Just bought my first RX8 which was sold with a bit of rust on the sills, from what i read a common problem, however just caught in time before welding is required. I have set about wire brushing the whole of the underbody and parts in order to seal the underbody already.

A few problems i encountered since owning the car is i noticed like a rubber banding sensation when pulling out of uphill junctions, sticking gear stick and a clutch burning smell, and then this weekend loss of power on hills and engine kept dieing on me.
I did some homework and quickly realized the cat had given up the ghost and could hear what sounds like broken glass in the exhaust when reving up. I am now ordering replacement coils and plugs as i don't think they have been done for a while by looks of things, and replacing the cat with a 2nd hand original for now until funds become available.
Could the cat getting to hot be responsible for what appeared to be the clutch sticking and not allowing gear changes, or will clutch need doing aswell or master/slave problem?

When taking coils out i also noticed oil cooler lines are falling to bits at the metal crimped parts anyone know cheapest option to replace these?

Other than these issues boy did this motor put a smile on my face.

 

I seriously doubt a clogged cat could produce enough heat to cause a clutch problem without melting half the car in the process.

Before you go crazy with the clutch, bleed the clutch slave cylinder.

Any shop that produces hydraulic hoses can produce new oil cooler lines for you. Don't forget to check the hard line under the crossmember (between the radiator and crank pulley).

 

Thanks for the advice, I put new iridium plugs in today, cleaned and painted the coil bracket and installed new coils and leads. The factory plugs and coils were still in the car by looks of it at 62,500 miles, the plugs were literally black and all 4 coils were the 100 type so replaced with 100c revision, they had black spots and only gave a reading of 0.965 on the test meter. One thing that it has improved is the car now starts instantly on cranking where as before it would take 5-10 seconds, I had thought I needed a new starter as well, so saved a few quid there.

​​​I think for the cost of the slave cylinder I just aswell replace as the brakes need servicing as well and see if that makes any improvement. I noticed in the service manual the tyranny oil is due to be replaced at 65k, is it possible this might be contributing to the sticking gears, it's usually only 1st and reverse that I notice the burning smell and is almost impossible to change gear as the stock is locked in position until clutch is depressed again. My initial thought was the clutch bearing but its only on hills and not on level ground so much.

​​​​​​Thanks for the tip regarding oil cooler hoses as well.