Grappler

iTrader: (1)

My name is James aka Grappler not exactly new to the Rotary game but new to the Rx8s my first car/rotary that I still own is a TII swapped FC. It’s undergoing to major engine bay surgery and doesn't really have many frills/niceties left on it anymore.

So been I've been driving the brokeswagon aka a VW golf with the coil pack eating 1.8t in the mean time. It was/is on its last legs at 208k so I decided it was time for a new daily. Its sort of turned itself into a project car and It’s been a fun car but very much full of its quirks that I wish to never deal with again.

Enter the RX8 I wanted something RWD/AWD under 15k that I could Auto-X HPDE and cruise some of the Alphabet roads in. Realistically that left me with a few options I'm not really for domestic vehicles so that took out a few options. Locally that left a few choices G35s MR-S Evo/Sti 350z and a few BMW/Audis and the RX8 still on the list.

I didn't want another VAG car so that bumped Audi off the list in short order. All of the Evo/Sti vehicles that I ever see are usually beaten within an inch of their lives and then returned to stock to be sold to the next victim. The M3/M5 BMWs that I was finding looked promising until I realized the now 12-13k car had parts are still priced for a 40k-50k car. $2000 for a Vanos solenoid is a bit steep in my opinion. The G35 is basically a fatter plusher version of the 350z and I wasn't really a huge fan of the ones I have ridden in or driven. I've owned an AW11 before and the MR-S while reminiscent of the AW11 just didn't do anything for me.

Of course this basically leaves the Rx8. It’s really hard to look at the RX8 and not immediately compare it to the RX7. The difference in Power and the extra doors, it all seems so very wrong. I was lucky enough that a pair of them were at my local Mazda dealership. I will freely admit I had some reservations until I got into the car and started it. I very quickly got over the extra doors and the back seats and remembered why I loved the rotary power plant. The power band, the smooth acceleration, and awesome handling were very much present in the RX8. Upon the conclusion of the test drive I realized what Mazda was trying to do with the RX8 and immediately regretted anything negative I have said about them before. The nice interior heated leather seats fancy sound system. It was so very tame and yet still fun. A more mature older half sister of the RX7 and I had to have one. I immediately put down a deposit and proceeded to the bank to get the rest. A full 2 days later and I am loving every minute of it.

Anyways if you scrolled this far down and bothered reading what must look like those awful erotica novels except instead of talking about naughty bits. It’s instead about leather interiors what is underneath the bonnet. Then I applaud you. Since this thread is useless without pics please see below.

Rather boring photo of the Brokeswagon.




A few rather embarrassing and out of date photos of my FC, its rather dirty because its a long term project and hasn't left the garage in a while. Of course the cell phone camera doesn't really help either.



The engine bay doesn't look anything like this any more I really should get some updated photos that don't look like everything was just thrown into the engine bay.





And of course here is the RX8 I picked up a friend of mine took these photos and since I re-hosted them I put a link to where I got them from because I am trying to not be that guy. https://flic.kr/p/ncVPBZ





Its pretty much stock although I do have a sneaking suspicion it has at the very least an AP tune as Redline is higher than it should be.

Hobasocka

Welcome and congrats! Love the 8 and the Gen 2. Always wanted a Gen 2 but have yet to find one in my garage as of yet.

Grappler

iTrader: (1)

Thank you,

I miss driving my FC it actually has only a couple less miles than my 8 at 54k on the clock. One of these days I will get a chance to finish the thing.

Grappler

iTrader: (1)

Went to a HPDE of sorts last night. Had an absolute blast got to ride with a few instructors and really learn the limits of the car. Even with crappy Nexen tires I can already do so much more than I ever could with the golf. I was rather happy that I was able to keep up with a corn fed Evo X

The most awesome part of the whole event was seeing that the bar can be set much much much higher and that there is so much more to learn. I got a front row seat to that riding along in a rather tail happy S2000 with one of the instructors and was absolutely blown away by how much changing the way you transition between inputs can affect things.

I did have a small misfire (flashing CEL) on my last session and decided to not push my luck. It hasn't happened again and I had just filled up at a station I had never been too before. So I am hoping it was a combination of things other than coils/plugs regardless I'll be doing a full tune up this weekend and hopefully hitting up a local Auto X event on tommorow.

Grappler

iTrader: (1)

Went to another HPDE on Friday and hopefully will have some video recording at some point.
Still learning and enjoying the cheap seat time. However it is now that my Catalytic converter decided it hates life.
Soon to be remedied with a crowbar/hammer and a Cobb AP.
I was put into the the Intermediate A group this time instead of novice.
In my run group was a Speed 6 a Speed 3 a N54 BMW 335i and a couple of Evos.
Surprisingly I didn't hold anyone up. I can only attribute this to the course being laid out really with a nice balance of auto x style obstacles and very few short straights.
I wish I still had my Go Pro and I was going to borrow a friends for the last session but I missed it by 1 round.
I will be volunteering at the next one and hopefully can borrow it for the volunteer fun run 12 min session at the end.

:edit: randomly this morning when I got in the car the CEL went off hurah! :/edit:

:edit: Someone aparently took some cell phone video of me on the last few turns :D :/edit:

Grappler

iTrader: (1)

Did my plate relocation yesterday, my radiator thanked me for the extra airflow.

Before,




After

Grappler

iTrader: (1)

Finally uploaded the video I took From DCTC on Friday courtesy of a friends GoPro its mainly an interior view which is fine because I wanted to see what I was doing in the car as well as checking my lines which you can sort of do at this angle. Anyways I've already watched this thing like 20 times and found a bunch of stuff I can improve on. I need to get rid of some bad habits but thats what practice is for right?

Also did some Auto X on Sunday had a blast with that. Its so much fun all I want is more seat time. :P

hoosier1104

iTrader: (2)

Welcome and enjoy. I suggestion upgrading your ignition system to the BHR kit. I cannot see where you are from bc I am on my phone but the BHR catless mid pipe is awesome.

Grappler

iTrader: (1)

The cat has now been "fixed" also installed my COBB AP yesterday, Ignition upgrade should be otw soon. Thanks for the welcome

Grappler

iTrader: (1)

Realized I haven't been in here for a while. A few updates from this summer.


I'm defintely in the over driving stage right now and still have a ton more to learn I did a couple more HPDE events and some Autox this summer. Sadly I don't have any Autox videos yet. :/

Got some parts put in over the summer hopefully next year I will get some propper tires and pads on the car these nexens that the PO put on annoy me to no end.



These finally went into the car as well as a fresh set of plugs a long with the standard oil change. Had had a couple misfires at one of the HPDE events figured it was time 2 out of the 4 coils were bad and it looked like the plugs had never been done.



I now have control of the cool graphs in my car courtesy of a Cobb AP. Stock map for now cleaned up a few things caused by my Cat which is more "efficient" now...



Lights now have super jackass mode enabled this is done with a simple 1 wire install.
I can now run Highs Lows and Fogs all at the same time should make night night driving much easier.

A friend snagged another couple of photos of of my car again figured I would post them up :-"

Courtesy of his flickr account https://www.flickr.com/photos/29843549@N08/




Thats about it and we now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcasting.