RX-8 Header Install - GQM Garage 

Just as a follow up, there are enough differences between series 1 and 2 making the install practically impossible to do on a daily driver you depend on if you're not willing to fool around with the situation for a few days. This being said, I'm sure with a helping hand and definitely a lift, I would've gotten the header in. Sadly, this wasn't the case. Seeing as how I was attempting this at home, there was insufficient space and time to get the new header installed. It sucked royally but I had to revert everything back to the way it was. I attempted for over 2hrs trying to get the racing beat header installed. It just wasn't meant to be. Since I had the header heat treat coated, I managed to score alot of the paint off it attempting to get it in. I was cursing and really upset over the whole thing. But I managed to revert everything back to the way it was, and the car runs normally. I've since set out the header to get recoated before getting a shop to do the install for me. This vid helps, but if you've got the racing beat header to install, there's no way it'll go in as smooth as you video taped the header you picked out. Just giving people a heads up.

Are you using the RB midpipe? What muffler section?

@@TheSlipAngle does the original manifold have a built in cat

@@AightBro123 From the pictures I would say no, looks like the cat is further down.

Ah gotcha. Well good to know! Anytime! Thank you very much for subscribing and for the support 👍

Glad it helped!

Thank you! ✌️

Thank you Ruben!

Thanks Jhan! Happy New Year to you as well!

Just finished installing the fortune 500 coilovers car look great. It took me 2 sundays to do but who care.. I'm felling more confident in doing the header..

I'm with you rotory bother. Everytime I get the money something comes up! I'm going to try to do a self rebuild over the summer, already got everything done except mm and trans. It's been sitting on jack stands for 3 years now!!

There are other videos of the car on the channel where you can hear how it sounds.

Ahh, I’ll check it out. Haha

I mean I am an arms dealer on the side now ;) Look up www.gqarmory.com. I am also on Instagram and Facebooks with regular upgates as @gqarmory

I had their "3 inch" midpipe and sold it because they neck down the connections at the flanges so you can use it with stock or their aftermarket components, so assuming the header was meant to match to it, then it would have the same ID of like ~65mm if I remember correctly. I am not sure if they always did this, as I have an RB exhaust on my FD and their resonated race pipe on my NB and they don't have that. Either way I was going to have to cut and reweld the flanges if I was going to keep it, hence why I abandoned their system all together. Their catback was also 10 lbs heavier than stock which is a shame because I really do like RBs muffler quality as they actually work, but my car is quieter (and lighter) with the setup I have.

Garage Quinn Motors Thanks for the reply. I saw you commenting about that but you had the dual resonated pipe. I have the straight pipe with no resonators which is lighter and i cant remember it sizing down at the connection points. but then again i might be wrong ... Keep up the nice vids ;)

Btw you can check my vids .. I am sure you ll find them interesting ;)

A header alone will not cause a CEL if you retain the air pump. Removing the air pump or deleting the cat can cause you to throw a CEL. The midpipe I have has an o2 space (visible when showing the installed exhaust in this video) and that has prevented me from getting a CEL for the cat being removed. The air pump removal causes a CEL.

Thanks. I really appreciate. It is a nice time to buy a header from the racing beat. Lol

@@TheSlipAngle So how do you get round the CEL for the air pump? Is there a way to trick the ecu into thinking the sap is still there?

I recently dyno'ed this car with all of the bolt-ons. To me, if you are doing N/A mods, you need to do them all to maximize the system. If I were to just dyno the header gains, the data wouldn't really matter to me since I know the factory cats and muffler would still be a bottleneck in the system not allowing the full potential of the header.

Most likely. I mean I do own a firearms business after all lol ;) instagram.com/gqarmory

Actually it's very common place here in America. I'm honestly pretty shocked if I walk into a friend's house and they don't have a firearm laying around. I don't understand why somebody wouldn't have a firearm laying around. It's like walking into a kitchen and seeing a blender. They're both just tools.

@@longblacktrain777 You need to come up with a lot of ingenuity to get killed by your blender...

