I would like to preface this post with acknowledgement of the complete understanding that the only way to tap significant power out of our beloved rotary is to go forced induction.

That being said, I am looking for a compiled list from experienced members on what NA mods can be done with the best results. I can confirm that a cat-back exhaust and MazdaSpeed CAI does practically nothing for power gains. So, please provide a list of mods that gave you the most power gains, short of forcing air. I'm looking for straight power gains, not suspension upgrades. I know the list will be short, but I'm curious to see what works. Yes, I researched my *** off and have yet to find a one-stop shop. Thanks!!!

 

free-er flowing intake, straight midpipe(no cat), headers, pullies, ignition solution, and tuning!!!!!!!!!!! you get it tuned right and you can put 225+ to the wheels. THE KEY IS TUNINGGGGGG but you gotta drop big cash on the fuel mgmt to do this. a cobb can only do so much

btw the less wight you have the faster your car will be. so lighter exhaust, suspension, wheels, etc will make your car faster. flywheel makes minor change in acceleration characteristics

hope that helps

 

1. Accessport. Either buy it and learn how to tune, or buy it from mazdamaniac and get your tunes with your purchase.
2. BHR Ignition kit, the coils are a known sore spot for most people. Here's one for sale: https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-sale-wanted-44/fs-bhr-ignition-kit-186898/
3. Lighter flywheel (wont raise HP but will give the car a noticeable pick up from dead stop.. so everyone who has one says)
4. Lighter rims (aftermarket)
5. Racing Beat Header (looks pretty, is illegal to use in most states, looks pretty, hard to install for the average joe, looks pretty)
6. Go on a diet

those are my top 6 in order of bang for the buck. The RX8 is a very well designed car so there is no magic bullet to pull out big hidden numbers. All together an AP, Coils, intake, mid pipe, cat back will get you maybe 10 to 20 HP.. tops.

 

omfg, i really cant believe i have to say this. seriously. do you not think this has been discussed to death.

christ.

SEARCH!

 

^ Discussed to death for many years I have to admit

 

I agree with your #1 but, I have not messed with my computer yet and not going to for a while.

#2 is not worth the money if you are going to stay NA as the stock coils are good for NA use. I just changed mine out at 58k miles and only one showed any wear and I drive my car just like most people and redline it all the time. Only if the connections are bad or go bad (have to know more about electricity) will your coils fail. Usually they will fail due to overheating because of a bad connection at the sparkplug. This mod will not give you any more hp than you already have. It will restore lost hp if your stock coils are in bad shape but, that is it.

#3 A lighter flywheel gave my car nearly 4 rwhp and 6 rwtq according to the dyno so not sure I agree with you there and drivability is basically the same. If you notice the car is harder to get going, need to learn to drive.

#4 Lighter rims are a good idea as you lose rotating mass and lose weight of the car all at the same time. I would do that as #1 in hindsight.

#5 I have yet to see a header to make much usable power but, could be but bang for the buck is not good still on this one. exhausts are mainly for show and will not give you much at all.

#6 This may or may not help depending on the weight of the person. For some it could help alot and is up to the owner.

All in all, for the money/looks the best thing to do is get much lighter rims and keep the same width if you go smaller to a 17 which is probably the best thing to do. Staying with 18s is very good to as you keep the stock characteristics and getting lighter rims is more expensive but, depends on how deep your wallet is but, you get that double whammy of loss of weight and loss of unsprung weight as well.

Almost forgot, I do have an AP pulley and it gave me almost 6 hp and 2.5 tq at the wheels for $200 installed. That is good bang for the buck.

 

I chose my wording carefully so I didn't get any counter-productive comments, but I guess they're inevitable. I did search...for hours. That's why it was in my original post. I was hoping for comments from experienced members on what achieved the best results...in one place. I'm not a newbie and this is my second RX-8, so I'm not an inexperienced owner. I was just hoping for some real suggestions.

 

Thanks to those who have made suggestions, especially those who shared their own personal experience with gains. I know Mazda tuned the rotary pretty damn good, so making power in NA applications is minimal. Just wondering what's worth getting. I'm not going forced induction soon, if at all. Just looking for some advice. Thanks again!

