ryanzRx8

hi everyone i am new to this forum but i know my fair share about this wonderful wankle rotary machine. I am 18 years old at the moment and am planning to buy and rx8 with in the next year and a half. I have done an extreme amount of research on this car and it brings me to either do two thing. i will have ten grand to spend by that time and its either i buy an 06 plus with high kms and do the usual replace sparks, coils, plugs,clutch, starter etc which i think is a big risk for me because i cannot afford an engine rebuild as i am university student and i can only pay for my gas, insurance and oil. MY second option would be to buy a very cheap rx8 with prob a blown motor and rebuild it with the ten grand i have saved up and make it like a brand new rx8. I am going crazy on what to do everyday i come home from school and research about this car because i love rotarys but everything out there is misleading and different.

i know i am kinda crazy but but if someone could just lead me in the right direction so i can have my mind set on what im doing that would be great.
thanks.

patriotjj

Since you said youve done your research, im assuming you already know. Just before you buy, make sure you get a rotary compression test or the seller has documents of a compression test

niteshade247

I think you should find a cheeper car to maintain till your out of school and have a good job. There is a lot of things with a S1 Rx8 that needs attention all the time. If you spend 4k on a cheep high milage Rx8 then in 5k miles your coils go ($250-$600) but you didn't get to it before it cooked the CAT ($400) then the cooked CAT was not noticed before it cooked the engine ($4000) your now broke because those figurs don't count labor you now have a Rx8 that you drive for another 5k-10k miles you can't afford to do anything to but oops the SSV starts to stick or the high milage S1 fuel pump decides to die (at this point the dead fuel pump can cost you engine 2) you now have no money no ride and hate the car.
I'm not trying to turn you from buying a Rx8 but this is a example as to what can happen with a high milage Rx8 that was porly taken care of and now the owner wants to sell you there problem cheaply.

Khurram

+1 What niteshade said

if I was you.. I'd go for an 07 or 08 well maintained low mileage rx8. At least it would be covered till 2017 or 2018 respectively. And maintain the best I could.

Buying a cheap rx8 with the intention of rebuilding will drain your pockets faster than you'll know.
I have an 04 well maintained, with 261k kms on it now she is my daily.

Though its been well maintained, I need the followings parts just to give u an idea

engine Mounts,
Front upper control arms both
Rear Wheel Bearings
Rear struts
just the parts alone are $1100

and they are wear items, the older and higher mileage vehicle the more parts u'll need to replace.

Just my 2 cents

ryanzRx8

as soon as i see the car I'm going to be looking for all the signs of flooding and other problems. And of course after take it for a compression test after if everything goes thus far put 2300 into
-clutch
-coils
-starter
-alternator
-ultra ingnition wires
-front and rear break pad and rotars
-fuel injection plug kit
-premix royal purple
-brake fluid
-race roots mid pipe or turbo xs race pipe don't know yet
this is all not including labour because all these things are simple to do yourself expect the clutch which i have included labour in the 2300 price range

this is now 6300 or 7000 just to be safe i still have another 3 grand if anything goes wrong
these are all for if i go down the path of buying a high millage rx8


if i were to buy a blown motor rx8 i can purchase one for 2500 and either buy a new renesis motor for 3000(over estimating they are usually 2 grand) and again all the new things that i posted above 2300 so that would be 8300(again over estimation incase of little things) and the rest would of the money would be if anything where to go wrong once again
ps if I'm going to replace motor going to do it my self if i have time if not pay around 3000 for labour to install new motor

Legot

iTrader: (1)

Compression test before you buy, not after. Is this your first car?

It looks like you have a pretty good plan, I'd shoot for saving $4k for an emergency, but buying one with a bad engine is a good option since, after the swap, you would know that you have an ideal engine to start with (and therefore not have to worry about the most expensive problem).

Whatever route you go, make sure that ignition system has priority over anything else. The BHR kit is known to be top notch,and "never" has to be replaced its sold with coils/plugs/wires. If the clutch is good there's no use in replacing it immediately. The Alternator is most likely fine, they rarely fail. The stock rotors are more than sufficient for anything, and they very rarely wear out, even at 100k miles.

