Transmission Overhaul

Roughly two weeks ago, shifting in general began to feel notchy and even began to grind at certain points. After changing the transmission fluid to some fresh MT-90 and still being unsuccessful, it seems it was time for a new transmission.

Liberty Mazda was up for the task and helped me out greatly, with a quick transmission swap and allowing me to also install some new goodies. I figure, if the transmission is out, why not swap the clutch and flywheel, right?

Above are pictures of the old pressure plate and transmission parts, while below are the pictures of the fresh new setup.

04-08 RX8 Transmission 6 Speed (Aisin AZ6 ) with RedLine MT-90
ACT Heavy Duty Pressure Plate with Street Performance Clutch Disc
ACT ProLite Flywheel and Counter Weight

Doesn't get any better than this. After 500 miles of breaking in the clutch, bleeding it here and there, adjusting the pedal, babying it around town, I got to finally put the pedal to the metal. This is a highly recommended power upgrade to any other RX8 owner out there. The throttle is much more responsive, almost as if the car was a S2000. Rev's quickly and pulls very nicely in 3rd gear. Infact, I would say 3rd gear pull feels like my old 2nd gear pull, making 2nd Gear much more formidable for Autocross.

This was well worth the money, and thanks to Liberty Mazda, it was done right. Again, very highly recommended and it really gives the car that more "enjoyable quick roadster" feeling. Thanks to Mike from Liberty Mazda for the excellent photos.

Cars & Coffee Meet

Great meet that couldn't have gone any better! Plenty of great cars, some Dunkin Donuts coffee, and more great cars. It doesn't get any better than this. Luckly, people were actually normal during the event and not doing burnouts or anything stupid..But that could have been also due to the cop on detail. Photo Galleries from Altspace and Rachel are linked below.
Rachel's Gallery
Altspace's Gallery

Minor Blog Facelift

Minor Blog update with some fresh colors, new titles, and new vendors and shops section. Let me know what you think and if you like it better then the old setup! Soon enough, it will be warm enough outside to take the picture of my car that I want to replace the current banner with. Stay tuned!

Maintenance At DSG

The seal between the oil pan and the engine was a little on the leaky side. Grabbed some Redline 10w-40, and a Knight Sports oil filter and took the car over to DSG to get the pan resealed. Not much else to say, other then they sealed it with something stronger then OEM that they use for most of their Subaru's and other cars.

Thanks to Nick from DSG for the pictures!

Knight Sports Catalog 2009

This Month I'll be reviewing a product catalog from Knight Sports instead of reviewing a movie. Wanted to do something a little different this time, and I had just recently picked this up. For starters, this is almost like looking at a adult magazine for car enthusiasts.

High quality pictures, great paper quality, and excellent explanations of all their products (at least the ones I can read in english). Knight Sports is a well known tuning company from Japan that has been around since 1971. They make quality parts that are highly respected, but at a cost of course. In my opinion, I think they have one of best RX8 line ups around, but for RX7s, I'm still a Fujita Engineering kind of guy, especially for their GT kit.

Many of the parts here are very well engineered and well thought out. Take the header for the RX8 as an example. Of all the headers I have seen, this header is the only one that splits the middle runner into two (it explains with diagrams in the catalog). Very cool stuff and definitely worth a download.

Feel free to grab the catalog here, scanned in high res PDF. (Thanks to Altspace for hosting!)