 

Never Fear, Jedi is here

1. AccessPORT. I've had this for some time and the benefits are quite nice. My car already had several aftermarket mods but thanks to MM's tuning, we've squeezed even more power out of the car with proper tuning. (I'm one of the few NA RX-8's in SoCal putting down 205+ whp)

2. BHR ignition. This is a really REALLY good investment for multiple reasons. First off, we all know that the OEM coils aren't exactly the greatest (ie; they're crap) and after installing the BHR system, start-ups are faster, flooding is damn near impossible, and the car just feels that much smoother. Butt dyno tells me acceleration is better because I no longer have that 'hiccup' around 4.5k or 6k that most cars with OEM coils suffer from.

3. Intake. I know people will disagree with me because the OEM intake is very well designed but an intake such as the Racing Beat is (IMO) a worth while mod. The Ram Air Duct helps get a larger amount of COLD air into the engine which is always a good thing.
I've dyno'd probably 150+ RX-8's over the last few years and before people starting doing engine tuning, I always noticed that those with intakes (particularly RB for some reason) were always a few HP higher then those with OEM's. Coincidence? Maybe but hard to ignore.

4. Exhaust! Removing the Cat will get you more power but I personally don't care for the wonderful exhaust smell you end up with. If you're okay with that and aren't afraid of the emission ticket then go for it. I opted for the RP high flow cat (also illegal but not as obvious) which gives a great sound and added a few hp.

5. Racing Beat Header. I installed this a few months back and not only does it give the rotary a very unique tone but both the butt dyno and actual dyno showed improvements over OEM. Don't expect a ton of HP but it will get you a few more.

6. Flywheel. I'm putting this at the bottom simply because I don't have any experience with lightened flywheels but as Laythor menitoned, those who have them love them and say that acceleration is quicker.

 

^Wow...that's great. Thanks for the time and suggestions. I tried running a cat-delete pipe and it made my exhaust sound terrible. I ran a cat-delete on my Evo with a bypass so I didn't get any CEL's, and it was never a problem. I just couldn't tolerate who bad the exhaust sounded on my RX8, so maybe I'll go with a high-flow cat. As for the other suggestions, sounds great. It definately helps to give some direction for those modders who don't want to take on forced induction and the rotary. I need a reliable (I know, I know) car and NA seems to keep it on a little safer side for me. THANKS!!!

 

cat deletes are defintely loud on our car so most guys these days opt for some form of resonated midpipe which helps with the sound but you're still stuck with that not so wonderful smell of a cat-less rotary.

how long did you have the Evo? why'd you get rid of it?
must be quite a different feeling to mash the pedal on an 8 compared to what you used to drive.

 

^Completely different. I'm bitter on the reasons for parting with it, namely a dirty cheating ***** of an ex-wife. There. Now you did it! Here's a pic of my sweet baby. God do I miss that thing!

 

Never met the ex-wife but I hate her already for being the cause of parting out such a nice lookin' Evo (and I normally don't even LIKE Evos)
It's not all bad though, you did end up with an RX-8. Could be worse, you could be driving a Chrysler Crossfire!

 

Some great information but WOW are there some really incorrect whoppers in this thread.

First of all, there is no "better" engine management compared to the accessPORT. The PCM utilized in the RX8 is one if not THE most sophisticated computer hardware being used on vehicles today. Any "Stand Alone" systems being used are on nearly decades old hardware and cannot provide much of the control that you get with the stock PCM. Something better could be developed later on but right not the COBB is a very powerful tool.

Stay away from pulley upgrades. They cost mountains of cash (worthwhile ones) and net little to no gains. I ran around with a lighter water and alternator pulley and an underdriven crank pulley. I noticed zero difference with them off the car and as far as I can tell there was very little (less then 3whp) change on the dyno.

The BHR Ignition Upgrade (not solution) isn't a power mod but will restore any lost power from failing or failed coils. Some people have reported gains but it varies from car to car.

BHR's SPEC clutch with a lightweight PPF and our 9 lbs flywheel will also aid in this department as previously mentioned.

Also removing the cat is a sound way to increase power.

The only header that is really going to do the job are long tube headers of which none of the versions on the market fit that bill. You'll pay quite a lot with a little gain.

In all, if you netted 20whp over stock with these mods it would be amazing. You'd probably spend over $3,000 getting there so $150 per horsepower.

