Just got my first RX8, good deal or waste?
05-20-2021, 11:08 PM
#1
Just got my first RX8, good deal or waste?
Finally bought my first RX8 after months of peeping classifieds, fb market, etc daily. All the good deals I ever found were always already sold or they just ghosted me, so I finally bit the bullet on one that I figured I could at least sell for cost if this was a crappy deal since I haven't registered or insured it yet. Just wondering if it would be worth fixing up and keeping or if I should just try to get rid of it after doing some of the easier work to raise its value. My dad thinks the car is junk and not worth anything but I think I got at least an ok deal all things considered.
I havent taken pictures yet so I only have the pictures the seller took, put them in an imgur album here https://imgur.com/a/UKcByfv and yes the rust is as bad as it looks. This is an '05 GT trim with 143k km (89k miles), a lot of rusted through panels, i wasnt able to tell if the frame had rust, but it looked like it only had surface level rust on the bottom where I could see so it wasnt bad yet, the tail lights look leaky, the trunk was damp so I think there might be a leak there, comes with new front tires and brake pads, but needs new rear tires and brake pads. The front suspension felt very bouncy and floaty, probably needs new shocks, back suspension might be bad too, was hard to tell. The wheels have a little rust. Interior was in okay condition, just needs a little cleaning, but there were a few cracks in the plastic dash. AC blows cold. First owner replaced the engine, second replaced the transmission, but theres no paperwork for any of it so i dont even know at what km/year it was done. I ran my bluetooth obdii reader, just 2 codes, one for secondary air sensor and the other for something running too lean I think, I dont remember off the top of my head, need to check it again. There was a check engine light, not sure for what. The "custom" exhaust sounds terrible, the cat is still there but I think everything after was cut off and replaced with pipe at some weld shop. Its way too loud and the drone gave me a headache in less than 5min. The rear wheels need to be balanced, they were just kinda thrown on without being balanced. Comes with two spare rear wheels and tires.
So a lot of bad stuff and work to be done, but here's the good stuff. Clean carfax, no accidents, clean title, and most importantly the engine runes very good. Ive test driven a few 06 and 07 manual rx8s and none of them felt as strong/fast/responsive to my butt dyno. I started the engine a bunch of times, cold, hot, etc and it turned on each time without any issues, even after a long one and half hour drive to bring the car back home. Shifter, clutch and transmission all feel great and working good. Its crazy to me how people were trying to sell me cars with "good compression" that felt slower than any other car ive driven recently. No compression test done yet, but I reckon its at least ok or decent since it has the weaker gen1 starter but still manages to hot start fine even after a long drive and feels faster/more responsive than the others Ive tested.
Im going to give fixing the rust myself a shot with some sandpaper, filler, etc. Have to google and see if wheel rust can be fixed, or ill just be replacing them.. The exhaust is terrible and just needs to go no matter what, I need something quieter like stock or close to it. It will still need new rear tires, pads. Tail lights and trunk leak need to be fixed. All the suspension stuff, obdii codes, check engine light. Etc. Seller's initial ad was for 4000 CAD, but he lowered it to 2000 in a new ad later then I talked him down to 1000 (828 in USD) cause of all the issues he never mentioned until after I drove all the way to see the car. Seems like he was in a rush to sell cause he had just bought a new car and didnt have parking. He bought it as a project car and planned to put a widebody kit on it, but ended up not having the time or money to do what he wanted and fix it up. Considering if I should try to get rid of it after fixing some of the rust, or just keeping it and trying to fix the rest of its issues. Do you guys think this was a good deal, or like my dad, that it's junk that's not worth anything ?
I havent taken pictures yet so I only have the pictures the seller took, put them in an imgur album here https://imgur.com/a/UKcByfv and yes the rust is as bad as it looks. This is an '05 GT trim with 143k km (89k miles), a lot of rusted through panels, i wasnt able to tell if the frame had rust, but it looked like it only had surface level rust on the bottom where I could see so it wasnt bad yet, the tail lights look leaky, the trunk was damp so I think there might be a leak there, comes with new front tires and brake pads, but needs new rear tires and brake pads. The front suspension felt very bouncy and floaty, probably needs new shocks, back suspension might be bad too, was hard to tell. The wheels have a little rust. Interior was in okay condition, just needs a little cleaning, but there were a few cracks in the plastic dash. AC blows cold. First owner replaced the engine, second replaced the transmission, but theres no paperwork for any of it so i dont even know at what km/year it was done. I ran my bluetooth obdii reader, just 2 codes, one for secondary air sensor and the other for something running too lean I think, I dont remember off the top of my head, need to check it again. There was a check engine light, not sure for what. The "custom" exhaust sounds terrible, the cat is still there but I think everything after was cut off and replaced with pipe at some weld shop. Its way too loud and the drone gave me a headache in less than 5min. The rear wheels need to be balanced, they were just kinda thrown on without being balanced. Comes with two spare rear wheels and tires.
