There is a turbo kit that I wiould like to purchase. It looks like its more complete than the Greddy kit. See this link http://www.turbokits.com/rx-8_turbo_kits.html
Way too costly though. My question is, IF i do get this kit, or any other...WOULD I STILL HAVE TO GET A Turbo Timer, boost controller? What if I said that I dont want the Greddy Emanange, can I mix Match??? Please let me know. I am very new to the ROTARY world and would like all the info I can get. Has anyone heard of this kit??????? thANKS

 

Turbo timer= lazy people, all this does is save you 2-3min of letting the car idel before you get out. Turbos can spin like 10k+ rpm's, it takes them a little bit to slow back down, if you turn off the car to fast the turbo will keep spinning w/o the oil and destroy it's self.

Boost controller = isnt needed unless yourgonna turn the boost up more, but then you'd have to toaly retune the car or have another map premade for it.

The way you ask the questin gives me the impression money is an issue to you. If thats the case save your money till you can afford to buy a motor if you blow it.

 

turbo timer nonsense...this is why we like water-cooled turbos

 

Actually you are wrong about both items.

Once the car is off the turbo stops spinning. It will NOT sit there and spin, even if you redlined the car and shut it off, there would still be enough oil on the bearings to let it spin down for the 4-5 seconds(if that long) it would take. The purpose of a turbo timer is to let the turbo and the oil cool down, otherwise you will get hot, hot oil baking onto the bearings and over time this will clog up the passage and kill the turbo. But with new technology and water-cooled turbos it's hardly a problem anymore.

A boost controller is ALWAYS needed. While you may never use it to increase the boost setting, it will prevent boost spikes/creep that can kill engines, especially rotaries.

 

Would upgrading the ignition, improve TURBO HP? And also, will it be a good idea to have one???????

 

slightly, and yes

 

if you don't think a timer is necessary, you better start looking for a new motor now...not only does it keep cool oil going through the cartridge of the trubo, it keeps coolant and oil circulating through your hot motor

a boost controller you can go without...for years OEM's sold turbocharged cars that relied soley on the wastegate to control boost pressure. a vanilla wastegate will open slowly as pressure builds, so spikes aren't much to worry about but that creates alot of lag. a boost controller will keep it shut until a specified pressue is reached in the manifold, and then open it. that will lower the point at which the turbo is making targe boost (aka less spool)

...but you're spent how much on the car? and how much on a turbo kit? what's another $400...seriously

 

boost controller will never prevent spike, compared to just wastegate spring pressure. they can raise boost, but not lower it.

and 4-5 seconds? my turbo spins for well over a minute after the engine is shut down. is a turbo timer necessary? no way. let it idle a minute or two after normal driving for oil-cooled turbos, and ~3-5 minutes after hard driving. water cooled turbos you can get away with less than half that time.

 

Unless the turbo kit was just slapped together a internal wastergate should be fine at its stock setting or 2-3 psi over.
External is a little differant.
I had a turbo on my old civic that was running 7psi w/o a intercooler or turbo timer (t25) on a 9.5:1 motor. The boost was controlled with just a water line shut off valve (.37$) I got from homedepot. The turbo was per-set for 5.5psi but it never saw more then 7psi with my getto controller. It was only on cold days it would hit like 8-9 psi but I just didnt race it then.
I got the kit for 499$ and rebuilt the turbo on my bedroom floor for 125$ (i think that what the rebuild kit cost) I put 80K miles on that turbo then sold it on e-bay w/o any shaft play for 900$.

That turbo had made 14.2 second passes at moroso and wasn't water cooled.
My best run was 13.8 with slicks.

I'm not saying the Rx8 will be the same, but that just goes to show you I treated a turbo pretty ruff and it took it like a champ, cause I gave it time to cool down before I turned the car off and didnt do back to back passes.

Out of the box kits are made to run out of the box. When you start messing with them, then you gotta buy that stuff. If you got the money its not gonna hurt to buy it, cause people are never happy with power, they just wanna keep adding more and more.

Just remeber someone is ALWAYS faster then you.

I didnt care cause I had (still do ) 2 extra motors sitting in my back yard.

 

You definitely don't need a boost controller as long as you don't plan to up the boost. A turbo timer is only a convenience thing. If you don't want to spend the $100 on it, then just let your car idle for a couple minutes before you turn it off. Just make sure you don't get lazy with it.