 

^Hmmm...this was my motivator for starting a thread on this topic. I've researched for hours and I got tons of different takes on this. If what you say stands true, for $3000, I might as well take my chances and go forced induction. After hearing so many differences in performance consistancy with FI, I thought NA alterations would be more reliable. I was never expecting to see "significant" gains. Mazda did a pretty good job with this engine. Maybe I'll just slap on another rotor and make it a three-rotor beast!

Thanks Jedi54, Flashwing, and everyone else for your comments. I'm doing some more mad research...

 

I never dyno'd my car 'bone stock' so I don't know exactly what I've gained and what the cost per hp is but if you're bored, you can add up the stuff in my VB garage and see what it's added.

- Racing Beat Intake + Duct
- BHR Ignition (I am putting this here even though it's not a 'power mod', it CAN help)
- RP Super Cat
- RB Exhaust
- AccessPORT with MazdaManiac Tuning
- RB Headers
There might be more stuff adding to the car's performance but those are the major items.

I'm now at 205+ whp, I think bone stock cars come in around 180 (ish) ?


That's probably a couple grand worth of stuff but it's still less then 50% on what I would spend on a properly designed FI kit. The only available Supercharger out there is Hymee's (somewhere around $8,000) and the MM Turbo upgrade is $7,000
that doesn't cover installation, auxillary mods (additional cooling, water / meth , gauges, etc), or even dyno tuning time.

 

If you are interested in doing some NA modifications, get an Axial flow short shifter, BHR Ignition Upgrade, AccessPORT, and better tires and call it a day. Those will give you the biggest bang for your buck naturally aspirated. If you want to take the step beyond that, get a used GReddy kit, send the turbo to Bryan @ BNR for his upgrade and go turbocharged. If you have a mountain of cash threatening to crush you under its weight, drop your car off at a rotary shop and tell them to put in a 3-rotor. Come back in a year and see if you still have a car.

 

good stuff mr Wong .
Would love to see someone come out with a long tube header that combines the header and midpipe together . Then I think we would see 210-220whp being easily achievable .

 

you can try ap pulley as well. there arent many mods that will get you far NA... racingroots has it for like 135 so its not a bad bang for the buck. just saying

 

Thanks again for the input...as it turns out, my mountain of cash is nowhere near crushing weight yet, hence my aspirations for NA power. I've heard so many people say pulleys are one way to free up noticeable power, but it seems like that's going by way-side. I already have a MazdaSpeed CAI and a cat-back...good for what, 3hp? It sounds nice, but no power gains.

Any idea what kind of HP I can stand to pick up with just the AccessPort tuned by MazdaManiac? I know I read it in my myriad of research, but I've killed the search button.

 

Any differences in performance stem from a large variation in FI applications that are available for the RX8. Pretty much anything you use is going to net you approx 260 to 280whp with some differences.

Granted, FI is going to cost more than chasing power with N/A but if that's a direction you will go anyway there's no reason to invent the wheel twice.

Two major factors that will make or break your FI setup will be installation and tuning. The kits that are on the market are all made with pretty good materials with some exceptions but they certainly all work. The best thing is to find a shop that specializes in RX8's or a tuner that has quite a lot of experience. The last think you want to be is a test case.

Ask around because a few FI guys have been the 1st RX8 tuned by various shops and none of them had plesant experiences.

The problem is stuff like tuning, ignition or various other mods don't have guarenteed power gains attached. Some people have seen 15 whp with accessport tuning while some only 5whp to 7whp at best. The AP has a ton of other features aside from power gains. Buying an AP only for whp increases would be like buying an xbox to check internet news.

 

Haha...XBOX to check internet news. That's a great analogy. I appreciate and understand your input. Although WHP gains are the ultimate goal, I know there is much more that goes into the rotary. It's a challenge because, unlike my Evo or MazdaSpeed 3, you can't just bolt something on and feel the thrashing difference. Although I do miss the ease and results of such modifications, it demands far more respect when you have an RX-8 that just screams, since real wrench time went into that beast. The plotting continues, but for now, I'd like to stay NA. Even with forced induction, I will never be the quickest car on the road.

 

surprised no one has mentioned Nitrous yet.

 

/\ nitrous

 

Nooooos!!!