Ive always been a computer guy. Entering the car scene seems a bit scary so far..
It seems like you can spend a ton of money on performance parts that hardly do anything. So my questions are:

1) Ive read you dont start to notice a difference until ~20hp upgrade. Is the general consensus true?

2) How much (Rx8 wise-specifically) does one need to spend on a stock RX8 to achieve a noticeable difference?
I see exhausts do little <10hp, and intakes do little as well if anything. Putting those two together net you a great deal of money for what may be an unnoticeable increase.

3) Slightly OT, but are there any worth-while torque specific upgrades at an entry level? That is, anything that doesnt break the bank to increase acceleration.

Thanks once again. And to anyone who answers, put it in laymens terms for the time being please. Ill have to google everything as it is but Im working on it.

 

Im no expert, but I think as far as torque goes your best bet is a supercharger... which clearly isn't entry level, the Renesis lacks torque but makes up for it with high revs, so anything that makes it easier to shift will make it more "fun" assuming thats what your going for cause why else would you want more torque in the rx-8 :P

I suggest the COBB Accessport, flash tuning will get you the best results for your money and if you look in the for sale section you can usually find them pretty cheap

 

Considering you can do the throttle body mod coolant bypass mod, and getting rid of the intake box baffles, along with VFAD for pretty much free, you can't really go wrong!

 

Buy used parts!

My car's mods list has been increasing lately, but with my current combo, I can definitely feel an increase in acceleration..

AEM CAI, AP underdrive pulley, RB midpipe & catback on the engine side plus an ACT prolite flywheel. Final mods I want to do are a header (fully upgrade my car's respiration AND exhalation) and an ignition upgrade when my coils go - and a good tune to get it optimized. Not the cheapest route, but the N/A drivability and throttle response are beautiful. After I've got those last three pieces, I'll dyno it for some concrete numbers - but it hauls

 

Anyway, what I meant to say in my above post is that the sum is greater than the whole of the parts. Just an exhaust, or an intake, or a pulley won't do a whole lot on it's own.


But when our powers combine.... WE POLLUTE THE PLANET!! (I love my smelly midpipe)

But seriously.

 

You would probably be able to tell some difference with a 20hp boost, but it would probably only be under certain driving conditions. Just cruising around town it wouldn't make a huge amount of noticeable difference...

The only way to really get a whole lot more power out of the 8 is to go with a turbo or supercharger. And those definitely aren't cheap mods to buy. Especially once you factor in needing to get the tuning fixed up for it... Nitrous can get you more power too, but I don't really think that running nitrous is the type thing that you are thinking about doing...

Aside from forced induction, the main performance mods for the 8 are not really major horsepower boost oriented.

So to sum up your answer, you aren't going to get a whole lot more hp out of it without dropping a pretty solid amount of cash.

 

Mechanically you can change your rear ring and pinion ratio to a 5.12 if you want better acceleration. You'll suffer top end but how many people go above 140? These gears are rather expensive because they are made in very small production runs by Mazdaspeed. Your cost over $1,200. But it works.

 

Hahaha, szmelly pipes ftw I see.

Boedude seems to give a good point. I was reading on that.

Seems the consensus is theyre good to go from the factory. Good to hear.

 

I would love a 5.12...
would probably be one of my last mods though due to the cost.

 

That is all personal (and sometimes psychological) opinion (or hallucination), but I would tend to agree with that.


The least you could spend for something noticeable? ~$500, nitrous. You won't get any better ratio than that at about $10/hp. Though I wouldn't put it in my car for several reasons.


Worthwhile, yes. But they won't do much to increase acceleration. Personally i would recommend reliability mods first. Ignition, OMP adapter, etc.

 

The 8 requires rather expensive mods to get a marked performance increase. The factory did a great job and the normal bolt on mods do no make enough change to cover the cost.

You really need to go FI or NOz to see great performance increases. If you have to ask the cost then you better not go there on the turbo or the s/c.