tony_673

Howdy Folks

Just wanted to poke my head in here to let you know that I'm still around, just really, really busy.

My car has been on car-pool duty for the past 8 weeks hauling classmates to and from our clinical rotations. While they enjoy the fancy ride to the hospital, my poor RX8 isn't too happy about the added mileage or the spilled coffee in the back seat cupholder. I owe the little guy a good washing, inside and out, after this semester is over with.

Alright, enough of me. Carry on.....

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

Hey everyone... sorry I didn't make it up to autocross today.

Temps hit 220+ Saturday, plus I woke up to rain this morning, took that as a sign... judgment call I guess.

Think i'll drive the car minimally until I can swap the fluid and do the oil cooler mod. I've gone back and forth about buying the upgraded water pump and thermostat. I really don't want to spend 300 bucks if it doesn't completely fix this cooling problem.

nbasuperstarkb08

ok i got a question for you guys what tires do you guys buy for your 8? i need something thats pretty good in the winter, but i need to buy them now because my ones i have on there now are bald. Also, if you guys have some tires that would just get me through the rest of the summer lemme no i'll buy them off ya

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

I have the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW-2.
I went with these because Tirerack's Tire Performance Rating was really good for this tire.
It scored a superior or excellent in every category except one... noise comfort which it got a 'good' rating.

But if you plan on driving in the winter, you need winter tires.
Performance and all season tires just won't work very well.
Tirerack gave good ratings on Michelin's Pilot Alpin PA3 & X-Ice Xi2 tires.

I'm sure others will chime in to let you know why I'm (and Tirerack) is wrong.

rotareriot

iTrader: (1)

i also have two sets of tires, because using an all season tire just wouldnt work (for me at least)
but for winter i have bridgestone blizzaks on my stock rims. i love em so far, it doesnt even feel like im in a RWD car, there wasnt one day in winter where i wanted to take my car out and it got stuck, even in bad snow where i'd see other cars on the side. i just drove right on by

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

I had 2 sets of wheels+tires for my 8 also. Sold my winter wheels to user "streetsrx8" who then traded in his 8. So it might be worth it to PM him and see if you can buy the wheels and tires he bought from me.


In terms of a good "all season" tire. . . I don't know. All recommendations on the forum, and my personal advice, is to buy a dedicated set of winter wheels and tires. All seasons just won't cut it.
-----------------------------------------

In other news, mazmart wanted 9.18 to ship the thermostat... and 9.50 to ship it with the water pump. . . So, i bought a water pump to save on shipping. I figure, what the hell, I'd probably buy it sooner or later anyway. So, we have a new thermostat+water pump, and we'll do the oil cooler mod and see if the 8 will run cooler. Or else I'll be looking at a manual over-ride for my fans to turn on with a switch mounted in the cabin.

So, anyone want to figure out how to install this crap with me? I don't think anyone on here has done much with the waterpump or thermostat before.

Shinka_MJR

For the winter, just put $1k into a beater and store the 8. It's simply not worth trying to drive in the winter. Not saying you can't handle it but i am saying i personally do not trust anyone else to not drive like they have their head stuffed up their ***. I had a 4x4 ranger for the winter and it worked great. Sold it in the spring when i got my 8 out of storage, for what i bought it. Win Win situation! If you love your 8, you'll find a way to leave it parked for the winter.

RK

iTrader: (1)

You sure you really have a cooling problem? 220 is perfectly normal depending on what you're doing.

On Saturday, which was dry and 80+ degrees, I was obviously slower than Sunday but was redlining twice a lap (end of Oak Tree and turn 13) and I was hitting 223 in the car on the final, hottest session of the day (around 3 PM). I'd do a 'cool' lap where I stayed in a higher gear on oak tree and 13 to keep from redlining and the temps would get back to ~217. Same thing when I parked the car.

On my drive home I kept the AP plugged in. Started at <170 and by the time I made it to the gas station 10 miles away I was around 220 doing low RPM normal driving. When I'd get into longer stretches of 55 MPH I could get it down to the 190s but in the slower town areas when I was going 25-35 I was getting right back up around 220. Even on the turnpike I was still between 190 and 210.

It was just a dry, hot, sunny day so the car gets hot.

On Saturday, going faster on a cooler track on a more humid, cooler day (but still nice) I don't think I ever got to 220. I didn't have to do a single 'cool' lap midsession the way I did on Saturday and Christ knows I was getting every last bit of power out of that engine.

I logged the final session on Saturday and two sessions on Sunday so you can look at them whenever I upload 'em. But honestly on days like Saturday I would expect the car to get up over 220. There's a very specific reason why Mazda made the OEM gauge not move from 160 until 230. They knew people would freak out if they could see how easily and often the car can get up to 220+. The Arizona guys did a lot of work figuring out why their cars were overheating and the main takeaways are that the car traps a lot of heat off asphalt so stopping or going slow on hot road can be very bad. They also reinforced that when you have dry air the cars fans can't compensate well enough. With humid air, like the guys in Florida or us (normally but not Saturday) have the overheating rarely if ever occurs.

Anyway I think you might be overreacting a bit. Change your coolant and get a little better airflow. Make sure you run autox with your heater all the way up (fan off tho) to help increase the airflow.

Oh. One other thing. How's your oil temps?

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

Well, the last autocross, temps were 225-230... right on the cusp of a serious problem. I wrote it off as a 1 time occurrence. Oil temps after that run were 215-220 if memory serves.

the car shouldn't be hitting 220ish in normal driving conditions. This is with my 4k shift points and lots of coasting. Put another way, the car didn't run this hot last summer...

I agree, I would have liked to change the coolant before buying anything, but I don't want to have to change it again with a new thermostat or water pump. I just figured I might as well do it, its not like its going to make the problem worse.

