Ok, so here's the deal. I ordered my RX-8 back at the end of march/beginning of april. The dealer looked across the country to try and find one the way I wanted...no luck. Needless to say, he ordered one direct from factory, and now its been built and its made it across the ocean, and is now on its way to the dealer, scheduled for the second week of july deliver. Well, if that hasn't been enough waiting, I'm having the dealer do its minor work to it, and then take it to the Audio shop to get a TON of work done, including some minor body work.

As you may gather, I've had the past few months to extensively plan this install, and it's a ton of stuff. My goal is to make the car NOT stand out, be an everyday driver, and be the badest it can. I don't want anyone to be able to take a glance at the car and be able to tell that its any different from any other RX-8. As for body kits, I like the MS kit, but have other various reasons I won't get into on why I'm not going that route. Also note, I don't need any more performance out of this car than it already has, in no way do I want to do absolutely anything that may void any sort of warranty on the engine. Radio, alarm, etc...that's obviously not an issue. So, given the extensive detailed nature of the parts that I'm putting in, I thought I would share and get some opinions. The best/easiest way to share is to attach the spreadsheet I've been using to detail all the work that needs to be done...so here goes.

Please don't reply with, "I hate it, that's stupid, blah, blah." I want constructive criticism, or praise...haha. If you think I can make something better, or have other ideas...please, I want to hear, that's why I'm posting this.

Thanks

 

seems like you have a good plan and know what you want

by way don't you want your 8 to stand out

 

I don't want people to be able to be looking down the street and be like, Oh look that's the 8 with all the stuff. Kinda a mental thing for me. I think of it as, if it looks like any other 8, than its less likely to have something bad happen to it, ie theft, key, etc.

 

well
I feel the opposite
I love when people stare and point
but I also do get negative attention sometimes from cops and jerks that key cars

 

Looks cool dude. Only thing is that you forgot to list what OS and software you will be running. Also, given that you are going non-stock audio (it seems) you may want to reconsider stock nav - you can use the carputer to do satnav, install a bitchin' touchscreen in the console, and do away with most of the crap that lots of peopole have been suckered into.

 

I don't understand the "don't want to stand out" and underbody neon. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against neon, and am on the edge of putting it on mine, but it seems to scream "Look at me"!

 

I always think modding car is very personal. There is no right or wrong mod category but there is always a wrong mod for each part. Must choose carefully. If you can state your reason for each mod beside "I like it, or someone has it in their lancer"

Neon is good when it is done well.

Are you thinking any engine mod?

Better have the cloth model for your car I guess you have to custom made the leather to your body colour ... better get the good seat like Recaro or Bride in leather!

Nice list - I like it... very F&F2

 

Then why the neon?

---jps

 

To answer the neon question...I guess I must better explain my dislike for attention. It's alright when I'm in the car/driving. But I don't want it parked someone and for you to be able to take one glance and know "that's the one." With neon, its not on when I'm not around. Unless you get WAY down under the car, you don't know its there. That's where the idea that I want it to look stock from plain view, just parked in a parking lot like any other black RX-8. But when its on, inside you'll know the kickin' system, and even outside, you can see the neon, only when I have it on anyway....does this make sense?

Just sitting in the parking lot, it looks like any other. Essentially it will only draw attention when I'm around and turn the neon on. Hope that explains my thinking.

Thanks all for the responses.

 

kids...all of you must be so starved for attention...

but to each his own i suppose...i got the car so _I_ could enjoy it..not someone else...

street scene is so much different from show scene...i had neon on my SHOW cars..they rarely were on the street...the ONE time i had my 300Z on the street (in it's show setup)I was pulled over for improper lighting...all i was doing was taking it down one of the campus roads at college to re tune it...i think riding around with neon and your stereo loud enough for OTHERS to hear it is plain old silliness...

although i feel this way my wife calls me a hypocrite because i owned a custom install shop and still build systems for people...so go figure but...i rather not have any attention brought to me, my car, or my family..

one day some one will find out THAT'S THE BLACK 8 with all that stuff and you will find it trashed...hopefully not but sadly it's still possible...good luck though in your quest..

