Two months with me rex, thoughts and considerations
04-11-2012, 04:36 AM
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Two months with me rex, thoughts and considerations
So, it's been two months since I went forward and bought my 04 RX8 and I have to say, I'm happy I went for it, even if the 04s were not the highest recomended versions of the rex. I still havent uploaded any photos but will do so as soon as the wheather clears and I give it a nice bath 
Known history of the car:
Living in Cyprus, where cars are RHD, we get loads of gray imports from Japan. Sure enough this car was no exception. The owner prior to me had the car turbo charged. Surprisignly enough, he went to all the trouble and expense to give the extra oumf but didn't bother tuning the engine to work properly with the added turbo. So after a while the engine was gone. And that's when it ended up to my friends shop. This guy specializes in fixing and tuning rotaries (his garage is more impressive than most car lots). He got a new engine in and got the car back on the road. After failing to pay up the owed money to the mechanic, the mechanic had enough and bought the car from the guy and was planing on making spares out of it if he couldn't sell it as a whole. And that's how it ended up in my hands
The car has around 84k kilometers on the clock and the new engine around 10k-11k.
Visual bad points:
The car does have a few chips here and there, probably from small stones that the front car threw at it. Also, I suppose someone didn't like the owner or the car cause it was keyed considerably on the driver side, but most of the mark I fixed with touch ups but there are two small parts that are deep enough and are not fixable with touch ups but will get that fixed also.
Other bad points are some general wear and tear that came over the years, and I also assume some carelss attempts in parking on high pavements by the previous owner but nothing terrible or unfixable.
Considerations:
Before saying anythign here I would like to point out that nothing posted here is in any way a complaint or general crying about the car. Even if nothign else is fixed on it, I still consider the choice of buying it a very good one.
Even before comming on this forum, I knew that this car liked petrol, and I'm more than willing to feed it as much as it wants. But after poking about in the forum and talking with other rex owners in Cyprus, I can't help but think that even in full city driving i can get more than 250km from a tank. What I know will help and will take care of it as soon as possible is the catalytic converter. The existing one is not a very good one (its not the stock but not any good aftermarket one either) and will replace it with a high flow one. I was told that that would surely help the milage but even if it didn't its good for the car.
Also, the car has the muffler of the greddy exaust system. I don't know how long it was on it, but its not shiny like the ones you see in the pics and I was wondering if this uhm....brownish color it got is normal or it means that the part is near the end of its life and should consider replacing.
The car also sits in Eibach springs but still has the stock shocks. This mean that the car is lowered and inevitably the stock shocks are now in a lower possition which means that they are under more pressure even when not moving. Should this worry me for the life expectency of the shocks? I am considering a set of Bilsteins to ease my mind but that will have to cone in the future.
Known history of the car:
Living in Cyprus, where cars are RHD, we get loads of gray imports from Japan. Sure enough this car was no exception. The owner prior to me had the car turbo charged. Surprisignly enough, he went to all the trouble and expense to give the extra oumf but didn't bother tuning the engine to work properly with the added turbo. So after a while the engine was gone. And that's when it ended up to my friends shop. This guy specializes in fixing and tuning rotaries (his garage is more impressive than most car lots). He got a new engine in and got the car back on the road. After failing to pay up the owed money to the mechanic, the mechanic had enough and bought the car from the guy and was planing on making spares out of it if he couldn't sell it as a whole. And that's how it ended up in my hands
The car has around 84k kilometers on the clock and the new engine around 10k-11k.Visual bad points:
The car does have a few chips here and there, probably from small stones that the front car threw at it. Also, I suppose someone didn't like the owner or the car cause it was keyed considerably on the driver side, but most of the mark I fixed with touch ups but there are two small parts that are deep enough and are not fixable with touch ups but will get that fixed also.
Other bad points are some general wear and tear that came over the years, and I also assume some carelss attempts in parking on high pavements by the previous owner but nothing terrible or unfixable.
Considerations:
Before saying anythign here I would like to point out that nothing posted here is in any way a complaint or general crying about the car. Even if nothign else is fixed on it, I still consider the choice of buying it a very good one.
Even before comming on this forum, I knew that this car liked petrol, and I'm more than willing to feed it as much as it wants. But after poking about in the forum and talking with other rex owners in Cyprus, I can't help but think that even in full city driving i can get more than 250km from a tank. What I know will help and will take care of it as soon as possible is the catalytic converter. The existing one is not a very good one (its not the stock but not any good aftermarket one either) and will replace it with a high flow one. I was told that that would surely help the milage but even if it didn't its good for the car.
Also, the car has the muffler of the greddy exaust system. I don't know how long it was on it, but its not shiny like the ones you see in the pics and I was wondering if this uhm....brownish color it got is normal or it means that the part is near the end of its life and should consider replacing.
The car also sits in Eibach springs but still has the stock shocks. This mean that the car is lowered and inevitably the stock shocks are now in a lower possition which means that they are under more pressure even when not moving. Should this worry me for the life expectency of the shocks? I am considering a set of Bilsteins to ease my mind but that will have to cone in the future.
04-11-2012, 10:17 AM
#2
Rockie Mountain Newbie
I'm not sure why you think replacing the convertor will get you better mileage, unless its clogged, switching to a high flow convertor won't improve mileage at all.
You might want to check your ignition coils to make sure they are strong enough to properly ignite the mixture if you think you really are getting worse mileage than you should.
As for the muffler, unless its rusted through, and has a hole in it, you might be better off leaving it alone, unless you just want a shiny new muffler on your car.
As for the shocks, check to see if any are blow, and if there is a failure, replace them to your heart's content. Or just replace them if you want the ride of the Bilsteins instead.
BC.
You might want to check your ignition coils to make sure they are strong enough to properly ignite the mixture if you think you really are getting worse mileage than you should.
As for the muffler, unless its rusted through, and has a hole in it, you might be better off leaving it alone, unless you just want a shiny new muffler on your car.
As for the shocks, check to see if any are blow, and if there is a failure, replace them to your heart's content. Or just replace them if you want the ride of the Bilsteins instead.
BC.
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