I have an 04 RX-8, 6spd with 82,xxx miles on it, still running as smooth as when I got it 3 years ago. My question is about the option to do a "Street Port" on it, with just the basic street port what all would I realistically need to look to invest in? How will the engine's reliability be affected? Will it pass NC State Inspection (Emissions, etc) as it is my daily driver? Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

You're looking at a complete rebuild that could possibly include new housings. You'll need some type of tuning. Your gas mileage will likely suffer, but reliability may go up a little if the engine is built properly. If tuned properly you should pass inspection/emissions at though.

 

Thank you for some insight on it, like I said, it's still running strong but I always hear the horror stories of the Renesis going bad with such a short life, and with mine at almost 90k, I just want to figure out my options if the worst does happen. I take care of the car though, maintenance is up to par, I give it plenty of high-RPM shifts to keep out the carbon, etc. I just have to plan ahead because the job market here isn't the best so I'm on a budget until I'm in a second job. What would be some other possible options? I don't know how state inspections work if I were to do a swap, would they base the inspection on the motor in the car or the chassis, if I were to find say a lightly used motor from an FD online?