about it, yeah I know it wont be perfect for long, but the re-coating cost is not to expensive, plus the OE black coating on everything underneath has held up great, just now starting to get some yellowing come through plus I have owned this car for 2 years and have done 5K miles.

Also does anyone have any info on the SR PPF, from what I have read they initially offered a MS PPF but never delivered any of them then came out with the SR branded product. Just never seen or heard anything about people having one and what they think about it.

Supposedly OE is 25-30lbs and the SR is 18.

Been running Cusco Zero II coilovers for five years now, they're a good trackday set up.

I ran them on my old 8, never found a problem with them but it was more of a blew my stock strut needed replacements didn't do any research they where expensive and from a good brand so I bought them :lol: not sure nowadays how the compare to others. I think they are only a 7k/5k setup which seems soft compared to some brands doing 11k/9k

7k/5k makes them far more streetable than some, there's a little more movement than some of the really stiff setups in extremis but I prefer the compliance for a road car.

Perhaps take a look over at Goodwin Racing for some of the suspension bits on the RX8 there. They have some really nice Ohlins packages as well as the polyurethane bushings you were mentioning for your suspension upgrade. I have got quite a bit from them and it all has been good so far. Just throwing options out there.

Appreciate the input, I know they have a great set of sways that Team tested and did a write up on recently.

I'll check them out for other bits

Also check out Fat Cat motorsports. I love my set up and am super happy i dont have to think about them anymore.

Been busy this week, a lot of traveling.

Here's all I have managed so far, working this week getting the OE bushings out. Decided to expand my garage capabilities and invested in a 12 ton shop press and bushing plate kit after I realized the rental kits just really wont work for a lot of these parts , also finally picked up an engine stand (which I should have done a long time ago)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/208/okgl.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/268/yvr1.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/15/azpe.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/541/nd2s.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/22/ozb0.jpg

Also if someone could help shed some light on a couple things

Firstly, I have found new bushings for the lower control arms regarding the subframe mount point, I can't find anything regarding the bushing used on the coil-overs any recommendations?

The Front Subframe has metal insert tubes used for alignment, I have not looked closely enough yet but does anyone know are they removalbale and resuable? Or do I need to buy new?

And Lastly, I was going to coat my current PPF, but I found that SR motorsports sells a light weight PPF about 15 lbs in weight savings and it seems easy to handle. Anyone that's been around longer than me seen anyone use one of these, Good or bad? I Know SR motorsports prices are outrageous and people really don't talk about them much more than that. (Link Below)

Mazda RX8 Suspension Parts and Accessories. Mazda ICR Pro RX-8 Performance Parts.

The factory PPF is 31 lbs. Cutting the weight in half and maintaining rigidity is a tall order without using an exotic material

And then there is past history too Mazdaspeed PPF from Shane Racing/SR - RX7Club.com

The ball joints wear out before the bushings. You should buy new arms or leave them alone.

Thanks for the link team!

As far as the lower A-arms, I may just try to mask them and bake and hope for the best. If that fails I can source universal or get a used set of arms from a part out and swap those. No reason as long as you remove them properly that they can't be reused as long as they are in good shape.

Coating bake temp is 200C polyurethane melt point is 240C so I may be able to get away with it.

Finally finished up my budget for this build leg, everything except the bushings which I know to expect. All in all much less than I expected unfortunately I wont have the time to get into some aspects but I figure this will just be a suspension and chassis only focus, then work on finishing up my tune in the spring and be ready to add more next year.

Finally settled on

BC BR Coilovers 8K/6K
Progressive Tech Sway
PowerGrid Links
MS Strut Support F/R
OE Rear Arms w/ new bushings

Parts go for coating on Saturday, will order the needed parts next week then try to get as much back together before March as I am leaving again.

Who are most people using nowadays to get their injectors flow rated and cleaned?

Why BC coilovers? They are junk.

Had them on my Speed 6 and never had a problem, they give good adjustment and have an aggressive spring rate.

Are you referring junk as in quality or performance, aren't they also one of the only kits to use pillowball mounts without additional parts?

I don't see the need to go for something as extreme as the cusco's, nor do I want the Powertrix. What would you replace them with?

