Only thing I would recommend going forward is just to keep the stock intake because its actually really good. Don't bother with the header unless the one that is on there is damaged. There are no power gains from it unless you are running stage 2+. Also, you have the good stock 18" rims, I would just keep those and paint them gold or something. They perform fantastic. The rest of your mods on your list sound good to me. The seats are very important as the stock seats have no bolsters.

 

I have no problems tuning the car myself, but more power isn't a priority just yet. Need to feel the chassis out.

Stock 18s are thinnnnnnnn, need more tire for more fun times. I've got the RPF-1s on the way, and I'll take the cheaper 17in tires since I'm gonna blast through em.

Update because I feel like typing it out:

Got the Koyo in, no more leaks. Was a real pain in the *** seeing as every 3rd bolt I had to take out decided it wanted to snap off. I ended up ripping the AC condenser inserts out along with bits of the end tanks. I should have just pulled it out while I was under there, but couldn't bring myself to remove AC stuff until I know what temps look like. Also had to use an old nut as a new spacer for the front rad mount as the rubber ripped itself to shreds when I couldn't undo it by hand and got the impact out... grrr.. gotta love rust... gonna need to get an angle grinder and a new welder for this project.. -_-

I was able to reattach the OEM foam to the sides, but I don't have high hopes for them staying on. Will have to make up for it somehow in the future.

Either way, pics are fun.




Also will have to do something about the right side mount to the subframe.. broke a bolt off in it and it's behind held on by one right now.

Also, everything goes back in with antisieze.. I REALLY hope to not deal with the bolt breaking nightmare again.

 

Oh man, bolts breaking is the worst! 17s good tires are cheaper and I always thought the 8 looked good on 17s just don’t know your budget, sometimes easier to worry about rims last.

 

You and I are both in the snow belt.. rusty cars and breaking bolts are in our blood. I know I'm used to it haha. I always do everything possible to avoid breaking a bolt. I've learned that threshold over the years and know when it's time to stop and when theres no hope. And then theres the one that surprises you and either snaps when you don't think ti will or a really rusty bolt decides to actually come out. I run a tap down every welded nut and assemble with a tiny amount of grease on the bolts. I replace every rusty bolt that comes out. Mcmastercarr has been good to me with replacement hardware. https://www.mcmaster.com/

 

This is one I picked up last year. Rustier than the Titanic for sure and someone had cut the quarter panel off of it. I'm not sure if I'm going to fix the body and turn it into an autocross car like my son wants me to or what yet. It does have a good title. But either way, I went through a lot of rusty hardware when I was taking parts off the car.

 

Ugh that looks awful. At least that's not how bad this one is. I wouldn't have touched it if it were.

Car definitely has more rust on it than anticipated, but ah well.. we shall prevail.

 

These cars seem to commonly rust on the rear wheel arches on the quarter panels, the lower trunk lip rots easily, the crossmember that the battery box bolts to seem to be a common place for rust to form, and the pinch welds and rocker panels in the rear are commonly seen with rust. This car had 187k miles on it and had led a hard life. It was beautiful 2 owners and many less miles ago.



My very first RX-8, which was an 05 6spd Sport, had a rusty oil pan after 5 years and 35k miles. It looked terrible. I replaced it in 2010 and couldn't believe how bad it was. The car looked great on the outside but underneath was a completely different story. I sold it for a down payment on the house my family and I currently live in. I miss the car but my wife and kids and I needed the house.

 

Continuing making this thread about the journey with this car..

Went to go drive the thing and noticed the ball joint on the pass side was holding on by a thread.. if that. SO without doing any research, I went and got myself a new (used) control arm. Figured it would be a 30 minute job... until I realized the non coated hardware had become ONE with the bushing inserts. Apparently a common problem. So I went out and got myself an angle grinder and some new sawzaw blades and went to town. The 30 minute job turned into about a weeks long effort, and then another week waiting on new bolts to come in.






