carmudgeons.com - View Single Post - What the Mazda RX-8 should have been (new autocross car build)

John V · 03-17-2019, 08:10 AM

Wrapped up a few things yesterday. I finished up the alignment and re-scaled the car. I cut the hood and riveted on the hood vent. I washed the car and installed most of the graphics, though I've still got a few yet to go and I don't have any of the official SCCA decals (except the Tire Rack banner). The red numbers are the same color as my old BMW which was intentional

I shouldn't have worried about the cooling system, it bled itself after a few hot/cold cycles and now seems to be working properly. I am using a stock NC radiator right now, I kind of hope it is sufficient but if not, Goodwin racing sells a nice upgraded radiator that is bolt-in for an NC.

I drove it up and down my driveway a bit, accelerating to 40MPH and standing on the brakes to bleed the air from the ABS unit. The Haltech gets better and better as I let it self-tune, but it already runs really well after a little cold-start tweaking. I got into maybe 2psi of boost without really trying and the car feels sprightly. No rubbing or anything but I do think I'm going to have to do a little more fender clearancing work (where the rear bumper attaches to the quarter panel forms a sharp tab that I'm worried about), which will mean finding a way to attach the leading edge of the bumper.

Stuff left to do... I think I am going to work on the rear spring perches a bit. I don't like the way the spring seats on the stock steel spring perches, using a delrin adapter for 2.5" race springs. I may just fab up a plate to weld on there with a ring to center the spring. I've run the fuel tank just about dry, so I'm going to go pick up 10 gallons of E85 today and see how well the ethanol content modification table works all on its own, then continue the low-load tuning with E85. I need to build a bump steer rig, because Brett set up the rear toe arms to be adjustable for bump steer and I haven't even checked that so it's probably way off. And I've got a small exhaust leak, I think at one of the V-band clamps but I'll need to check it out. Clyde was over and recorded one of my laps up and down the driveway.

Tuning trip is set up for March 30th, Peter Florance at PFTuning will work his magic on the car and I'm sure we'll find all sorts of problems, but that's how these things go. In between now and then the only thing I really need to get done is a thorough nut and bolt of the car. Pretty excited!

03-17-2019, 08:10 AM	#196
John V No more BMWs Join Date: Apr 2005 Carmudgeonly Ride: Ram, MS3, CX-5, RX-8 Location: Glenwood, MD Posts: 14,753	Wrapped up a few things yesterday. I finished up the alignment and re-scaled the car. I cut the hood and riveted on the hood vent. I washed the car and installed most of the graphics, though I've still got a few yet to go and I don't have any of the official SCCA decals (except the Tire Rack banner). The red numbers are the same color as my old BMW which was intentional I shouldn't have worried about the cooling system, it bled itself after a few hot/cold cycles and now seems to be working properly. I am using a stock NC radiator right now, I kind of hope it is sufficient but if not, Goodwin racing sells a nice upgraded radiator that is bolt-in for an NC. I drove it up and down my driveway a bit, accelerating to 40MPH and standing on the brakes to bleed the air from the ABS unit. The Haltech gets better and better as I let it self-tune, but it already runs really well after a little cold-start tweaking. I got into maybe 2psi of boost without really trying and the car feels sprightly. No rubbing or anything but I do think I'm going to have to do a little more fender clearancing work (where the rear bumper attaches to the quarter panel forms a sharp tab that I'm worried about), which will mean finding a way to attach the leading edge of the bumper. Stuff left to do... I think I am going to work on the rear spring perches a bit. I don't like the way the spring seats on the stock steel spring perches, using a delrin adapter for 2.5" race springs. I may just fab up a plate to weld on there with a ring to center the spring. I've run the fuel tank just about dry, so I'm going to go pick up 10 gallons of E85 today and see how well the ethanol content modification table works all on its own, then continue the low-load tuning with E85. I need to build a bump steer rig, because Brett set up the rear toe arms to be adjustable for bump steer and I haven't even checked that so it's probably way off. And I've got a small exhaust leak, I think at one of the V-band clamps but I'll need to check it out. Clyde was over and recorded one of my laps up and down the driveway. Tuning trip is set up for March 30th, Peter Florance at PFTuning will work his magic on the car and I'm sure we'll find all sorts of problems, but that's how these things go. In between now and then the only thing I really need to get done is a thorough nut and bolt of the car. Pretty excited!