New RX8 owner in Chesapeake, VA
05-25-2016, 12:34 AM
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New RX8 owner in Chesapeake, VA
Hey guys. I picked up a 2004 RX8 about a month ago. I saw an ad on Craigslist for the car going for $600. It had just been posted for about 45 minutes. I texted the guy and he apparently was already bombarded with offers but everyone was lowballing him or offering something he wasn't interested in. I told him I'd pay him $600 and pick it up ASAP. He gave me first dibs as I was the most up front person he spoke to up to that point in time.
I met up with him about an hour later (the car was about 45 minutes from my place) and saw the car. Story was that the guy in possession of the car now was the previous owners mechanic. Previous owner was driving the car daily until it started having issues with hot starts. After about 6 months of deteriorating starting ability the car refused to start at all. Previous owner hung onto it for a while thinking he would eventually get around to fixing it. Mechanic told Previous Owner that the car probably has low compression and would need a rebuild and at least another starter before he could find out for sure. Previous Owner decided he didn't want anything to do with the car and signed it over to the Mechanic.
Mechanic also decided he'd hang onto it and that he'd probably LS swap it. A year and a half go by and the car hadn't moved an inch from where it sat on his lot for his shop. When I arrived the rotors were severely rusted, there was a huge amount of debris on the body, it had two new front tires (wrong size) and the rear tires were bald and one wouldn't hold air from being flat for so long. The car had no battery but when a jump box was connected all the electronics worked. That was a good sign. I tried to start the car but all I got was a series of clicks. Dead battery I assumed but the jump box we were using was rated at 900CCA and it was fully charged.
After walking around the car for a few minutes and noting the car was actually in GREAT shape aside from the engine I told the Mechanic that I wanted it and I could use AAA to pick it up. He didn't have the title on him at the time so we met up later that night and I got the title and had AAA tow the car home.
After researching a lot online I knew I'd at least need to get the engine turning before I could diagnose it. I called a local shop, Angel Motorsports, to get an engine rebuild quote. They told me $2600, they pull, rebuild and reinstall. I thought that was a great price considering I'd just paid $600 for the car. $3200 isn't a bad deal for an RX8 with 113k miles and a rebuilt engine, I thought.
Either way I'd need a battery and a starter at the least. I figured I'd go ahead and replace the ignition parts while I'm at it as well. Picked up an Optima red top ($160) and a SII starter ($190) on Amazon along with new coils ($55), plugs ($25) and wires ($35).
Tossed the parts into the car and attempted to start it. It flooded, bad. When I pulled the old plugs I noticed there was some black sludge on them from when I tried to start it prior to swapping the ignition parts. I wasn't sure what this was but I went and pulled the new plugs and sure enough there was more of it on the new plugs. I wiped them clean and reinstalled them. I did the deflood procedure and I got the engine to burp and idle for 2 seconds. Then it would flood. Deflood procedure again, this time it would burp to life and idle for 5 seconds. I repeated this process 5 times then EUREKA! It fired and held an idle nice and solid! It was billowing out smoke so I assumed the worst at the time.
I let it idle for a few minutes and then made the mistake of trying to rev the engine. It revved smoothly to 4500rpm then it sputtered and stalled. Flooded again. ****. This time I pulled the plugs, pulled the ECU fuse and cranked the engine for 30 seconds (jump box attached to keep from killing the battery). I tossed in the plugs and tried to start it. This time it only cranked for maybe 3 rotations, fired and idled super smooth. This time I let it warm up completely before trying to rev the engine. Engine revved nice and smooth throughout the rev range. No more smoke! Eventually the coolant level light turned on, turns out the sensor was bad but I'd read this was common. I wanted to take the car for a spin but the rear tire was still flat. I tossed on the temporary tire and drove it around.
Everything seemed great but the brakes made a god awful grinding sound and the spare wheel obviously didn't sit flat against the hub because it was making a lot of noise despite being tightened by my impact gun. A friend of mine let me borrow a couple of his drift spares (18x10 +20) which actually fit quite nicely on a stock car haha. I drove the car for a week like this while I waited for new tires.
During this time I noticed that the car would seem to run out of breath around 7000rpm. I assumed this was where the car would make the most power. After some more research I found that the catalytic converter had likely failed. I tapped it with my deadblow hammer and sure enough I could hear the inside rattling. I have yet to remedy this so I just drive below 7000rpm until I either gut it or replace it with a resonated pipe.
Also during this week I found a GReddy turbo kit on Craigslist and picked it up as the deal was too good to let go. A mostly complete turbo kit for $600? I'd be a fool to let that go. So along with my tires ($260 shipped) I've got about $1950 wrapped up in this car and it runs like a top! I'm averaging 19.8mpg combined. Not great but not bad for a Rotary.
I'm going to be ordering an Adaptronic ECU to work with the GReddy turbo kit along with an HKS Hi-Power Exhaust and an Agency Power resonated mid pipe. If I can make 250whp I'll be ecstatic. I've never been one for big power cars, I just want something fun and reliable that I can haul my family in for fun drives. So far the RX8 has delivered something that none of my previous cars have been able to, fun for the family for cheap, so far haha.
Sorry for the very, very wordy post.
I met up with him about an hour later (the car was about 45 minutes from my place) and saw the car. Story was that the guy in possession of the car now was the previous owners mechanic. Previous owner was driving the car daily until it started having issues with hot starts. After about 6 months of deteriorating starting ability the car refused to start at all. Previous owner hung onto it for a while thinking he would eventually get around to fixing it. Mechanic told Previous Owner that the car probably has low compression and would need a rebuild and at least another starter before he could find out for sure. Previous Owner decided he didn't want anything to do with the car and signed it over to the Mechanic.
