I am looking to possibly buy a 04 or 05 RX-8. Both of the ones I am considering have almost 100,000 miles on them. The car is being purchased just to be a track day car (and to drive to and from the track which is a little more than an hour away). Maybe some on the weekends but not much. Is it possible to get 200 - 210 whp from this car if I upgrade the ignition (using the BHR ignition that I have read about on here), install a new CAT and use the COBB Tune that you can get from the mazda maniac website.

I will upgrade the brakes and put some coilovers on it as well but that wont effect the power, just how quickly I can put it to the road. Both of these cars are in the $5000 range and I am not looking to break the bank and rebuild the entire engine or add a superchager or turbo as I dont need a 400hp car to have fun in.

I also dont really care if the car makes it to 150,000 miles or not as this is not going to be an everyday car. I would be happy if the car makes it 3 years without blowing up the engine. So is 210 whp a realistic possiblity or is that not going to happen with a car that old with that many miles??

 

200-210 whp isn't impossible with a good engine. That's the key: getting a good engine. Get a compression test done at a Mazda dealer or rotary specialist. Don't just get some yahoo plugging a normal piston engine compression gauge; it won't give you meaningful information.

Any properly working ignition will probably not make any difference in horsepower over any other properly working ignition. Ignition upgrades are usually a reliability mod.

A high-flow cat isn't a bad idea. Get a good midpipe and weld a 100 or 200 cpi cat into it.

I don't think it's possible to directly correlate real-world compression numbers to real-world horsepower. If all else is equal, get the car with the highest numbers.

Alternately, get a roller with a blown engine for $1500-$2000 and then install a fresh engine from a good rebuilder yourself (Rotary Resurrection comes to mind but there are a number of good ones).

 

For 5 grand, i would have to agree withpreppie.....rollers are obviously common. Prices on this car for roller 500-2000grand. Price for a new engine, 3grand. You would probably save money buying a roller and dropping the engine in yourself. Then just taking care of it as a track car. My 2 cents.

 

+2 for that approach. Did exactly that, couldn't be happier. Also took the opportunity to do some reliability mods while I was building the engine. Increased oil pressure, thermal pellet in the e-shaft, better seals, sohn, etc.

 

Much good advice in this thread already.

I have been tracking my 8 for 3 years now. If I had it to do over again, I would buy a Miata and eventually turbocharge it (In fact, I am in the process of doing that now). The reason is simple. There is a price premium for almost every part you will bolt onto an RX-8, and some things you will eventually want will not be available. Miata parts are abundant and dirt cheap. Brake pads, rotors, calipers, BBKs, cooling duct kits; wheel and tires; flywheels and clutches; transmissions and differentials; radiators and water pumps; coilovers, dampers, springs, control arms, bushings, sway bars, etc; catalytic converters and exhaust systems; turbo and super charger kits; all cost considerably more for RX-8s. And, Miatas are almost as much fun to drive.

If you track an RX-8, you MUST attend to cooling upgrades and other reliability mods immediately, or you will kill the engine quickly.

.

 

Think about what Steve said.

 

Unless you have limitless pockets, I'd go with the miata option. I'm spending 20k building my 8 and it's not even a track car. YET I'm still getting a miata to. That says something.

 

Miata, recursive acronym

• Miata
• Is
• Always
• The
• Answer

 

Actually I'm considering trading my 8 for a NA/cash and building an exocet...

 

The nice thing about the Exocet is that your donor Miata can have all the rusted out fenders in the world and it won't matter. As long as it's mechanically sound and the subframes are in good shape you're good to go. It's easier to find ugly but otherwise good Miatas for cheap.

 

I have been thinking about the Exocet idea lately, too, as I have shopped for a Miata. A good, straight car with low enough miles to think about turbocharging is hard to find at a decent price, but I have seen at least half a dozen that would make great Exocet donors. The trouble is, I would have to store it and trailer it to the track unless I go through all the trouble to make it street legal and find insurance for it. And, I don't really want to do any of that. Also, an Exocet kit is $7500, and a good turbo kit is only $3500.

 

If you are stuck on an RX8, do a forum member a favor and buy this R3 for $9k
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-w...-miles-262616/
Invest in seat time, and enjoy spanking much 'faster' cars around a track. This car will need appropriate cooling etc, should then be good to go for a long time.

Miata is always a good option... but they don't 'go fast' unless you invest in FI... and then they still don't really 'go fast', they go 'less slow'.

If you wanna go fast - used, hi mile, C5Z06 is the way to go. Perfect candidate here, $15.5k, major reliability mod (valve springs) done. The Z06 has good stock cooling etc. No real weaknesses. With good setup, tires and driver, it is a track monster. Wear parts are cheap. Major parts (tranny, etc) are more expensive but very durable.
2002 z06, 85,300 miles, $15,500 obo. moving and have to sell. - CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion