Pete and Ben's Rotary Racer

[pistol pete]

Yeah we will be going back to stock

[Ben]

Well, that was an intense weekend!

First up, off to Uxbridge to pick up a set of bare wheels. Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic was in full swing, it was hot, and the air-con doesn’t work. I’d forgotten how much heat these things generate! Still, wheels collected I headed back to the M25 and down to South Kent. I’m a complete Waze convert now, as well – it managed to steer me round a closure ion the M25 that the gantries weren’t showing, and another set of traffic on the M25. Total driving time from Marlow to the Marsh was 3.5 hours including a stop for the wheels, which wasn’t too bad really. I was absolutely sweltering by the time I arrived though!

First things first, I had to introduce Pete to his new race car! We took it for a nice run around the marsh back-roads and confirmed our list of jobs to tackle for the weekend. That done, we had beer and caught an early night.

One of the biggest jobs we had to do (and so, the one we did first) was sort out the blowing exhaust manifold. It had a stainless aftermarket unit fitted which has been farting away merrily since I picked the car up, but Pete had managed to get a good standard unit off a breaker all ready to go after a bit of fighting with stubborn studs:

2017-07-07_11-08-48 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

So, as of 8am Saturday morning, we got to work!

2017-07-08_10-33-23 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

And after much (much!) swearing…

2017-07-08_10-33-38 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

No prizes for guessing where this POS was blowing from….

2017-07-08_10-33-53 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Next job was to go hunting for another set of wheels – this time, to swap the 19s for a set of standard wheels with good tyres we can use on the road. I’d slightly underestimated the journey involved for this one, as it turned out, but after a 65-mile drive to Brixton and changing someone’s wheels in the carpark of a swanky hotel (a pretty surreal experience, I have to say!) we came home with the goodies:

2017-07-08_10-34-25 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Our work not over yet, we managed to find time for a full service (oil, filter, plugs, coils and some EMC Yellowstuff pads) before calling it a night. It was getting dark by this point…

2017-07-08_10-34-38 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

2017-07-08_10-34-53 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Up early again on Sunday, and it was time for the fiddly jobs. I got started fitting the new numberplates – which wasn’t much fun given what I faced after pulling the old ones off!

2017-07-09_10-44-35 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

More important, perhaps, was securing the previously unsecured battery and correcting some pretty horrendous wiring bodges. Someone at some point has fitted a catch tank, the location of which was pushing the wiring loom against one of the pulleys. No damage to the wiring, fortunately, but it was only a matter of time! The unsecured battery tray was also a victim:

2017-07-09_10-44-46 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr



So, another tray from the breaker and a bit of swearing later, we had this:

2017-07-09_10-45-00 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Much better!

On to the last jobs now, we got busy stripping some weight out of it. Front interior and seats are remaining for now, until we get some decent seats and a cage so we can run proper harnesses, but we still managed to remove a fair amount from the rear!

2017-07-09_10-45-11 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

2017-07-09_10-45-31 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

And, for the full-on Ricer Special look (well, I was starting to get attached to it, so what better way to cure that!). Purists, look away now…

2017-07-09_10-45-41 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

And with that, time for a test drive! It immediately felt much happier – the engine was pulling better, idling better, and (mercifully) there were no blows from the exhaust. It’s actually quite civilised on a steady throttle now! We were suffering with a fairly horrendous noise at WOT though, which after a bit of reading up turned out to the an issue known as ‘marbles in a tin can.’ Pretty alarming at first, but after replacing the BP 95RON with some V-Power it has gone away. I was a little nervous about the long drive home, but made it with no dramas despite the M25’s best efforts. We really need to fix the aircon, though…

So that’s it for now, it’s pretty much ready for race weekend in a couple of weeks. There are a few other bits to sort in future (a front splitter of some sort, refitting a standard airbox, investigate a Sohn adapter) but we’ll see how we get on at Blyton and take it from there. Assuming it survives to tell the tale

2017-07-10_10-51-59 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

2017-07-10_10-51-44 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

2017-07-09_10-46-05 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

[pistol pete]

Love that wing

[craig]

Love that wing

It lives on!!

Nice work so far

[Magic Beans]

Good to see that old wing still doing the rounds. How many cars has it been on now? 5?

[Essex2Visuvesi]

That manifold looks like the Toyosports/japspeed one

They normally need the mating face machining flat to get any kind of decent seal

Most peoples opinion of them:-


Have you introduced yourselves on the RX8OC?
http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/
Well worth it and some good discounts offered to paid up members by the traders on there

Can I take on the mantle of "t'wing" when you're done with it?

[pistol pete]

Thanks guys

yeah the the wing has been on a few cars,, including craigs..

and yep we have gone back to stock, it looked nice but indeed it was poop

[Essex2Visuvesi]

Stick the old manifold on e-bay
They sell well 2nd hand surprisingly

[Ben]

Thanks mate, it's already gone though!

