ARC X-8

The ARC X-8 is a 2007 Mazda RX-8 with a 1.3L R2 Renesis Rotary that produces 212-232 HP. We here at ARC love the JDM culture and wanted to build a car thats all JDM. our goal for this build is to have a reliable rotary and still have a great daily or even weekend car.

Suspension: BC Coilovers

Bc Coilovers helps stiffen the chassis while also giving you more feeling of the road. To continue with our JDM theme we decided to go with BC Coilovers. These are very popular on a whole variety of JDM cars due to they’re build quality and performance.

Rotary: How to keep your rotary healthy

The main reason people don’t buy rotaries is do to the engine being unreliable but there are ways for you to keep the engine in its best conditions. Replace any MAP sensors, checking spark plugs, strait piping, and even adding premix. The main contraception with Rotaries is that they burn oil. The reasoning behind this is to keep the engine lubricated because it doesn’t use pistons. In order for the car to stay lubricated fully, they tune the vehicle to add oil in with the fuel, this will burn more oil tho. In order to get the car reliable with a tune is to add premix. Premix is added in the gas tank ( always measure out how much needs to be added) this will allow the car to run smoothly and reliably by burning less oil from the oil pan because the premix will help lubricate the engine. The Rotary is meant to burn oil so every day or every other day, take a look at the dipstick and keeps tabs on when you’ve added premix.

Exhaust: Custom welded Exhaust (strait Piped)

An exhaust system is used to get more out of your engine in sound and performance. Strait piping your car supplies a better vacuum for your engine while allowing max exhaust flow. Due to the RX-8 burning oil the best recommendation is to strait pipe the car. This will help the engine keep it’s self from bogging down and even possibly flooding in colder climates or even higher elevations.

Intake: K&N Air Filter

Intakes are used to allow clean air to enter the engine in order to make more power. Most people would just spend the $350 for a whole intake in order to increase airflow. The K&N filter is an easy filter change from the stock OEM filter to the new one. While also being able to save a lot of money the filter, it adds 15% more airflow (the same as a cold air intake).

Roll cage and Harnesses: Custom welded cage.

When driving a fun sports car, safety is the most important mainly due to the risk of getting hurt in an accident. In case anything happens the cage will add another layer of steel to protect the driver and passenger. Harnesses allow the driver and passenger to be locked in their seat incase of a roll over or even an accident.

Tuning: Rotary Performance

Tuning helps a car run more efficiently while also making more power. We wanted to build a fun car thats still easy to drive right when you get in it. That’s why we decided to keep the car naturally aspirated. The tune will help the car run a whole lot smoother while having the exhaust and intake filter installed. In cooler climates the Rotary is known to flood with oil. This is due to Map Sensors, or even O2 Sensors. A tune will allow the engine to run at its peak and still be reliable while also not having the flooding issue.

What’s Left To Do

Body Kit: KBD Widebody Kit

A body kit can do a few things for your car. Fiberglass will add weight to your vehicle but also adds a different style and look. Due to this vehicle being a drift car we need more traction in the turns. A widebody kit allows you to throw thicker tires and wheels on for max traction while also making the car look a lot more ascetically pretty.

Seats: Racing Bucket Seats

Seats are what hold you in while driving and are a big saftey feature. When drifting you don’t want to have your body thrown around, it’ll reduce the amount of handling. Durable and nicely bolstered seats are perfect for drifting. These seats will keep you exaclty where the driver needs to be to have the most handling and also feel comfortable while driving.

Wheels: Enkei T6S

The ARC X-8 will have (Enkei T6S), these wheels are light weight and very very strong. When driving on the road or even a track you want strong but lightweight because having the wheel be lighter will help in performance while also being strong enough to withstand abuse while driving.

Swaybars and Oil Catchcan

Sway bars help stiffen up the front and rear of the car. This helps by giving the driver less roll in a turn and more confidence. Catchcans are used to filter out any bad oil and will catch any metal shavings so you’ll be able to fix a problem before it gets any worse.

Main Goal

Our main goal is to get out there and really enjoy the car culture in its entirety. The JDM culture is one of the biggest out there due to it’s massive variety of cars. We’d also like to show people out there that rotaries aren’t as unreliable as they seem and to just enjoy the car. Building cars and having fun with the build process is what it’s all about.