So a lot of bad stuff and work to be done, but here's the good stuff. Clean carfax, no accidents, clean title, and most importantly the engine runes very good. Ive test driven a few 06 and 07 manual rx8s and none of them felt as strong/fast/responsive to my butt dyno. I started the engine a bunch of times, cold, hot, etc and it turned on each time without any issues, even after a long one and half hour drive to bring the car back home. Shifter, clutch and transmission all feel great and working good. Its crazy to me how people were trying to sell me cars with "good compression" that felt slower than any other car ive driven recently. No compression test done yet, but I reckon its at least ok or decent since it has the weaker gen1 starter but still manages to hot start fine even after a long drive and feels faster/more responsive than the others Ive tested.
Im going to give fixing the rust myself a shot with some sandpaper, filler, etc. Have to google and see if wheel rust can be fixed, or ill just be replacing them.. The exhaust is terrible and just needs to go no matter what, I need something quieter like stock or close to it. It will still need new rear tires, pads. Tail lights and trunk leak need to be fixed. All the suspension stuff, obdii codes, check engine light. Etc. Seller's initial ad was for 4000 CAD, but he lowered it to 2000 in a new ad later then I talked him down to 1000 (828 in USD) cause of all the issues he never mentioned until after I drove all the way to see the car. Seems like he was in a rush to sell cause he had just bought a new car and didnt have parking. He bought it as a project car and planned to put a widebody kit on it, but ended up not having the time or money to do what he wanted and fix it up. Considering if I should try to get rid of it after fixing some of the rust, or just keeping it and trying to fix the rest of its issues. Do you guys think this was a good deal, or like my dad, that it's junk that's not worth anything ?
Last edited by lemon07r; 05-20-2021 at 11:14 PM.
05-21-2021, 06:14 AM
#2
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that cancer is pretty bad and not something you can fix with mud. a clean roller goes for about 1k. if the engine checks out (rotary specific compression test) you might want to find a clean roller (blown engine) and swap it out. the tail lights are an easy fix. trunk is most likely rusty from removing the two badges that are pinned on but werent properly sealed.
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lemon07r (05-21-2021)
05-21-2021, 08:17 AM
#3
Yeah that's pretty far gone. If you wanted to fix that, you'd need the left and right rear panels and that could get expensive to buy and time consuming to install. Better get a roller or sell this on.
"Engine runs well" and "2 codes and check engine on" don't go in the same sentence. Depending on what the second code is and its cause, it could be killing the engine. Figure out what's going on there, do a comp test and if the engine checks out, maybe you can find a roller for another $2k to swap it into.
"Engine runs well" and "2 codes and check engine on" don't go in the same sentence. Depending on what the second code is and its cause, it could be killing the engine. Figure out what's going on there, do a comp test and if the engine checks out, maybe you can find a roller for another $2k to swap it into.
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lemon07r (05-21-2021)
05-21-2021, 09:04 AM
#4
that cancer is pretty bad and not something you can fix with mud. a clean roller goes for about 1k. if the engine checks out (rotary specific compression test) you might want to find a clean roller (blown engine) and swap it out. the tail lights are an easy fix. trunk is most likely rusty from removing the two badges that are pinned on but werent properly sealed.
Yeah that's pretty far gone. If you wanted to fix that, you'd need the left and right rear panels and that could get expensive to buy and time consuming to install. Better get a roller or sell this on.
"Engine runs well" and "2 codes and check engine on" don't go in the same sentence. Depending on what the second code is and its cause, it could be killing the engine. Figure out what's going on there, do a comp test and if the engine checks out, maybe you can find a roller for another $2k to swap it into.
"Engine runs well" and "2 codes and check engine on" don't go in the same sentence. Depending on what the second code is and its cause, it could be killing the engine. Figure out what's going on there, do a comp test and if the engine checks out, maybe you can find a roller for another $2k to swap it into.
Last edited by lemon07r; 05-21-2021 at 10:29 AM.
05-21-2021, 12:29 PM
#5
Replacing engines isn't particularly complicated on these cars for someone who knows what they're doing. That's the key though, finding someone who knows what they're doing. Plan for about 1k of work. Might come in lower.
Any chance you can DIY? A lot of these projects assume you do the work yourself in order to be financially viable.
Any chance you can DIY? A lot of these projects assume you do the work yourself in order to be financially viable.
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lemon07r (05-22-2021)
05-22-2021, 06:41 AM
#6
Replacing engines isn't particularly complicated on these cars for someone who knows what they're doing. That's the key though, finding someone who knows what they're doing. Plan for about 1k of work. Might come in lower.
Any chance you can DIY? A lot of these projects assume you do the work yourself in order to be financially viable.
Any chance you can DIY? A lot of these projects assume you do the work yourself in order to be financially viable.
Current plan is to just replace the rear pads, get the rear wheels balanced, fix some of the rust and do a compression test so it's at least safe to drive and looks decent enough to sell. However if the compression is very good and I can figure out the engine codes I may try finding a clean roller and someone to do the engine swap for me.
Last edited by lemon07r; 05-22-2021 at 06:45 AM.
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lemon07r (05-22-2021)
05-22-2021, 09:33 AM
#8
05-22-2021, 12:41 PM
#9
Id definitely say take care of codes.
do a compression test
if you dont want to buy another roller and nothing structural is rusted away throw a widebody kit. Youll be curring fenders anyways. You could learn this stuff without being worried about messing up a clean chasis.
do a compression test
if you dont want to buy another roller and nothing structural is rusted away throw a widebody kit. Youll be curring fenders anyways. You could learn this stuff without being worried about messing up a clean chasis.
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