Elysian

well, its not ur typical shocks/springs etc... i have an idea... i was driving down the road the other day, thinking about rx8's and the things they have done to make them handle better.... well i thought about how they lowered and pushed back the motor... i thought about my FB, and how i could accomplish this... i went online and search for some specs on the exact measurements down and back the rx8's motor is... i'm gonna be putting a carb'd 13B into my FB... the rx8's motor is 60mm back and 40mm lower... i looked under my FB... the 2 things i noticed that get in the way, are the cross member, and the steering rack... i think if properly modified, moving the motor down and back would be completely doable... does anyone know of anyone who has done this? if so did they give any sort of info on how they did it? i don't know what kind of improvement this would give, but i wouldn't mind finding out(if only for myself) either... i love tinkering with things, modifying things, to make them better... i think i'm going to begin some planning on this...

J.S.J

You could be the first. I have seen a lot of cool set up cars and talked to the guys about the process. The first thing they say concerning there pears is you can't do it or thats just too much work. The point is thats how things cool get done. Everything you do which doesn't have a script teaches you 100 times more. Look at the problem and a bunch of custom engine packages and get some ideas and tweak them to work for you.

Elysian

amen, thats how i figured on looking at it... look at every possible option... i know i will have to move the transmission back, as well as shorten the driveshaft... if i do all the rest of the work myself, the driveshaft would most likely be the most expensive part... heh tomorrow i'm going to start brainstorming and fabbing my own true short throw shifter and possibly shorten it as well to get the short throw and shortened together as one

maxcooper

Give yourself a light suspensiom and throw a few hundred pounds on the floor in the back of your car. I am joking, sort of. I don't mean to make light of the accomplishments of the RX-8 engineers (I hope they read this and are grinning right now), but that is one of the big differences between your car and the RX-8. You actually have more freedom to add some mass in the "right" spot than they did/do.

In all honesty, most "sports" cars handle no better than, but have a (substantially) better ride than their predecessors right now. It is actually rather cool that the RX-8 is inspiring the owners of prvious RX cars to improve their handling.

-Max

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I suggest that you take a lot of measurements before attempting this. You will want to get your suspension done first. After that is done, you will have a much better idea what your clearances are. You may find that your finished suspension will not allow the lowering of the motor, and that is it already lower than the RX8

You should corner weight your car before and after the suspension is done, and consider what effect moving the engine backward might have. It may not be to your advantage to move it at all. Remember, the RX8 is a completely different car, with different suspension, and suspension components that are 25 years newer.

cabaynes

iTrader: (4)

moving mass more towards the center of gravity of the car will of course improve the handling. however the work required would be greater than the reward in your case. (atlease i imagine it would)

lightening the car in other areas would provide similar increases in all around performance, and then you wouldnt have to deal with modifying the steering rack. that is something I would be deathly afraid to do, because anytime you modify that, you will almost undoubtedly run into problems with bumpsteer, or other issues related to the steering that you would then have to troubleshoot and correct. the car would never feel the same

Elysian

thats the point