@@Myosos You could bash someone over the head with it if you choose to. Everyone driving a motor vehicle on the road has the ability take out a person or crowd with the decision to steer it off the road. The bottom line is that atrocities where life is taken comes down to the decision of the individual consciously choosing to commit those atrocities. I hold people accountable for their actions, not the object. That is the beauty and the curse of having free will. Every single human being has the potential of being completely angelic ranging all the way to pure evil. I acknowledge that there are people in this world who are evil and do not have any regard for human life or value how precious a life is. It's one of the only truly irreplaceable things in this world. Because this evil exists in this world, I acknowledge that and have adapted myself to be in a position to potentially mitigate an atrocity from occurring if I ever encounter such an unfortunate event. Aside from the recreation aspects of it, a firearm is a tool of absolute last resort to protect life. Evil people and criminals who are willing to take life certainly do not give a crap about any laws governing these tools or a sign on the window saying the establishment is a firearm free zone. In these encounters you have seconds to potentially defend yourself and those around you. So what are you supposed to do? Tell the person to stop and wait while you call authorities? There are channels like Police Activity and Active Self Protection on RU-vid that give you a glimpse into how these situations go down. I highly recommend people watch these videos to try to better understand the mindset of the people who commit these acts and see how these situations actually happen in real life. Process that data and then make your own conclusions and decisions on where you stand on it and what you think would be viable for yourself if you were ever to wind up in one of them. There is no right or wrong answer. It all comes down to each individuals values, but it's a real question and a possibility we all potentially face in the world we live in.

You can say all you want but face the fact: your country is ridden with mass shootings, and every country that has installed gun control has seen gun casualties reduced. The primary goal of a car is to travel from point A to B. The primary goal of a gun is to kill. Stop using false logic to justify your way of life. You can like having guns and like the object, that doesn't change the fact is was made for killing.

I can hear fireballs when I am really on it but I am not sure if they can make it out of the stock muffler or not.

Need a bridgeport or streetport to get the flames.

I have not seen a good collector come on any of the cheap headers. I think the quality vs the cost of this header was well worth it.

Hey Jordan, I had a link but they no longer sell it on eBay. I think you have to go directly to their website now. I paid 480.00 for it when they were selling on eBay.

Garage Quinn Motors , that's a great price! I just paid $599 sadly. Oh well. Looking forward to it.

No wrap. It is installed as shown in the video. The air pump only runs when the car is cold and is to help the catalytic converter get up to temp. I don't think there is much cooling benefit from it. Having no cat already helps lower exhaust gas temperatures. Plus heat wrap fatigues the welds on the headers faster. I doubt heat will be an issue since this is only a daily driver for me. The amount of track driving conditions this car will see are going to be small.

Quinn? Are you exempt from IM emissions testing? I'm in NH, and, I have to pass IM emissions up here, and, we are the "Don't Tread on Me" State. I understand the air pump process, but, since I'll need to plug in annually, I can't have codes. I think I HAVE TO keep the catalytic convertor ( I don't know a guy who can pass me) so, leaving the air pump in to reduce warm up time- lengthening cat life- seems to be my ONLY choice. $1,300 seems very steep to replace as well. Ouch- it's definitely another downside to the 13-B.

Mazaedit will allow you to disable the CEL. We are not exempt here unless the car is 25 years old. I have a cell spacer in my catless midpipe that doesn't cause any CELs either. In my state we can have 1 monitor not ready and still pass.

The MAP sensor is still connected.

Support the 2nd Amendment! :P

Yes I did

The software is MazdaEdit. Supposedly you can disable a CEL with it. I am going to be installing it soon, so we will see.

Garage Quinn Motors wow that’s awesome brother thats a video right there lol

MazdaEdit

everything he owns is so much cooler than an ND though.

The stock ECU can compensate without tuning, but tuning will optimize the gains.

Thanks bud. The midpipe came with a parts car I had bought so I honestly have no idea what listing it came with. I think it comes with a muffler section. The o2 spacer comes out of the midpipe at an angle. I hope that helps.

Sure does. Thank you very much :)

The state I live in is no different than yours

@@TheSlipAngle How do you pass emissions tests, then? With the age of the cars, I would have to go get it every other year. (AZ charges $35.99 for the test.)

@@TheSlipAngle I left a couple questions on your other videos, too, so thanks for responding.

@@bryanhallman8183 using Mazdaedit. Check out the videos for that

@@TheSlipAngle Ok, thanks. Does the Premix affect it at all? I really like that Sohn set up.

Yes, the intake, header and midpipe combined yielded a noticeable bump in power over stock. I am pretty happy with it.

Would you be able to link it of where we can get it? Thanks

No

@@pmm4177 dam get over yourself maybe yours is just shithouse

It's a little raspier, but nothing obnoxious. I sold the dual resonated pipe to a friend of mine. If i end up getting rid of the stock catback I'd consider getting a beefier resonator, but I am mostly concerned with weight and noise. Ironically the OEM catback is lighter then most of the popular aftermarket options that have decent mufflers to actually muffle sound. So it's kind of a wash.

Tein Flex Z and they are no good. Too soft of spring rate for the RX-8. Eventually I will move into Ohlins for this car.

