So I've had my baby for most of my college life and now with roughly a semester left, I FINALLY have time and money to do a few mods. My car is an auto, so I'd like to make a grand tourer in the sense, rather than go the autoX monster route. Brakes are fully upgraded, so on to exhaust.


After much research, I'm looking at Garage Line headers, Race Roots catted midpipe and Racing Beat S2 specific single tip CBE. Hopefully I won't throw a CEL. Questions...


1. Are there any known issues with quality/fitment with any or all of these parts? I searched, but found nothing.


2. Do I need a header heat shield or not? Can the OEM be reused, or what other options exist? I couldn't find anything beyond ceramic coating and heat wrap.


3. Can anything be done about how warm the center console gets after driving a while?


Thanks!

 

Most headers (in the singular sense) available for the RX-8 don't get you very much. If you're trying to do something on a budget, you may leave your OEM header in place.

Now to answer question #3,

Yes, you can insulate the bottom of your console with heat-reflective tape. It has been done on this forum before, and I'm sure you can search for how to accomplish the task... or you could switch to drinking warm coffee

 

you need a heat shield for the manifold. Otherwise, you don't need one.