Finally normalized my compression readings as well

Front
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/607/7j4o.png

Rear
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/547/8ic5.png

Given the comparison testing done between the different testers vs a Mazda OE tester and the conclusion that the TR-01 is approx 10PSI on average lower than the Mazda tester the above readings can add an approx additional 10PSI to which accounts for an average of 120PSI front and 110PSI rear I think it is safe to say that I do not have a compression issue.

Also as my engine is basically new it is arguable that those numbers are likely to go up as everything gets broken in more.

I also have my latest oil sample test from blackstone, fuel was slightly high but still within acceptable range. Other than that everything is looking great for break in wear

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/833/onr8.png

What do you need pillow ball mounts for? Also, the damping adjustments on them do nothing beneficial and they don't provide shock dyno graphs so the shock are probably all over the place in terms of valving.

You don't have to go extreme but at least go with something proven by the tracks that is easily rebuildable and upgradable like the Bilstein PSS9's.

I looked at those, they seemed extreme to me :rollingla

After reviewing the cost to benefit, and determining 2 of my ball joints are not within spec and needed to be replaced I decided to just upgrade to a complete set of MRS rear arms. Not something I had planned but the cost would have been exactly the same after the bushings, boots, nuts, grease, time etc....

Ordered a my coil-overs to, BC BR getting re-valved and springed to 10K/8K. Located a local shop who will be doing a dyno plot test for me on all four coil-overs and we will see if the cheap stuff gets as bad of a name as everyone thinks, as long as they perform on par or slightly better than stock 'all I am after anyways. Will post that up once I get it. Looking at 3-4 weeks out tho.

Also realized after struggling for a week removing bushings, their is a much simpler approach. All about having the right tools I suppose. Everything except the LCA are ready to go, now just waiting on my MRS arms and my sways to come in to take them all for coating. Them some engine work and cleaning is in order, hoping to get some assembly done before I take off for the spring.

Anyone have or know where I can pick up an MS Front and Rear Strut bar?

Well this build turned into a vicious cycle, finally got everything I could possible think of off to my coater. I mean vicious cycle as in my coat list started small and just kept growing and growing. Only thing I was not able to add was the TB, mainly because I am not keen on taking it apart and because it has plastic molded into the aluminum. So that will sit for another time.

On other subject Coil-overs come in Monday and I am dropping them off Tuesday to get dyno plot tested so we will see if average coils perform better or worse than what everyone thinks.

Also if anyone could care to venture a guess on how I managed to get a small amount of oil into my APV ports on the LIM where the UIM bolts? I have had a catch can since day one so I do not see how thats possible. Seems like very little around where the rubber seal meets the LIM???

Getting a lot of parts in and back starting next week, will post more pics when I start putting it all back together.

Updated first post to more accurately detail thread and hopefully allow better navigation.

Just starting to get parts back, will update with some assembly later this week or next.

During cleaning I noticed that I must have over tightened my intake clamps as I deformed the AEM intake and it is not perfectly circular anymore and has one side crushed in, going to try and straighten it with an exhaust expander. Wonder if this would cause my misfire issue :dunno:

unmetered air = zero buenos.

It was not a leak, just a crushed pipe where the clamps go. Not sure if it could have thrown off air flow of something etc...

Had my injectors flown and cleaned at "fuel injector clinic", found one yellow was out of tolerance and had it cleaned up. Now they are all within 1% tolerance of each other, although the red's are flowing almost the same as the yellows. 400cc/min vs 420cc/min.

Regardless have a good starting point for scaling now.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/69/i7d7.jpg

Intro (Cadmium vs Zinc vs Black Oxide)

If your like me and are meticulous about your car, only to find that 10+ years on the road has not been so kind to your nuts and bolts then I have found a viable option to easily restore them.

Mazda originally built the Rx8 using all cadmium coated hardware (the gold coating) they have then since over the last decade switched over to zinc coated hardware. If you ever noticed your replacement bolts are silver and not gold.

Both are great coatings, the only draw back on cadmium is that it is designed to fail. Cadmium coating is designed to take the corrosion to protect the steel bolt by first corroding itself. This is a process and some of your current hardware may already show signs of this. Only drawback is once the cadmium corrodes it leaves the steel fastener helpless against the elements. Hence the switch to zinc which is designed to prohibit corrosion altogether.

Now both cadmium and zinc platting is done using an electrical charge etc.... so it is not a viable option to set up at home just to do a couple hundred bolts. The investment is to large, it would be cheaper just to by all new OE replacements.

