Modified Mag RX-8 project car -- STX here I come!
08-17-2010, 06:29 AM
#129
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Hell yeah. I love a good swap but I was really sad when I bought this car and found that 400 hp was rare and unstable for the renesis. I always read about FD's making 850 hp.... I know our 8 is not a corvette but damn. I saw the Emersil turbo that someone got 500 with... But seriously, we need to make the Renesis a real competitor or keep waiting for the 16x 
08-17-2010, 11:02 AM
#130
New driveshaft.
New PPF.
New rear suspension links.
New rear axles.
New differential.
And that is just the driveline/suspension............
08-17-2010, 01:26 PM
#131
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Charles, what do you consider the safe power limit of the Renesis with forced induction (I'm thinking about a custom Rotrex supercharger install) if you want to run pump gas and maintain good daily drivability/reliability but also lay a beating on it at the track from time to time?
08-17-2010, 02:46 PM
#132
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Charles, what do you consider the safe power limit of the Renesis with forced induction (I'm thinking about a custom Rotrex supercharger install) if you want to run pump gas and maintain good daily drivability/reliability but also lay a beating on it at the track from time to time?
I'm gonna throw a 300-400 whp out there... 400 being on the high end as it is not common at all to see and I personally haven't seen a S/C do that yet... I'd say 310 - 330 at the wheels is where you see many people able to sit comfortably.
08-17-2010, 06:57 PM
#133
Charles, what do you consider the safe power limit of the Renesis with forced induction (I'm thinking about a custom Rotrex supercharger install) if you want to run pump gas and maintain good daily drivability/reliability but also lay a beating on it at the track from time to time?
08-17-2010, 06:59 PM
#134
Based on mere statistics? There are SO many variables involved and so few F/I'd Renesis engines, relatively speaking, that mere statistics will not suffice. Not IMO, anyway.
08-18-2010, 12:12 AM
#140
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haha based off mere statistics is exactly where that is from...That's all I have to go off up here haha.... but one day when budgeting is of less concern and I am more knowledgeable in the world of FI I mean to test this engine so I can give an answer from first hand experience. Not to mention FI'd Renny's should slowly become more affordable
08-18-2010, 03:37 AM
#141
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Just did a ARK Design MFD (multi-function display) yesterday with oil temp, oil pressure and water temp sending units and Racing Beat water temp adapter and oil adapter. Also working on a trunk mounted Odyssey PC680 battery with a West Coast Batteries bracket. These will be in the Nov issue I think. Lots of other cool stuff coming from BHR, Racing Beat, Cobb, Mazdaspeed and others.
I absolutely love driving this car at the race track. It's wonderfully balanced and rewarding to drive on the limit. It just needs an extra 100-hp or so
I think we'll get maybe half way there with all the mods planned, but that next 50+ hp may require something a little more extreme. Anyway, that's long-term since the main thing right now is to get the car prepped to the full extent of the STX rules so I can take a reasonably competitive package to the Solo Nats next month. After that I think I'll prep it for Time Attack and see about that big horsepower upgrade.
I absolutely love driving this car at the race track. It's wonderfully balanced and rewarding to drive on the limit. It just needs an extra 100-hp or so
I think we'll get maybe half way there with all the mods planned, but that next 50+ hp may require something a little more extreme. Anyway, that's long-term since the main thing right now is to get the car prepped to the full extent of the STX rules so I can take a reasonably competitive package to the Solo Nats next month. After that I think I'll prep it for Time Attack and see about that big horsepower upgrade.I hope this thread can get back on track with you. It is a lot of fun seeing this written up.
08-18-2010, 08:59 AM
#142
2) How so?
08-18-2010, 09:24 AM
#144
Think of it this way; rebuilding Renesis engines will not get cheaper. Therefore engine replacement cost is becoming a greater percentage of the purchase price of the car, itself.
That is just my theory, though.
This is all just sidebar conversation until Dave resumes posting about his mods, anyway. Classroom murmur, if you will........
08-19-2010, 01:54 PM
#145
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My 8 only cost me $11k, which I think is a heck of a deal for a low mileage sports car that's this much fun to drive. With 300whp, it'd be plenty fast given that it's a relatively lightweight chassis. I'm tempted to do something silly like a V8 swap, but before I go anywhere near that I'm going to port the Renesis and see what kind of naturally aspirated power I can get out of it and then I'm going to look at a low boost supercharger setup. No point in doing a complex and expensive V8 swap if I can get the Renesis to a power level I'm happy with and is reliable.
Speaking of reliability, here's a couple pics of that ARK Design MFD gauge unit I recently installed. It's a pretty cool little device and doesn't clutter up the interior at all. I like the fact that it stores peak temp and pressure values so that I can review them after a track session where both water and oil temp are critical to keep an eye on with these engines. I'm curious to see if I get a water temp drop on track once I relocate the battery to the trunk. Will report back on that one once the battery relocation is done and I've been out to the track again for testing.
Took a couple glam shots recently for an upcoming story that I thought I'd share too while I'm at it.
Gotta get some MS sideskirts to go with the front bumper, plus I've got a really nice custom wing from DJ Racecars in the UK that we'll be making some nice mounts for so it can call the 8's trunk home. Going to build a custom removable front splitter too for Time Attack use, kind of like the one I built for my racecar:
Gotta thank the noob-lovin' TeamRX8 for his post about HJS Motorsports, since I got my hands on one of their WRC catalytic converters and will build that into the Racing Beat midpipe I have on the way. I'm excited to see how this cat works out, since I've only ever tried consumer-grade high-flow cats before. This thing is a true hardcore motorsports cat so it'll be interesting to see how durable it is and what kind of power it frees up.
Speaking of reliability, here's a couple pics of that ARK Design MFD gauge unit I recently installed. It's a pretty cool little device and doesn't clutter up the interior at all. I like the fact that it stores peak temp and pressure values so that I can review them after a track session where both water and oil temp are critical to keep an eye on with these engines. I'm curious to see if I get a water temp drop on track once I relocate the battery to the trunk. Will report back on that one once the battery relocation is done and I've been out to the track again for testing.
Took a couple glam shots recently for an upcoming story that I thought I'd share too while I'm at it.
Gotta get some MS sideskirts to go with the front bumper, plus I've got a really nice custom wing from DJ Racecars in the UK that we'll be making some nice mounts for so it can call the 8's trunk home. Going to build a custom removable front splitter too for Time Attack use, kind of like the one I built for my racecar:
Gotta thank the noob-lovin' TeamRX8 for his post about HJS Motorsports, since I got my hands on one of their WRC catalytic converters and will build that into the Racing Beat midpipe I have on the way. I'm excited to see how this cat works out, since I've only ever tried consumer-grade high-flow cats before. This thing is a true hardcore motorsports cat so it'll be interesting to see how durable it is and what kind of power it frees up.
Last edited by Modified Dave; 08-19-2010 at 02:03 PM.
08-19-2010, 03:09 PM
#147
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Dave does the ARK operate via OBD II or is it a direct plugin? I've been looking for a replacement for the MSD DashHawk for a while now but haven't found anything that I liked.
