My RX-8's final Renesis...
 

Just a log of things I'm doing to the car pretty soon. I had hoped that the current engine would last long enough for me to save up for a LS swap but it's deteriorating too quickly for that. If I still have the car by the time I have $10k saved up, it's going to get a V8. My eventual idea is to build a motor with a LS3 block and LR4 crank. With the right top-end, it should be able to spin to 8k RPM.

But first, the history:

Purchased new in 2006, it's a 2005 6MT Base with Sport Package in Sunlight Silver (and cone rash). I went back to school to finally get a degree in 2010 and ended up selling it to a friend in my car club in 2012 (p-chem = no time for anything but p-chem). When I finished, I searched around for a new autocross/track toy and settled on a NA Miata. Then, for reasons defying logic, I sold the perfectly reliable, hella fun Miata after a year and bought my '8 back from a different friend in the same club (2015).

It got an S2 gearbox in 2015 and in early 2016 it got a really bad rebuild from OJ Imports. You get what you pay for and I didn't pay much (relatively speaking). Hindsight is a bitch. By 2017, it started having intermittent issues with hot starting. Currently, it will start hot but it's a long crank and it barely idles hot.

Okay, time pay the piper and do what I should have done in 2016: Mazda reman engine. Evidently, they're pretty good for the money.

I ordered one through MazdaSwag (a.k.a. Scherer Mazda in Peoria, IL) for $2871.58 + tax. I'm paying in-state tax on it because it works out to pretty close to the same price as having the reman shipped to me and then having to ship my engine back to the dealer. This way, I can strap my old engine to my tire trailer, tow it behind my CX-3 and just swap the two engines.

I plan on doing a bunch of extra stuff at the same time:
I'm adding oil temperature and pressure sensors as well as a fuel pressure sensor. They will be feeding into a GoodBox Gauge. I ordered and hopefully they'll be close enough that I can just add a SPDT rocker switch to share one of the 5v analog inputs on the GoodBox. The other analog input will be connected to a connected through an This isn't an ideal setup if you want a high degree of precision but should work well enough if you just want basic health monitoring.

To connect the pressure transducer to the fuel line, I'm using an . In addition to the quickconnect fittings, it has a 1/8 NPT fitting and a 06AN port so I also ordered an .

I've also ordered the Mazmart oil pressure regulator and Pineapple Racing oil pan gasket.

Additional work:

• Test all of the solenoids.
• Test all of the vacuum check valves.
• Test all of the vacuum actuators.
• Test all of the oil injectors.
• Test all of the OMP lines (and probably will replace them all proactively anyway).
• Disassemble and clean LIM.
• Find new mounting point for Sohn OMP reservoir so I can use more than a thimble of windshield washer fluid before having to refill it.
• Clean up oil coolers.
• Check oil cooler lines for rust, remedy as appropriate.
• Remove OE fog lights and see what can be done to improve oil cooler air flow.
• Replace spark plugs.
• Clean up d585 coil harness and mounting to make sure the hoist hook doesn't wear through and short out the front coil.
• Clean up rust and do some rust prevention in the engine bay.
• Remove VFAD.

It's likely that I'll have a Mazmart REmedy water pump and Epitrochoid Sohn reservoir kit in the classifieds in the coming months.

Out with the old...
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...cf8d20276.jpeg

Picking up the reman and dropping this thing off at the dealer tomorrow.

In the mean time, it appears that the guys at GoodBox Gauges don't have anymore units on hand and haven't replied to my request for an ETA.

^^ good luck, hope it goes smoothly!

Good luck! Bonus compression points for the hot pink parts bucket.

Also from the GoodBox thread.. you know they make CanBus Arduino shields, if you wanted to experiment. With Arduino's own inputs, you might be roll your own PreppyBox?

Thanks!

Do not mock the pink parts bucket!

I'm not sure I feel like re-engineering the display output. I suppose I don't really even have to integrate with the factory LED display or OBD. It's just a matter of making something to take 2-3 analog inputs and display them somehow. I'll probably end up doing that.

Interestingly, the reman came with a new overhaul gasket set and a thermostat (in addition to the expected water pump). When you strip down your engine for core return, you remove everything from the keg except the flywheel, e-shaft pulley, water pump, hoist brackets and oil level sender.

The engine hand-off...
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...04654bcad.jpeg

Engine at home waiting for me to get all of the cleanup work done before installing.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...ffcd02361.jpeg

Maintenance and testing continues.

So far, check valve at the UIM vacuum reservoir and two solenoids test good (hold vacuum and respond correctly to applied voltage). The third solenoid doesn't hold vacuum.

Sadly, three of the four oil injectors won't hold vacuum. Since it will take several business days to get new ones here, this means I won't be able to get the car back on the road until next week. Oh well, more time to deal with cleaning up grounds, wiring and some engine bay rust.

