Hi all,
Quick car history:
Pug 405 1.9d
Pug 205 1.1 (4 whole gears)
Daewoo Nubira
Ford Courier
Mazda 323f
Eunos Roadster
(Temp) Pug 405 1.9td
Eunos Roadster (now supercharged, 1.8 with LSD+MP62 (~40% bigger than mini m45 charger)=muchos fun
Eunos has been written off twice so already on it\'s third life (first time was before I got it, second was third parties fault, I\'m a safe driver :2Rolleyes )
Alignment is quite far out now (not just wheels, front end of car too), looking for something new and with work probably won\'t use car for commuting so can be uneconomical. I do miss rear seats though.
I am handy with a spanner and tempted to get a dead car and revive it depending on value for monies?
I am more of a handling fan than power, but power can be addictive....but definitely second to handling.
Like car brakes to have a good face/dashboard ratio
Budget will probably be around 3k once I\'ve sold all the bits off of my Eunos and possibly broken it :-p
Guessing my best bet is RX8 but I do like the look of the FD\'s.....
Will carry on reading and yeah, hiiiiiii
Welcome, don\'t be afraid to ask questions.
Wether its an FD or RX8 make sure you know enough to get a good deal. You will probably get a better rx8 for 3,000 than an Fd, but you can get more HP out of an FD if that\'s what you prefer, however 8s aren\'t slow as Clive, Will, Casey to name a few will be able to tell you.
Questions ey? Had a look in the stickies, maybe not in the right places
- What\'s the deal with decats for rx8s?
- How much is a engine rebuild if you do your own labour?
- Is there much to be gained power/mpg with wideband and aftermarket ecu (already have lc-1 sitting around...)
- What is the correct starting, running, stopping procedure?
- Is it worth buying from a dealer or specialist/do they mark up much?
Quote from: Metalligator;812186Questions ey? Had a look in the stickies, maybe not in the right places
- What\'s the deal with decats for rx8s?
- How much is a engine rebuild if you do your own labour?The cost of a rebuild kit basically, I think they\'re about £1,200. You may need a new rotor/housing depending on how the engine died
- Is there much to be gained power/mpg with wideband and aftermarket ecu (already have lc-1 sitting around...)Aftermarket ECUs are alway better, add more equals more power, as for mpg you never worry about that when buying a rotary as you should be driving it like its stolen when properly warmed up
- What is the correct starting, running, stopping procedure?Get the engine up to running temps, no thrashing until it is warm, shut down get the revs to 3,000rpm turn the ignition off and put your foot flat tithe floor to flood the engine with air and get rid of any fuel in there that may cause flooding problems
- Is it worth buying from a dealer or specialist/do they mark up much?
If you get one from a specialist you will probably get an engine warrenty and a fresh engine but may cost you a little bit more, also performance wise between and fd and an 8 is different, turbos versus NA
"shut down get the revs to 3,000rpm turn the ignition off and put your foot flat tithe floor to flood the engine with air and get rid of any fuel in there that may cause flooding problems"
Is that so? I don\'t do this I just let it run for 30 secs or so and then switch off am I doing wrong in that?
Steve
Shut down procedure for an RX-8; if the engine is warm, is simply to turn off the ignition. If the engine water temp gauge is only a couple of "blips" off the cold position then hold the revs at 4000rpm for for a few seconds then HOLD it there and turn off (don\'t floor the throttle). I usually drive around the block instead (more fun ;) and haven\'t flooded mine once in 7.5 years of ownership.
WRT original question, there are plenty of RX-8\'s in the £2000-£3500 bracket and, if you get a good one, I reckon they are excellent VFM. I don\'t know if you\'ve driven one, but the handling is excellent as stock, and can be improved further by some suspension upgrades (coilovers, stiffer ARB\'s, spacers etc). The brakes are some of the best on a road car - comment from the independent "ProDrive" guys who were testing them reckoned they were 2nd only to some Porsche models. Getting any significant more power out of an RX-8 cheaply, without going FI, seems to be almost impossible. But they have plently enough power if you are used to MX-5\'s! They are massive fun on trackdays and can embarrass much more exotic machinery in the corners. There are several regulars with s/c and t/c MX-5\'s at the trackdays I go to and they are good fun to play with in the RX-8!
