I've decided I want more power. Replacing the car is not an option, I love my baby too much. Also there is nothing out right now or even on the horizon that I would want to buy.

I am currently torn between Pettit's kit and a modified Greddy setup (BNR watercooled turbo + modified AEM intake + HKS BOV in recirc, suggested by mazdamaniac). Either way I would go the AccessPORT tune route, and since I live in the same town as the master himself, I am not worried about that part. I am looking to make around 270-300 rwhp, nothing too insane.

I would just like to hear some opinions here. The Pettit kit will probably run about $2k more, but it would maintain the drive characteristics of the NA engine. Also it sounds sweet.
A turbo seems like it would be easier to screw something up, but that could just be paranoia. Also I worry about either turbo lag down low or overwhelming the turbo up in the high rpms. Driveability and longevity is key for me.

Thoughts?

 

Dude,, Turbo!

 

I have a pettit kit, and for daily driver + power whenever you want, its awesome.

Basically the choice is yours!

 

kk, you said driveability and longevity... both FI options will affect both in someways. so its a choice of which do you prefer to drive.

driveability: the SC is what it is, theres nothing to play with other than nailing your tune(not apparently an issue for you :P ) with a TC you have things to play with. wategates, bov's, boost controllers, etc... you have the option of creating a "OEM like linear power curve" you have the option of all top end, or kick in the seat at low end.... whatever you want. and you dont have to be concerned in any way about "lag" with that particular turbo

 

Just Flip A Coin......

 

^ that

or use the extra $2k to buy yourself rims.

 

how much do you want to spend? the pettit kit will cost you more

 

Yes I talked about this. I predict the Turbo route to cost around $5500, and the pettit to approach $7000.

The SC kit has the advantage of a cleaner install, harder to screw something up. Also I don't have to worry about overboost, and once properly tuned I don't need to have extra gauges. With the turbo I would want a boost gauge at minimum. There doesn't appear to be a clean way to add gauges to the car without looking like a rice rocket.
Also the SC kit retains the stock driving characteristics.

 

True - no torque .... LOL

 

The SC will probably be more reliable in the long run just because in essence it is simpler. Neither kit offers extremely high HP or torque numbers but you should touch base somewhere around 300 with either kit and having more torque with the greddy.

If it was my money I would probably go with the SC from pettit

 

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

Technically wrong.

But I'm jus sayin'.

 

As long as you monitor and have a good tune for your FI application , you will be fine.

 

Exactly what I was thinking when reading that post. Oddly, it was said much better than what I had been thinking.

 

Why are you posting when you clearly have no idea what you are talking about?

 

uuh......

Incorrect, FI kits being simple does not exist. What does "extremely high HP" mean? He will touch base at 300 what?

 

Turbo option will clearly be the best choice.

 

agreed and he is in an area with folks that can support him and his set up.
OD

 

Good luck finding an SC. Pettit is sold out and isn't purchasing any more blowers because of sourcing problems.

 

If you're going for what will yield the most amount of power for your money, go with the MM upgraded Greddy Turbo Kit.

This is a no-brainer! You live in the same town as MM. The guy is awesome when it comes to tuning these turbo kits and he's done MANY of them with a lot of success. I don't have any gripes about either FI choices, but I would choose the turbo.

- Easier to make better power
- Proven parts if you get the MM turbo upgrade
- Solid tune - which is the MOST important part for any FI project. You have your tuner who is familiar with that exact application - this is a no-brainer. You can save yourself thousands of dollars and also have reliability to boot.

I can tell you that my other project car - 1993 Mazda Miata with Fuji Racing/OER ITBs and it was running on a Megasquirt standalone PNP ECU. Shaun Church is a reputable tuner here in California and I spent some serious coin trying to get my setup to run ideally enough for the street. I can only imagine the rotary engines being that much harder to work with especially if you get stuck with a tuner that doesn't know them......proper MAF readings, AFR, and/or other factors that should be considered differently on this car versus a standard piston-engine car.

With MM living in your area, you can save the headaches and leave it to him. Have him tuner your car and then enjoy years of boosted fun!