Mechanic also decided he'd hang onto it and that he'd probably LS swap it. A year and a half go by and the car hadn't moved an inch from where it sat on his lot for his shop. When I arrived the rotors were severely rusted, there was a huge amount of debris on the body, it had two new front tires (wrong size) and the rear tires were bald and one wouldn't hold air from being flat for so long. The car had no battery but when a jump box was connected all the electronics worked. That was a good sign. I tried to start the car but all I got was a series of clicks. Dead battery I assumed but the jump box we were using was rated at 900CCA and it was fully charged.
After walking around the car for a few minutes and noting the car was actually in GREAT shape aside from the engine I told the Mechanic that I wanted it and I could use AAA to pick it up. He didn't have the title on him at the time so we met up later that night and I got the title and had AAA tow the car home.
After researching a lot online I knew I'd at least need to get the engine turning before I could diagnose it. I called a local shop, Angel Motorsports, to get an engine rebuild quote. They told me $2600, they pull, rebuild and reinstall. I thought that was a great price considering I'd just paid $600 for the car. $3200 isn't a bad deal for an RX8 with 113k miles and a rebuilt engine, I thought.
Either way I'd need a battery and a starter at the least. I figured I'd go ahead and replace the ignition parts while I'm at it as well. Picked up an Optima red top ($160) and a SII starter ($190) on Amazon along with new coils ($55), plugs ($25) and wires ($35).
Tossed the parts into the car and attempted to start it. It flooded, bad. When I pulled the old plugs I noticed there was some black sludge on them from when I tried to start it prior to swapping the ignition parts. I wasn't sure what this was but I went and pulled the new plugs and sure enough there was more of it on the new plugs. I wiped them clean and reinstalled them. I did the deflood procedure and I got the engine to burp and idle for 2 seconds. Then it would flood. Deflood procedure again, this time it would burp to life and idle for 5 seconds. I repeated this process 5 times then EUREKA! It fired and held an idle nice and solid! It was billowing out smoke so I assumed the worst at the time.
I let it idle for a few minutes and then made the mistake of trying to rev the engine. It revved smoothly to 4500rpm then it sputtered and stalled. Flooded again. ****. This time I pulled the plugs, pulled the ECU fuse and cranked the engine for 30 seconds (jump box attached to keep from killing the battery). I tossed in the plugs and tried to start it. This time it only cranked for maybe 3 rotations, fired and idled super smooth. This time I let it warm up completely before trying to rev the engine. Engine revved nice and smooth throughout the rev range. No more smoke! Eventually the coolant level light turned on, turns out the sensor was bad but I'd read this was common. I wanted to take the car for a spin but the rear tire was still flat. I tossed on the temporary tire and drove it around.
Everything seemed great but the brakes made a god awful grinding sound and the spare wheel obviously didn't sit flat against the hub because it was making a lot of noise despite being tightened by my impact gun. A friend of mine let me borrow a couple of his drift spares (18x10 +20) which actually fit quite nicely on a stock car haha. I drove the car for a week like this while I waited for new tires.
During this time I noticed that the car would seem to run out of breath around 7000rpm. I assumed this was where the car would make the most power. After some more research I found that the catalytic converter had likely failed. I tapped it with my deadblow hammer and sure enough I could hear the inside rattling. I have yet to remedy this so I just drive below 7000rpm until I either gut it or replace it with a resonated pipe.
Also during this week I found a GReddy turbo kit on Craigslist and picked it up as the deal was too good to let go. A mostly complete turbo kit for $600? I'd be a fool to let that go. So along with my tires ($260 shipped) I've got about $1950 wrapped up in this car and it runs like a top! I'm averaging 19.8mpg combined. Not great but not bad for a Rotary.
I'm going to be ordering an Adaptronic ECU to work with the GReddy turbo kit along with an HKS Hi-Power Exhaust and an Agency Power resonated mid pipe. If I can make 250whp I'll be ecstatic. I've never been one for big power cars, I just want something fun and reliable that I can haul my family in for fun drives. So far the RX8 has delivered something that none of my previous cars have been able to, fun for the family for cheap, so far haha.
Sorry for the very, very wordy post.
05-25-2016, 08:29 AM
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Excellent job restoring life to it! Glad to hear it was a combination of bad ignition components as opposed to low compression.
05-25-2016, 09:15 AM
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06-13-2016, 01:49 AM
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So an update on my car, still running great but I noticed the smell of fuel, unburnt, in the cabin. I checked the forum and found that the fuel pump housing is known to leak. I yanked the back seat to inspect the fuel pump and found that if I wiggle the fuel line slightly it leaks. Crap. Ordered a new fuel pump.
I've also been contemplating selling the turbo kit. I got a compression test done and it passed with flying covers but I plan to use the car for HPDE and I don't think the extra wear and tear from the turbo kit will be worth it and will shorten the life of the engine dramatically thanks to all the added heat. I did end up getting a Cobb AP V2b instead of the Adaptronic ECU since my power goals were still within the capabilities of the AP.
Plan now is to get a Racing Beat intake w/ duct, Racing beat resonated mid-pipe and probably still run the HKS Hi-Power or an Agency Power exhaust. Probably put upgraded sway bars and end links for now and just get a feel for the car.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
I've also been contemplating selling the turbo kit. I got a compression test done and it passed with flying covers but I plan to use the car for HPDE and I don't think the extra wear and tear from the turbo kit will be worth it and will shorten the life of the engine dramatically thanks to all the added heat. I did end up getting a Cobb AP V2b instead of the Adaptronic ECU since my power goals were still within the capabilities of the AP.
Plan now is to get a Racing Beat intake w/ duct, Racing beat resonated mid-pipe and probably still run the HKS Hi-Power or an Agency Power exhaust. Probably put upgraded sway bars and end links for now and just get a feel for the car.
Thoughts? Suggestions?