Many of the track oriented RX-8 owners have gone the decat route to extract a few more hp (and to get a louder exhaust note - the stock 8 exhaust is incredibly quiet!).
I agree, from what I\'ve seen, DIY engine rebuild cost is ~£1200-£1500, but it depends on what you have to replace; just seals is cheap, but start adding in housings/plates and bearings and the costs go up.
Best place to source an RX-8 would be through an MRC or RX8OC member. The likelihood is you will have an enthusiast who has looked after the car and will have a full history.
Holding the revs at 3,000rpm ish, turn off ignition, depress throttle fully(as injectors are not able to fire any more as engine is turned off) this opens the butterfly\'s letting air into the engine as it stops spinning essentially drying out the engine of any excess fuel. This is mainly for a manly powered car (turbod)
I was trying to give answers for both 8s and FDs.
I think VFM an rx8 would be the best choice for the OP. FDs are money pits, I should know as I sold mine to fund my other money/time pit
My mx5 was probably pushing 200bhp per tonne so no stranger to a bit of speed, I wouldn\'t personally power mod a car until sorted suspension and brakes (which I realise don\'t need sorting on rx8). Think I will head down the 8route as intended but tried to come in with open mind!
Personal opinion to Modding is unless you\'re taking it up the strip do mods that allow you to carry speed and the most worthwhile mod in Amy car is the driver.
When supercharged the 5 once I\'d tuned it got same economy with the charger and megaquirt than I had on the stock ecu, mainly due to wideband and getting a better tune. I know they are not economical cars and will probably get one regardless but curious as to whether ecu makes much/any difference?
I\'m told the stock map chucks extra fuel through to cool the cat? Also I\'m guessing decay fails the mot?
Would like a test drive, but the nearest Mazda garage has none and feel cheeky going to a for sale for test drive before knowing if serious about buying.
More waffle than a Belgian coffee house so will stop there
Thanks!
You will enjoy the rx8 very much, I have contemplated getting one to go and do track days with the others on here but need to finish my other car first.
I think if you are going to strip the interior out of an 8 you may change your mind quickly as they are often quite good inside.
If you have more power to get to the corners though you will get there first and be able to block and then get tithe next corner first. I am a power crazed idiot though:D
Welcome to MRC! :wave
As has already been said you can pick up some bargain RX-8\'s now. You will struggle to get a test drive from a dealer as they are no longer in production - MK Mazda didn\'t have any even when they were! check the Mazda website for any that come onto their books.
If the weather starts to warm up we\'ll have to have another Milton Keynes meet - good chance to meet and chat to a variety of owners and their cars.
Been on youtube listening to exhausts and watching reviews, am sold on an RX8.
Think Colourwise want winning blue>black>silver
The tax went up i think in march 2006, I have also read they made some revisions in 2005, anyone any ideas when what happened?
Should have enough cash at beginning of march, wish me luck! I am tempted to get a non runner and make it run, is there a way of telling how an engine died easily?
Compression test can give you an idea as to what state the internals are in, but best way would be to pull the engine and split it.
Quote from: Metalligator;812277The tax went up i think in march 2006, I have also read they made some revisions in 2005, anyone any ideas when what happened?
Don\'t talk to me about tax - just got mine through on the R3 and it\'s £460! :eek My 2005 RX-8 was much lower on tax and I think you\'re right it goes up on 2006 models.
I don\'t believe there were any revisions in 2005, they just changed a couple of the colours at the end of 2004. All the other special editions were just cosmetic apart from the PZs which have some after-manufacture mods like improved suspension, all done by Prodrive.
The only real revision is the R3.
I read somewhere that late 2005 they had \'better starter motor and ecu upgrade\'
Looking at it a low mileage 56 pz with motorway miles running only super unleaded with heavy premix looks like best option :-p
Ah yes there were a couple of recalls, I had my starter motor changed in about 2006 - there\'ll be a list of them all somewhere.
The PZ does sound like a good option if you can pick one up for a good price. Personally I didn\'t see any benefit to using super unleaded and the premix is whole other debate! :chat
Any ideas where said list will be?
pz has different suspension, back box, alloys and some body kit differences