Yeah that's what i keep telling myself. Cant wait for it to be done

 

little more progress on the diff swap this weekend. it's slowly moving along a couple hours of work at a time..



Got the old bearings and hubs out of the knuckles. ordered a new set of hubs that'll be here this week. having a hard time getting the new bearings into the knuckles. The stupid knuckle is a really uneven shape and i cant figure out how to get it into the press in a way that is stable for the pressing action. might cut off the dust shields. that's what rx8-club says to do anyway...






Also got the diff spacer from JLC. The holes need a bit more enslottening still, but that should be the last major part needed. Just have to put it all back together now.

 

Long time no update. Had a few life events but we're back at it.

Got the PPF mods finished and diff installed.






One major thing that stalled me out for a while is the knuckles i got from the donor car were very rusty and pitted. Even after i managed to get the stupid wheel bearings out (which was a whole thing in itself), the inside of the races were just so pitted out that a new bearing wouldn't press in anyway. Water must have gotten in there or something from sitting on the floor for so long. not really sure, forgot to take photos. Anyway i purchased a new set of knuckles which was surprisingly hard to do. Not many options on Ebay or similar and getting them brand new is $1000 a pop from Mazda and they aren't even complete. You have to buy a bunch of other sub assemblies as well. Anyway i grabbed some new (used) ones and have been working on getting them installed.

Now starts a series of major muff-ups that i haven't fully recovered from. There's maybe 45 minutes of work remaining on this particular job, but i've somehow spun it into multiple weekends of taking stuff back apart.


The keen-eyed readers might notice something important here - fully reassembled, missing something... yeah i forgot to put the driveshafts in. So i took it all back apart again, surely this time it'll be done.




Well anyway, so it turns out - the RX8 axles are **NOT** the same length, and wouldn't you know it, i installed them backwards. so i had to take the entire assembly (both sides!) all the way back apart again. And now you might be wondering - how could this job still be going?? There are only so many things to mess up....



Well when i removed one of the shafts from the diff, i popped one of the joints out. After doing this, i took a long hard look at my axles and realized i am wasting a lot of time/effort and work on 200k axles. the shafts are mushroomed over, one of the joints are popped out and the boots have seen better days. So there goes another $500 on new ones. One of them seems to have been lost in the mail, but i hope to have it all finished up next time the weather allows. Here's a photo of the length difference.



Anyway, finally getting done with the worlds slowest diff swap. Have a relatively short list of jobs to get it back on the road, but im sure it'll take me another eternity to get the transmission back installed to round out the clutch job i started... a year ago. Anyway, til next time.

 

Shucks, at the end I thought you were gonna say you forgot to install the wheel bearing snap rings before pressing the hubs in Glad to see the project is still moving despite all those axle setbacks.

I went back up through the thread and couldn't seem to re-find the reasoning for the diff swap. You wanted to lower the gearing with the 4.44 ratio from the RX8 right?

 

There are two big reasons:

1) im running the stock RX8 ECU and all other electronics, which all require VSS (vehicle speed sense) to operate correctly. Rx8 only gets speed from the REAR wheels, not the fronts, so before this swap i was getting error codes on the ABS module and gauge cluster module, *AND* the ECU would enter a "limp" mode after about 10 minutes of driving because it's trying to do it's on board diagnostics and failing to do so. There are fixes for this - i could have for example tried to retrofit the rx8 tone rings onto the NC shafts or similar silly solutions of this nature. Even considered just "combining" the front and rear signals such that it would satisfy the VSS systems.
2) lower gearing is soooo much better. The rx8 on it's own is not really that fast, but there's something about hitting 60 mph at the top of first gear at like 9k rpm that makes it *FEEL* really fast and the swapped NC just doesn't feel fast right now because of this. Even if i were to hack the electronics to work somehow to solve problem 1, i'd just be wishing for the lower gears anyway.

 

Welp, it looks exactly the same as last time, but everything actually fits now. Loaded up the suspension and torqued everything down and set all the alignment bolts to noon. I expect that i'll have to have it towed to the alignment shop, but we'll see. I wasn't smart enough to make note of the previous settings. Only mildly interesting part of the job was that the NC handbrake cable wasn't able to clear the rx8 caliper hook. couple seconds of grinding the hole on either side fixed that.