 

Your check, hooker, weed and crate of booze are in the mail.

 

Is that all it takes to get a tune?

The car is driving amazing now, but I hit a brick wall of fuel at 300 g/sec where it apparently tries to empty my tank into my motor.

Oh and to agree with the above poster, MM makes a great turbo and his tunes are badass ........if you get them!!

 

A -
I'm trying to keep up, but realize you've been on the service through two different incarnations of your vehicle and 14 months.

I've got quite a few current customers that are in the queue. I'll address your concerns as soon as I am able.

 

It's true right?

You live next to the guy that sells it AND tunes it. You buy a different FI kit from a manufacturer that is reputable, however no longer develops it due to supply issues and is also in a totally different state - Florida.

That's kind of counter-productive, no?

Although I won't be going as extreme on this car since it is my daily driver, I do still want to point out what I learned over the years modifying every single car that I've owned.

Forced Induction is a big step. Compressor sizing, turbo/sc related components including wastegate, cooling the intake air charge properly, and getting the car to use the additional force fed air via tune and engine management is a science. There are reasons why the MM upgrade and the BNR upgrades exist- there were lacking parts originally included in the kit itself. This is common.

I remember on my S2000 (AP2). I was one of the first guys in Socal to run Hayward 50mm ITBs with a full AEM standalone EMS tuned using NO base maps since there weren't any! When you let a tuner do guesswork with your car, it can cost you some serious coin and it's not a guaranteed thing. To make the story short, Shaun Church from Church Automotive took 11 hours total to tune my car and have it run reliably.

MM's Cobb Accessport tunes are just light years better than a full standalone EMS - well at least for your turbo application on a RX8 that runs with all of the interior bits still intact i.e. radio, HVAC, and etc. You plug it in, you flash your car with the new parameters it needs to fuel your new turbo kit, you can also change a bunch of other cool little things on the car like fans operating temps and etc.

Save yourself the money and go with products that have a proven track record. Although it is kind of cool to be one of the pioneers like my S2000 ITB project, it will cost you a lot in the end. And was it worth it to spend that money to be unique?

My friend that had a proven Comptech SC kit on the same car with an aftercooler setup walked away from me with no problems. He only had a blower - that's it. I probably had everything done except for FI - cams, ITBs, AEM EMS, Amuse R1 Titan, T1R Test Pipe, J's Racing Header, and Toda Valvetrain Kit.

I do admit that I was and still am a JDM *****. That's just me. In the end, I was slower than a comparable F22 S2000 and he spent half of what I spent.

 

Come on Jeff, I've been pretty sporting about the delays... but hold on a second.

My "service" with my first iteration of my vehicle consisted of me screaming my bloody head off about not getting a single tune for nearly 3 months to the point of almost boycotting your service altogether. I finally decided it was ridiculous to waste your time and mine getting an NA tune since I planned to go FI anyway. It took me additional pestering to even get the base FI map. That base map didn't even require any tuning on your part, just sending an email and still took forever to get.

As far as this iteration of my vehicle, I have spent nearly $4000?? on your products, including the turbo, AccessPORT, the attempt at dyno tuning and street tuning. I'm about as "current" a customer as you could possibly have. I also said absolutely nothing for two months after you went back to AZ about getting an update from 4.0.1. After 2 months went by I tried PMing, emailing, Facebooking, phone calling, and asking other people from AZ crew to chat with you before I said a thing on these forums. Then when I finally did post in your ECU thread saying "Hey its been almost 3 months and I still don't have 4.0.2 is something up?" you told me you had sent it already. Except that I don't have it, it isn't on your website and when I told you that; you didn't send it to me then either.

I get that you are busy, but considering I don't think I could have been a more patient and polite customer. Don't give me a bunch of crap about "current" customers thats downright insulting. I've given a lot of credit where it's due for the quality of your products and the help you have given me, including in a nationally printed magazine feature. A little reciprocal respect wouldn't be uncalled for.

 

Do you really want to do this in public? If so, start another thread.
This isn't the place for it.
Welcome to the back of the line.