{"id":2766,"date":"2024-04-05T01:32:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T01:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\/?page_id=2766"},"modified":"2024-10-03T03:44:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T03:44:12","slug":"k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\/index.php\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\/","title":{"rendered":"K24 Turbo 2004 Mazda RX-8"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Words and<\/strong>\u00a0Photos: <\/strong>Richard Opie<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u2018Ideal\u2019 isn\u2019t an attribute most folk chuck around in the general direction of the Mazda RX-8.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Sure, the \u2018Is it a coupe, is it a sedan\u2019 styling definitely polarises opinion, especially given its follow-up status to the quite simply sublime form of the FD RX-7.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Then there\u2019s the dynamics of the chassis, lauded by the motoring press of the time for its stiffness and driver communication, which makes the questionable aesthetic insignificant \u2014 from behind the wheel, at least. Any chance of attaining a Meatloaf-certified \u201ctwo out of three\u201d score is then dashed by the presence of the much-maligned \u2014 many would say unfairly \u2014 Renesis 13B that the SE3P RX-8 packed from the moment it rolled off the Hiroshima production line. The Renesis lacked the sucker-punch torque of the dearly missed 13B-REW turbo, and, furthermore, would go on to develop well-publicised reliability issues. Just plug \u2018Renesis engine problems\u2019 into your favourite search engine to be bombarded by a cascade of disenchanted forum users.<\/p>\n\n

But what if the Mazda RX-8 does lend itself to your ideal? That\u2019s exactly how Gary Maddock ended up with this streak of \u2018quad coupe\u2019 blue lightning \u2014 a track weapon purpose built with the sole intent of scratching that particular itch.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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Being a lower North Island local, proximity to Manfeild would soon see the development of a thirst for running door to door with other cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThey ran these six-car sprints,\u201d Gary explains, \u201cand the moment I left the start line with five other cars I was hooked; there\u2019s nothing quite the same as running alongside a bunch of other guys.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSo I ended up buying this Civic EK9 road car. It had 200k on it and it had all these Mugen bits on it. I threw it all away back then and stripped it to go racing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Caged, with upgraded brakes and shocks, the EK9 fitted the bill. Gary\u2019s first meeting was a national-level event at Pukekohe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

He recalls, \u201cIt did my head in but I absolutely loved it! I was always in the lower third of the grid, but there was always someone to race, and in a reverse grid there was always someone coming at ya!\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The need for speed is a cruel addiction, and after two seasons Gary upgraded to the infamous \u2018silver bullet\u2019 DC2, a Speedfactor-liveried weapon packing a serious B20 VTEC engine, and initially campaigned by Justin Herbert. An evasive manoeuvre thanks to a spinning competitor would see Gary putting it into the front straight wall at Manfeild, leaving the car written off and a search for a new chassis.<\/p>\n\n

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Everything kicked off when a still-born RX-8 K24-swap project, started by Adam at Speed Science, began to pop up around Facebook, eventually coming up for sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI thought that might be entertaining, so I talked to Adam and got the car delivered to me,\u201d Gary says.<\/p>\n\n

Now, ordinarily, the RX-8, equipped with the Renesis, probably wouldn\u2019t quite meet the brief for unstressed, reliable, and fast, but the car arrived with a K24 Honda engine literally stropped into place. Not only a choice in the pursuit of function, but also a case of sticking to his Honda roots \u2014 a badge Gary\u2019s clearly grown fond of over his racing years. First stop, then, was ST Automotive\u2019s Shane Parsons, who set to work piecing together a stout K24 long block for the project.<\/p>\n\n

By Gary\u2019s own admission, it\u2019s not super exotic, with billet rods and forged 9:1 compression pistons atop a stock crank providing a rock-solid foundation for the boost to come. Up top, the head is simply a US-spec Acura TSX unit in bog-standard configuration, just refreshed in the interest of reliability. As Gary says, the Honda K-series cars have a reputation for flowing so well in stock form that in a boosted application, chasing the sort of power he was after, they didn\u2019t really require extensive porting or wild cams.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe motor was just sitting in the hole. Some of the firewall had been cut out, but it was far from really being mounted up,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n

