Reekkardo

Hello people, I am a new member but consider myself relatively knowledgeable about 8s... I moved to Perth a year ago and had to redo my licence, now that I'm close to getting it I am looking to buy my first car here. I have been reading for months about rx8s and have decided to pull the trigger on one. I had already seen and tried one (2006 model) fitted with some utility mods such as: new sparkplugs in iridium, catback exhaust, bhr midpipe (with the option of having the stock cat conv aswell), exedy clutch and a cooling relay; now, the only problem with this one was that the owner, despite being very servicing and kind, did not have receipts for any of these mods and, when asked for a compression test, did not provide me good data (average of the 3 faces and virtually no other information): No 1 Rotor : Leading 625kpa (95 psi) / Trailing 625kpa (95 psi) ; No 2 Rotor: Leading 625kpa (95psi) / Trailing 625kpa (95psi).
This was months ago and to be completely honest I was blinded by the beauty of the car and offered 12k AUD for it, which at the time did seem reasonable, but now does not considering the absence of everything. Despite this I am still interested in seeing this car because the owner genuinely showed care and knew what he was doing and how to keep it.
It goes without saying that the car did not have any problems when I tried it but knowing the insidious nature of the engine I wouldn't want it to start dying on me during the first months of my ownership.
What do you guys think? If I decide to get it, do you suggest me bringing the car to a mechanic first for a comprehensive check? If so, is there a reputable mechanic shop specialized in rotary engines here in Perth that you know of?
Thank you for your time and for letting me enter this grand community )).

Cheers,
Riccardo

XDragon8

It's easy to be blinded by the beauty of these cars. It sounds like the owner knows a fair bit about this car. The fact they have not provided receipts is a concern. They may have got the best out of the car and it could be on the downward spiral.
The plugs and clutch are standard equipment and make sure you get the cat with the system as you may need to swap it in for a roadworthy test at some time.
Make sure the car hot and cold starts well as I'm sure you have read about. If hot start delays then budget for 10k plus AUS as this is what I have done. I bought a known low comp engine knowing I would be up for a rebuild. 18 maths later and double the cost of car in engine rebuild later I am pretty happy. There is no cheap reliable options here in AUS as far as engines are concerned.
Make no mistake this is a very exxy car to maintain. I love mine but my friends and family think I'm nuts. There is notmuch point using a regular mechanic on this car as they are complex. You will be paying them to learn about this car!
Not trying to turn you on off the 8 at all, but do you know if the ecu is stock or has mazdaedit/ versatune installed? If so then you need to find out which codes have been masked. As I said this car is complex and I would not even run mine without OBD2 connectivity with all the main sensors.
I'm not in Perth so cannot recommend any rotorspefic or other mechanics there. You will have to get good at doing things yourself.
I hope this car works out for you and you treat it well, the AUS 8 forum is dead and not many will see your thread here.
Feel free tohit me up for local knowledge or keep reading on this site plus the UK club as both are awesome. Good luck.

Reekkardo

Thanks brother, really helpful advice here. I still haven't contacted him back but the lad was being pretty helpful and honest, the only concern was the absence of receipts... I will probably get it checked out if I do get back to him for the sale, to my expense, so that if he backs down it will be the final red flag. When I went there I brought a notebook with me and annotated everything and his answers to my questions were quite satisfactory. As far as I know the ECU hasn't been messed with, although the previous owner was a mechanic and allegedly kept it as a show car (don't really have an idea about what that may mean). I got a few acquaintances who will hopefully lead me to a good person that can at least instruct me better on these engines (first time dealing so could get ugly), but apart from this I am really lost heh.
Still, we go forward and I think I already know I'm gonna opt for an 8, I'm ready for it .

Also, might hit you up if I have any more questions =D, thanks heaps for the advice

XDragon8

No problem at all. It sounds like you have your eyes wide open which is a great start. BTW if the condition of the 8 you are looking at is in fantastic condition I would rate this higher than engine specifics as long as you planned to keep the car. Everything else can be bolted on/off but does cost money. Engine is largest cost of course!
The 8 is an amazing car if you treat it right.

Joeyjoiner

Did you end up buying one?
Everyone says Rotormotion are the only people to have work on your car, they will do a compression test for you.
I bought mine without an engine....

Reekkardo

The one I was looking at got sold without any alert to my part, which kinda sucked as I was talking regularly to the guy and specifically asked him to, but hey, what can you do. Another one (s1) popped up on the marketplace and seems very nice, owner is nice too, I'm going to see it on saturday probably and from there we'll see. If nothing happens I will probably lean more towards an mps, either 6 or 3, as I've heard they're good cars. We'll see what will happen.
Also about Rotomotion, I heard the same and the guy provided a compression test done literally today (receipt and everything) by them, all the faces are in the 80s area (done at 250rpm) so it still has some life left in it, rebuild is approximately 7k I think, but that will be for the future if I end up getting the car.

XDragon8

As a bit of an incentive and 8 morivation, check out the guys on "Zero to 60" YouTube channel if not already. They are Aussie blokes doing up a blue 8 and riding out all the issues we tend to find in our project cars. Worth a look as I just stumbled across them. Cheers. 😀

Joeyjoiner

My recent rebuild was $10k plus....