Okay so, first off it's been a while since I've been on here... my new job has been crazy since I started it 2 years ago and working 80-90 hrs a week hasn't left room for much else... But, I've neglected my RX8 for too long, and now it's time to do what I've always wanted.

It's an 04 MT with 164k on the original motor, I bought the car back in 2011 with 137k. It still runs strong and healthy, but I haven't driven her in about a year since I got a daily driver. So as of now, it's beat up, dirty, and tired and it needs some love haha.

Current mods are:

AP catless midpipe
No name cat back exhaust
Stance coilovers
Varrstoen wheels
Catch can from the oil filler neck
Intake
probably other little things I'm forgetting to mention...

I started everything 2 days ago, just trying to work everything around my work schedule.

The motor is almost ready to come out, just need to disconnect it from the bellhousing, I ran out of time the other night. Once again, due to my crazy work schedule.

But, I figured I'd start a build thread so I can chronicle everything I'm doing on here and also get some feedback from you guys on what's to come, it'll be a relatively lengthy project, the final goal being to go FI.

Here's what I have in mind so far:

Pulling the engine and sending it off to Pettit Racing for a rebuild. It runs fine, has no issues with hot starts, loss of power, etc. but I figure if I'm gonna throw a turbo on it a 164k mile renesis might just be a little overwhelmed.

I'm also gonna upgrade water pump, radiator, all hoses/other reg maintenance, install my SOHN adapter, and most other worn out accessories.

The plan is to possible go to an S2 tranny, mine is starting to go out. 2nd gear doesn't always like to go in, same with reverse. Any other ideas on what kind of transmission I could use? The thought of a T2 transmission has also been discussed.

In the mean time, I will be getting new aero. My front bumper is torn up from being low and scraping things, and my rear bumper is missing a shroud that just happened to fly off on the highway one day... lol.

And also trying to source a Greddy kit, cobb AP, and all other supporting FI mods. I've been creeping on the For Sale section, but haven't seen anything come up in the past couple weeks.

When the motor gets back and all new parts get fitted back on it along with everything else, I'll also be installing the turbo kit on the motor.

Would it be easier to do this with the motor in or outside the car? I don't know how tight fitment would be if I put it on with the motor out of the car, But I'm sure I'll find out.

Anywhoozle, here are a couple pics of what I've been doing the past 2 days and a couple pics of my car for funsies(the 08 ZX10 is getting sold to fund this project, and the Mazda6 is the DD). The motor is coming out of the car and getting torn down Sunday. I look forward to this whole experience! Feel free to throw in input and stuff.

 

Little bit of an update, just ordered a couple of goodies. I just got:

Koyo Aluminum Radiator
Mishimoto Hoses
BHR Ignition
SS Brake and Clutch Lines
RE-medy water pump and tstat

more to come relatively shortly!

I also spoke with Paul at Mazmart about getting my motor rebuilt there considering I live in GA, it might be a little bit easier.

Anyone got any thoughts on going through Mazmart instead of Pettit?

Once again, the motor will be coming out and getting stripped down on Sunday, so I'd like to get it out as soon as I can.

 

Afraid I can't help with the build, other than wish you good luck, but curious to see what a 164k Renesis without issues looks like inside. Share pics

 

As soon as I get it out and send it off to get rebuilt I'll ask for pics to be sent! I'm curious as well.

I'm sure it's far from perfect, but maybe better off than most. It passed a compression test at ~140k and I've never had any low compression related issues like severe lack of power, hot start issues, so on and so forth.

 

FYI..the T2 transmission is approx 33" from the face of the bellhousing to the shifter center....

The RX-8 tranny is approx 29" same measurement....so 4" rearward with the shifter is a poor fit

 

After some reading I realized that and decided to just go with a S2 trans. What is the acceleration loss with the S1 rear end? Trying to justify if switiching rear ends to the S2 would be worth it, basically.

