Hello rx8club, Farewell rx7club
#1
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Hello rx8club, Farewell rx7club
Yesterday I sold my nonturbo FC of nearly 10 years to a young guy in Mattoon, IL who I'm sure will enjoy it. It has been a great car, and I had lots of fun working on it, learning about it, and driving it.
I have moved on to a used RX-8 with 20k miles on a new engine and some nice modifications (thanks to savedsol). It sings the nonturbo rotary song beautifully, and my daughter's car seat fits nicely in the back seat. I suppose I'm having my cake and eating it too!
I've been reading on here for some time, and from what I gather, I should follow the "first $100" to spend thread. I'm not sure if the ignition coils were replaced - have to check the receipts, so any tips in that area are welcome: warning signs for them going bad, go with stock replacement or some kind of aftermarket?, etc. I saw the Cobb Access Ports are discontinued, but there is some activity on here about them. Looks like the best way to tune the stock ECU.
I have moved on to a used RX-8 with 20k miles on a new engine and some nice modifications (thanks to savedsol). It sings the nonturbo rotary song beautifully, and my daughter's car seat fits nicely in the back seat. I suppose I'm having my cake and eating it too!
I've been reading on here for some time, and from what I gather, I should follow the "first $100" to spend thread. I'm not sure if the ignition coils were replaced - have to check the receipts, so any tips in that area are welcome: warning signs for them going bad, go with stock replacement or some kind of aftermarket?, etc. I saw the Cobb Access Ports are discontinued, but there is some activity on here about them. Looks like the best way to tune the stock ECU.
#2
Love it when she whines
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congrats on the purchase, that was a great looking rx7 by the way. im kinda new here but i can pitch in what i have been picking up on.
signs that your coils/plugs/wires are going bad would be loss of power, bad fuel economy, misfires, trouble starting etc. going with oem ones could never hurt because in no way will they effect your warrenty, while on the other hand the stock ignition system is one of the weaker components on the car so it could never hurt to upgrade it. with the upgraded coils/plugs/wires you will most likely see a gain in performance because of a more powerful spark, and better fuel economy. so far is seems like the most popular is the BHR kit (blackhaloracing.com) they are a very reputable brand and make a lot of stuff for our cars.
and as for the cobb, they have been discontinued but they are poping up for sale every now and then. getting one of those will allow you tune your stock ECU with out the help of a shop. and if one day you decide to go force induction then having one of those will be your best friend.
hope i was of some help, if i was wrong on any of this please somebody correct me!!
matt
signs that your coils/plugs/wires are going bad would be loss of power, bad fuel economy, misfires, trouble starting etc. going with oem ones could never hurt because in no way will they effect your warrenty, while on the other hand the stock ignition system is one of the weaker components on the car so it could never hurt to upgrade it. with the upgraded coils/plugs/wires you will most likely see a gain in performance because of a more powerful spark, and better fuel economy. so far is seems like the most popular is the BHR kit (blackhaloracing.com) they are a very reputable brand and make a lot of stuff for our cars.
and as for the cobb, they have been discontinued but they are poping up for sale every now and then. getting one of those will allow you tune your stock ECU with out the help of a shop. and if one day you decide to go force induction then having one of those will be your best friend.
hope i was of some help, if i was wrong on any of this please somebody correct me!!
matt
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Welcome! Now go join the Central Illinois Car Enthusiast Network as well.
Last edited by NotAPreppie; 12-09-2010 at 02:17 AM.
#6
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Hey man welcome enjoy the new toy! By the way the access port is not discontinued, however, it is now only exclusively offered through a member of the forums here... Mazdamaniac (mazdamaniac.com), I'd do some serious research into it and the people you can have tune it before you make your purchase though...
Anyways again welcome hope she treats you right!
Anyways again welcome hope she treats you right!
#9
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Gotta tell you, something about hte FC gives you this nice warm fuzzy feeling inside unlike any other RX7 I have seen. I really am not sure why, maybe its that unique smell that its cloth interior had, or the burning smell that would resonate from that exhaust...
Anyway, welcome to your new addiction!! make yourself at home
Anyway, welcome to your new addiction!! make yourself at home
![Smilie](https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/smile.gif)
#10
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lol at the characteristic FC smell! My car certainly did smell of oil and exhaust when I bought it, but I fixed that quickly with a lot of maintenance and new interior carpets! Of course, it always had a little exhaust smell going on, but I loved that car anyway.
Thanks for the welcome, too. I hope to enjoy the RX-8 for quite a while. Thankfully it came with a set of Bridgestone RE-01Rs that will be fun for autocross.
Thanks for the welcome, too. I hope to enjoy the RX-8 for quite a while. Thankfully it came with a set of Bridgestone RE-01Rs that will be fun for autocross.
![Smilie](https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/smile.gif)
Last edited by fc2se; 12-09-2010 at 09:44 AM.
