Just wanted to share with you guys my thoughts about a weekend with a supercharged RX-8.

Joe at ROTORMASTER handed me the keys on Friday just past on the basis of research for a ZOOM magazine feature. His instructions where simple. Dont smash it & give it hell.

Gotta tell you guys that it was one seriously fun weekend cruising & blowing two tanks of fuel in 72 hours. This little beauty produces an (independantly tested) dyno proven 74% power gain over your standard RX-8. How does a 74% gain feel on the road.

WOW...... :D

Like one would expect, the cruising parts feel like a normal RX-8 would, but when its time to put your foot into it. Its a real case of "Hold on tight" The centrifical supercharger pumps more & more boost as the revs rise. By the time the engine is peaking at redline the smile on your dial is from ear to ear as you change up a gear for it to happen all again.

Oh, & in typical rotary fashion. The faster your going, the harder the acceleration comes on. So the time to get from 140-to-180 seems quicker than going from 100-to-140. I chewed through the first tank in a mere 400km as I was simply having too much fun but did get 450km from the 2nd tank full after I settled down a little. (something thats oh so hard to do)

I'll be doing a full story on the technicalities in a future issue of ZOOM but have to tell you guys, I'm getting one when an RX-8 is finally sitting in my garage.

Big thanks to DAZ-13B for braving the passenger seat on the Saturday night cruise into the city (SYD) & back. Just ask him what his thoughts are. Daz loved it too......

REgards







Here is a pic of the dyno from the RotorMaster workshop. This is the REAR wheels power



Here is the link to the official ROTORMASTER site....... >> RotorMaster blower <<

 

wow.. thanks for the review......
when will the magazine article come out?
74% increase is very tempting (& awesome), but the drive in-drive out price tag will scare most ppl off :o
maybe one of us can organise a group buy :D

 

Thanks DMRH.... now I wont be able to sleep tonight thinking about how awesome FI is going to be.

Can you give us the dyno numbers? Or should I just pull out the calculator and work out that 177 x 174% = 308 kW !

 

Now THAT is one CLEAN installation!! :D :D

S

 

There is no way that the Finance Director is going to let me have one of those... I am having a tough enough time trying to get a permission for a Hymee Exhaust... I did point out that we had the only car on the last cruise that didn't have one... "Never give in to peer pressure" was the response... Sigh!

 

I'd take one except for the US $9141 price! Yikes. Where's all that material cost in there...it looks so simple? I think they need to adjust the selling price way down if they want any volume business.

 

will somebody link to where to buy this kit?

 

So did you have any issues with engine management? Any ideas what sort of warranty they are offering.

Andrew

 

Stop tormenting yourself....just think of 203.7rwKW vs the 112-120 you now have :p

 

Nice.

I'll be spending the weekend in my one as well

I wonder what the power curve would look like if the boost was 7 PSI all the way through? (i.e. the boost curve displayed is approximately linear from 2PSI at the low end of RPM to 7PSI at the top. That is a characteristic of centrifugal).

The install looks pretty compact and not too difficult, with the blower mounting off the generator bracket and essentially no changes to the throttle body and intake manifolding. You can even see the MAF sensor mounted on the intake tube (ATMO side). I wonder if the intake duct through the front panel is largened to get the intercooler pipes through?

He shouldn't be having any engine light problems from what I know about the "PowerMod" (aka TSI) unit, and also speaking to the developer of that ECU I have been told there were no issues.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Sounds incredible.

Regrettably I don't have a lazy $12K plus the install cost plus the money required for bigger brakes, tauter suspension, self-insurance, etc, etc. :D

Suspect once they recoup some of their development cost these kind of kits will get cheaper to buy.

 

Aha! I just got it! Well, I can't wait to see what that power curve looks like, too

 

The linear power curve this type of supercharger gives, gives the car a "Naturally aspirated" feel under the pedal that others can't. This allows any RX-8 owner to feel as if its a very much more power version of his standard 13B-MSP engine.

Thats the way it felt to me & I liked it.........

REgards

 

Why didn't they install a cold air intake?

 

Where would you like them to put it? The intercooler piping takes up all of that space.

The supercharger will heat the air up anyway so I doubt that a cold air intake would help much.

 

Oh hymee never scared to chuck in some self promotion I see :p

Funny that, nearly every thread that involves FI from another manufacturer,

hymee jumps in and give himself a free ad !!

Oh,, being a moderator AND a vendor REALLY has its perks :D

Stay beautiful

Dave

 

Can we PLEASE move on from the whole moderator/vendor thing.

I've had enough for one week.

If you've got a problem with it - take it up privately.

 

I knew i was gonna get bashed for DAT !! :D

So Sorry

Keep smiling

Dave

 

now....
im wondering what hymster's setup will be like and whether it will be more affordable........ :p

/me goes back to my corner and waits for an answer :D

 

The kit looks good but the price...JEEZ LEWEEEEZ!!

 

Judging by the general reaction I'd say RotorMaster will need to sharpen his pencil if he wants these things to sell in any volume.

 

Guys, the supercharger alone takes up a massive chunk of the $11k price. They are straight from the USA & damned expensive thanks to their cutting edge technology designed into them.

Take it from me. After spending a wekeend in this thing, you forget about the cost & just end up wanting that 74% power gain........ :D

 

Fair enough but tell me that again after YOU have stumped up the readies. :D

I'm sure you're right about the hardpoint on the cost but $12K plus installation and extras is still a pretty big hit.

 

12K for me is out of the ball park. I cannot justify that amount especially when I want to do clutch and better cooling at the same time. The kit does look nice though!

 

everyone owns a rx-8 can get a test drive from joe, but do you really want to do that?
NO personally.... i can not bear to drive my slow **** stocker rx8 after the test drive....... :o