£1000 RX8 sprint/track-car project

[Fastdruid]

seiben said:

There's 2 flavours - 192 and 231.

They're essentially identical, aside from the following:

192 - 192bhp (supposedly), 5 speed box, open diff, Halogen headlights
231 - 231bhp (supposedly), 6 speed box, LSD, Xenons

Ours is a 231. Can confirm the LSD works

192 has a 7.5k redline rather than the 9k of the 231 and is meant to be torquier. Plus the interior spec is a bit higher on the 231.

There is also the R3 which has different gearing and is heavier. Plus there are a few special editions.

Very much enjoyed our time with one and if we had the room to park it and the chance to use it would get another.

[allsop83]

Vocal Minority said:

Just as an aside - all of that grey insulation stuff is a bugger to get off - took me two days, a heat gun and a scraper.

However, I weighed it at 10 odd kilos when I was all done...

I removed this stuff on my Impreza toy a few years ago now- it actually came off really easy when FREEZING COLD! With a chisel and hammer- came off in big chunks and cracked up/flaked off etc. Just a thought.

[seiben]

Fastdruid said:

seiben said:

There's 2 flavours - 192 and 231.

They're essentially identical, aside from the following:

192 - 192bhp (supposedly), 5 speed box, open diff, Halogen headlights
231 - 231bhp (supposedly), 6 speed box, LSD, Xenons

Ours is a 231. Can confirm the LSD works

192 has a 7.5k redline rather than the 9k of the 231 and is meant to be torquier. Plus the interior spec is a bit higher on the 231.

There is also the R3 which has different gearing and is heavier. Plus there are a few special editions.

Very much enjoyed our time with one and if we had the room to park it and the chance to use it would get another.

Thanks. Figured I would have missed a few things!

[Fastdruid]

seiben said:

Fastdruid said:

seiben said:

There's 2 flavours - 192 and 231.

They're essentially identical, aside from the following:

192 - 192bhp (supposedly), 5 speed box, open diff, Halogen headlights
231 - 231bhp (supposedly), 6 speed box, LSD, Xenons

Ours is a 231. Can confirm the LSD works

192 has a 7.5k redline rather than the 9k of the 231 and is meant to be torquier. Plus the interior spec is a bit higher on the 231.

There is also the R3 which has different gearing and is heavier. Plus there are a few special editions.

Very much enjoyed our time with one and if we had the room to park it and the chance to use it would get another.

Thanks. Figured I would have missed a few things!

Allegedly you can fit the R3 LSD to the older cars to get noticeably quicker acceleration.

[seiben]

Fastdruid said:

Allegedly you can fit the R3 LSD to the older cars to get noticeably quicker acceleration.

Yep. That's the plan, if we can find one

[Mr Tidy]

seiben said:

There's 2 flavours - 192 and 231.

They're essentially identical, aside from the following:

192 - 192bhp (supposedly), 5 speed box, open diff, Halogen headlights
231 - 231bhp (supposedly), 6 speed box, LSD, Xenons

Ours is a 231. Can confirm the LSD works

Thanks, I had some vague memory of that.

Can't really see the point of the 192 model to be honest, but I suppose they sold a few!

[Bright Halo]

allsop83 said:

Vocal Minority said:

Just as an aside - all of that grey insulation stuff is a bugger to get off - took me two days, a heat gun and a scraper.

However, I weighed it at 10 odd kilos when I was all done...

I removed this stuff on my Impreza toy a few years ago now- it actually came off really easy when FREEZING COLD! With a chisel and hammer- came off in big chunks and cracked up/flaked off etc. Just a thought.

Dry ice is the answer.
Buy a 20kg box online then spread it around the footwell. You will hear the insulation cracking. After about 2 mins move the dry ice to next footwell and repeat, the insulation will just lift off with a scraper. Really easy.
Where thick gloves and goggles though!
You can even make your own special effects if you drop some in a bucket of water.

Edited by Bright Halo on Friday 8th September 17:08

Edited by Bright Halo on Friday 8th September 17:08

[seiben]

That sounds excellent

[Fastdruid]

Bright Halo said:

Dry ice is the answer.
Buy a 20kg box online then spread it around the footwell. You will the insulation cracking. After about 2 mins move the dry ice to next footwell and repeat, the insulation will just lift off with a scraper. Really easy.
Where thick gloves and goggles though!

Also best to do in a well ventilated space... Don't get in and close the doors!

[otolith]

Fastdruid said:

192 has a 7.5k redline rather than the 9k of the 231 and is meant to be torquier.

But because the 231 revs higher (and has an extra ratio), it runs shorter gearing, which means that it has more torque at the wheels in every gear.