Jon's car, with very similar mods to my car, runs cooler, and has run cooler, through taking the temps of his Accessport. Soon to be gauges. lol.


I may be over-reacting a bit, i agree. However, I'm at 67k miles. In just my observations on the forum, I'm in the prime of engine failure. I know mazda won't honor the warranty because of the aftermarket parts installed which I would not want to remove and then take back in if I overheat and start having compression problems.
Its more for piece of mind I guess. Its one of the mods that aren't exciting to buy or enjoy... like an upgraded starter.

That 300 bucks though is probably the same 300 that would have gone to purchase your track tires... but we'll see.

How is the part out going, btw?

RK

iTrader: (1)

Jon's car has a very significant cooling mod that yours (and mine) does not have. The MM tune for the AP includes changes to the fan settings so they come on earlier and stay on longer. I would expect him to be at least 5 degrees cooler than either of us (maybe even 10). You should be comparing your car to Doc's or Brians but I don't know if Doc ever logged his engine readings with his AP when he was running with it. And my car was always hotter autocrossing than any other time. IIRC I'd bump over 225 on hot days at the end of last year.

I'm not saying to not do anything. Cooling mods are right behind fluid replacement in value. And as long as your car isn't flagged you can always revert back to OEM to get the engine looked at and possibly replaced.

Oh and I have no idea how the RB water temp gauge compares to the OEM or my gauge but I do know it's not as accurate.

It's just starting now. Saturday night and Sunday morning are being dedicated to that. I'll send PMs to everyone getting parts to find out when they want to stop over or if they want to arrange swaps. Yours is going to be the only one where both cars need to be available at the same time so we'll need a 3 car garage or larger space to work on them. I have to work Saturday morning and I have a thing to go to at 2 PM on Sunday but between those two things I'll be wrenching the **** out of my car.

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

Ok: according to Jon's accessport, my gauges were +2 degrees (hard to tell with a small analog gauge though). But there could be variations in the system.

Parts shipped today. . . so, not turning back now! I'll just feel better about it. Its the only fluid in the car I haven't changed yet, so its overdue, plus the thermostat will open sooner and the pump claims to work better across all RPMs. We'll see, I just don't want to damage the car. I've been putting in a bit more premix as it runs hotter and checking my oil more frequently.


Ryan, in regards to the part out: I'm out of town this weekend (St. Louis to visit my brother and father) and then next weekend taking the bronco up to NY to help the g/f move to Ohio, and then Saturday+Sunday i have tickets to Nascar in Michigan. (Shut up)

So, I won't be free during a weekend until the 21st. I am free Monday nights and Wednesday nights if you're looking to do it sooner rather than later.

DeViLbOi

iTrader: (1)

I will be out on the west side all weekend redneck watching so let me know when you need me to drop by Ryan.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

But that usually occurs during an install
Just remember to tighten the alternator bolt when finished...

nbasuperstarkb08

ok another question. where did you buy your tires like location wise. i heard the blizzark are really good.

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

Yeah... even though I'll ask you to try to remember also, because you know I'm going to ask you to assist in the installation of these products.


I bought my winter wheels and tires off the forum here and drove to Indiana to get them.
My summer tires I bought from tire-rack.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

I'm always up for a tear-down
This time, I'll (we'll) remove the ACV's hard pipe that connects to the exhaust manifold.
That thing was a pain when I tried to remove the thermostat.

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

oooo, i didn't know that you've done this before. It makes me feel better, but it also takes some of the fun out of it.

Someone else said this install was slightly more difficult than the AP pulley install only because of the fluid leaking out a bit. System will be drained anyway, so I'm not hugely worried about it. I'm shooting for the weekend of the 21st.
Hopefully I can get Ryan and Brian to come down here and we can get the lot taken care of then.
There is plenty of floor space if others bring their jacks and stands. I have other suitable tools now.

Shinka_MJR

Normal useage brake pads. I need to buy some.

Recommedations? Low to minimal dust preferred.

DeViLbOi

iTrader: (1)

Ceramic pads dust the least supposedly but they do still dust. They also squeak really really badly when they are cold.

Shinka_MJR

saw Kevlar pads at Summit Racing. Seemed to be same price range as ceramics.

thoughts?

DeViLbOi

iTrader: (1)

Since Wikipedia is law...Ceramic pads are Kevlar pads. *shrug*

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

Taking all that apart is the same process as if you wanted to remove the SSV valve without pulling the motor (minus removing the water pump).

Vyndictive

iTrader: (28)

So. . . you're thinking perhaps remove the SSV and not replace in the LIM? what's the fun in that?

Unless you want to do that as a temporary measure. I'll have the 8 up on stands all winter... we can still take the engine out. I'll have enough money for headers. All is well. Who knows, maybe even a flywheel will be in the works.

I'd like to get the thermostat and pump in for the rest of this driving season, though. The SSV can wait (famous last words)

Well, for day to day driving, do you need kevlar/ceramic pads? I'm sure they'll work great, but you've got a baby coming and can't buy car parts for the sake of buying them. . .

like me.

I have some posi-quiet semi metallic pads I got off ebay... they're fine for Daily driving... but really get crappy after an autocross run. Price is right though.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

I was just stating that I took those components off already because it shares the same process as removing the SSV.
I still want to tear your car apart!

RK

iTrader: (1)

Here's logs from Sat/Sun. Steve I almost hit 223 on Saturday with that heat but never got above 217 on Sunday even though I was driving faster and harder (no passenger on Sunday and I was playing with an audi and an MX5).

Saturday AM: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...6RHp6SVE&hl=en

Sunday AM: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...jWlpnSVE&hl=en

Sunday PM: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...CWHAyUEE&hl=en