Funny that these stupid little ABS sensors are the only real reason i *HAD* to do all this work..



Anyway, done now. Guess it's on to the stupid 52mm flywheel nut that needs to be torqued to 300 ftlbs. Got the tool for it, hopefully it's easy for a weakling like me. I think i borrowed a bigass impact last time which i don't have access to this time. Hope not to have to buy more tools i'll only need once.

 

Last update for this weekend - Dropped the car back down on the ground to move it around the garage a little bit then put it right back up in the air again. Love these really tall jack stands. need to get another pair of them.

\




Was planning on putting the transmission in today, but hit another little roadblock - i seem to have misplaced one of my pressure plate bolts, so despite all the effort of getting the flywheel nut torqued down (which is *NOT* easy mind you), im stuck here for now. Ordered a new set from Atkins, will hopefully have it all back next week.





While mucking back there, i tipped the engine a little bit to get better access to a bolt, and while doing so a not insignificant amount of coolant poured right onto my lap from the exhaust manifold. So called fresh rebuild before i purchased the donor car. Oh well, i guess for the price i paid that's what i get. I had planned on building a 6 port on the bench to install whenever the auto 4 port exploded but when i moved, i sold off that 6 port because i didn't wanna load it into the moving truck. Wishing i would have just held onto it, that'd be a pretty nice winter project but oh well. Guess i'll just get this engine going again and run it til it explodes. I'm pretty sure it's the coolant seals, that's by far the most common failure on the RX8 rotary block and it's usually not a huge deal to fix, but it's still a full rebuild on an engine i don't really even want in the first place when i could have the 6 port. Oh well, woe is me. I'll have to keep an eye out on FBMP and Craigslist for a manual 6 port. maybe i'll even try grabbing an S2 engine, i can't remember if they're any better but newer must be better right?

 

Buying a house, so figured it's about time i finished this job. Crawled under there and bench pressed the transmission. no photo, but use your imagination. It wasn't pretty but got it done.

PPF went in with a bit of bonking. The spacer and studs worked fine. put some blue on there just in case, but they are gonna be fine. Something i kinda wish i had known about before assembling everything is the fill port of the diff is perfectly face to face with a member of the subframe. I had to make myself a special tool to get it on. big mess, future me is gonna HATE that.



Racingbeat muffler is in. Kinda wanna do a bumper cut, but not right now anyway. I think it looks pretty sweet, but it's really small. i know it's gonna be loud as hell.



this is the "midpipe" i guess i'll call it. the muffler side of the exhaust is wider than the header size. i guess this is to connect up to the stock NC header. First photo shows where ish i cut the oem header off. in retrospect, i think if i did this again, i would just cut off the pipe at the weld, and go from there.
Anyway, i took it to the place that turns 2 inch pipes into 3 inch pipes and had it welded up. in between the flange and header is a ring type gasket, but if i'm being completely honest, im not sure if it actually works due to the shape of the aftermarket exhaust header. There's no "slot" for it. I made a few flanges, so there's a
world where i could cut this header off and put in my flange, but like if i'm not satisfied with this setup im dropping it off at the muffler shop and telling em to just shuffle it all around til it's right.









Threw the battery back in, and it did technically start, but wont stay running, and there's a couple uhhhhh issues lets say to work out. There's a video of it, but i'm not sure if it works. Nothing that spectacular.

Attachment 244610


after i ran it for a few minutes, i've found this lovely puddle of coolant. Figure this has got to be one of two things:
1) either the engine being tilted back for 8 months has somehow allowed coolant to somehow make it past the orings, or more likely
2) the coolant seals are toast

the weird thing is that there isn't any oil in the this coolant. it's dirty, but not oily. maybe exhaust soot? this came out right at my flange, so not really sure what to think just yet.



Also forgot to install the new EGR block off and gasket. i know there's a huge exhaust leak here. i made a plate when i first installed the engine, but i know it doesn't seal. I also seem to have forgotten to install
the clamp that goes on the slip joint. guess i was just hoping it would seal with my hopes and dreams.