[SebringMan]

I've just been reading this thread from start to finish and I must say it has been a superb read. There is plenty of stuff to digest! Fair play to you!

A mate and I debated getting one of these but again it was ultimately down to the questionable reliability on these.

otolith said:

But because the 231 revs higher (and has an extra ratio), it runs shorter gearing, which means that it has more torque at the wheels in every gear.

Now this is interesting. I didn't really see a 192 as a torque fest and that was with me having a 205 GTi 1.6 at the time ; it actually seemed quite slow in comparison! The gearing part does make sense however. In the videos Ben has been putting up his 231 does sound very fruity indeed!

[seiben]

Thanks for the kind words!

Currently sat in a Premier Inn in Melton Mowbray. Round 7 at Kendrew Barracks tomorrow - wish us luck

[Konan]

seiben said:

Thanks for the kind words!

Currently sat in a Premier Inn in Melton Mowbray. Round 7 at Kendrew Barracks tomorrow - wish us luck

Did the track day there yesterday. Couple of RX8s out.

Not a lot of grip to be had, although it's removed a phenomenal amount of rubber from my tyres! It's ok, I removed a reasonable amount of turf in retribution

[Mannginger]

Great thread this, really enjoying it and love the amount of car that can be had with £1k and a bit of spannering space and knowledge!

[rtz62]

Excellent project seiben, well done!
Brave? Possibly
But a great choice, that you seem to be approachinging in a sensible, and logical manner. I'm sure that with the commitment you've shown already that it will be a great success.
As an aside, where did you get the uack (above) that the RX8 is on? Could do with one myself.
And this is one of the few threads that has piqued my interest enough to follow it, so I hope to see much more on the old ricer!

[QuattroDave]

rtz62 said:

Excellent project seiben, well done!
Brave? Possibly
But a great choice, that you seem to be approachinging in a sensible, and logical manner. I'm sure that with the commitment you've shown already that it will be a great success.
As an aside, where did you get the uack (above) that the RX8 is on? Could do with one myself.
And this is one of the few threads that has piqued my interest enough to follow it, so I hope to see much more on the old ricer!

Ispoke to a guy at goodwood FoS about the home car lifts he had designed and was selling, incredibly cheap for what they can do.

I'll dig out the details as I have the leaflet somewhere, he's Hampshire/Sussex based and will deliver & install as part of the cost (about £1,500).

In the mean time there's this company: http://sm-t.co.uk/product-category/vehicle-lifts/s... that does very similar products

[seiben]

Mannginger said:

Great thread this, really enjoying it and love the amount of car that can be had with £1k and a bit of spannering space and knowledge!

Thanks - I'm glad you are enjoying it! I have to say my spannering skills are average at best - Pete is definitely the more knowledgable. I'm good at holding tools though

Konan said:

Did the track day there yesterday. Couple of RX8s out.

Not a lot of grip to be had, although it's removed a phenomenal amount of rubber from my tyres! It's ok, I removed a reasonable amount of turf in retribution

Yep, had a chat to one of the guys today. No problem with grip for us, fortunately, although we've chewed through the tyres a bit!

rtz62 said:

Excellent project seiben, well done!
Brave? Possibly
But a great choice, that you seem to be approachinging in a sensible, and logical manner. I'm sure that with the commitment you've shown already that it will be a great success.
As an aside, where did you get the uack (above) that the RX8 is on? Could do with one myself.
And this is one of the few threads that has piqued my interest enough to follow it, so I hope to see much more on the old ricer!

I prefer 'brave' to 'foolhardy'
The ramp belongs to Pete, so I don't know exactly what it is, but it was an eBay purchase a couple of years ago. I think this is the closest I can see that's currently available. It's a bit of a god-send, certainly.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Strongman-Tamar-2-8T-Hom...


Kendrew turned out to be rather good today. I'm just home and starting to fiddle with videos etc, so more details when I can...

[samoht]

Thread made the homepage, and deservedly so - a great example of the 'spirit of PH' Glad to hear the most recent outing went well, look forward to reading all about it.

[seiben]

samoht said:

Thread made the homepage, and deservedly so - a great example of the 'spirit of PH' Glad to hear the most recent outing went well, look forward to reading all about it.

Wow - fame at last!

Thanks PH. Really chuffed with that

[GOG440]

This is not helping.
I would like to do some sprinting/hillclimbing and despite having driven it on track at Blyton a couple of times (including a spin just where you did lol) I dont really think my TVR wedge is suitable.
I nearly bought an RX8 back in the day (for 11k!) and really like them and at <1k and with an engine specialist literally 1 mile from my house it is getting more tempting by the minute.