Skiptomylue

it stunns me though, becuase the i/h/e route for the civic does almost as much or less for the civic as it does for the rx8, the sound is what makes them think its working, also, another reason people dont want to spend there money is prollly becuase of the unforgiving nature of the 13b-rew.... one know the ones im talking about.. that were extremely un-reliable... the rx8 13b has been out for what..4 year? people are still uncertain on whether or not their engine is going to crap out if they do certain parts, and again as already mentioned.. the whole warrinty thing.. a good portion of people who onw the rx8 alos owned a rx7.. not all.. but a lot of of the people who want to mod the car anyways... the prolly want to keep their engine running as smooth as possible under warrinty,let everyone else work out the kinks, so-on and so forth..
being 21, i think the aftermarket is Fine, Fylwheel, exhaust, intake, Rb Flash... AF short shifter... your car is WHOLE differnet machine..

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

I have owned many cars and have spent in excess of 50k in mods on past cars and now even my wife is surprised at how little I have done to my 8. The reason is that I think the HP per dollar ratio is so low on the 8. I think we are fine in the suspension and looks department but it's the power department that we are lacking. But i agree with Charles, just wait and the market will settle and more efficient products will arrive.

llzjayarzll

im actually happy that the aftermarket for these cars are small.

myriadshalaks

iTrader: (1)

if you're so worried about the ecu, get your lazy *** a book and go do some learnin', then try to do something yourself.

I have no pity for people who whine about something not being the case when that person won't at least give it a go himself.

Keef

I recently just dropped a total amount of some 1,500 bucks for ACT's clutch/ Prolite flywheel combo, K&N's intake, and AP's underdrive pulley...

What I allready have is AP's exhaust, and RX8store's high flow cat.... Ya, exhaust was done for sound, because expecting gains out of a sports car exhaust is a little unreasonable....

But anyway, after having all these things done, I should technically have the fastest NA RX-8 (while I'm waiting for COBB)... I can't really think of anything else other than FI, but I'd rather save 10,000 for Mazsport's turbo setup, knowing that it will work and be reliable.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

Keef, better watch yourself about claims of the technically fastest NA RX-8 as that'll land you a challenge to appear on "Pinks".

afvibe

Charles i believe and hope that what u say is true, i know that with all these new products, especially FI, coming to the table the market scene will atleast expand. Other company's will want to have a go at it. As for the ECU's and hell the rotary in general i completely admit i know squat i did my research before and i still do it i try to soak in as much info as i possibly can about the rotary. But the ECU on the otherhand, i want nothing more than to be able to go pick up a book and start reading and learning everything i can, hell i read an article about a build your own ECU piggyback, for around $200, that would give you many functions of a standalone. Stuff like this brings a smile to my face because i would love to do that. If i remember correctly it was called a megasquirt or something. But with me in the military and having to study and test to gain rank, and me going to retraining into a career field for space sys ops, well i just have enough on my plate as is. once i get settled back down and the wife is not in shell shock from everything going on maybe i could do just that.

Then would come to the point of me asking questions and getting help, also a bit difficult from alaska as i dont have a lot of resources up here and i dont work well through PM, but maybe thats cause i dont understand the ECU jumpers and settings yet. My main concern with this whole ordeal is if we are gonna see more companys pulling out, but i guess it wont happen the larger company's will just sit on their clutch, flywheels, exhaust, and intakes and let the more specialized shops do the hard work of figuring this engine and its ECU out. After that breakthrough happens maybe we will see the market expand.

Keef

HAHA, it's hilarious you mentioned that... Because "Pinks" is in Houston on the 18th...

Ya, I guess it won't be the fastest... Nothing really matters anyway until you get a turbo... I'm just stalling myself from spending too much money...

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

Three years ago I wrote a post that encouraged other 8 owners to be patient because it would be right about now that 400 h.p. RX-8 wouldn't be all that rare. I made that claim, and several others, that I was scorched for repeatedly. Apparently I didn't know what I was talking about. Some would claim that I still don't.......

