As everyone has noticed, the 8 gets terriable fuel mileage when cruising 70mph+ for long periods. I was talking to Rob Golden at Pineapple Racing about getting a taller 6th gear. So instead of 60mph@3krpms, it could be 70mph or 75mph at 3k rpms. He said it could be done fairy easy. It might be a little expensive, but it could be done. He's yet to see inside of a Rx-8, 6spd tranny, but he says he's confident it could be done. Cost would be this: If there is exsisting parts that could be swapped right over, without any R&D, it would run around $350 just for parts, then anouther $150 for labor. If the parts had to be custom made, the parts would be around $500, plus the $150 for labor, if we could get atleast 20 people interested in this. This would not include the cost of pulling the transmition.

The speed to rpm is not set at this moment. It could be a realy, realy tall 6th gear, or a medium between the 86-91 N/A transmition. (One of the tallest 5th gears of any rotary car, but was nice for freeway travel.) It would depend on what you guys would be interested in.

I would be willing to do this. But this is not a GB or anything like that. This is just a thread to see if interest is out their for the continued R&D of a taller gear.

Anyways, what do you guys think? CJ

 

What about buying just the gear?

 

Spend the $650 on an E-Manage and some other toys.

All a taller 6th would do is make me want to find redline...

 

I'll wait for the 8-speed sequential..

 

Not really, I get my best mileage going to & from Vegas, when I set the Cruise at 80 and hit the brakes three hours later for gas.

 

I would love a taller 6th gear for freeway cruising, but I don't understand any of the technical stuff. I don't know if I want my transmission opened. I don't know if I want to pay the money.

The "L" reflash is already doing wonders for my car. I'll post when I have some complete data.

 

count me in, would love to cruise about 80 to 85 at 3k rpm.

the 74 on the speedo which keeps you out of the second injector. which is only 72mph gps tested. is very tiresome in fla.

beers

 

You could just buy the gear and do it yourself, or have someone you know do it. CJ

 

If it can be done in the best case scenario, using existiing hardware, I would definitely be interested as well. 95 miles on the highway every day at 85 at 3K RPM? I think so :D

 

I don't have the car myself (yet... very soon, I hope), but I know I would be interested if I did

 

i wouldnt touch my 6th gear. if it were any taller, you'd need to downshift to have enough juice to pass. i can put it in 6th and weave through traffic without having to shift all day long.

8's have shitty gas mileage. there's so sense in my mind in paying $500+ so I get better slightly better gas mileage 10% of the time I drive.

 

Shure your car isn't an auto? I could'nt tell by your 1/4 times. :D CJ (Just pokin' fun.)

 

yea yea, it might as well be :P

in my own defense, the car was 2 weeks old (and yes, very much broken in) and it was my first manual and first time at the track. im goin back next week, now that I feel like I've got a handle on the launch.

here's your thread back.

 

yah... i dont see the point of spending $500 plus to get 3-4 more mpg. I cruise at 80-85 and get 21mpg (before L flash).

I'd rather spend that $500+ on the gas. An extra 4mpg would give you 56miles more per tank. That means if you didnt have the extra mpg, you would need to buy about 3 more gallons which is about $6. So that $500 would only start saving you money after 83 tanks, which is close to 20k miles.

In my opinion its not worth it, since you'd lose any possibility of accelerating in 6th gear

 

exactly and what happens if they screw something up in the transmission after installing(I know that never happens<<sarcasm) and then you would void your warranty. Spend the 500 on gas and stop worrying about this.

 

I don't know about you, but the Rx-8s top gear acceleration is'nt that impressive in the frist place. But then again, look at my sig. for my non daily driver. You can actually accelerate in 5th gear in that car.

I've had only 3 attempts to launch my Rx-8, but so far I've found that if you run around 21-23psi in the rear tires, it'll hook much better. And try launching the car around 5.5~6krpms. With this combination, I've got my car to run a 2.2 60ft. Not the best time by any means....but that will be a good starting point for the next time I hit the drag strip in it. My best time is a 14.9@92. I need a little more practice in this car, then I'm shure I can get atleast a 14.7.

Keep the feedback coming guys.

CJ

 

im just real paranoid of nuking the tranny. Judge Ito dropped pressure in the rear and it happened to him.

 

The MT, according to Mazda's gearing figures, does 58.2 at 3,000. My AT does 70.5. The response to the throttle in that gear is leisurely, to put it mildly.
One problem I see in just altering the top gear of an MT is the big gap between 5th and 6th. OTOH, you could think of it as a 5-speed trranny for everything but straight, level, no-traffic runs in overdrive.

 

What RPM/mph does the torque conveter lock up at? CJ

 

For those quick to say it's a bad idea and you'd never do it, fine. But dont assume everybody elses situation is the same as yours. Peoples MPG varies a lot, as well as driving habits/needs. He's looking for people who would do this, not asking people to point out their personal reasons not to. I only use 6th for cruising. 3-4 MPG might not mean anything to you, but for my driving needs it's pretty substantial.

 

I think the gear could be higher -> about 2.5 at 60, but I doubt I would modify it.

 

I would definitely consider a taller 6th gear if it were available. 80 MPH at 3K RPMs sounds excellent to me! Count me in.

 

people swap gears all the time in the s2k...but most of the time the final drive is actually REDUCED. funny enough, some of the original gear swaps were to MAZDA gears!

FWIW, the majority of the gear swaps have been successful and there really haven't been many problems reported on s2ki.com. don't know what that implies for the RX8, but if the person knows their trannys you should be fine.

EDIT: PLUS you get the added bonus of getting to downshift when you want to pass. i'm sorry, but downshifting at highway speeds ALWAYS brings a smile to my face!

 

Overall I'm pretty happy with the gearing in the '8, just would really like to have 6th reserved as a tall highway gear. I sure don't mind downshifting to pass either! :D

 

As pointed out ebfore, I downshift to 3rd most of the time to pass, so yeah. A real tall 6th works for me.