Hello, i just recently got a 2004 black rx-8 (sports Trim) and to be honest im in love with the car. and im willing to put under $950 into tuning this thing i want to turn heads. now i need serious advice on performance parts, small exterior changes, interior changes, and anything adding up to under $950. (this is my first car im taking seriously and im not very auto savvy)

 

for now, i would go with intake and exhaust. corksport sells a power series dual exhaust for $600 and a k&n typhoon for $300. that, plus shipping will put you around $950.

www.corksport.com for the parts that you need. that is about all that you are going to get for that price. the rx8 is still pretty expensive for after market because they are uncommon. it sucks because people with civics can put an exhaust manifold on their car for next to nothing, but the one for the 8 is over $1000. i know someone who sells headers for the rx8's for about $280 if you are interested in that. you could do the power series exhaust, a header, and get a shop to build you a mid pipe for the car. that would put you at a full exhaust from motor back. just remember to take the cats to a recycler and they will give you top $$ for them, giving you some more money to spend on the car. if you let the shop keep them, they will make more money off of you recycling them.

 

absolutely, id be interested in that anything to save a little $$. also i was thinking of painting the calipers as well. i know im going to the the K&N intake but im not totally sold on an exhaust system. I is there anything else i could go with for less money??

 

well, power-for-dollar wise, you would do best with a full exhaust. the header will give you the most gains out of pretty much any n/a mod. test-pipe would be the second most and the cat-back exhaust would tie with an intake for third, in my opinion. intakes look cool and clean up the engine bay, but they are expensive for the lack of hp gains. i would do the exhaust first and get an intake later. then you could do motor mounts, suspension, rims, short shifter, etc.

the other benefit of doing the exhaust first is being able to sell the cats to make some money back. they go for a premium if you check with the right recycler. i don't know if your car has two or three cats, but my rx7 had 3 cats with 2 resonators. the cats went for about $80 each when i pulled the exhaust.

 

when it comes down to buying could i just buy the header or do i have ot buy it all for it to properly work? i am trying to manage my money. the only reason i wanted to intae now is because it is cheaper. so you think exhaust first?