Hoping to get the hydraulics all done tomorrow, and get it running on some fresh fuel. I only really need it to be able to drive up onto a trailer so i can move in a couple weeks, but i wouldn't mind taking it for a spin around the neighborhood with the new diff. i really wanna know if the speedometer (and by extension, limp mode) are fixed. Good news next time hopefully

 

finally got it all together and took it for a drive. First of all, it feels REALLY FAST compared to the stock NC. The new diff made a world of difference. The alignment up front is still pretty messed up and the ride height is obviously pretty wack still so i didn't want to go pushin it too hard but i did give it the business on the main street by my house and wowey is it fun. Getting my registration sorted this week hopefully so i can FINALLY get it aligned and dialed. I still need to do a bit of interior work, but i can already tell the new exhaust is too loud still. a rev 3 will be happening for sure. Other than that, the coolant situation seems to have sorted itself (for now), i refilled and bled the system and haven't had any leaks since. bled the brakes and clutch, but the brakes still feel a little spongy. i didn't bleed w/ the car on because it wouldn't idle at the time, i suspect the ABS module must have some bubbles in it. I still need to do brakes on the fronts, so next time it's up i'll sort that. The failure to idle was a really easy fix, i just forgot a hose clamp on the throttle body when i was making up brackets for things in the engine bay. All the ECU codes have been fixed, but the drive cycle hasn't completed yet so i'm not fully out of the clear. i know there will be an EGR code, because i deleted it but that should be the only code by the time it's done. Not sure what i'm gonna do about that, i don't really want to have a bunch of lights on the dash, so i gotta find something. Maybe a bigass power resistor on the air pump circuit will be enough.

I think the next "big" project will be getting AC lines made up. I have the pump on the engine still, and a couple of the lines will fit but i'm missing most of the high side due to components being in different locations. I'm gonna call around town and see if i can't just pay someone about this. it gets really hot here in the summer, so i consider AC to be a hard requirement. As far as i can tell, everything is wired for it correctly. I can enable AC on the dial in the cabin, and it enables the compressor, so as long as i have the correct pressure switch setup, i think it'll be good as soon as lines are made up.

 

Even though I currently have a 2.5 swapped 2008 that makes so much low end torque that it will spin the tires at basically any street speed, I still love the idea of a rotary NC. The 9k redline with some low gearing would be so fun. Didn't the S2 RX8s get a 4.7 rear gear?

 

Im not aware of what the gearing on the S2 is, but i have long term goals of swapping to the S2 6 port engine and transmission, so it seems only natural to bring the diff over with it when i get there.

 

I bet that thing rips! They make a pretty easy 180WHP so it should scoot!

Your coolant issue might have been more from sitting than anything, though it sounds like a coolant seal could be on its way out. Who knows though, you can drive 'em for a long time with minor leaks like that. I'd just enjoy it and monitor things.

What PSI rad cap are you running?

 

Hell yeah! Sick to see it up and running. I bet it's a blast. That power level is such a sweet spot for these cars and I bet with the 4.44 in the rear (that's what it is, right?) it probably moves real good! My buddy and I were both running around 180whp in our cars last year but he's got an RX8 4.44 diff in his car and was always notably quicker out of the corners than my car was.

Haven't checked the thread in a bit but am stoked on the progress. Keep it coming!

 

The engine was supposed to be a "fresh rebuild" when i pulled it from the car, but judging from the rest of that car i certainly have my doubts. Im running the cap off the rx8, i can't remember what the value is (i never knew it in the first place)

Yeah, it's a 4.44, it moves. hope to throw it around some corners soon.


Got a temp plate, threw the center console back in and took it for a drive around town and it feels great. I have an alignment scheduled for next week finally. They are on board with the project and are gonna help me come up with some specs for it and fix the ride height. I made a handful of phonecalls today and think i found a place that can get me going on AC. it's gonna need it....

Man do i feel stupid for filling up a rotary car in CA right now. i will not admit to what i paid. On the note of gas, it smells like fuel in the cabin. I put the car in a dirt pile a long time ago, and im wondering if the rollover valve is clogged or something. when i was cleaning it out the other day i noticed the rain rails are completely stuffed, so it wouldn't surprise me if that went deeper as well. I want to think i would have noticed this when i upgraded the pump, but given my track record up until this point of doing jobs correctly the first time....



