I've just bought my 5th rotary, a 13B turbo engined RX8, spec below, pics in eBay listing Mazda RX8 400+ BHP Track Drift RX7 Engine | eBay

Although the previous owner claimed this car was a completed project, IMO only the engine is a completed project and the car needs a few things doing to it, some straightforward, some not (eg DSC doesn't work as the Mazda ECU has been removed).

I'm taking the next week or 2 to find out what needs doing to her and I look forward to reading and posting in this engine-change forum.

Ian


Engine
Fully Rebuiltd & Street Ported RX7 Engine,
Turbonetics T72 Turbo,
Custom Turbo Manifolds,
RacingBeat Dual Resonated De-Cat Centre Pipe 3" Bore
HKS HI-Power Cat Back, Single Exit, 3" Bore
APEX-I Power FC ECU,
Custom Map By Rotary Motion
Engine Full Colour Coded To Car,
Custom CAI,
RacingBeat Lite Weight Flywheel,
Exedy Stage 2 Clutch,
Greddy Front Mount Intercooler,
Mishimoto Racing Radiator,
Mishimoto Upgraded Fan Shroud,
Greddy DumpValve,
Tial 60mm External Wastegate,
Custom Screamer Pipe,
Battery Relocated To The Boot,

Body
Fully Wrapped In Orange Sparkle By Surrey Vinyl Wraps,
Roof & Boot Carbon Fibre Wrapped By Totally Dynamic
Seibon Vented Carbon Fibre Bonnet,
Carbon Side Vents From Carbon In Motion,
K-Office Eyelids From Carbon In Motion,
Wind Deflectors,
Black Diamond Front & Rear Brake Disks & Pads,
Greddy Front & Rear Strut Braces,
Standard Interior (Full Black Leather, Built In Satnav, Heated Fully Electric Seats)

Wheels
18" OZ Racing Ultraleggera In Matt Black With Orange Rim,
Lightweight Orange Extended Tuner Nuts
Goodyear Eagle F1 Tyres

 

Did you actually mean "month or two" or "year or two" instead?

 

If I were talking about sorting rather than finding out then you're right, "year or 2" is nearer.

It won't take me long to find out what I need to do to the rest of the car: there are a few minor snags and I may want to upgrade the suspension and brakes (all standard apart from slotted brake discs).

Engine-related issues that I've already identified are:
The warning lights light up like a Christmas tree
The traction control/DCS isn't working
There are no add-on gauges to monitor the engine eg oil pressure, coolant temperature. The instrument cluster gauges are working, which confuses me as I expected them not to work without the Mazda ECU.

Note: I amended the gauge comment after the first 6 posts below.

 

That's because the factory ECU has been removed.
As noted in your first post

 

You gotta run parallel with the stock computer? Plus i would ditch the power fc and add a haltech or microtech.

 

Fugly. And yeah, lot's needs to be done for the factory functions to work.

 

Welcome to the Renesisless club! We're growing bigger by each day

Not my color choice... Are you going to pull off that wrap?

pm me if you need any help.

Steve

 

I poked around this car at Rotorstock, you're a braver man than me in taking it on and trying to sort it. Quite how it has an MOT (UK annual roadworthiness inspection) is something of a mystery and I am highly dubious of the power claims given it ran the 1/4 mile in 16.6 seconds at about 84 mph, which is distinctly average even for a standard car. I then over took it on the way back from Santa Pod (in a diesel 4x4/SUV) and watched it expire in a cloud of smoke/steam. My gut feeling is that it was built to get into a magazine rather than to actually be driven.

I've just been discussing some of Rotary Motion's handiwork with a friend of mine, it's particularly shoddy.

Worth a look

 

Λ That looks like a pretty shitty job! Ian can't get those things to work if they removed all the harness and ecu. I have seen a can bus controller type gadget which could theoretically get your gauges to work, but not the others. BTW get rid of the chok hold on the turbo-this isn't a wrc rally car-that seriously limits the intake.