Yeah most of the time, most oil injectors fail from what I have seen on engines we have done. How are your OMP lines?

They look fine externally but I haven't separated them from the OMP to test. Not even sure how to check them. I might have to steal some supplies from work (pipets and syringes).

I'm not overly concerned since the OMP is a positive displacement pump. I can't imagine what would get in the lines that the OMP couldn't force out.

Yeah them being blocked or dry rotted is pretty common from what I have seen.

More cleanup. Redid the wiring for the neutral and reverse switches since they got a little melty a while back. Cleaned the crossmember above the radiator and gave it a few coats of POR15 since it was getting rusty.

Also cleaned up oil coolers. That was tedious. Note to self: make some screens for those.

Sat down with my Arduino Uno and related parts yesterday. Despite never seeing one in-person before, I got everything working in about 4 hours. So, I'll have oil temp, oil pressure and fuel pressure output to a 20x4 LCD screen. If there's any interest, I'll do a DIY.

$10 knock-off Arduino Uno
$12 20x4 LCD with backpack serial comm module
$20 150 psi 5v pressure transducers x 2
$15 k-type thermocouple (listed as being for EGR) with MAX6675 thermocouple analog-to-digital converter.
$8 for five buck converters to power everything.
$60 for Aeromotive 15120 fuel line adapter.

Just have to figure out how/where to mount it. The screen is just a bit too big to fit over the blank radio plate. I may pull the ashtray and put it there.

At some point in the future, I'll probably get a CANBUS shield for it and see if I can access the sensor data via OBD. If that's possible then I can access it via OBD Fusion (which allows custom PIDs).

This is a bit out of my area of expertise, but could the same thing be accomplished with a Android "headunit"? Something like using the Odroid single board pc, 7inch touch screen. Order a mounting box that slides into the double din...mount it all with the Metra kit?

Probably but Android... Ugh, I feel dirty just typing it. :scared:

Just kidding.

Actually, I don't see a reason why you couldn't use an Odroid, Raspberry Pi or any of the similar microcomputer systems to accomplish this and get more functionality. The key issue is being able to read from external analog/digital signals.

The arduino is the right fit for me because it's simple and easy and doesn't require that I figure out the factory radio harness and such.

As a chemist, I've used a lot of pipets. Basically, they're highly accurate glass turkey basters. Except until the 1970's (and possibly into the 1980's), they didn't use a rubber bulb to draw up the liquid. They put their mouths on the end of the pipet and sucked up the liquid like it was a straw. Nobody knows how many chemists (and chemistry students) were poisoned this way but I'm guessing it was a lot.

Well, I took a page from the playbook of those old chemists when testing my OMP lines. After removing them from the OMP, I cleaned the fittings thoroughly. Then I carefully sealed my lips against the tubes (not letting the fitting itself touch the inside of my mouth) and blew really hard through them.

OMP juice flowed from all four and I probably knocked a year or five off my life expectancy.

Reassembly has started and I'm deliberately going very slowly. The front OMP injector hole had some pretty rough threads. I spent an hour very carefully running a tap down the threads in small increments. With each increment, I cleaned the chips out very carefully each time before continuing.

I also fabbed up a new bracket to hold my OMP tank. I have the Epitrochoid kit and was tired of having to refill the washer fluid every time it rained/snowed/overcast/sunny... The oil tank now lives near the OEM battery location and I can reinstall my factory washer fluid.

I still need to come up with a better solution for the gasket in oil tank cap. It's a notched gasket to allow air to be drawn in as the oil is pumped out. Of course, under high-G cornering, it leaks (ask Mr. Pockets about his giant plume of smoke during a NASA TT session). I think I'm going to drill a very small hole in the cap and glue some kind of filter media over it.

Would a breather cap work?
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...a51da63fe2.jpg

It's a shame you didn't even get two years of trouble free use out of the rebuild. Do you know what was done to it? Sounds like they just slapped new seals in it.

Hopefully you get a decent core from Mazda. From what I have read, the rebuilds they are pumping out today are a lot better then years past.

When I rebuilt my 6 port last summer, I only had one oil injector that would hold vacuum. I know you bought new ones but if you are interested in cleaning yours for spares, I found that a small ultrasonic cleaner with mild degreaser works VERY well.

Good luck, keep us updated.

David

Maybe but I don't know if I have enough space between the hood and the cap. I may just drill a hole in the cap and install a check valve with a 90° elbow and a small filter.

Thanks for the advice. I may invest in a small sonicator in the near future.

FWIW, if the hole is in centered to the container, it should be fine. Mine is just a 1/16" hole drilled through the top of the cap, and the filtering happens in the line that goes to the OMP (since I can't promise I won't drop crap into the container while filling it anyway).

