The newer ones are not that big of a problem. I worked with a guy who used to work for a Mazda dealer. He recommended running a slight premix to help longevity and replace the ignition coils, plugs, and wires all at the same time when the plugs fail. The coils short through the base and misfire. Also, just like an S4, don't start it cold then kill it before it's hot. I personally flooded an RX8 I was working on doing that. Not a good afternoon when that happens.

 

Yup, almost got this tank empty and I already have some pre-mix in the trunk. It already has the BHR coil kit with (LS1?) coils.

I heard these are harder to deflood because of the side port exhaust. best method is to tow start it LOL

P.S for anyone looking to buy an RX8, rx8club is a flipping JOKE! So many trolls and posts that lead to no resolve. A bunch of "me too i'm having that problem" and no one working towards solutions. Maybe its just not mature enough yet...

I've been looking for help on the advanced keyless entry system since mine isnt working, and there is no info out there. it sucks!

 

Yes, the side exhaust is a pain to deflood. I never had to tow start, but it can take a few hours to clear.

Mazda's official procedure is to disconnect a vaccum port on the lower intake, put a hose into a jar of ATF and crank the engine to suck it in. Then pull and clean the plugs. Then either clear flood with the throttle at WOT, or remove the fuel pump fuse. Crank the **** outta it. Then give it fuel and crank til it billows white smoke out of the tailpipes and gets the fire department called on you.

What is going on with your keyless? Is yours the "credit card" key or the fob? I'm fairly familiar with how those systems operate on other cars, don't see too many RX-8s at work though.

I may be able to track down info on my work resource computer.

 

I have the credit card style - the "advanced keyless entry". So what I've seen is that if anything in the system isnt working - the whole thing stops working. My buddy put his scanner on my car and saw that the drivers door "request switch" wasnt working. We bought one and I'll be trying that in a few days once this snow clears and I can pick it up from him. The advanced keyless entry has TWELVE. TWELVE ANTENNAS/RECEIVERS. WTF!!!!!!!!!

 

!2 receivers? HAHAHAHA That's child's play. I work on Euro cars for a living, so Land Rover, BMW, MB, Audi, etc. You wouldn't believe the crap they pile into these cars just to get them to run.

My favorite is BMW batteries. Average customers sometimes think that a battery install is no big deal, so they install one on their own. Only to find out that the Duralast battery from AutoZone just got smoked from overcharging since the Intelligent Battery Sensor was not reset.

Hopefully it's just your request switch. The smart card systems are rather good for what they are and usually don't have too many failure.

 

So the drivers door request switch wasnt working. IDS showed no response when pressing it. New switch was $20 from Mazda which was nice. Beep test on the multimeter showed it wasnt registering a press like the new one did. Replaced it and now the keyless isnt showing any faults so now we believe the key card is faulty....A new key is $400 at mazda Ouch....

By the way, these new doors SUCK LOL

 

That sucks. At least you have an idea now. I'm guessing the PO saw how much it would cost to fix and was like "Naw. New owner can handle that"

 

Kind of? I'm friends with him on Facebook and have been chatting with him as I've dug into this. He went out and bought a NB Miata actually. He loved the 8 but hated the gas mileage and wanted something a little less worrisome.

Oddly enough once we fixed the door request switch, I walked up to the car a couple days ago and the keyless entry and keyless start worked! Only once though. I'm certain its the key card that's failed. When you press the door request switch the led on the fob lights up so the key card is receiving a signal...its just not sending anything back.

 

I'm sure you have checked this, but did you replace the fob battery? They get weak and can cause intermittent functionality.

I've fixed a few keyless entry problems just by replacing a key. Except on BMW's. They almost always need a module.

 

Yup tried a new battery and it didnt work, even after bending the tabs in to verify that it was making a good connection.

 

Sounds like the smart card took a dump then. Too bad they are so flippin' expensive.

 

Man its been a while since I've updated here. Where to start?

We can start with the new set of wheels? A coworker donated a bunch of bike equipment and it allowed me to upgrade from my 1980s Panasonic road bike to a much newer ride. Panasonic here:



Upgrading to this: 2005 Cannondale Six13.Partially carbon, patrially aluminum. Super light. Gonna be about half as heavy as the Panasonic.




