New
 

Hey Guys,

First time caller, long-time listener. Just picked up a titanium grey '05 GT. This is my first rotary and fourth Mazda ('02 P5, '01 MP3, '11 Mazda 3 GS which I still have).

I've had some interesting sporty cars including a '90 Swift GTi, '97 BMW M3, '03 Infiniti G35, '03 Civic SiR, and a '69 VW Bug, all of which I've repaired and maintained myself, so if you have any questions on any of these, I might be able to trade you for some rotary knowledge.

My car has 141,000 km. Starts up fine cold or hot. Tranny seems to grind a little at high RPM when it's hot. I just bought some Redline MT-90 to see if that helps. Since getting it last week I've refilled the AC (like has a leak somewhere; green dye will tell us), and unstuck the fuel door. Oh, and I topped up the oil with RP 5W20.

That's it. I used to be pretty active on toprotege.com and m3forum.net. Haven't used a car forum in a while because life.

How's compression look?

No idea
 

Didn't do a compression test before I got it. It starts up fine when hot and seems to have plenty of power. I believe that the motor will inevitably need a rebuild at some point, so I'm just going to drive it until it starts having trouble starting when warm, or until something blows up. Then I'll fix it.

Welcome aboard! I've owned a Saab 96, VW Rabbit, Honda Accord, Fiat X1/9, three Mazda MX-5s and a VW Golf 337 Edition, and the RX-8 is my favorite of 'em all. Most reliable car I've ever owned. As reliable as, well, my pencil sharpener!

I had a Rabbit once too; an '84 Diesel. I also had a '90 Jetta, and an '88 Fox. I had the Fox when I was 17, and beat the living shit out of that car. My RX-8 seems pretty solid, but I'll reserve judgement until the season is over. I'll be winter storing mine from Dec - April.

Welcome to the forum

Woot!
 

I just called my local Mazda dealership to arrange an appointment for the airbag recall. Apparently, both my cat and motor were replaceed in 2012. More importantly, the car has only travelled 9,000 km since then, so with regular oil changes, I'm thinking it should be good for quite a while.

Welcome, sounds like you got a good car with the cat and motor already.
Sign up for the meeting of the Mazdas in the Canadian forum if you're interested in meeting other RX8 owners.
It's usually a good event

.. and ignition coils/plugs/wires ;)
See if these were replaced when the engine was. You don't want old questionable components on a new engine.

Loki makes an incredibly valid point, as not having a healthy ignitions system really makes or breaks these engines.

If any of the ignition components were on their way out, would there not be a sign; hesitation, hard starting, misfires, loss of power? Right now, I've got none of that, so I'm hoping I can make it until Oct/Nov running the car as is, and put "new ignition system" on the winter to-do list, completing the work before spring.

Current to-do list would then be:
-Ignition system (plugs, wires, coils)
-Sway bar endlinks (front)
-Tires
-Transmission rebuild/replacement (since my Redline MT-90 did nothing to fix the 6K+ grind)
-Rust bubble on rear quarter panel (cuting out rusty bits, welding in new tin, brazing, skim coat, epoxy primer, rust-proof from behind, paint, clear)

Not always, you want to treat these as preventative maintenance. Either way, see if Mazda can tell you when they were last changed and work from there.