raji

i did a fairly extensive search about turbos for the RX-8 and i'm still pretty confused about a few things...

1) Is it street legal? This place says it is: http://www.hopupracing.com/hopup1/grtukitmarx.html
but my impression from this forum is that it's not street-legal...

2) How much of a torque increase does it give the 8? I still haven't seen any dynos on the results for the Greddy kit

3) With a 60whp increase with the Greddy turbo, doesn't that bring the total HP to almost 300? I read somewhere on this forum that the actual WHP on the 8 is closer to 160-180. With a 60whp increase, that would still mean 220-240whp. Is this correct or am i still way off?

4) Is the Greddy kit all i would need to get or are there gauges i need to buy as well? I'm not mechanically inclined... so i have no idea what i NEED to have to make sure i don't blow the engine and whatnot.

Thanks for your help

Raji

Icemastr

It depends on what you consider street legal. Anything that can be registered and driven on the street is street legal so any production car you can do whatever you want to it aside from major chassis reengineering. In some areas and entire states there are smog laws, in most of these places a turbo kit will be fine passing smog as long as you are still under the requirements for the maximum emissions you can have. In other areas they do a visual inspect. In California you have to have CARB certification for pretty much any aftermarket part, a turbo kit will fail a visual emission inspection in California and it has not been CARB certified yet. So in short yes the kit is street legal, it is not street legal in California yet, Greddy is working on CARB certification for it so it should be legal in California soon.

Sputnik

The way that particular website is worded, they aren't saying that the RX8 kit itself is CARB certified, but that alot of the Greddy kits are. Check the specific kit. Street legal depends on where your vehicle is registered. California not only requires that any modification kit be CARB certified, but it also needs to pass emissions tests. There are states where basically anything goes. There are states where you only need to pass a very basic emissions test. And there are states where they require strict emissions testing in certain metropolitan areas. For example, in Texas, you only have to pass a basic emissions test, except for Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and other metropolitan areas, where they require emissions tests that are as tough as California's. Most locations require the OBDI computer to show no errors whatsover.

In locations where they do require California level tests, you really have to have your engine tuned well, and you really need a decent catalytic converter. If a chosen kit eliminates the stock catalytic converter, you most likely need to modify the exhaust system to include one. Alot of kits that merely have simple "fuel enrichment" fuel control might have problems with the test (depends on the car, fuel enrichment, and test). And for most tests you need to have the O2 sensors properly installed, otherwise they won't work as well (possibly failing the emissions test), and they might throw a code (which will fail you in a lot of places). Here in Denver, they put the car on a rolling chassis, and drive the car under load to measure it's emissions, basically putting it through it's paces (not just idling), so you're modified engine needs to be tuned pretty well to pass here. It can be done, but you and/or your mechanic needs to know what he/she is doing, or your kit needs to be a good one.

Normally, the general rule of thumb is that RWHP is approximately 75% of BHP (brake horsepower). So, a vehicle with approx. 240 BHP normally has approx. 180 RWHP. This is a very general approximation, you need a dyno for an accurate number.

When you are reading up on specs (remember, the increase is normally the peak increase, and NOT the power gain you get throughout the powerband), if a kit maker claims a 60 WHP or RWHP increase, then you should expect a total of 240 RWHP. If a kit maker claims a 60 BHP increase, then expect 300 BHP, which should give you approximately 225 RWHP. Again, these are only approximate numbers, go to the dyno for real-world numbers.

---jps