i'd really would love to clean my engine bay, but I'm also no expert on what to cover up, or do I even need to cover up anything? some people use a brush and take their time but a couple of times when I washed engine bays of cars, I just cover up the electrical stuff and use a soft mist with water and then with engine cleaner soap, and a rinse and it looks brand new afterwards. could I do the same with the Rx8? or what do you guys do?

 

Most of the connectors are weatherproof enough to survive a misting of water, but I wouldn't point a hose directly at them. Cover up the alternator and vreg completely.
You kinda have to brush to agitate the grime anyway, so brush and spray bottle of water/soap mix are probably the best approach. Then rinse.

 

My engine bay was not bad, so I used tub o' towels to clean it, not sure how bad yours is.

 

i got lucky and got mine very cheap.. owner simply didn't want it because he simply had 9 other rx8s! all running too! just needed some little work, but he never cared about the exterior of the car with the one i bought, even the engine bay wasn't even cleaned so i decided if i cleaned it up a lil bit it'll look nicer, and I'll cover up those two and then simply clean! thank you!!

 

I would do a first pass using scrubbing bubbles. Did a great job on mine and then I went around and did some scrubbing on the heavier deposits with simple green in a few areas.