Can I be that Lucky ?

[buckman67]

Bought my Silver 95 Type R just over a month ago almost straight from the docks. Bought it off ebay for £4.5K, delivered. Now I am an old experienced DIY mechanic on 4-8 cylinders but know little of the mechanics, just the principles of the rotary engine.  I did my homework before purchase and knew what I was after. A good body and interior with an iffy engine to play with.
This car has no service history and has recorded 54K miles, is totally original       ( apart from the rear silencer ) and intact, and is virtually spotless inside and out, just needed a thourough clean and polish.
First job was a full service. Engine oil was black but not " thick". Plugs were very good, right colour, no oil, one was disconnected. The cap was just resting on the plug and both cap and plug tip were rusty.  Assessory belts were well worn and the air filter was due a change. Car shows no smoke under load and has yet to show any oil or water loss in 200 miles. Engine hoses look OK although I have yet to find most of them. Front pads were down to 2mm ish ! so have changed them, but no fluid leaks and all caliper pistons moving.
Car runs great. Starts first kick, and pulls ( when hot ! ) very well. There is a hestitation around 4000 which I guess is the turbo sync but not sure if this is normal or just needs bits/adj. Once passed 5000 pulls all the way. Next jobs are leads, fuel filter, gearbox /diff oil, that should see me through the winter.
I replaced my 80 Corvette with a new RX8 in September and then bought this RX7 later for a hobby as I was so impressed with the RX8.  
I know the engine is reaching that 60K rebuild target, but it way outperforms the RX8 so not looking to the spanners yet.
At first glance the car looked quite neglected but I have yet to find major flaw ( Famous last words !!! ) so just enjoying the car as it is and concluding that its the best 4K I have spent on any car to date.

Bob

[ro284]

Well done Bob, sounds as though you got a bargain there,not necessarily a rebuild due to wear at 60K, i think its lack of corrosion inhibitor that eats away at the cast housings,causing water seal failure that does it! you can never know if it\'s had enough/any antifreeze/corrosion inhibitor in the cooling system over the years, think i would do that as my first job, some guys put radweld in just to protect against corrosion, welcome to the club, and well done again with the car, any pics?? another Bob

[iaint]

Sounds like a real find.  Good luck with it.  there are plenty of technically minded folks on here eager and willing to share their knowledge.  Helps that you know a spanner from a wrench too!!!

[buckman67]

Thanks guys
Yeh I did check the water and it shows bright pink , so I guess that\'s a Japanese glycol of some description. But like you say you dont know how long its been in there or the ratio so will change it soon.
When I said totally original I forgot the wheels which are 18" RX8 alloys. Three are heavily curbed but look great from a distance. The RX8 members ( me included ) have a special offer from Prodrive of new RX8 alloys at £60 each, so I have ordered 4 new ones.
I would like to complete a compression check. I understand you can complete with a normal comp. tester cranking at 250 with the valve removed and should expect around 100psi...is that correct ?
And a boost test should deliver somewhere around 10-8-10 psi. Yes ?
Will post some pics when the sum comes out :Thumbs-up

Bob

[iaint]

Are the rx-8 wheels really wide enough for decent rubber?

Many find 235 front and 255/265 rear work very well...

[dandan]

pink coolant? To be on the safe side I would flush that out and replace it, the red stuff you get over here is not nice to rotaries, but the blue or green stuff is fine. Its due to one particular ingredient that the red contains I think. Can never be too careful for the sake of £5 worth of coolant though.

[Martiny]

To answer the original question. You can be lucky and it can go way past 60k. One guy in the US managed 160k.

[andysmee]

..oh, and the hesitation around 4,000 revs sounds like the point where the first turbo is maxed out and the second turbo is spooling up which is normal (you should feel the second turbo kicking in at around an approximate 5,000 revs or so, thereabouts, in that ballpark)
 
Sounds like money well spent, plenty of time to save up for the engine rebuild. Keep those fingers crossed

[Martiny]

Ok maxed out is a bit wrong.

The waste gate from the 1st Turbo is used to spool up the 2nd. When the 2nd turbo is "added" to the 1st turbo, there is a dip in boost as the 2nd gets fully up to speed.

[andysmee]

I stand corrected
 
Thanks

[buckman67]

Are the rx-8 wheels really wide enough for decent rubber?

Many find 235 front and 255/265 rear work very well...

Iain

Yeh wider rubber always looks good assuming handling is not effected, but looking at this car it appears to be lowered ( looking at other posted photo\'s ) and any wider tyres I\'m sure will catch the upper wheel arch. I will take some photo\'s and post them this week for opinions, but she certainly sits low.

Bob

[iaint]

Iain

Yeh wider rubber always looks good assuming handling is not effected, but looking at this car it appears to be lowered ( looking at other posted photo\'s ) and any wider tyres I\'m sure will catch the upper wheel arch. I will take some photo\'s and post them this week for opinions, but she certainly sits low.

Bob

Getting the offsets just right (and suspension geometry) is pretty important.  235 front should be no problem and 265 wide rear rubber is not an issue.  What width are the RX-8 allys?

[ro284]

Rather like the RX8 wheels, anyone got a pic of them on a 7?

[dandan]

search for D2BBA\'s car before the respray, it had RX8 wheels on it

[onelastpost]

http://www.badongo.net/pic/312040
http://www.badongo.net/pic/312040
These pics are of my silver rex with chrome, which i didnt like at all, but i do love the matt silver rx8 wheels my self. The chrome ones look awesome on a darker car - gone back to my blitz racing wheels for now -  http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29798