Because of that I stumbled upon a black oxide plating process which can be done cold and requires very little investment and experience. Now black oxide is a chemically induced controlled corrosion plating process. The platting solution oxidizes the steel leaving it a black to a dark brown/grey appearance state. Now because you are corroding the metal during the plating process black oxide coating is not ideal for automotive fasteners that will see much elemental abuse, unless it is sealed in which case it will hold a substantial rust prohibition.

Now even with the sealant, I do not strongly urge this plating process on anyone that daily drives their car in a climate that requires road salt. Being that my car never sees those conditions I decided to give this process a shot and see how it works.

What You Will Need

• Wire wheel ( I used a bench grinder with a brass wheel)
• Gloves
• Steel Wool (000 Grade)
• 6 Buckets 2qt or bigger
• 5 Baskets (Large enough to hold hardware but small enough to fit inside the buckets)
• Towels
• De-greaser (Liquid Degreaser Concentrate - Caswell Inc)
• Rust Remover (Evapo-Rust Rust Remover - Restoration Aids - Caswell Inc)

Black Oxide Platting Kit ( I got mine from CasWell Plating, I ordered the 2.5 gallon kit and have enough left over to make 2-3 more platting sessions)
Black Oxide Kits - Metal Finishing Solutions - Caswell Inc

The kit only comes with the penetrating sealer (Basically WD40) you will want the CasWell Sealer as well
Caswell Sealer - 1 Quart - Black Oxide Kits - Metal Finishing Solutions - Caswell Inc

All in all it ran me $400, which seems like a lot but I have enough supplies to do every nut and bolt on 4-5 cars if I need to. Also the solutions have a shelf life of 10 years as long as they are covered and in a climate controlled environment.

Process

Step 1-Cleaning

Start with your rusted/dirty hardware and using the wirewheel clean all debree off the parts. Now is using a bench grinder wear gloves and eye wear and for the love of god use vice grips!!! I don't know how many times I have seen hardware become a projectile because someone used their fingers.


Step 2-Prep

Now that the hardware is free of physical contaminates it is time to prep the pieces for coating. In this stage you will need to place the parts in the basket and place the basket in the rust removing solvent. You can leave the part in as long as needed, even over night if it is really bad still.


Take the basket out of the solvent and rinse it using tap water, you will then immediately place the rinsed parts into the degreaser for 5-10 minutes.


Again rinse the hardware after taking it out of the solvent and notice if the water is beading off of the pieces and flowing smoothly to determine that the parts are contaminant free.

Step 3-Black Oxide Platting

Now that the parts are properly cleaned and prepped they are ready to be dipped into the oxide concentrate. Leave the parts in the oxide for 2 minutes, then remove and rinse. Once rinsed lay the parts out on a towel and place the basket back into the oxide solution. Now take your steel wool and scuff and pieces that do not have even coverage. after they are all scuffed place them back into the oxide solution for another 3 minutes, rinse and lay on a towel when complete.

****Do not leave parts in solution for more than 5 minutes****

Step 4-Sealing

Now that the parts are coated and have dried they can be sealed. This process is the same as the rest, place the parts in a basket and into the CasWell Sealer first. This process is a dipping only 2-3 dips to ensure an even coat the parts do not need to sit in the sealer. Lay the parts out on a towel again to dry (10 Minutes). Once they are dry you can then repeat this process for the penetrating sealer.

The penetrating sealer is an oil, and as such will take days to fully dry.


Notes

This process can be adapted using brushes, sponges and towel to coat studs that are attached to a coated piece. For instance I did the studs on my coil bracket. The solutions will not degreade of damage existing coatings. So it can be applied easily with a brush and then wipped away without concern at the end.

Received all but a couple parts back from coating (Unfortunately split my LIM drilling out a stripped bolt, so I had to source another one and it is off at coating now)


Was able to get the entire rear end back together and a rough alignment made, will be getting an entire alignment and corner balance done once the car is back on the road and I get a rough ride height dialed in. All in all everything is going together nicely.


Also did some minor engine bay modifications, was not feeling the clashing colors of the piping and some other componentry to be updated later

Intense

Wouldnt 400 dollars of stainless steel bolts be enough for 4 to 5 vehicles and have an almost lifetime of shelf life?