Had to drive around for a while to get the idle PID to tune itself, it's running really well especially with the fresh fuel. Now that the interior is almost back together, i don't think the exhaust is unacceptably loud, but the heat shield above the muffler rattles. and i think so do the baffles in the tail pipes. I think im gonna remove those things just to see.

Anyway, here's a crappy phone video i took pulling into my neighborhood. After the alignment next week i'm gonna take it for a longer drive and maybe bring my wife to get an actual video.

 

Sounds great!

 

Every single time i make some progress on this car, i come to the realization that a swap is only as good as the donor car that it came from. I've spent so much time fixing things like this because i just cheaped out on my donor rx8. Got a code for the SSV and of course found that the connector wires were completely destroyed. cut it off and repaired it. There's never a day i spend working on this car that i don't wish i'd have just got a better donor car. oh well. Whenever i swap to a 6 port engine, i'll have a fresh harness.




Don't remember if i ever posted an engine bay photo after i fabbed up a bunch of brackets for all the lose parts. there's still a lot of work to be done here to make it look nice, and i certainly need to do something about the original auto harness that is just hanging around. Finished a drive cycle and it has codes for both o2 sensor heater circuits. i ordered a pair of brand new ones so hopefully i was just rough with them and broke them but i have a sneaking suspicion that the heater circuit is broken for some reason. i'll have to check the manual to see how it is supposed to work. Gonna head over to the AC shop later today maybe and get that project started. they seem to think it'll be easy.

 

oops forgot to actually attach the image to the last post.

 

Congrats man!

I've been joking that E85 is the financially responsible option now that gas prices have jumped. I never thought about it, but are there any issues running E85 in a rotary (of course assuming the car was setup to run it)?

 

E85 is a godsend to a turbo rotary, at least, probably less important on N/A applications but still awesome. A rotarys worst enemies are heat and detonation and e85 works miracles for both.

The main problem is rotarys need a lot of fuel and have a much shorter window to inject that fuel, so you end up needing a massive (expensive) fuel system to support it. Less of an issue for lower HP application like this, but for an FD a fuel system that can support 400+whp on e85 is comical. Dual pumps, larger lines from the tank forward, and something like 4x 2000cc injectors. I priced it out for my FD and decided to go water injection for now for cooling and octane benefits.

 

I have run e85 in this car, and it does "run", but the ECU isn't especially tuned for it, so while it runs, it runs like crap. But i do have a ethanol sensor in the fuel line that has CAN output, and a guy i know has hacked flex support into the ECU.

https://github.com/equinox311/RX8_FlexFuel


Rotaries take e85 really well especially with boost, but obviously will consume more fuel to compensate. There is an issue where the mixing of oil in the combustion chamber mixed with alcohol supposedly gums things up, but i havent ever had that experience personally, tho i've only actually tried on rx7s where you have a lot of other stuff messed up on average lol.

Speaking of ECUs, i updated our definitions for RomRaider yesterday https://github.com/equinox311/RX8Defs/pull/2 And am working on a few tweaks. I'm more used to TunerStudio with MS, so RomRaider feels a little weird to me but it's pretty standard. The main issue i've found with it is that you can't live tune which i'm really used to, and flashing takes a minute or two. really tedious, but i only have to make a few changes so i'm sure i'll live. Mostly just a redline bump and some other stuff of that nature since i have a pretty non-standard setup. Im using a JDM 4 port 5 speed MT ECU because the US never got a manual 4 port, so im basically hacking it to be some sort of bastard hybrid of a 4 and 6 port ECU. Adding gear detection for 6 gears, increased redline, more oil in the OMP things like that.




Took the car for a pretty decent drive yesterday, bout 20 miles after this image was taken - SSV code is cleared, and one of the o2 sensors are good so there's no CEL until the monitor gets set. Fixed a big power dip at 5k. was planning to head over to the AC shop, but while i did take it up to about 80 mph on an old empty road outside of town, it wasn't very confidence inspiring when i had to stop, so im not really interested in taking it for a long freeway drive just yet, and of course in my urban sprawl hell-hole town there's only one way to get over to that side of town so i'll have to wait til after the alignment. I also need to get another forescan license so i can see what's up with ABS and DSC. they both should be working now, so i'll have to check codes to see why. My normal OBD2 scanner can't get them.