only 7000 miles on the car so I kinda doubt it's the plugs, I could try pulling one out to have a look at it tho, we're getting bad rain this weekend so it might be a little hard, but the cold wet air is helping a bit as well.

the octane in the tank now should be somewhere around 90.5 or more

 

actually, even with only 7,000 miles I'm still VERY suspicious of those plugs and / or ignition coils.
If the previous owner flooded the vehicle and let it sit for a while, that could have easily fouled up the plugs. (as they'd be sitting in gasoline) That's a downside to a rotary flooding as opposed to a piston engine. The piston engines will eventually drain the gasoline out, the rotary will not.

Hopefully it's an easy fix and you'll be running as good as new soon.

 

Hey Max - Did my e-mail get thru to you?

 

so to update on the condition of my car...

it wasn't pinging after all, turns out to be flutter valves in the intake. My engine won't destroy itself now, that's great except now that I've heard them I'll always hear it, the only way to drown them out is to put music on. Either that or replace the intake manifold or the appropriate valves.

I got condensation in my rear passenger side taillight...

And the front brake calipers are sticking so the car has a tendency to pull to the side under braking at very low speeds, they're being replaced under warranty (600 bucks a pop, ouch and good thing I'm not paying)

 

Well, I finished installing the shocks and springs early this afternoon. I ended up doin it solo with only hand tools and all the information generously provided on this site from those who had done this before me Everything went smoothly with one anomaly: one of the threaded portions of the top of one of the front shocks was just a hair too wide. The new metal sleeve that came with the konis would not fit over the shock as it is supposed to, but both sleeves fit the other shock. Interestingly enough, the nut fit over the threading on the wide shock. Strange...

After a few cusswords, I borrowed my roomates car and took all the pieces to a local shop. They were as surprised as I was, and were kind enough to bore out one of the sleeves just enough to get it on there.

Apart from that, a sore body and slightly skinned fingers, everything else went fine. I ended up putting the fronts 1.75 turns from soft, and the rears 1.25 from soft. With those settings, PT sways on stiff in front and soft in rear, and MS strut tower bars front and rear, I am amazed and completely satisfied with the setup...my only regret is not doing it sooner. Next step is new tires...and of course an alignment

 

I saw you today ben when you dropped off your car at cole mazda, I was leaving in their shuttle to go back to work after I dropped my car off for a front brake caliper replacement.

does this mean you're in shape for a drive now?

 

Hey my wife saw your guys (daisuke and rxaddict) cars at cole today...she was picking up a part for my car. Whens the meet??

 

Here's my car. If you see me wave me down

 

whenever we can manage it, ben's car looks pretty sweet lowered. I think it's up to you ben since you have the weird work schedule.

damn man, that is one nice looking black!! I like the rims with it. Here are some of mine, flag me down too! I'm in paso occasionally altho I try not to drive the 8 up there because I have to go onto gravel roads to get to work. My other car is a beat up burgundy red saturn with the paint peeling off the hood