It's not a giant image on my phone.
:)

I like this plan...

What did you end up using for your filter?

Got it started last night. Finally.

However, it's not a happy camper. There's a pretty big vacuum leak (hunting/loping idle, +25% STFT and AFR in the 18+ range) and some extra noise coming from the exhaust. I think I have an idea where it is but I didn't have time last night to dig into it.

The UIM is coming back off today so I can verify the vacuum hoses and solenoids. Also going to check the SAIP where it connects to the exhaust.

Make sure you reset the fuel trims.

Battery was disconnected for the last three weeks.
I also reset the ESS profile.

It's definitely a vacuum leak.

Yeah, I was just giving you a friendly reminder. I have seen so many with misfires after an install due to not resetting the NVRAM.

So you're saying you had mazda swag ship it to your local dealer and you dropped the dealer the core at pick up? that is brilliant!

I just messed myself:smoker:
Is it a 6port 6 speed? (N3H3-02-200R-V0)

MazdaSwag IS Scherer Mazda in Peoria. Pretty much every online parts website I've found using the "Revolution Parts" system is a dealer. For some reason, the online storefronts operate under a different name but they ARE Mazda dealers.

I was lucky to find a dealer with the Revolution Parts storefront within reasonable driving distance.

And yes, 6-port engine with that part number. Just google that part number and it will return a bunch of hits for different online retailers. Click on them to verify the price and see if you can find one close enough.

A lawnmower fuel filter like this:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/FUEL-FILT...&wl13=&veh=sem

what clip is that?

looks like the alternator. you can fix that easy. just a pos and neg connector. You have the marbles for it pinky!

Yah, it's the alternator connector. I was able to depin it and solder it back together.

Next problem:
Running rough.
STFT 25%+
AFR 20:1

I can't find a vacuum leak so I'm looking at the fuel injectors. Wheee...

Did you reuse the injectors that was in your old motor? I had a similar issue with mine this past summer, STFT would hover around 18% and LTFT was 10%+. Smoke test turned up zilch, decided on a reman set of OEM injectors. Dropped both trims down to low single digits, problem solved.

If you reused your old ones, its possible that you have a couple connectors plugged into the wrong injectors.

Incase you don't have a wiring diagram...

I hope it's just the injectors. Is there any link or any list of materials I would need other than just a short block engine? I mean are there any gaskets that I should change and things like that when I change the engine?

Yup, pulled the UIM, injectors and fuel rails apart and triple-checked the wiring, gaskets and o-rings

Everything was fine with the wiring. What wasn't fine were the bottom cup gaskets for the red primaries. One was somehow folded in half and the other just completely missing. I distinctly remember putting them in so I have no idea WTF happened.

Fixed those and she fired right up, purred like a kitten...

...While puking a metric shit-ton of fuel all over the top of the engine and onto the floor of the garage.

Seems that when I put the yellow injector rail back together I mangled the top o-rings for the yellow primaries. Fix one problem, create new one. FML.

Fortunately, I had an extra set of injector gaskets and o-rings from when I sent the injectors off to WitchHunter Performance for cleaning and flow-testing. Popped those in and turned the key to "ON" to prime the fuel system. No more leaking.

I used my oil extractor to suck up the lake of fuel that had pooled in the valleys where the LIM meets the keg and letting it air-dry now.

My reman included the standard "engine overhaul gasket set" and a thermostat in the crate as well as oil pan, oil level sensor, flywheel, water pump, a full complement of exhaust/UIM/thermostat housing studs already installed.

https://www.atkinsrotary.com/store/0...3-10-S50C.html

There are items in that set that you won't use if you get a reman. Notably, the front cover gasket, water pump gasket and (possibly) the OMP copper crush gasket. You may also be able to get away with re-using your exhaust manifold and LIM gaskets but why bother when you already have new ones?

The set includes the bottom "insulator, injection" for all six injectors but nothing for the top. The larger top o-rings (Mazda call them "grommets", part # 857413252) are easily re-usable but the smaller top o-rings are what I mangled (part # 857413253).

Have plenty of paper towels or shop towels and carb/intake cleaner because everything on the top of the engine is going to be filthy. Clean everything as you go (like injectors) to avoid getting them clogged up with scunge. In fact, this would be a good time to have your injectors cleaned and flow-tested. I'm partial to WitchHunter Performance. Their website and e-commerce process is a little dated but their service is good. https://witchhunter.com/injectorserv1.php

Since you'll have to separate the exhaust manifold from the cat pipe, you should get a new ring gasket for that. IMO, it's not very robust and should be considered single-use. Part # N3H140305

Aside from that, this is a very good time to do a lot of preventative testing and maintenance.