In between doing that, there was a short trip to vegas for my brothers 21st birthday. He had 2 drinks and that was it. Kind of felt like a waste of a trip considering he was the one who should have been stumbling down the strip....not me, haha. We did manage to make it to the cars and coffee out there saturday morning and got to see these 2, but couldnt find the owners:

 

And onto this piece of.......stuff. The past weekend was BEAUTIFUL both days, a wonder spring weekend. With the help of a local we managed to knock out the entire drivetrain in the weekend with only a few minor snags. One being that we didnt have the clutch alignment tool. That was an hour detour down to a friends, and the second was the T2 trans had 2 partially engaged forks causing the trans to be locked up! After removing the tailshaft and playing with the forks individually, it broke free and spins like normal now.



threw a quick coat of paint on the subframe while it was down...



obligatory clutch installation shot



and one more shot for good measure:



So the drivetrain is good. Next up is upgrading the turbo. I'll post more about that as it materializes.

And I came across this on the Facebook RX7 page. Looks like a cool little mod. Thoughts?

 

Progress on the 7 is looking good I like the ftp scoop you got there . Dig the road bike . Hope you held on to the 80's frame . I ride ss / track bikes ( came from the bmx crowd ) as you would say . But also in to restoring old vintage frames . I restored a 84 Schwinn with a ff drive system for my wife recently .the freewheel is the front sprocket ,and the rear hub is fixed . Only made it for two years and was meant for cross country . You could change gears with out pedaling coasting down hill ,etc . Keep up the progress brotha

 

Yup! the panasonic isnt going anywhere since its technically my dads. The front freewheel sounds like a really cool setup, got any pictures of it?!

This weekend we swapped over the winter suspension and tires to the summer setup as well as some fresh oil for next weekends autocross. Next weekend should be a blast!

 

Well, its been a while. Nothing major has happened recently. The RX8 is sold, I just...It didnt fit our lifestyle and it was basically useless. RX7club is blocked at work so I cannot easily access it during the day so I'm not on here as often. The Turbo swapped car has had some changes... I will try to get them up shortly. Should be running again soon

 

OKAY! So....it's been a while, and the turbo car has seen another set of revisions.

New MS3Pro was mounted, along with a fuse box and relay box. compliments of Colten with the super clean white FC build.





Upon removal of the old turbo, I found out where my exhaust leak was coming from. Hint, it wasnt coming from my exhaust...



So I had a friend of mine whip something together for the turbo I've had for 2 years now. It's not perfect, but it'll get wrapped and should do just fine. Going to do a 2 -> wastegate with my previous MVR wastegate.





That caused a slight problem





Wrapped up the manifold,

 

And to go with that, we are going to try and use a teflon intake gasket to help keep intake manifold temperatures down as well.



And I have a mustang TPS in the works, to get full range motion of the throttle...



And then on top of THAT I have this top secret part from a company I cant name...



And that leaves us off here, almost done the soldering. Last hard ware stuff that needs done is the coolant hose moved, intake, and wastegate line. The coolant hose is going to be rotated 180* and see if we can re-weld the water neck. The intake is self explanatory, and the wastegate has tons of room thanks to the turbo manifold bending up nice and quickly. More pictures to come..

 

Oh....and with the RX8 gone. I decided to pick up something a little more winter worthy to keep the FC out of the salty winter.

5 speed, M20, AWD. 4 door. ooooooooo baby. Cant wait to turbo and megasquirt this one! Needs some rust repair, and I'll be keeping you guys up to date on this one here as well.

 

Ooh das nice. How are these engines with boost?

 

They take it pretty well! I'll be looking for about 300whp when all said and done. shouldnt have to upgrade anything block wise besides head stud and possibly a new head gasket. no cam, rods or pistons required.

I made a thread on r3vlimited for the 325ix for those who wish to follow. 325IX and RX7 - The ultimate masochist driveway - R3VLimited Forums

finally got it home. it's a blast!

 

A good friend of mine does Megasquirt and turbo swaps in lots of E30/E36 cars. IIRC, he made over 400whp on a stock M20 with head studs and a MLS gasket and a small HX35. He switched to an M52 with just studs and cut ring head gasket and was making 550whp on stock bottom end. The DOHC heads flow much better and don't make the clatter the SOHC engines do. If you're interested in having a PNP Megasquirt ECU done up, PM me. He's been converting lots of cars from tuned DME to MS3X recently.

 

Whats his name? I've seen a few m20 mspnp kits available. I was thinking of just doing the standard DIYautotune one. What does his offer over them?

 

What an eventful weekend.

Saturday I started with cleaning out all of the door jambs and the interior. Most of the interior wasnt touched since it wouldnt have made a difference....but the carpet was cleaned up. What a difference it makes on a white car!









After that I moved to the wheels. They cleaned up fairly well, but I need a better brush to get into the weaves better...





That wrapped it up for saturday. Sunday me and the wife went to my parents house and spent the day using his power washer and dual orbital to clean up the outside more.

 

wife helping clay bar before polishing!



Cleaning out the gas fill area..



much better



before polishing the hood.



and after! what a difference