A few little bits and pieces have been ordered, but I'm not expecting much more to happen with the car until.....







RACE WEEKEND

[chasmundo]

Loving this thread and waiting for the next installment.
Great job

[Chr15py]

Cant go wrong with a bit of WANKel fun hahahahaahahaha!

Chris

[Chr15py]

Oh and Ben....you better be coming to JAE this year! Has been too long bud

Chris

[Ben]

Booked and paid for dude!

[monkeymax]

I've always had a soft spot for the RX8 but never got round to buying one. I shall be watching with interest...

This, totally.

Loving this thread!

[pistol pete]

I shall attempt my own update later if I can work out flickr

okay my first proper update.. sorry i am sure a lot will repeat what Ben has said, but this will be in Pete speak, so will make much less sense

It was Kels (my wife) Idea for me and ben to share a "racecar" after some much excited discussions, the westfield and the fiesta were up for sale.

We had a lot of fun sharing at Croft With Ben just beating me (git). I was amazed the amount of people interested in how we were doing. Anyways after dicussion, and i really wanted RWD we decided on the mad rx8 plan. i mean why not

Sooooo many to choose from for days we were going back and forth looking at loads.. in the end we decided just go for one. It was closer to ben , and as you have read, he went and looked and put deposit down.

Knowing that we were going to have to change the exhaust manifold gasket and having my brother rather knackered RX8 on my drive. i thought i would have a go and getting his one off, so if we decided we would have a stock one to put back on, glad i did

But what a pig of a job!had to cut the "fresh air" pipe to get the manifold off as it had rounded the 2 6mm bolts

So out comes the Dremel to cut them off and then stilsons to get the stud out. re tapped and all ready for reinstalling in our car
IMAG1665 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

new studs and nuts test fitted
IMAG1667 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

Ben has already told you about the weekend.
I gave it a drive when he first come down.. its very different for me as my daily cars i always go with something with lots of torque, so this engine is going to be a steep learning curve. As soo as i drove it you could tell it needed love and 19s looked great but were horrible

So did all the work as ben mentioned, took it for a run
soo much better. after taking my favourite picture
IMAG1677 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

I may have done a 6500rpm launch.. it was a lot of fun, well had to check the clutch..

after that Ben went on his merry way home..

He left me with the wheels
i went and got the tyres taken off
IMAG1678 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

then it was out with the spray can
IMAG1685 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1686 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1687 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1692 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

they are really patchy as i didn't quite have enough paint, so popped out this eve and grabbed some more
IMAG1698 by Pete Mason, on Flickr


cannot wait to get these on there

IMAG1696 by Pete Mason, on Flickr


when i have finished painting and wrapped in rubber ill get some more pics.

I have ordered some stickers, (some Ben doesn't know about
) well it wouldn't a race car with stickers, which will be fitted in Premier Inn car Park

Bring on Blyton

[Ben]

I have ordered some stickers, (some Ben doesn't know about)

[pistol pete]

I belive ben had some fun today in the wet weather..

Some stickers arrived today gotta love race car stickers
IMAG1706_1 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
Also I have redone the wheels today.. now just to fit the tyres
IMAG1704 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1703 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1702 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

they should look good on track

[pistol pete]

superb weekend at blyton, unfortunately due to me driving like a tart and then all of the rain happening Ben trounced me.. but i had lot of fun
here is my 2nd run, which turned out to be my fastest of the day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u5oSPgRJBU


Ben decided he wanted to go and investigate a field...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcsDvL6qCuY

And Ben's fastest run of the day his 4th run (i followed after Ben, half way round it rained )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVty-2QX3sE

Top job Ben he came 3rd in class out of 12 in the group and even got a trophy in our rotary racer (I came 7th )

It got sticker-ed up first thing in the morning, and it ran faultless all day (slight mishap the day before, turned out to be a fuel relay) the was a lot of fun, cannot wait for Angelsey now. can't believe how much grip it has, even when it was raining, those R888Rs are a great tyre

some pics..

Stickered up
IMAG1728 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1727 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1729 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1733 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1734 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

Sighting laps
IMAG1731 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

Ben going out
IMAG1736 by Pete Mason, on Flickr


Phil(Magicbeans) Presenting the Winner of the Wankel cup
IMAG1738 by Pete Mason, on Flickr


trusty steed
IMAG1741 by Pete Mason, on Flickr
IMAG1743 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

Ben getting Javelin trophy
IMAG1744 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

Top Job Sir
IMAG1748 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

[pistol pete]

Here it is launching off the start line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktaH7PshcXs

[Ben]

I'll just leave this here...