New member!
 

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say hi! I joined the RX-8 gang after buying a 2004 Grand Touring in titanium gray with ~80k miles this past December from a friend's dad. He was the original owner and bought the RX-8 after owning a 1979 RX-7 before. He would take my friend to school and stuff with it so you could say he was the exact target demographic Mazda was going for with this car lol.

I bought it as I was looking for a sporty car to drive around after moving to NC from NYC (Manhattan was not car friendly at all). I had a Infiniti G35 sedan and a NA Miata back while I lived in Canada and this car literally feels like the midpoint of those two in a good way. So far I've been very impressed by the handling and the rotary engine's sound and power delivery. It's not much power but more than enough to have fun with on the street.

My example is in quite good condition all around for the age; however, the car hasn't been driven much in the past couple of years before I got it (~3,000 miles since 2016) so there's been a good bit of catch up maintenance to be done to get it running in tip top shape. I got it for a really good price which thankfully leaves me more money for repairs, mods, and gas haha.

My plan for this car is to do some light tuning to get it properly dialed for a nice street/backroads car. I might do one/two trackdays with it but will likely stick to karting for my main source of speed. I've already collected a ton of parts (racing beat intake, exhaust, bilstein PSS coilovers, and some ballin' Volks) so super looking forward to getting those on and seeing how they transform the look, sound, and handling of the car.

Thanks for having me and appreciate all of the helpful content posted here! They've been very helpful in helping me pull the trigger on this car.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...cc5c11d700.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...730bf12c62.jpg
Current build

And here she is after a long long list of modifications! Definitely has come a long way at the expense of my wallet lol. Notable ones include:

- Shine Auto Burnout-style front lip + sides paired with OEM rear extensions
- Valenti / Intec smoked full LED rear tailights
- Volk G25 18x8.5 + 35 with 245/40R18 Michelin PS4S
- Racing Beat Intake + Exhaust with Versatuner tune
- CSF aluminum radiator and full OEM replacement hoses
- Bilstein PSS coilovers
- Axialflow short shifter and miscellaneous interior bits

I've got a Pettit brake upgrade, Progress Sways, and full tint + detail coming up soon to more or less "wrap" this car up for now. Time to start saving up for the rebuild...

Through it all the car has been great fun to drive. I've somehow put 3000+ miles in three months despite working fully remote...says a lot about the fun factor and reliability!

Welcome aboard - that is a great find and your in a great location for awesome roads including the Deals Gap Rotary Rally (DGRR).

Welcome!! The car appears to be in excellent condition!! A very good buy!

I get you. I've driven mine more through this situation than I had in the past few years. It's my way out.
keep having fun!

If you're ever in the Wilmington area and want a free compression test, let me know.

Love the before and after transformation! Looking forward to hearing more from ya.

Haha I'll let you know if I do! Especially if its a quick job. Planning to come by first weekend of april for a weekend vacation and wouldn't mind double checking to make sure everything is still kosher. Had a Mazda compression test done at PPI that showed around mid high 7s for most faces aside from 1 at 7 when adjusted for starter RPM and altitude.

That's really not bad at all. My 6 speed manual is low to mid 7's, runs great and still has good power.

Sure man, I'll be around that Saturday evening and Sunday (since it's Easter I think). I've got one of the RotaryCompression testers, and the hardest part is getting the car up on jacks. I actually just had my original engine swapped out for a fresh rebuild, and the old one was mid 80's corrected PSI. Would have run it into the dirt, but opportunity came knocking.

Great looking car and a fantastic you had a history with it.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...b318b87c8.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...47d372a89.jpeg

Some more updates for the car since the last post. I've driven it now over 10k miles since purchase, and have done a few track days, AutoX, road tripped the car to Canada and NYC, and attended his years DGRR. The 8 has handled it all great! Only had two minor issues pop up. The battery went flat after a month partly from leaving a USB charger plugged into the cig lighter, and my A/C drain outlet got clogged from sitting for a month under some trees so that dumped water into the passenger footwell.

Some more mods done include:
- Aero updates: new leg sport V2 side skirts, R-Magic hood and paint matched MS wing (thanks jorx7!)
- Installed Pettit racing front BBK and rear rotors
- Installed BHR midpipe and Gesi Gen2 cat to replace OEM one that was starting to fail
- Installed Bride bucket seat

As far as a dual-purpose street / light track car it's in a pretty good spot now. I've got plans to install an incoming 4.77 S2 diff and OS Giken LSD, while refreshing the engine + diff mounts and installing some subframe rigid collars while I'm underneath there. Also big aero plans coming soon, as I purchased the full Leg Sport kit :O. Keep everyone posted!

The MS wing always hits different, I might have to keep an eye out for one of those.

Great to see the progression on the build since you first got it!

wow, car is looking great!
nicely done. :cool:

Some more updates! Got the Leg Sport RX-8 vision kit installed and I must say it looks absolutely killer! My car now has the full aero kit from Leg Motor Sport (both bumpers and front / rear fenders) to go along with their side skirts I had previously. I got the DRL package, front carbon canards, and rear carbon diffuser strakes to tie everything together. Ordered the parts from Footwork Autosport (bulk of the aero) and Rotary Love (side skirts and eyelids) and both were great to deal with. The full aero took about 6 months to show up at my body shop and it was another month or so for the install (body guy got it done in a week, bless his heart).

I also have a vented carbon hood from R Magic, OEM Mazdaspeed wing with aftermarket risers, and backed out headlights and Odula eyelids to clean up the front end. Also used Tacoma OEM rubber trim to line the overfenders for a more "OEM" finish. I'm super happy with how it turned out, the car is now soo aggressive and exotic looking. It turned the clock forward so much that it looks right in place alongside all the new Mazdas today. It's like if Mazda made a 2022 RX-8 "RS".

Need to trim the edge off of the rear overfenders as that's fouling against the rear tires over big bumps, but otherwise driveability has been great so far. Car definitely feels more stable at speed. Excited to get her PPFed and sorted so I can do more cars and coffees, backroad runs and track days.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...9fe4afd5e4.jpg
Front 3/4, super aggressive and modern

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6db25e5bb3.jpg
All the vents from the rear 3/4 view

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...7ea468a656.jpg
Side profile is great too (featuring a clean FD I bumped into)

Love seeing how this turned out. Particularly smitten with the rear end.

Also it's incredible how dark the headlights appear by simply tinting the grey elements. It looks like the entire shroud was tinted. Definitely fits in with the full menacing vibe of the Leg front bumper