 

The turbo will more than make up for that :-)

 

Touche dannobre, touche... but turbo is a little ways away, unfortunately. I hope to have everything ready to have a turbo bolted onto it by early spring next year. I'm sure it could be done sooner but my work schedule will almost certainly delay that.

Oh, and money... yeah... Any takers for my 08 ZX10? Haha

 

Finally got the motor out yesterday... that was an experience lol, but I managed to not break anything!

When I started stripping down the motor I noticed that everything is really brittle and old, so it'll be getting all new hoses and what not. Also, when I took off the UIM, the amount of goopy gunk in the hole was a little surprising... I figure it would affect performance, but I couldn't really tell. Or I was just so used to it I didn't notice it. Anyway, it was alarming.

Only thing I have left to take off is the clutch/flywheel assy and a few oil cooler lines.

I'm also thinking of getting the simplified oil cooler lines that replaces the 8 with just 3... Is that worth the $475?

Anyway, I'm doing a little bit more homework as far as the rebuild is concerned. I already spoke with Paul @ Mazmart about having Mr. Engman rebuilding it so right now that's most likely the route I'm taking, but I'm looking into a couple more things.

Hopefully some of the parts I ordered start coming in so I have something to do while I wait for the motor. I gotta source an S2 transmission, fab my own OMP lines (mine are so stiff they feel like glass and brittle), and get some major cleaning done in the empty engine bay.

I attached a few pics from yesteday and one of the nasty goop inside my motor.

 

Your nasty goop is very common in cars that are driven short distances and never really heated up..it is oil and water condensation

It will go away if the motor is driven hard enough at temperature for the water to evaporate off.

 

Hmm... That's interesting considering every time I drove it saw at least a couple redlines. Would the fact that it sat without really being driven for about 7 months cause it too?

 

Yes.

 

You need to drive it for an hour or so before it will start to evaporate out that crap. They did a recall here in Canada where it is cold...and they altered the way the breather was hooked into the upper intake. They basically replaced the upper intake manifold with a different one

It isn't a problem....other than it looks like it shouldn't be there :-)

 

I remember noticing it in my oil dipstick tube, and upon searching it figured out it was normal, it was just a little alarming to see how thick it was.

Anywhoozle, just waiting to hear back from RR about rebuilding my motor. It'll either be that or Mazmart... haven't made up my mind yet.

In the meantime, I'll be working my life away and trolling on here reading everything I can and keeping an eye on the FS threads... hooray.

 

Consider some of these aspects for your install:
- higher flowing fuel pump. E.g. DW200
- AFR gauge that reads lower than the factory sensor (useful for turbo tuning). E.g. Innovate MTX
- Other gauges e.g. boost, water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, fuel pressure. E.g. Prosport with warnings at pre-set values.
- Tuning method. E.g. MazdaEdit which is most actively discussed here
- air pump delete as the CAT won't last too long once you're FI and it frees up the engine bay for better airflow, looks, etc.


For your engine build consider:
- deeper rx7 apex seals (see Fazda's build thread)
- additional dowels if you're definitely going FI (prob not required below 300whp)
- balancing is essential
- porting
- if housing surface has worn through in any places , get housings resurfaced/replaced is low compression will be knocking on your door shortly.


Your method of getting the above stuff installed and running without issues pre-turbo is right on. Good luck man.

 

vlad, Rotary Resurrection sells a SS oil line replacement kit for under $350.00.

 

Thanks. I wrote down a parts list of everything I wanted/needed that I'm slowly crossing off. I should probably transfer it on here so I don't lose it.

I have thought about the air pump delete considering I don't have a cat. However, I am required to pass emissions every year. Would disabling the emission codes with the Cobb AP allow me to pass? I'm not required to do a sniffer test. I currently just put my cat on once a year to pass emissions then take it back off



I tried looking on the website and his eBay and couldn't find them. Any help?

 

kevin@rotaryresurrection.com

 

I shot an email over that way, hoping to hear something back here soon! I also had some parts come strolling in yesterday... kinda made me excited.