@TheSlipAngle I was looking at the Billstein I hear they make good suspension. It's a little pricey but if it worth it. I just order an entire header to exhaust with the Turbo X high flow cat. After Christmas I'll install them. Thank you for the video 👍

Thank you brother!

I am running a no name eBay one that came with the silver RX-8 I picked up this summer. It has a single small resonator in it and a built in o2 sensor spacer.

Thanks man. I do take on some side work on occasion cause ya know.... I'm an opportunist ;)

Oh alright cool so if I buy stainless exhaust catback with headers it will not raise a check engine light or anyting

And if your up to work on someone's car mine's just the same to put on headers in a pipes where you located how much would you charge??

If you change the midpipe and remove the cat you might throw a check engine light depending on which midpipe you use. I am in CT and I charge 100.00 per hour for automotive work.

It would fail the visual if the place wants to bust my chops. Otherwise, the midpipe that is on here has an o2 spacer that prevents a CEL for a missing cat.

Thank you. I have no idea what the exact power gain was as I did not do before and after dyno's

Sorry Rishi, it is already sold.

I think you mean an o2 spacer / defouler. I had one built into my old midpipe and that seemed to work, but many have reported issues trying to use them with the RX-8

@@TheSlipAngle I'm confused , so it worked on your Mazda rx-8? Or a different car you had?

That one seemed to work. It threw a check engine light initially, then went away and never came back. That midpipe was some no name one that came with a parts car I bought. It eventually busted at the hanger so I scrapped it for the RB unit, which at that point I had installed Mazdaedit and disabled the ECU for checking for that cel.

@@TheSlipAngle oh cool , so you have heard of it working on cars before? Just didn't know if it worked on rotary engines...

Exotic Speed makes it

00:38

No harm at all. It's just space and weight in the engine bay so I opted to remove it. It will throw a CEL though. Nothing Mazdaedit can't fix ;)

The whole airpump assembly is removed. You can see me attaching the block off plate to the header where the tube would normally connect.

The midpipe I am using has an o2 extender and it doesn't cause a CEL for the cat removed.

gotchya, thanks for the info.

The exhaust note got a little louder, maybe sounds a tad more tuned. I wouldn't say raspy though. The midpipe came with the silver RX-8 I bought. I believe it's just an eBay unit. It does have a built in CEL spacer, threw a light initially, but then it went off and never came back. I usually run 255's on a 9.5 wide rim and the fitment is about perfect. I wouldn't recommend staggering wheel size on the RX-8 though. It will just induce understeer and take away from it's wonderful balance. I have 18x9.5 +30 with 255/35/18s all around on my car. The fitment is very aggressive and clears without any rolling, some camber and a conservative height. See my suspension install video for the complete details. I think 18x9.5 +38 is perfect fitment for an RX-8.

Garage Quinn Motors hi , that sounds right but can you give input / thoughts if skinnier tires up front would produce understeer? Or maybe im understanding it wrong. Wouldn’t that cause oversteer? Im just curious on your thoughts, though I agree because they did engineer the rx8 totally square

Skinnier tires up front would make the front wheels more prone to lose grip before the rear tires, therefore understeer as the car would track straight when trying to turn.

Gaming Made Simple i have 18x9.5 with +22 offset with 255 40 18s with no clearance issues

pmm4177 can you please post a picture or a video and then link it here? Thanks

I did get a CEL for the air pump being removed. I will disable it with Mazda Edit.

I have not seen a single cheap eBay header that I thought looked decent.

The 18x9.5 +30 wheels I have on there now are really aggressive fitment. If they were a less aggressive +38 offset, they would have been about perfect. So wheel spacers definitely wouldn't benefit my scenario ;)

18x9.5 +4 on mine Haha 25mm poke

18x8.5 +35 on mine, fits just to the top edge of the fender with some poke on the lower fender.

There is at the end of the video

They do but I have Mazdaedit so there's that haha

Enkei Kojin

lol. Sig P229 Elite Stainless in .40 S&W ;)

Garage Quinn Motors hard to tell in holster all i saw was Beaver tail

No worries! The give away was that there is no grip safety and exposed mainspring housing ;)

I don't know. Maybe. What is your midpipe bolted to now? If it's the stock header and you don't have any issues, then yes this will work.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8cleNTAsVY0.html The wheel and tire setup is in this video ;)

They sell them for much less on eBay.

Garage Quinn Motors can't find em probably they re not shipping to Europe.. cheapest I can get them is 559 + 159 +? customs fee.. guess it's not worth it at this point.. racing beat alternative not much cheaper though..

Looks like they upped the price: www.ebay.com/itm/EXOTICSPEED-GT-HIGH-FLOW-exhaust-Manifold-header-for-Mazda-RX8-2003-12-SUS304/332609534129?hash=item4d7112b8b1

my bad.. anyway, thanks for the answers!