#12
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I didn't originally intend to sell the FC, but the 8 is just so much more usable for me with the back seats. Good luck finding an FC. It is hard to find one that is not a rust bucket, and it's even harder if you want a turbo (TII).
#14
welcome, Im about to follow you and sell my fc for an 8 although im not sure just yet
its a clean TII, I just need room for my son.
I would deff get the upgrade coils b/c they are so much better.
![Frown](https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/frown.gif)
I would deff get the upgrade coils b/c they are so much better.
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I'm not sure if the ignition coils were replaced - have to check the receipts, so any tips in that area are welcome: warning signs for them going bad, go with stock replacement or some kind of aftermarket?, etc.
I saw the Cobb Access Ports are discontinued, but there is some activity on here about them. Looks like the best way to tune the stock ECU.
I saw the Cobb Access Ports are discontinued, but there is some activity on here about them. Looks like the best way to tune the stock ECU.
As mentioned, the AP is availible through mazdamaniac. Before you take that step read up, be sure you know what your getting into, what is expected of you to ensure you recieve calibrations/tunes, and ensure you understand the logistics of the process and are OK with that.
That said, the BHR coils, the AP, and getting rid of the cat are the three best things you can do IMO outside of good maintenance.
Other popular and well recieved stuff includes;
Axial Flow Engineering's(Richard Paul) Short Throw Shifter - hands down the most direct, positive, tactile change you can make on the car for the money. Its acclaimed to give the shifter a rifle bolt feel, and I concurr
Premixing and/or Sohn 2-stroke adapter - lots of talk/debate on these and anything else oil related in general
Mazmart's oil pressure modification
etc/et al
Last edited by paulmasoner; 12-12-2010 at 12:30 AM.
#18
The Stink w.o The Sause
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Welcome!
get cobb from MM
go for BHR ignition solution for ignition coils, but make sure you change the dwell using COBB
with COBB you are stuck with using MAF based tunning, which is not ideal for high power FI, if you decide on going that route.... You may want to get a piggyback/ stand alone with MAP capability, interceptor X is a popular choice
Anyway, you will find plenty of good info here!
Welcome to the rx8!
get cobb from MM
go for BHR ignition solution for ignition coils, but make sure you change the dwell using COBB
with COBB you are stuck with using MAF based tunning, which is not ideal for high power FI, if you decide on going that route.... You may want to get a piggyback/ stand alone with MAP capability, interceptor X is a popular choice
Anyway, you will find plenty of good info here!
Welcome to the rx8!
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I dont want to debate it here, just make a statement that you(OP) can take to follow up on and make your own decisions:
MAF based systems are good out to 400-450hp before you may have to start scaling things and potentially run into granularity issues. That kind of power has extremely rarely been exceeded here.
Many would reccomend forking out for proper standalone over the Int-X(microtech) if you were to ever pursue such goals. Something to do about granularity as above....
not debating, just offering ideas which you would need to research, learn, and decide yourself if you choose such a path
MAF based systems are good out to 400-450hp before you may have to start scaling things and potentially run into granularity issues. That kind of power has extremely rarely been exceeded here.
Many would reccomend forking out for proper standalone over the Int-X(microtech) if you were to ever pursue such goals. Something to do about granularity as above....
not debating, just offering ideas which you would need to research, learn, and decide yourself if you choose such a path
#21
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Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm interested in the Cobb AP for its function as a gauge and to fine tune the car for the mods it has. I'm not looking to go way up in power level via FI - just to make it run as smoothly and well as it should. (Car has Odula intake, RP high flow cat, and Mazdaspeed v1 exhaust.)
I haven't seen any major signs that the ignition coils are going out. My main concern is that there seems to be more of an occasional, light pop of backfire than I had on my FC upon startup and sometimes at idle. It could be a slight misfire or the car running a bit too rich - or just the nature of the car with these mods and no ECU tuning. That being said, the BHR ignition looks like a meaningful upgrade that I should seriously consider in the future for longevity if nothing else.
I haven't seen any major signs that the ignition coils are going out. My main concern is that there seems to be more of an occasional, light pop of backfire than I had on my FC upon startup and sometimes at idle. It could be a slight misfire or the car running a bit too rich - or just the nature of the car with these mods and no ECU tuning. That being said, the BHR ignition looks like a meaningful upgrade that I should seriously consider in the future for longevity if nothing else.
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any decent standalone will, but thats big money.
the Hymee software should also, but I dont know if you can even get it anymore, i'm pretty sure if you CAN that support is nonexistant.
the EFIdude flash stuff that Pettit uses should also be able to, with the aparent limitation that you cant do any tuning yourself.
depending on your location in the world(JDM/USDM/EUDM) the AP can be tuned by yourself with the freely availible software, or you may be required to have MM do it or pay the $1500 for the PRO tuner software.