I'm considering getting an RX8 but I've heard a lot of horror stories. Obviously I would go to the checklist try and get a good one when I buy it and do all the maintenance. But if the engine does get burnt up, how hard are they to remove and rebuild? I'm fairly confident with my mechanical knowledge I've done plenty of work on piston engines for years now. I'm sure the hard part is getting parts, but i just wanna know if these cars aren't hostile towards a theoretical repair. If i have my way I'd like to buy one from like 07/08 before the body refresh, with the 6 spd manual. Have it as a fun weekend car more than anything

 

Read this website from top to bottom.
RX-8 Help

 

Amateur rebuilds on RX8 are 'easy', but the process is way more involved in judging the wear and suitability of the parts being reused.

Go here and note especially the post I singled out from Kevin of Rotary Ressurection in the header.


https://www.rx8club.com/general-auto...ilders-265177/

 

Engine replacement is annoying more than complicated. There's not a ton to removing it. Where it gets tricky is rebuilding it. You generally don't want to rebuild your engine, you want an engine built from knowm good parts. They're not difficult to come by, even Mazda still produces new cores. But they're not cheap.

That link above is a great resource.

Other than that it's a stretch Miata, not a ton else to worry about and parts are inexpensive.

 

+1^^

"Stretch Miata"

I'm stealing that.

 

Unfortunately parts in Australia are basically double what they are in the USA...