 

Guys, thanks for the comments.

I bought the car in the full knowledge that the DCS might be expensive to sort and I allowed for that in the price I paid. I never believe a word someone selling a car says or doesn't say until I've checked.
I know that I'm taking a risk with the 13B build. Whilst I've heard negative comments like Will's above I've also heard positive comments and he seems to be pretty busy with work, so others have faith in him.
I need to look closer to find out what the score is with the Mazda ECU. The engine builder seems to have done most of the installation as the previous owner seemed neither mechanically-minded nor well-off, but I'm taking a softly-softly approach to the builder.
I've expressed myself badly over the gauges. What I meant was additional gauges to give me data on important parameters. The instrument cluster oil pressure 'gauge' and the water temp gauges are working as expected.

I like the colour scheme (BTW oranges are naturally green and turn the familiar colour when weather cools or they're zapped with Ethylene). It suits my purpose: owning and driving a heavily-modified car at some time in my life.

 

Guys (and gals if there are any out there),
Thanks for your help so far.

I'm now getting a much better handle on what needs doing. On the other hand, I've had only pain and frustration when trying to get info from the previous owner and the engine builder. The previous owner gives me BS and broken promises. The engine builder is plssed as it seems he did the work on mate's rates in return for supporting his stands at shows, so is probably feeling used, and who can blame him.

I've tidied up a few things such as fitting an aluminium tank, new pump & new tubing for the windscreen washer fluid (the old washer bottle had been moved to the boot out of sight, but blocking much of the boot space) and upgrading the battery in the boot and it's cables (he'd put the original rx8 battery in the boot and run unfused 15mm2 or 20mm2 cable).

I've also ordered a commander for the Apexi to give me data when driving. I'll also be fitting some old-fashioned gauges.

Alas, despite my best efforts to get info from the previous owner and the engine builder I think I'm on my own now, so I'd appreciate some help on the following:
@ Reading Fault Codes. Contrary to what the previous owner told me, she has the original ECU fitted but my $25 OBDII reader reads no fault codes despite various warning lights telling me that the ECU has detected faults. How can I access fault codes?
@ DSC and ABS. The DCS (dynamic Stability Control or whatever Mazda calls it) isn't working as I knew when I purchased her. From a crude 'brake hard on the wet' test neither does the ABS it seems despite the ABS warning light coming on then going out at start up; the latest BS from the previous owner was "I had the DSC and ABS disconnected because I wanted a natural driving experience". My not being able to get fault codes is making my investigations difficult. I'm familiar with the DSC and ABS hardware but not the software/communication issues. Any suggestions?

Again, thanks for any help. I hope I can pass on the favour to others.

 

You have to get your info stuff correct before anyone can help you. Now from what I see in the old ebay picture(please put some more detailed ones up), nothing from the stock electronics are on there-unless they relocated the whole box(which I doubt).

 

Thanks.

My apologies if I'm not clear. Whilst I've had RX8s for over 7 years now, electronics (anything working with zeroes and ones in particular) aren't my strong point and the previous owner seems to have been creative with reality on a few issues.

The car has the original RX8 PCM relocated behind the bumper. I'm in the process of investigating which wires are connected and which have been disconnected:
Connector 1 has:
1U, sensor ground.
All the other engine, fuel and ignition control wires have been cut
Connector 2 has:
2E oil pressure switch
2I & 2T generator
2K engine coolant sensor
2U & 2X eccentric shaft position sensor in & out
All the other engine, fuel and ignition control wires have been cut
Connector 3 is missing. All its engine, fuel and ignition control wires have been cut
Connector 4 is intact
Connector 5 is intact

I'll make a list of the wires for connectors 4 and 5 when I have time.

 

Those connections look like it's just there to drive the dashboard. There's no canbus connection, hence no OBDII codes and nothing that'll control the engine hence no DSC.