 

thats sounds like a badass setup. so how much is all that going to cost you?

 

That makes perfect sense. And it can be effective, to a point.

The reason why I was asking is because even though the stereo and neon items aren't in plain sight when parked (so that bad elements looking through a lot won't immediately pick up on it), the neon lights and the loud stereo will grab attention from bad elements (along with the good) when driving down the street. It will tend to leave an impression on some bad elements, and they could be walking through some shopping mall lot on the way to a store one day, see a black RX8 (they aren't that common at this time), and quickly check under the car to confirm that it indeed is the one with the badass stereo they saw before.

Toyota MR2 owners have found this out the hard way. They are pretty rare, and an MR2 coule be pretty easily recognized when it is seen again (even if it hasn't been "pimped out"). Some of them have become targets (either by jealous vandals, or people looking to get some gear). We've had people whose cars have been hit while at dealerships, work, or homes, and sometimes, even MR2 specific items were stolen (obviously to be put on another MR2).

Anyway, my point is just that as long as you have neon lights and a thumper stereo, you will be attracting some bad attention. And when you have a unique car, you are more recognizable than if you had a Camaro, for example.

---jps

 

love the setup, you are definitely going full out

it sounds like you'll have a total of 3 screens in the car between the two for the alpine and the factory nav? sounds a bit much but I might be wrong

where do you plan on mounting the computer? I noticed you were going for performance over size so I figure the only place you would be able to mount it is in the trunk.

And one more question...How much is it going to cost you to get rid of the orange peel? I want to get that done but would imagine it would cost quite a bit.




One suggestion: get the strakes and the MS spoiler, look amazing on the black rx-8

 

Yes, three screens, all with independent function. The nav screen will have a manual switch to control it from being nav, or controlled by the alpine.

Yes, the computer will be mounted in the trunk. It along with the PS2 and DVD changer will all be tighly designed into a box that will sit directly behind the driver's side rear passenger seat. This way, passangers will have access to changing discs while I'm driving. The computer will be hooked into the alpine for display/audio purposes.

To answer an earlier quetion, the computer will be running XP Pro. (XP Media Center needed proprietary video drivers...I tried loading it, and it failed. :-( )

Finally, the computer will have a small glowing keyboard that I will keep in the glove box. The black trackpad will be located set into the center consel typically where the heated seat buttons go.


I'll have to let you know on that one....I currently don't have a price. I'm working with the company who is going to be doing it to get a quote together. I should have it by the end of the week.


Personal preferrance here. I'm not liking the strakes or the MS spoiler, but I appreciate the suggestions....keep um coming. ;-)

 

Hey guys, I greatly appreciate the constructive criticism going on here. You're all bringing up valid points about the neon, and I appreciate. It's making me think further about it.

As for when all this is displayed, I do plan on taking this car to shows. I'm not typically a person to go thumping down the road. I like my music, and I like my thump, I don't like to rattle the neighbors windows. Dispite this being a very potentially load system, yes it has that capability and then some, it is an extremely clean system. MB Quart's are no competition loud speakers, though they get load, their design is to play music as cleanly as possible. The amps are there to provide ample power to do just this. (MB Quart pro series speakers have some high demands)

As for the sub...its just that, one sub. It's there to fill in the low end, but thump if I want it. If I was looking for the thump, I'd consider throwing a couple of these in the trunk, but again, I'm looking for getting some of the cleanest sound I can get out of a system.

Thanks again for the neon comments...I'm going to be pondering this over...

As for someone asking what the final cost of all this will be....let's just say my total cost, car and system, is quickly approaching the cost of my alternate choice...the Lexus SC430. :-)

 

You should put some nice wheels and a body kit and then you will stand out.