If you don't have a MityVac, get one.
http://a.co/1KQ3NIS
Use it to pull vacuum on each of the oil injectors and solenoids.

METERING OIL PUMP INSPECTION

SECONDARY SHUTTER VALVE (SSV) SOLENOID VALVE INSPECTION

If the oil injectors don't hold vacuum, you can try to clean them with a sonicator but I just replaced mine.

The solenoids are cheap ( ) so just replace any that don't hold vacuum or actuate correctly.

A lot of people report that the octopus vacuum block near the red primary injectors gets brittle and breaks. I've had my engine out 3 times and mine has been fine. But, just in case you break yours, it's part # N3H113158.

White duct tape and zip-loc bags are great for labeling things. Label the injector wires, vacuum hoses, coolant hoses, etc with the tape. Collect bolts from similar areas of the engine bay into bags and label the bags.

If you don't have a clutch alignment tool, it's in that rare area of life that is both critical and inexpensive.
RX-8 Clutches & Related Parts
Cart Price Check Part:49-0033-03
Their flywheel stop is pretty handy too, but not necessary unless you're trying to remove the flywheel for some insane reason (you shouldn't for a Mazda reman).

I"m glad you're up and running. Thanks for lining up all of that info! You're so cool man!

I should note that if you get your engine rebuilt rather than replacing with a reman, you should talk to your rebuilder about what gaskets and other parts will be included or re-used.

You should link your thread with RR's discussion on expectations.

Good idea:

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...2/#post4817352

The expectations part from Rotary Ressurection starts at post #79.

I forgot how much crap you had to deal with.
:uh:

New engine oil mods/procedures
 

NotaPreppie,

I am curious, (and need to get my noob post count up!) what oil are you using in the fresh engine, and what lubrication mods are you using, for break in as well as after? You have a great grasp in my opinion of lubricant chemistry, so I want to know what path your informed view takes you down. Hopefully this doesn't start an oil war on this thread.

Thanks. KMK

Meh, I don't think the special break-in oil thing is that important.

I'm using the made in germany magic pixie dust Castrol Syntec 0w-40 since that's what I plan to run for the foreseeable future.

My plan is to run it for a thousand miles like this, change the oil and filter, and then stick to 2k-3k mile intervals after that.

I would change the oil interval to 500 miles for the first 1k.

I have heard various things about using different oil for break in but i've never adhered to that either. I use the oil i will run normally.

Happen to have any compression numbers from this reman now that your installed? Yes i know it will change after break in.

Two thumbs up btw, good work.

Travis

Thanks.

I just put 40 miles on it today and meant to do a compression test when I got home but was too tired. Who'd have thought that helping my friend turn a clapped out 1993 Honda Del Sol into a Lemons racer would be so tiring?

I plan to do periodic compression tests starting tomorrow.

OK, thanks. And you are running stock metering pump rates?
I've heard great things about German Castrol. I am involved in the vintage BMW community and a lot of those guys love it. Many BMW engines have very highly stressed valvetrains and GC has proven to work well in that environment. Thank you in advance also for posting some rich data on compression. I hope you graph it like you did with your previous OJ rebuilt unit.

KMK

LOL, A Del Slow huh, nifty cars still.

The periodic compression testing is also something i want to do.

I want to see the progression of compression over, roughly 5k miles total.

I will be not so patiently waiting. :)

Travis

Thought I had tied up the neutral/reverse switch wiring well enough to keep them from melting to the exhaust and shorting out.

I thought wrong and the car died on the drive home from Lemons car work yesterday. When this happens, it causes the IGN KEY fuse to blow and you recognize it by the fact that fuck all happens when you turn the key to "ACC" or "ON" (no dash lights, etc).

Did the dumbest, least safe thing of my life: got under the car with it supported only by the scissor jack on the side of the road to fix it. Never again.

When I got home, I pulled the wire bundle over the top of the transmission to the driver side and zip tied it to a few unused holes there.

Was too tired after that to do the compression test last night. Will do it when I get home from work today.

In other news, I have the most hilariously obnoxious exhaust leak where the manifold meets the midpipe. I had one of those carbon/foil gaskets laying around and used it when I put the engine back in. Doesn't work for shit.

In other other news, my Arduino gauge works amazingly well. It's a little bright at night and there's no dimmer option (on or off) but it displays oil temp, oil pressure and fuel pressure. I may wire in a simple rocker switch to turn the light on/off. Location is still not a done deal. I have it near the ashtray and will probably leave it there just out of laziness.

That sucks, but I appreciate your posting the issues you've had.
If I do attempt it, your thread will be invaluable to me.

#1 that's my last name. :)

#2nice numbers so far.

#3 next test at....1k?

Travis

What starter motor is that ? 275 rpm !