While I was waiting for new parts, I learned that there was a recall on the ball joints for the 04 RX-8s... and guess who's car didn't have it done yet?

So I was in too deep to be able to bring the car to the dealership to do it, so I decided to just power through and finish it up.

While I was in there I also took the chance to replace both the left and right sway bar links seeing as someone decided the car didn't need them quite some time ago.





Needless to say I'll bring the car into the dealership to have this one and the otherside replaced as soon as I can get the car registered. I just got the title in the mail late last week.

While I was in the garage, I also put back on the stock intake. I didn't really like how the aftermarket one howled, and it really didn't seem to be an improvement over stock. I also didn't want to rescale the MAF for such a crappy part (which you SHOULD do when you put in intake on the car). Really happy with the stock box back on. No more howling, and it's properly scooping up fresh air instead of air from just behind the radiator.

 

I also decided to take advantage of VersaTuner's black friday sale and decided to buy their software. Did a bit of toying around, and I have to say I'm honestly not as impressed as I thought I was going to be. All the tables available aren't very descriptive, I can't change the units in the map editors, and the units of things aren't very clear as to what they are supposed to be. Maybe I'm just used to my good ol' Romraider, but not being able to change the AFR table from a lamda value to petrol AFR is a bit stupid.

I also noticed a lot of studdering after flashing the car for the first time, not sure how aggressive the fuel learning is on these cars, but I'm assuming it's pretty hefty as it eventually did clear itself up.

Either way, did a small bit of logging and that honestly just left me with more questions than answers about how these engines operate haha!

I don't really understand why the AFR is going all over the place.. but the data I took really wasn't very well done. My only idea is that the engines do weird things when the different intake valves open, and by weird I mean things I don't understand coming from tuning tradiational piston engines.

https://datazap.me/u/equinox92/rx-8-...zoom=1171-1301

Either way, I'll see what I can do to squeeze out some more beans from this thing, or just write it off as $300 wasted.

 

Okay, I am keeping on posting but trying to split things up into different posts for different topics. I also have been working on a "gauge solution" that doesn't look tacky... which is really just an excuse for a fun project.

What I've got is an OLED screen that will be integrated into the stock cluster that will display different gauge values based on CAN data sent to it. I will be adding my own sensors on to the bus, as well as polling from already available parameters. Here's a video of some of the electronics working:


Right now I am working on a custom PCB to stay away from clunky off the shelf components, as well as in cluster mounting solutions as shown here:



Hoping to have a functional unit in cluster by the end of next week. I have some stuff on the way to get it lit up and working inside the cluster without "production" level parts.

 

Nice work!!! I really like what you're doing with the cluster!!

 

From personal experience on the recalls, I'm going to recommend Suburban at 10 Mile and Grand River. They had my airbag and fuel ring recall done in about two hours (and it's the closest to us, which helps lol)

I remember my experience with flashing one of the pre-built Cobb tunes. I think my car had the idle figured out within about 10 minutes of driving (with only two dips to "almost stalling" RPMs), then a couple of drive cycles more to work out the rest of the RPM range. The ECU doesn't screw around when it comes to learning.

Love the cluster work, as well. This is the kind of stuff I'd love to do with a Raspberry Pi and a nav screen to keep things stock looking, but alas, I don't want to buy a nav hood and deal with that headache haha

 

I think I'll end up going there. Closest to me anyway.

Definitely chalked it up to the learning on the ECU. The ECU is pretty much the same thing as the 32bit Subaru ECUs (Same family controller, same Hitchi OS, same MAF sensor, same ECU company) which have a very aggressive learning.

Cluster updates, have some hardware working in the cluster, a vector file of the cluster insert (printed on just paper), and I am working with a company to get some plastic silkscreen inserts made up.





Also was able to pick up my wheels yesterday. Went with the easy choice of 17x9 +35 RPF-1s. Clearance is tight..