 

mmmm Lexus SC430....love that car

but WHY did they even bother making it a 4-seater, those have to be the smallest backseats ever?!?!?! Although I never sat back there, has anyone?

 

You might want to try linux instead of winxp for a few reasons:

If you use a read-only filesystem, and tweak the startup rc's, you could have linux boot up ALOT faster than xp.

If you wanted to, you could run it on a biscuit pc that could fit in your glovebox.....yeah, you can do this with windows as well, but its not as friendly.

It's also alot more configurable in general and its alot easier to make it work the way you want, wich is important for an embedded system.

Jordan

 

I already have the PC built as you can see accoding to the excel sheet. The XP setup is set to hybernate. This makes boot and shutdown near immediate. Even with starting this sytem from a full shutdown it takes maybe 5-7 sec. Haven't really ever took a stopwatch to clock it, but its blazingly fast. Let's just say by the time I turn the key and the system starts waking up, and I'm ready to put the car in gear, the system is already up and running.

Though I do plenty of work in linux, XP was just the simpilar choice for all around use. This will allow other users in the vehicle to quickly link up with my system with no need to tweak. Also, it will allow for the majority of people to be familiar with the system, as most are already familiar with XP.

As for size, the computer is pretty much the size of the motherboard. The computer will be mounted in the trunk along with most of the other electronic equipment. The electronics all together truly won't take up much room in the trunk at all, so I'll still have a very large portion of the trunk available.

As for customizing, I don't need anything more then access to my frequently used apps. Since audio and DVD will be the job of the Alpine and iPod, I primarily be using the computer for such things as DivX.

Thx for the input though. Hope I explained my reasoning for my choice!

 

Well...the car just arrived at the dealership. I'll be inspecting it tonight before it gets shipped off to the audio and body shops. I'll be taking extensive pictures and video, since I'll never see the car stock again. :-( I'll keep updates flowing for how everything is going. This is the largest install anyone of these guys has ever done. I have to praise my dealership though for all the hard work they've done for me and putting up with my fanatical nature for this car. Everything about this is an extremely unique case, and everyone is pulling their weight. Thx all!

 

this is gonna be cool to watch

 

yeah I cannot wait to see the progress of this install. Did they give you a time estimate on when everything will be done? Good luck man!!

PS: any news on the price of getting the orange peel removied?

 

Alright...so here's the latest update. I went to the dealer last night and checked out the car. It's beautiful! I really starting to get impatient now that I can physically see it. Anyway, I grabbed some pics and video, but I'll grab some more tonight, and hopefully have a few to post. Man, the NAV is so damn cool, I look forward to being able to use it.

As for the plan...tonight, I'm going with the salesman to drive it over to the install shop. The install shop will have it for at least 3 weeks. The body shop is planning on keeping it for at least 2 weeks.

So the estimate is that I should finally complete the transaction with the dealership and take ownership at the end of next month (aug). Man, 4 months down, 1 to go. Talk about getting itchy.

As for my updates, I plan on taking a lot of pictures and video (probably everyday) so I'll simply post it on my website. When I have this all arranged, I'll post a link for everyone. I'll probably do some work on the site this weekend so I at least have something up.

 

[but WHY did they even bother making it a 4-seater, those have to be the smallest backseats ever?!?!?! Although I never sat back there, has anyone?
]
they are some of the biggest back seats for a sports car they can fit 4 grown men comfortably

 

Not sure I understand what you are trying to say, or if you were answering a quote...but as for the backseats...

Yes, I have sat in the back as well as my parents. I wanted my parents to test drive the car and give me their input before I bought the car. Needless to say, both my parents, including myself had absolutely no complaint about the back seats. There is plenty of room. The only issue is that you may feel enclosed because the windows are a bit foward, but they are actually very comfortable and roomy for myself and my friends. (That may not be the case with everyone, however)

Also, there are lots of reviews of people astonished be the amount of room as well....

PS - glad to see you stopped over here the-jewish-rx8...hope you liked the system design!