| 2008 Mazda RX-8 - Building A Better Renesis - Project RX-8
If patience is a virtue, then building a Renesis the way we have is one of the more virtuous pursuits we’ve undertaken. Not that it takes all that long to assemble a rotary engine—engine builder Joe Ferguson assembled ours in a couple of hours—but getting all the parts ordered and prepped for assembly does take some time. Here’s how the entire process went for us, from beginning to end.
So far we’ve put 200 miles on the engine following Mazdaspeed Motorsports’ recommended break-in procedure (information we gained access to by signing up with Mazdaspeed’s racer program, which also entitled us to parts discounts and a very generous contingency program). Although we had to troubleshoot an engine code (a phantom misfire from a bad knock sensor), so far all signs point to zoom zoom. Next month, MazdaManiac will be handling dyno tuning using a Cobb AccessPort. We can’t wait to hear this engine rev to 10,500 rpm.
| We started the rebuild process by ordering Racing Beat’s Renesis S-Port porting templates. These have been shown to increase power significantly across the rev range thanks to Racing Beat’s years of R&D in this area.
| Combined with Bully’s pressure plate, torque capacity has been doubled from the OE setup and yet pedal effort is light and launch characteristics surprisingly precise and street friendly. That’s because of Bully’s RXX Technology, which uses floating needle bearings in place of cast pivot points.