May toss on a spare set of tires that are too small to at least get suspension dialed in, but for now I wait for new lugnuts to arrive since the factory ones just aren't long enough to seat properly.

 

Subscribed. I live in Ferndale and work at 12 Mile and Haggerty. Hope to see you guys around sometime!
I have a CWP S2 RX8. It's been parked for a while, but will be back on the road once spring comes around and the salt's gone.

 

Yay more local RX-8s!

Can't wait for nicer weather to get racing.. but I guess the longer the winter, the long I have to get the car together.. so far so good on that bit at least!

 

Progress is looking good!.
I just finished replacing cooling lines, pump, and thermostat.
Air pump is out, and the block off will be in today. Also put new tires on recently.
Car is getting close to being ready to drive again. Hopefully they don't salt the roads because of the little snow we got.

 

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to ring in on this thread from Lake Orion.
Good to see other enthusiasts in SE Michigan.
I acquired mine last summer and finally have some time between projects to get mine running well.
I will list all the fixes I have put into it in the next few days.



So here is the list...
1. First there was only 1 key and no fob. So I bought a couple more blanks and fobs from eBay. After finding a locksmith willing to cut the blanks, I used Forscan software to program the new keys to the car.
2. TCS light was on and cruise control was not working. I found through the Forscan software that the right rear wheel speed sensor was throwing a code. So I pulled one off at the local salvage yard to replace mine.
3. The HIDs would only light about 30 feet out in front of the car. I pulled the rear level sensor and it was severely corroded inside. So I pulled that part off at the salvage yard too. Left fog light and DRL were burned out so I replaced those with new.
4. The original bottom bolt on the right rear knuckle was replaced by one from Home Depot so I pulled that from the salvage yard too.
5. Sill plate on the driver’s side was bent up and battery tie down hardware was gone so the salvage yard came to the rescue there too. Unfortunately, the salvage vehicle was missing the driver’s visor so I had to make do with what I had; a few SS screws and nuts are doing the job for now (I call it Franken-visor). Also, the front right fender liner was missing and had to buy a new replacement.
6. The IMS kit was missing so I pulled a compact spare out of the trunk of a Mazda Millenia at the yard.
7. Brakes were in bad shape so new rotors, calipers and pads all the way around.
8. Drained and replaced manual transmission gear oil.
9. Coolant level light goes on when the engine is fully warm so I have a new reservoir with sensor to install when I put in the new 76C thermostat and flush the entire system.
10. CEL codes were P2259, P0443, and P066. Vacuum checked the SSV and mechanism moves freely. Pulled the 3 solenoids; 1 measured high resistance and 2 measured open. 3 brand new solenoids installed.
11. Fair amount of oil leaking from at least 3 points on the car. With all the oil around the engine compartment and the oil pan it was hard to tell exactly where the leaks originated. Drained the oil from the pan and coolers. Installed low temp oil cooler thermostats. Dropped the pan and snapped a couple screws off in the block. Found three screw holes stripped out so drilled out and tapped for helicoils. Appears that oil line from engine to left oil cooler is leaking so replacing that and the crossover line too. New filter installed and filling with Castrol 5W-40.
12. Despite severe fouling on the plugs, there didn’t seem to be any ignition problems. Nonetheless, put in new NGK plugs. Perhaps I can soak and clean the old ones for spares since they are about 3x the price of the plugs for my Mazda3.
13. The Mazda Recall website shows a few open recalls for my VIN including the airbags.
14. There is an aftermarket fuel door installed so I pulled a fuel door off at the salvage yard. There is still quite a bit of body rust on the rocker panels and rear quarter panels. I will eventually get around to fixing this but frame and suspension components will be covered with Corroseal when the outside temp gets up near 70F.
That’s it for now. Let me know if you have any questions about anything.
Looking forward to warmer weather and getting my project back on the road and cruising down Woodward on a Friday night.