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The first challenge was finding someone to do it.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI had a goal; I bought the car in February and wanted to drive it by Christmas, so I talked to Marc at Llama Engineering. He\u2019d built a car for me in the past so knew I was good for it and off we went.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

A kitset cage from Racecraft Engineering was stitched into place, and the supplied engine-mount kit was completely remanufactured. The firewall was chopped even further, so the engine could be moved back \u2014 although not as far back as the Llama boys initially wanted\u00a0 \u2014 and the cross member was totally re-engineered to sit the K24 suitably low.<\/p>\n\n

A RaceFab suspension arm kit, consisting of adjustable, rose-jointed arms on all four corners, supports a set of Fortune Auto 500 series coilovers, completing a simple but effective and tunable chassis arrangement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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Initial runs were promising, with just a few heat issues, so the RX-8 is well equipped with coolers for pretty much anything you care to name, in the interest of keeping things unstressed and reliable. Gary even reckons it\u2019s got it in it to run a one-hour endurance race; with a low-boost power level of 285kW and a high-boost number of 375kW, the RX-8 would no doubt be a potent contender.<\/p>\n\n

Thus far, though, Gary has focused on getting seat time, testing and ironing out issues before getting the RX-8 on the grid and amongst the fray.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt feels planted; the brakes are coming right with some development, and it\u2019s got heaps of power. It\u2019s going to be really fun,\u201d smiles Gary. \u201cWe\u2019re nearly at the point where it\u2019s just a case of sorting out the driver!\u201d<\/p>\n\n

As the answer to a question that\u2019s a couple of decades old, you\u2019ve gotta admit it\u2019s a pretty solid solution. The inherent rigidity of the RX-8 shell, coupled with the punch and reliability of Honda\u2019s K-series hero, should see Gary right until he hangs up the helmet for good \u2014 he admits it\u2019s very likely to be his last race car. A hell of a way \u2014 an ideal way, even \u2014 to see out a long tenure of tarmac thrashing.<\/p>\n\n

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Words and\u00a0Photos: Richard Opie \u00a0 \u2018Ideal\u2019 isn\u2019t an attribute most folk chuck around in the general direction of the Mazda RX-8.\u00a0 Sure, the \u2018Is it a coupe, is it a sedan\u2019 styling definitely polarises opinion, especially given its follow-up status to the quite simply sublime form of the FD RX-7.\u00a0 Then there\u2019s the dynamics of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2766","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nK24 Turbo 2004 Mazda RX-8 - Llama Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore Llama Engineering's K24 turbo swap for the 2004 Mazda RX-8 SE3P, delivering enhanced performance and reliability for your vehicle.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\/index.php\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"K24 Turbo 2004 Mazda RX-8 - Llama Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore Llama Engineering's K24 turbo swap for the 2004 Mazda RX-8 SE3P, delivering enhanced performance and reliability for your vehicle.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\/index.php\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Llama Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-03T03:44:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Mazda-RX8-K24-Turbo-350-scaled-1.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/\",\"name\":\"K24 Turbo 2004 Mazda RX-8 - Llama Engineering\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Mazda-RX8-K24-Turbo-350-scaled-1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-05T01:32:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-03T03:44:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Explore Llama Engineering's K24 turbo swap for the 2004 Mazda RX-8 SE3P, delivering enhanced performance and reliability for your vehicle.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Mazda-RX8-K24-Turbo-350-scaled-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/Mazda-RX8-K24-Turbo-350-scaled-1.webp\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/k24-turbo-2004-mazda-rx-8-se3p\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"K24 Turbo 2004 Mazda RX-8\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.llamaengineering.co.nz\\\/\",\"name\":\"Llama Engineering\",\"description\":\"Llama Engineering specializes in high-performance CNC design, prototype, fabrication, and race car maintenance services. 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