New owner introduction
 

Oy, figured I'd introduce myself before starting a build thread. Recently purchased an 04 banana hammock yellow RX8 and I'm excited about building her out.

Found her in western North Carolina Carolina a blown motor (surprised?) Straight body and clean title and scooped her up for under a grand! What's not to love about that?

Plan is to swap in a 2JZ and wring it out to 8-9k to keep the spirit of the cat relatively intact. Looking forward to interacting with a new board

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...e7a70daed2.jpg
Loaded up and ready to come to her new home

Well, it won't really be an RX8 anymore once you 2JZ it. You realize its more than just a motor swap right? You will have to change out the Trans, wiring and ECU to make it work. I hope you put aside at least $15k for this build... Your best bet if you want to just get it going again is to swap in a re manufactured Renesis and call it a day.

Not being an RX8 anymore really comes down to a matter of perspective I suppose. I look forward to it not being an RX8 anymore in the sense that it will be faster, more reliable, and therefore better suited to care free daily driving (should I go that route). I'm fully aware of what is involved in swapping a non OEM motor into it. I've already done this once before with my S2000. The F20c was swapped for an LS6/T56. I have a build thread for that over on S2ki, you can read it here, but recently sold that car. I had a similar reaction from the purists in the S2000 community lol. Here are some pictures!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...b8a302d329.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...c025ce51b5.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...4914916406.jpg

Welcome! I agree with keeping the car a rotary, but its your car and your build, so enjoy it the way you want. Just know that with the Renesis engine, the car handles phenomenally well and has great driveability. Welcome to the forum!

Not sure what happened to my previous response, but suffice to say, engine swaps are not uncharted waters for me. And I've driven the RX8 in stock form and agree that the driving dynamics are great, but the power and delivery are lacking. I like this chassis, it's a close second to the FD for me, it just needs mo powa baby.

Lightning Yellow.
One of the original colors.
Have some respect.
;)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...d0903d6dff.jpg

Really love the yellow and that's actually part of what sold me on the car. Which is odd because I've never been a big yellow fan. Unfortunately this one has spent most of its life outside and the paint is definitely in need of some TLC if not a complete respray.

Well, if you know what you are in for go for it, I'd love to see updates as you go. If I were to do the swap though, I'd put a 13b REW from the RX7 because you can make all the power you need with it, engine is same size so slots right in and retains 50/50 balance, and it retains the rotary sound! It's a much easier swap overall.

That's a bit of generalization here.

Just because a REW is close in dimensions doesn't mean it will bolt right up. You still need to do some work to make sure it fits right.

Stock RX-8 is actually 51:49. Having a turbo and everything will likely upset this further. If you want a perfect 50:50, get a BMW. The Germans mean 50:50 when they say 50:50.

Agreed. My thought is that if I'm going to swap another motor in, it may as well be one that can make big power reliably. Would rather only do a single engine swap in this car