The piping and ear clamps for me to rebuild my OMP lines and the Koyorad came in. That thing is puuuuuuurdy.

I'm probably gonna give Paul a call later on today and try to set up a time for me to drop the motor off next week.

Update:

Well, I've been absent for a while due to work getting a little overwhelming, but this project is not dead!! I work in the car business and my work schedule can exceed 90 hours a week, not leaving much time for anything else.

Yesterday I dropped my motor off at Mazmart to get rebuilt and should expect it back within a 2-3 weeks(hopefully) lol.

In the meantime I'm gonna keep acquiring parts and whatnot.

I'm super excited to get the motor back in the car with all the new parts and get this thing back together!

Also, I'm gonna be ordering things together for the fuel side of things this weekend.

I was planning on doing a DW200 fuel pump. As for the injectors, the plan was to replace the primaries with the stock P2 injectors and then get a set of DENSO 650cc injectors for the P2... would this be a viable way to go?

 

UPDATE:

Motor is still at Mazmart getting finished... Paul called and said they went with basically a brand new motor. New housings, rotors, etc. not much is going to be reused. But in the meantime as I've been collecting parts waiting for it to get back, my turbo parts finally came in!

I'll be sending the turbo off to get rebuilt and getting all new hardware, clamps, etc. Also got the DW200 fuel pump delivered. I'm kind of just on hold until the motor gets done, but at least I know it's getting done right. I cant wait to have this thing back!!!!

Here's an updated parts list, crossed out stuff is what I have so far:
Mazmart/Engman Built New Renesis – still about 4 weeks out until it’s done
SFR Turbo Kit
Cobb AP
Boost Gauge
Water Temp Gauge
Oil Temp Gauge
Oil Pressure Gauge
Fuel Press. Gauge
AFR Gauge
Lotek Gauge Pod
RB Gauge Pod
DW200 Fuel Pump
TurboXS 3” Exhaust w/ Racepipe
New Clutch/Pressure Plate
Lightweight Flywheel
SS Brake Lines
SS Clutch Line
RR Oil Cooler Lines
Koyo Rad
FAL Rad Fans
BHR Ignition
BHR Intake Tray
GReddy Profec BC
SOHN Adapter w/ Epitroch Kit
Catch Can – currently have cheap Ebay one that will be getting upgraded
Mazmart Remedy waterpump/tstat
Mazmart Oil Pressure Mod
RX8Performance Oil Pan
Mishimoto Radiator Hoses
All new vacuum hoses/all other hoses
S2 Transmission
PTP Turbo Shield/Wrapped Exhaust
OMP Heat Shielding
Stance GR+ Coilovers
RB Sways and End links

More to come... just have to replenish funds a bit.


Cheers!

Here are some pictures in the meantime:

 

Well, got another update from Paul and the motor is done! Got about 2 weeks until the car is ready to be picked up! (I'm having Mazmart reinstall the motor as wel trying to work around my limited free time)

But, here are some more pics from mazmart as Mr. Engman was doing his thing!

 

Alright well, I finally got a chance to tear back into the car yesterday. I recently moved and getting everything set up in the new house took up a bunch of time. Now that I'm settled in I decided it was time to get back to work.

I've come to the conclusion that I want to start running Time Attack in the Limited RWD class along with a buddy of mine in his turbo Miata so yesterday consisted of tearing apart most of the interior (Oh my... the amount of the stuff that's in there was crazy) and a little bit of the engine bay so that hopefully Wednesday I can mock up all the turbo parts and see how everything fits.

This probably is going to prolong the build since I'll have to do much more to it for it to be track ready, but the plan is to have it ready by spring of next year.

I now have to also find a seat to run, different wheels and tires, new suspension set up, harness, etc.

But in the meantime, here are some pics of the work I did yesterday!

I'll be more than happy to take any input from anyone that's ran Time Attack or something similar as well.




SO MUCH STUFF!!!!!!!!!!


Please ignore the shocker sticker... lol