RX8 Tuning Tips

"Renesis Renaisance"

Mazda had great success with the RX7 and proved that a rotary engined car can be fun to drive. The successor came in the form the lovely RX8. It was leaps and bounds better than the RX7 in many respects.

The angular lines, edgy design and interior trim all won the hearts of RX8 around the world. Mazda dumped the Wankel engine in preference to their latest development the Renesis rotary engine.

The benefits of a rotary engine include the ability to provide high rpm tolerances and a silky smooth power delivery. Problems though include a lack of low down torque at low RPM but when driven correctly these cars have a lot to give. Standard power figures of around 200bhp from a 1300cc engine really pushes the envelope of what is possible.

Your RX8 tuning should start off with some improvements to the handling and brakes. A big brake conversion kit will really pay dividends and give a progressive brake feel. The car can be lowered around 35 mm. We would recommend adjustable suspension so you can set the damping and spring rates to suit your driver preference.

The engines need to be properly looked after and serviced regularly. Do not let the unusual rotary engine put you off. These are much better than early rotary engines and are every bit as flexible and reliable as a reciprocating piston setup.

The RX8 is just crying out for a turbo conversion and this is probably one of the few "bolt on" options although it can prove expensive. A turbo will raise the standard power to around 400bhp!

The 4 port engines are more suited to turbo charging than the 6 port ones. Obvious power mods for  a turbo RX8 would include a larger front mounted intercooler. The intercooler can suffer from heat soak on long runs so channeling lots of fresh air through this will pay dividends. Power can also be increased with the addition of a larger turbo or a turbo with higher performing internals (a hybrid).

When pushing larger power gains you will also need to uprate the fuel delivery system to prevent the engine from running lean.

We have looked remaps for the RX8 and sport chips without much success. Hopefully RX8 remaps will become available. 

The best option we could find is fitting a full aftermarket engine management system. This allows you to fine tune the timing and fuel delivery for the maximum power gain and this will also allow you to factor in any other mods you have done. On a standard car with an aftermarket engine management system you can see power gains of around 2-5%.

A sports exhaust and induction kit will help a little but in the opinion of TorqueCars members the standard setup is pretty good and gains are only noticable high up in the RPM rev range. There are not many 200bhp NASP 1.3 engines out there.

Why not join our friendly forum and swap tuning ideas and share pics of your RX8 with our other members.