Also, premixing is great (especially on a new engine) but royal purple is hella expensive. Any two stroke that's not TWC-3 is beneficial, there's allot of info about it on this forum in a closed thread.

As far as midpipes go, BHR is said to be the best and is one of maybe two that won't burn out over time, but I've never heard one in person.

What could you possibly mean by fuel injection plug kit? It sounds like an absolutely horrible idea.

Khurram

Agree with Legot on ignition and BHR stuff

OEM Rotors seemed have last way longer than expected..When I had my care certified at 160 at the time of purchase i was told they would last another 6 months.

2 years and a 109k kms later still have same pads and rotors now they started vibrating tho. but I was surprised to see them last so long..

I'd say the rear shocks fail more often than the rotors lol

ryanzRx8

Coil overs here I come then 😏

Legot

iTrader: (1)

I'm still curious about the fuel injection plug kit.

ryanzRx8

http://www.racingbeat.com/RX8/Fuel-System/18149.html check it out

niteshade247

The kid is confused. That's for going from a EFI system to a old school carburetor the plugs don't do spit but block off the old EFI holes.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Welcome, I agree with those who say to try and find a later model (Series 2) with a good engine instead of thinking about replacing the engine and opening a Pandora's Box of problems.
As far as sinking money into it right away, I would suggest to adhere to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" to some of the items on your list, namely, clutch, alternator, starter, & the fuel injection plug kit.
I premix with Lucas semi-syn 2 stroke oil.
Invest instead in proven components like the BHR ignition with the wires & NGK laser iridium plugs together, & a BHR midpipe, both of which I have & highly recommend.
You will save in the long run by not having to replace coils every 30k.

Again, it's better to begin with as few problems as possible with these cars.
Good luck!

niteshade247

+1 on the choice of premix. Btw if you are going to carbonated (I don't think you are) your missing the new intake you'll need and about $10k to address electronic issues and new stand alone ECU. I really think you need to get a Honda you can frack up with your ignorance of cars then when you finally learn there is more to cars than watching fast and furious and a list of (what sounds cool) parts you might be ready to learn how to take care of,mod and enjoy a rotary car.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I respectfully disagree.
If the guy has his heart set on an 8, go for it.
I think it would be a good way to learn about what it takes to invest in one.
I do mean invest, time, money & enthusiasm, as long as a junker isn't the first one.
Learn the platform, gain wisdom & experience, and then as time progresses, start investing in the mods that will make it truly his own.
I remember how much I used to enjoy working on my car when I was young.

Legot

iTrader: (1)

Haha! NO, that's not something for you, lol. Fuel injection is a good thing, and if you get that you'll have no way of getting fuel into the engine!

I have to agree with BC this time, he seems to have a plan on relatively positive things to do, a little more research is all that's required. There's no faster way to learn non-piston cars than an rx8, lol. Hondas suck anyway, do you want him to end up a ricer?

I suggest not spending any money modifying anything for about 2 months after you buy it. Generally speaking these cars have a bunch of tiny things that need to be fixed once you buy them, and if they're not fixed it either harms the life of the engine or at least renders the mods you would have done ineffective (namely ignition, electrical, and cooling).

fireishot34

iTrader: (1)

This

I completely agree, I bought a chevy cavalier when I was young it was what i could afford and I worked on that thing for endless hours and i ended up turning it into a show car. Its something I enjoy driving and I think it fits my personality. I would have never had that great experience if I was never willing to work on the car and get my hands dirty if their was a problem.

My project car that started out as a piece.... May not be your style but you get the point.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Nice work, looks good.

niteshade247

Ok so you pimped out a cavalier want abe style. I was spanking kids and taking there cash like you all the time with my 96 GEO prizm 15 years ago. I point you back to my earlier post. It is a nice looking car but after your injector pluge thing I got to see you building a engine but if you truly want to learn some stuff you have come to the right place all you need do now is emty your head of what you think you know and fill it with years of time and trial test knowledge a lot of these guys have about the 8.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, if you didn't catch it, he's not the O.P.