BluSpectre

Image of the runner prior to cleaning. Disgusting!

Visible damage to the plastic's smooth black color on the secondary intake runner. Note the rust-color on the plastic around the mouth.

Less visible color damage on the secondary intake runner base.
​​​​​​So I finally got around to removing my intake system to investigate my suspect vacuum leak around the SSV and CDI area, and the whole intake was grimey and caked with soot, oil and dust inside and out. I suppose 130,000+ miles does that to a car. While all of my vacuum lines and OMP lines had no visible damage nor loose lines with any play, I remain stumped as to where the audible hissing and lean conditions could be coming from. While I have everything out, I decided to clean the intake with Greased Lightning and Carb Cleaner. I have used Greased Lightning on heavy duty plastic before, and Carb Cleaner does great for the intake runners as you can't exactly scrub the inside of a curved tube. I started with the Greased Lightning on the outside, and it worked great for removing the grime and loosening the grime in the crevasses of the plastic runners. After I was satisfied with the outside, I decided to spray the inside with the Carb Cleaner to get all that oil and soot out. I sprayed, inspected, sprayed, used compressed air to force the dirty gunk out and it looked nice and clean! And then I noticed something... As the Carb Cleaner contacted where I also used the Greased Lightning, it looked rusty. It even trailed into the intake pipes! The excess of each chemical also made a rusty sludge in the porcelain sink basin. No dangerous fumes or heat generated, just damaged plastic color. Despite the images, it did not change the texture of the plastic surfaces. They were still smooth, simply discolored. I am glad I removed the silicone gaskets and used Soapy Wooder ™ on those.
Additionally during the removal of the intake, I inspected the SSV and VDI valves for buildup since I previously had an issue with those. My SSV does no close all the way consistently, and appears to slightly jam on some buildup. Here are some half-decent Images:

VDI and SSV closed, front rotor view.

SSV Closed, Front Rotor. Note the small black gap.

After fiddling with the actuator, I successfully fully closed the valve. Then I fiddled with it again and it did not fully close. Note how the front rotor SSV still has a small gap, just slightly smaller.

SSV Closed, rear rotor. Note the small gap once again.

BluSpectre

I would also like to note that prior to my ownership, this car was dealer serviced and shows signs of not being driven very hard. While I never met the previous owner (I bought this car from a reputable used car dealership), I can assume the previous owner was passionate about making sure their RX-8 was always kept maintained at a dealership for almost every oil change and tire change. For some reason, this car also has older N3H(insert pretty much every revision number) parts on this 2011 N3R1 Chassis. The intake manifold reads a mix of N3H5 and N3H2 parts, and my Throttle Body reads N3H1. The SSV solenoid has also been replaced at some point, as it looks cleaner then the rest. I have no idea why dealerships mix parts like this, but I have found many other oddeties you would only find on a dealer serviced car. I still don't know what could he causing that vacuum leak...