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How did I get here, on the RX8 forum of all places? Welp, lets go back to the beginning! I had a 1985 Toyota Supra in high school as my first car, worked two summers to buy it for $2k. I was 17 (I'm only 22 now) and I bought it because "cheap" "Supra". Well, it spun the #3 rod bearing and I couldn't afford another car at the time and I first genuinely discovered the joy of driving in this car, so I set out to save it. With the school auto shop tools and resources, Haynes manual, and the cheapest gasket set eBay could supply I re-built that car from the crank up. "Hey, I kinda like this stuff" My auto teacher got me into a GMC dealership that was hiring and I have been working there for almost 5 years now. Since then I have been fixing and modifying my own cars/motorcycles like mad. Everything from a turbocharged 2013 FRS to a barn find 1980 Yamaha XS650. We had a customer come in who needed a clutch on his RX8, we usually don't work on Japanese stuff but I volunteered because I love Japanese stuff. This was my first time driving a rotary powered car. It felt like nothing I had ever driven before. Even the vibration from the engine was so wild and different to me. The clutch job was one of the easiest I've ever done and just seeing the 4 spark plugs on the left side of the motor fascinated me. How the hell does this thing work? How does a spinning triangle make power? Wild. I wanted to own one, I wanted to learn how to rebuild it. I found a 2007 RX8 for sale online for cheap "doesn't run, 30k miles". Pictures looked rough, like it had been sitting for years. The guy knew nothing about it, just that it wouldn't run anymore. He talked with Mazda guys that told him it needed a full re-build. I didn't care, I have other cars, I can take my time learning and rebuilding it myself. I showed up expecting to see the engine half-torn apart. But no, he hadn't even attempted to get it running or troubleshoot. He hooked the jump box to the battery and I cranked it over for the hell of it. Hmmmm, smells like fuel. "When was the last time it ran?" I asked, "I moved it around the lot and it wouldn't start back up" he replied, "Did you let it warm up before you shut it off?" He didn't. Even I know you're supposed to do that. I bought the car for $1700 and had him tow it to my shop. After he left, the car got a fresh tank of gas, new battery and was de-flooded. It fired right up. I was in disbelief, I let it warm to operating temperature and drove it around. It drove wonderful (minus flat spots in the tires and rusted calipers/rotors from sitting). It hot-started quickly and without trouble. 31k miles, under $2k. Wild. Its getting all the fluids flushed, tires, belts, plugs, coils, filters here soon. As well as the body buffed and polished from sitting. This has to be to good to be true, either way, I'm in it for the long haul. Thanks for having me, and I look forward to being a part of this community!
Just so you know, it doesn't need to be warmed up to be shut off. Just means it has a weak ignition system. Fresh coils, plugs, wires, battery and an S2 starter or any combination there of will fix that.
How did I get here, on the RX8 forum of all places? Welp, lets go back to the beginning! I had a 1985 Toyota Supra in high school as my first car, worked two summers to buy it for $2k. I was 17 (I'm only 22 now) and I bought it because "cheap" "Supra". Well, it spun the #3 rod bearing and I couldn't afford another car at the time and I first genuinely discovered the joy of driving in this car, so I set out to save it. With the school auto shop tools and resources, Haynes manual, and the cheapest gasket set eBay could supply I re-built that car from the crank up. "Hey, I kinda like this stuff" My auto teacher got me into a GMC dealership that was hiring and I have been working there for almost 5 years now. Since then I have been fixing and modifying my own cars/motorcycles like mad. Everything from a turbocharged 2013 FRS to a barn find 1980 Yamaha XS650. We had a customer come in who needed a clutch on his RX8, we usually don't work on Japanese stuff but I volunteered because I love Japanese stuff. This was my first time driving a rotary powered car. It felt like nothing I had ever driven before. Even the vibration from the engine was so wild and different to me. The clutch job was one of the easiest I've ever done and just seeing the 4 spark plugs on the left side of the motor fascinated me. How the hell does this thing work? How does a spinning triangle make power? Wild. I wanted to own one, I wanted to learn how to rebuild it. I found a 2007 RX8 for sale online for cheap "doesn't run, 30k miles". Pictures looked rough, like it had been sitting for years. The guy knew nothing about it, just that it wouldn't run anymore. He talked with Mazda guys that told him it needed a full re-build. I didn't care, I have other cars, I can take my time learning and rebuilding it myself. I showed up expecting to see the engine half-torn apart. But no, he hadn't even attempted to get it running or troubleshoot. He hooked the jump box to the battery and I cranked it over for the hell of it. Hmmmm, smells like fuel. "When was the last time it ran?" I asked, "I moved it around the lot and it wouldn't start back up" he replied, "Did you let it warm up before you shut it off?" He didn't. Even I know you're supposed to do that. I bought the car for $1700 and had him tow it to my shop. After he left, the car got a fresh tank of gas, new battery and was de-flooded. It fired right up. I was in disbelief, I let it warm to operating temperature and drove it around. It drove wonderful (minus flat spots in the tires and rusted calipers/rotors from sitting). It hot-started quickly and without trouble. 31k miles, under $2k. Wild. Its getting all the fluids flushed, tires, belts, plugs, coils, filters here soon. As well as the body buffed and polished from sitting. This has to be to good to be true, either way, I'm in it for the long haul. Thanks for having me, and I look forward to being a part of this community!
Love it. Isn't it great when you can profit off the laziness of other people?
I bought the car for $1700 and had him tow it to my shop. After he left, the car got a fresh tank of gas, new battery and was de-flooded. It fired right up. I was in disbelief, I let it warm to operating temperature and drove it around. It drove wonderful (minus flat spots in the tires and rusted calipers/rotors from sitting). It hot-started quickly and without trouble. 31k miles, under $2k. Wild. Its getting all the fluids flushed, tires, belts, plugs, coils, filters here soon. As well as the body buffed and polished from sitting. This has to be to good to be true, either way, I'm in it for the long haul. Thanks for having me, and I look forward to being a part of this community!
This is exactly how I got 2 of my RX8's. The first one I got was a red 5 speed manual I got from a mechanic for $1500 he was convinced it was low on compression because it wouldn't start. 2 hours of troubleshooting and deflooding and I had a new daily driver on the road. Ended up driving it for about 2 years and sold it for $3500 to a new owner and she still drives it to this day.
My most recent purchase was a silver RX8 6 speed manual and same story. This guy seemed to put a lot of work into it. It was rusty and in relatively poor condition cosmetically, but my friend has a body shop so if everything mechanically was good I thought it would be a great buy. Got it for $1500 and I still drive it to this day.
Nothing wrong with profiting off the ignorance of bad owners who shouldnt own one of these. Attached are a couple pics of both my cheap RX8 purchases.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; 10-26-2019 at 10:21 AM.
Still going to do a compression test just to know where I'm at. I had the car on the lift and didn't see much rust at all which is surprising. The last good sticker was in 2016 so it needs quite a bit of work from sitting for 3 years. Had the ABS light and DSC light come on while driving as well, need to diagnose that. I've already re-learned the steering position sensor. I also polished a section of the paint and it seems like it can be saved.
10-25-2019, 11:44 PM