As for PCM development, if Racing Beat has found a way to re-flash the damn thing it won't be long before others are able to, as well. The Cobb Accessport seems to be the next one to come down the pike and I hope it works well on the 8. As for researching the PCM the best we have on this forum is MazdaManiac and the threads he has hosted. There are so many I don't even know where to tell you to start, if you haven't already. The reason I chose nitrous is because it allows me to exploit the "window" the PCM allows us before ignition control becomes necessary. My reasoning in the beginning was that if there was a given amount of power "boost" we could apply before a piggyback or stand-alone EMS was necessary, why not keep the complications to the fewest possible and just use nitrous until we either; 1) find out that the seals can't handle X amount of power increase without failure, or 2) a new EMS hits the market that allows control over the ignition system so we could fully control the F/I or higher shots of nitrous. Once I am able to get a 150 shot to work I am then going to drop back down to a 50 shot and pick up the other 100 h.p. through F/I of some kind. This July, however, I will give my own engine a rebuild with porting because all of this abuse I have laid upon it has really worn it out.

BTW, Keef, remember that to win on Pinks requires not the fastest car but the ability to hustle your opponent by knowing more about his car than he does yours. Whenever I watch that show I find myself knowing more about the racers' cars than the racers, themselves. Prime example; the newest "All Out" episode had a couple of Chevys that wouldn't start after hot lapping once or twice. In both cases the drivers kept saying that they needed jump starts 'cuz the batteries were low. That's not what happened. Chevys are known for having starter solenoid problems when headers(especially those with primary pipes 2" in diameter) are installed without heat shields covering the starter. The solenoid overheats and refuses to activate the starter motor. Since the RX-8 is a virtual unknown by anybody not on this forum it might not be that hard to hustle someone out of their 13 or 14 second car, certainly if they are the typical Mustang or Camaro owner wearing a mullett.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

There are plenty of turbo kits around but I have turbocharged cars in the past but the Stillin blower on my Maxima kicked the **** out of any turbo kit I ever owned. Turbos are for drag stip warriors (not a bad thing) and dyno queens. Too bad most autocross clubs will not allow nitrous, it would be usefull in straights. I have had the pleasure of using the Access port on a buddies WRX and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for the RX8 (although I don't expect a huge amount of HP too be had)

Opethdtr

With patience, before you know it there will be a flood of aftermarket potenial for the 8. We just need patience. I know this is kind of cliche' but its true.

Salamanth

I think that while the OP has a thread of truth to it, it's not entirely accurate. I'm hardly a well known member of the community, but I'm definitely a lurker. Not a day goes by that I don't check every thread on these forums and I've been checking them since long before I ever bought an 8.

The points that I see are (granted it's a rehash of stuff other people have said):

1) The rotary, and in particular the Renesis are very different beasts from a piston making product development more intensive

2) The RX-8 is a relatively new platform, many people are still in warranty and aren't modding too heavily for that exact reason. I know I'm hesitant to even do an intake and exhaust on my 8 because it's so new and still early in warranty.

3) As a group we do have more exacting tastes than other tuning groups, but when compared to the Evo, Subie, Civic etc. market, we're talking about more expensive cars that are NOT hp/torque beasts from the factory. Some of us (myself included) were not after a car that could whomp cars on the strip but rather something that was luxurious, fun to drive, and most importantly had a wonderful mix of HANDLING AND POWER.

4) There are plenty of companies like Mazsport, Pettit Racing, RB etc. that are working on FI solutions. Even some more grassroots types like Hymee are having a go at it (though Hymee seems to have passed on to the great beyond). It seems as though there is a fair import market as well, companies like Knight Sports and whatnot. So far it seems like we've got plenty of stuff out barring forced induction solutions. I think over the coming 6 months the forced induction market is going to go through the roof too (Mazsport anyone?).

Anyway, all I want to say is that once my warranty period is up, my Rx-8 is headed straight down to Mazsport and I'll come back to MD sporting a nice shiny front mount

My 0.1.99 cents.

** Edit: I also meant to mention (please correct me if I'm wrong) my understanding is that the RX-7 13B platform took quite some time to evolve as well, but heck, there are quite a few RX-7's out there pushing 400-450 RWHP now, so it's only a matter of time! **

N rider89

^

i really agree. not enough people are out of warrenty and dont want to lose it with too much heavy aftermarket stuff. there is plenty of potential in the Ren. but it hasnt been tapped yet.

the rx-7 did take a little time untill the aftermarket blew up iirc

Skiptomylue

It was all thanks to the fast and the furious.. the Rx8 needs to be the hero car.. when it does, people will all want it.. when everyone wants it.. the market will go up!

N rider89