18x9.5 +30

Yes, need to edit the ECU to stop monitoring that code.

As Robert said ;)

@@robertkorn what's the cheapest way to tune / shut off the engine light if I did add a mid pipe? Disabled money is tight.

@@jaynosowsky9708 Mazdaedit will let you top the ECU from checking for that condition, but the other option is to just reset it if it comes one. I gutted mine, had the light come on twice so far...not a big deal.

@@robertkorn best cheapest way I can find is using spark plug foulers....I guess if you incase the o2 sensor in it....it'll keep the engine light from coming on....you ever try this method before?

Enkei Kojin

Hmmm. I haven't had any issues and I've tracked this setup on an episode of The Slip Angle we did for it.

Yup they just aren't worth it.

Thanks bud. I am in CT, but a little ways away from Bridgeport.

Why do you find that crazy? Have you looked at the runners of the stock exhaust manifold? They are nothing special. I wasn't try to sell you or anyone on this header. There is no sponsorship for this piece either. So you can take what I say for what it is worth or not but the car definitely makes more power with the header and it is very noticeable. And I am a guy who has exhausted and spent more than most on the tuned N/A route with my 99 ITB Miata, 03 S2000, and old S5 FC RX-7. At the end of the day I build these cars to my liking and I like the challenge of extracting as much HP as I can out of these mills. I think given the numerous all motor builds I've done in the past and the results I have gotten, if modifying exhaust was a waste of time I probably wouldn't be doing it still.

This mod is legit. His theory aligns with a hugely respected member of the Rx8 community. check out his header theory here: www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/teamrx8%92s-renesis-header-theory-thread-266914/

The reason i say this is because i know someone who is widely known in the rotary world, he has been building and racing rotary engine vehicles for 25+ years and even he says bolt on items are a complete waste of money on these engines and the wrong ones will actually hurt engine performance. If he says its bad for them i trust his word

@@TheSlipAngle im not disagreeing with you, by all means do as you want with your car and money. And yes, you did shed a lot of weight, all im saying is until you have dyno numbers to prove hp gains don't make false assertions about how much hp you gained from the mod, even if you gained 5 or 6 hp it would be unnoticeable, it would be like the placebo effect, if you have a headache and someone gave you 2 vitamin pills thinking they were Tylenol then you'd believe it worked. And if you don't know what the placebo effect is google it

First off let me say that I am not mad or offended, I've been doing RU-vid for a long time and have heard it all. Oddly enough, never do I poopoo other content creator's stuff. I simply do not have time or desire to do so. Secondly, you came in and made the claim that no bolt-ons can increase power on the RX-8, which I asked why you think that as I disagree, based off my own personal experience. Third, thank for the lesson on the placebo effect lol cause I've been living under a rock my entire life. So with that out of the way, let's get one thing straight here and that's that I never made any claims on how much power it gained. I said there was a noticeable bump. I daily this car, I am very in tune with how fast it is. Your "someone who is widely known in the rotary world mystery guy's" claim is very vague that all bolt-ons are a waste. I can say with honesty, that I personally have been in the rotary world for a long time. One of my best friends for the last 14 years who is very well versed in rotaries, helped me build and tune both of my RX-7 engines as well as given me advice chasing all motor power in the past on my other builds would disagree with that claim, but this he said she said stuff is just a waste of everyone's time. The information I am sharing through this channel comes from my own personal experience and I am really particular about how I share and word things as to not mislead someone. I do agree with your "rotary world" mystery guy that certain parts can hurt power, like these 100.00 eBay headers with garbage collectors. However, there is no way in hell the stock log manifold is more efficient than this header. I highly suggest you do some reading on exhaust scavenging, merge collectors and tuned runner lengths. As far as noise goes, with the RB resonated midpipe I added more recently, this car cruises just as quiet as stock. No drone, no additional noise. Makes a nice sound at wide open, but still very quiet overall. No change in gas mileage at all, as someone else mentioned MPGs will drop. Lastly, my car versus my friend's 06 GT with just a midpipe puts almost 2 cars on him. His car weighs 60 lbs more than mine, but 2 car lengths is not just from the weight. At the end of the day do what makes you happy. I am very happy with how this car has turned out and it keeps me entertained and comfortable while daily driving it.

I switched to a Racing Beat resonated midpipe and it got rid of all of the rasp. There are videos for it on the channel.

Would a uel header work on a rotary and make a sound difference

That was the result of a stock catback and straight through midpipe. I've switched to an RB resonated midpipe and that got rid of all of the rasp bruh