You don't have to use the emanage, you can use whatever engine management you want. I highly recommend the Interceptor, but it sounds like you're trying to save money, so that might not be your option of choice.

That being said, a little warning. I wouldn't recommend a turbo upgrade if you're looking to just spend $3k and be done with it. Upgrading your car is expensive and there is alot of stuff you will need besides the turbo. Wideband O2, boost gauge, and tuning are 3 of the most important. Also, it is possible you will break things at some point, whether it be an engine, turbo or tranny. If you are cautious, have good components and proper install, you shouldn't, but just be prepared. If you're going to try to do it the cheapest way possible, it probably won't turn out very well. It probably won't run that well and you will drastically increase your chances of blowing something.

On the other hand, once you get everything setup and running good, it really is great!

But, that's just my opinion after having done it myself.

 

agreed ^

rx-8's are not cheap econoboxes that can be turbocharged with some junkyard parts and a few pieces from home depot. i was excited when the greddy kit came out around $3000, but you'll easily spend double that to have a proper setup.

is it worth it? absolutely!

 

Thats not true. It could be done really easy. ONLY thing holding back the RX8 is the Rx8 it's self. If people had a easy crack for the Ecu that worked you'd see many kits on the market.

 

If Jessica Alba was over here doing me proper, you wouldn't see me on this board as much... but unfortunately thats as likely as an "easy crack" for the RX-8 ECU.

-hS

 

AN oil catch can????????????

 

no, it's true man..trust me. i've spent plenty of time with the car's electronic systems, and i can tell you the car is practically self aware (if even knows it name, and shows you on startup! lol)

if i bought an old honda (im not knocking honda's, i use to own one), i'd be very inclined to boost on a tight budget. alot of people have done it, and there's plenty of info out there on what and what not to do. not so for this car...too new, too expensive, and too complex for things like that

 

oh god, its like bart all over again. No offense to bart, but he came in asking a lot of questions that made us wonder if he should really take on the challenge of owning a turbo.

So far he's doing well, but seriously... try searching before posting these questions.

-hS

 

somewhere in this post, someone said that I'm on a budget...Well I'm not. The reason I ask all these questions, BIG O, are for general knowledge. I WILL GET A TURBO!!!! I just want to do it right. I'm not the one to take chances, but I do things right the first time. So I ask all these questions, read all the posts, learn from YOUR/SOMEONES mistakes. Like if I was to get bigger injectors, wouldn't that make the A/F ratio to rich???? Oh don't worry, I'm taking notes on making a good set-up.
- Bart

 

you need to read every turbo post on the major hp upgrade fourm....

i have and dont have a turbo.... dont expect everyone to do your homework for you....

the info is out you just have to take the time to read it...

and bart is a great example of jumping in over there head... i think it will all work out for him....

but if he had done the research it would have been easy and much less expensive...

live learn..

beers

 

Yes if you add more "Fuel" (bigger injectors) it will off set the "A/F" (Air/Fuel) Ratio.
You'd most likly then have to get a fuel controlling system, and Wide-ban O2 to lean the injectors back out, just to make the car idel and drivable when your not underboost.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-injection2.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

 

you're going to need engine management regardless of your injectors (which are fine stock up to 13psi with the greddy turbo)..and it's going to need to be tuned as well.

 

You signed your last post Bart????? Did you just make a new screen name to ask more questions?

Whatever... fuel injectors can add more fuel, but anytime you make a change that large to your air or fuel setup... you will have to get retuned. Retuning will prevent you from running rich... nonetheless like stated above you do not need bigger fuel injectors unless you plan on going over 12 or 13 psi to redline. If you also plan on holding that much boost to redline, get ready for some big suprises.

Anyway, good luck with your setup.

 

yep.

kinda funny and sad at the same time..

beers

 

If I could restart the turbo timer arguement, my oil temps only INCREASE after stopping and idling. I dont see ANY reason to let your car sit at idle after lazy neighborhood driving. (like 30mph or so) In fact, if i get stuck in traffic, afterwards I cruise around the neighbor hood a few minutes to let the oil temps drop before parking. After hard driving, I would still just cruise around a bit before stopping. (like a min or so). I would NEVER just stop driving hard and then sit at idle (or just stop and turn of the car and walk away.)

IMHO timers for general use on the RX8 are a waste of $.