So I saw an '05 Shinka and just had to have it. Of course, the wife insisted on an auto so she could drive it too. Thus began the adventure which ended with me flying from Baltimore, Md. to Milwaukee, Wi. at 7:00am on Saturday and driving my new (to me, anyway!) '05 Shinka back to Md., arriving just after midnight. A very long but satisfying journey. Now the real fun begins! A few mild performance mods to make up for the lesser power of the auto-equipped unit (never understood that decision by Mazda!) and maybe some new wheels...
Hello from a new RX8 owner!
- Thread starter kjm8888
- Start date
Welcome to the club! You are driving one of the best colors Mazda has made. I tried to talk my wife into getting an 8 in that color, but she said no more red(dish) cars. She tends to get comments on the color when she is driving the Speed6 so be prepared.
I've already noticed that! Especially the 3 chicks in the Vee Dub convertible cruizing through Indiana! (Where were they when I was single????? (bang))
solidtrance
Member
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- HIS: 2005 RX-8 WWP GT 6MT* HERS: 2006 Speed6 BCM 6MT**
Congratulations on the car. I didn't even realize the "Shinka" was available in AT. Great choice, love the color. There are quite a few "boosted" 4-ports around (not sure if that is what you mean). There is even a guy in my local club who put together a custom roots style supercharger for his 04 AT. He tracks his regularly and has no problems keeping up with and frequently passing some cars you would not expect (think vette, M3 type stuff). With a little research and some work you can have the best of both worlds. Good luck, and keep us posted on the progress.
If you have any question, ask away. You may be able to find some of the answers in the two threads in my sig.
If you have any question, ask away. You may be able to find some of the answers in the two threads in my sig.
By "boosting" I was just referring to a couple mild mods to enhance performance a bit. cold air intake and exhaust with ECU reprogramming are most likely the extent of what I would do to this car. While superchargers or turbos would be great, I would probably do one of those on a 6-speed manual car that my wife wouldn't be driving. She's just not into high performance driving. She does love the RX8 though, so perhaps I'll let her have this one and get a 6-speed for me.
solidtrance
Member
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- HIS: 2005 RX-8 WWP GT 6MT* HERS: 2006 Speed6 BCM 6MT**
You're not going to like hearing this but the car is pretty close to maxed out right from the factory. Mazda did a great job designing the intake and exhaust. If you replace them both you can expect 5 whp +/-, and a dramatic increase in sound. It will sound great, but wont be likely to be any faster. A midpipe can produce a little more at a fraction of the cost, but you will get multiple CEL's. A cobb AP can fix the codes and you will be able to pass emissions with it. I see that you are planning on doing ECU tuning, so I would recomend a Cobb and a single or dual resonated mid pipe. Let us know if you have more questions.
I just want to make sure i got that right, is there a possibility to lose HP when you add a Cold Air Intake?(boom08)
I think he meant "gain about 5whp". The +/- was intended to communicate that the 5whp gain was approximate. Might be 3, might be 7.
Thank you very much for the clarification.(2thumbs)
solidtrance
Member
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- HIS: 2005 RX-8 WWP GT 6MT* HERS: 2006 Speed6 BCM 6MT**
Nate's got it. You can loose HP and TQ with a poorly designed intake though. With the AEM/Mazdaspeed or RB intake you should gain a few. It will make the car sound a lot faster though (if that is what you are going for). You can get a very similar effect by doing a few quick and easy mods to your stock intake (removing the baffels in the box, one screen, and VFAD). With that in mind I modified my stock intake and dropped in a K&N filter. If you add the RB ram air duct you should be done. Its a lot cheaper and gets the same basic gain.
