except you are not missing your horsepower.

1. the average rx8 dynos at 180whp.
2. mods do not add horsepower on the rx8 like they do on a chevy v8

accept it.

 

Comments like this just make me shake my head. For starters the car is not slow even in stock trim. It has a good power to weight ratio, even better displacement to power ratio and is very well set up in handling. If you want a 500+ hp time attack or drag car its probably not the best bet, that does not mean it is slow. Further, with a well set up turbo, a 300-350 whp 3000 lb car is fast as ****.

Also, beyond horsepower itself being a basically meaningless figure as has been discussed ad nauseum, there are a lot of things that go into the horsepower dick waving contests. I know a lot of cars claiming 500, 600, and even 700 whp with their dyno sheets. They are also running alchohol injection, race gas, and ONLY run that much boost for their bragging rights. They have a "low boost" setting which is what they actually run on the street which is much closer to the numbers you can expect with a well set up FI RX-8.

There are a lot of things that go into making a car fast. One of the fastest RX-7s on the time attack circuit right now is making "only" ~500 whp. It's a custom built race car and gets most of its speed from low weight and aerodynamics.

Anyway, I'm not saying that there are not other cars which are a better (or easier) platform for modification, especially for high horsepower targets, but by no standard is the car slow.

 

Get rid of that POS intake.

Honestly, get a midpipe and get it tuned to lean out the top end a bit (AP) and that is as quick as this car will ever be. Granted you also have to make sure your ignition and compression is up to snuff.

 

I agree

 

Perhaps slow is not the best term. It definitely wasn’t slow when it was introduced but that was 5-6 years ago and it has been surpassed by its competition (not to mention only slight faster than a Honda Accord). I guess I’m speaking to the fact that (IMO) you don’t buy an RX8 if you crave power. The RX8 is about balance, smoothness and good looks. It’s about having a balanced sportscar that can seat 4 unlike a 350/370z. It’s just not a car I would even bother putting on a Dyno unless I was getting a baseline prior to adding FI.

I’m in now way saying the RX8 is a bad car, I loved mine while I had it but I never thought of it as fast.

Of course if you get a fairly well appointed RX8 and add in a good and well tuned FI system you are probably looking at close to $40k (including labor) and no warranty. At that price point I’d take the uglier 135i and just tweak the suspension a tad.

 

oh god....

 

Has anybody even thought about bridge porting these cars with a proper tune? All the rotor heads I talk to tells me this is one of the best and easiest ways to get adequate HP out of the Renesis. Also adding a mid pipe/header to the 13b was suggested.

They keep telling me the same thing, the power is there when you port the rotary , not adding bolt ons like intakes and exhaust.Possibly then the bolt ons you add will probally work better or net better results if this procedure was done first.

If you think about it, the RX-8 has a pretty good intake system to begin with, it starts at the nose and goes strait to the throttle body without extra piping, silencers and baffles. So many cars have poor inatke systems that are like a rat maze of piping. The only thing that really needed a change is the paper intake filter itself.

 

There is very little porting that can be done to the Renesis for a combination of reasons. One of these is the water jacket... port more than a tiny bit and you are right into the water jacket. The most porting that can really be done from what I understand is smoothing out the edges slightly, which while it provides some additional power is only ~10 hp/torque naturally aspirated.

The RX-8 is excellently set up from stock, with a good cold air intake, free flowing exhaust and few obstructions to remove for any gains. A good aftermarket cold air intake can gain 3-4 hp at the cost of more noise, while a midpipe can net ~10 hp at the cost of legality and a pungent gasoline smell. For any real gains over stock the only options are forced induction of some kind.

Design1st, I agree with you, the car is not a power fiend's best friend... I do however think the $40k estimate for a well set up FI RX-8 is much higher than the reality. Good condition 2005 8's are going for $13k or less right now, and even a highly reliable tuned FI setup will not cost much more than $10k. If you are able to do much of the work yourself and search hard for deals it can be done for half that price. In the end though its not just a dollar per horsepower judgement. If it were I would have a hard time arguing against getting a used Z06 and slapping a supercharger on it. There are a lot of options for cars out there, but the combination of incredible handling, 4 doors, the rotary engine (which I love), and speed makes it a good choice for a lot of people. It's a unique car that is more than the sum of its parts or the numbers it has on paper.

 

You can not bridgeport a Renesis at all. Don't even try. You WILL hit the water jacket as it's not shaped the same as the 13B water jacket. Trust me on this one.

 

...cant even "street port" the Renny.

 

Thank you guys for your input, I will talk to my buddy who has been hot rodding rotaries from the early '80s. And tell him that tid bit of info you you just told me about the Renesis. Maybe he can come up with a way that won't intefere with that water jacket.

Anything is possible, right?

 

no not really, CRH already tried.