Long Time Lurker Jumping In!
 

Hello,

Just wanted to let everyone know I appreciate all the information on the forums. Had my 8 for about three months knowing it was a maintenance intensive car. My daughter and I have started the project this morning with Radiator (yup, leaking around the reservoir nozzle), hoses, belts and ignition system.

I'll keep you posted on the progress, I have some questions that perhaps a few can answer.

Good for you and good for her. I remember mine at that age. I now have to fight her for track time in my car. As a long time lurker, I am sure you have done the new owner thread. While you are in there, I suggest you look at the Congrats thread in my signature. Specifically the grounds one. It is really easy if you are doing the work above. I would suggest just using star washers.

Tell her Meghan is waiting for her at the track....

Road Bumps!
 

1. Appears I purchased the vehicle with a missing bottom cover. :banghead: Probably a contributing factor to the A/C being so weak over the summer.

2. Had some parts fall out after removing the fan and radiator. Pictures included, anyone have ideas?

3. One of the fans are extremely hard to turn. Not taking chances, going to order both fans and replace.

4. Just came back offshore and had some boxes from MAZMART and BHR. My water pump is probably another month or two on back order.

5. BHR, thanks for a great laugh, who knew the monkey made noises and flew so far!

On the left, hold-down bolt of the type commonly seen holding a battery in the battery box.
On the right what appears from the valve in it to be a vacuum line from somewhere and the item at center appears to be a piece broken off from the vacuum line. While you have the car apart, I would suggest having a look around the front for a vacuum nipple that seems lonely for rubber companionship. It also couldn't hurt to see if both hold-downs are on the battery. Somewhere in the past, the bold-down might have been lost and replaced but you can never tell.

left, what he said, the battery tie down.

Center, half of the plastic piece that goes into the air tube (ribbed thing from air box to throttle body). Make sure there are no open holes. tell us year and miles. I think an 04 and 05 have 3 holes, 06 and up will have 2 holes in the tube. These are not vacuum lines. one goes to the jet air pump, one ventilates the crank case, the third one goes to the back of the check valves on the oil injectors. The second one (crank case), is re-routed on the ones after 2006.

Right is the vacuum line that actuates the VAFD. I recognize the little green and white thing. Look under the air tube for a broken off vacuum line. Or, specifically, look around the air box for a steel tube that does not have a vacuum line attached. The line being pulled does not do anything bad, it will make the engine a little louder and the incoming air a little cooler. But, if the line was not plugged correctly, you will have a vacuum leak.

Yeah, the missing undertray will screw with ac temps, especially sitting in traffic. mazmart had them the last time I looked. There is also a bunch of those little push in fasteners to hold it in. I would get one from Mazmart, then hit the dealer for the fasteners. They will be able to look up the right ones.

Sounds like your challenge will be sorting out what others have done to it... I have had cars like that.

Where are you located?

More Parts...
 

Thanks for the help!

Just ordered a water pump, bunch of body clips, under tray and a fan motor.

Progress!
 

Water Pump Installed

Thermostat replaced

Belts changed out

3/4 of the coolant hoses swapped

Minor glitch with the alternator bracket, bolt stripped out on me. Required some extra tool purchases!:rofl:

I'll dive into the electrical tomorrow.

no project is worth doing if it requires no new tools!

BHR Coils and wires installed along with plugs.

The BHR kit install not as clean as I would like. Had issues with length of wires and routing. Seemed like the bracket didn't fit proper. The clip for wires could not be used.

Parts for radiator came in so hopefully I'll be able drive tomorrow evening!

That seems like a rarity for BHR, did you try contacting Charles? I'm sure Charles Will get you sorted.

Something Is Missing...
 

From my garage!

No leaks, noises, or hesitations. The 8 started up first try and was purring like a kitten.

This was a bigger job than anticipated. Appears the previous owner or owners had broken a few clips, and other minor items.

Next on the list will be troubleshooting why the drivers side window wont go down. :Wconfused

I recently installed the BHR ignition.
The only common experience I had was the OEM loom won't work, but that's to be expected considering the coils are situated so differently, and the wires are bigger, so they probably wouldn't work anyway.
It's a tight fit, but I got mine done easy enough.
Maybe the previous owner altered something that caused your problems, I don't recall anyone having problems with it.

There was a clearance problem trying to push the wires onto the coils. The lower wiring harness was obstructive. Had to use double spacers to raise the coils up and not use two of the four mounting bolts. IMO, the wires could of been 2" inches longer so the factory plug cable clip could be utilized.

Window issue resolved. Appears the pulley on the motor was not seated properly. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with a local on the vacuum hose routing. Budget is busted until next month.:icon_no2:

Your absolutely correct. One of the local RX-8 racers met up with me yesterday. The vacuum system is a mess. Previous owner did some curious things.

I'll get it sorted!:rock: