Quick update... Eldorado Mazda in McKinney did the engine swap. They installed the new clutch at no cost, put a street alignment on it (it won't see the track anytime soon), and only charged me $89.99 for the whole of it.

Picked the car up today. Saw compression numbers in the low to mid 8s. Put 18 ounces of premix in the tank, filled it up with 93, and drove it 2 hours home. Watched the coolant temp very closely. Tried very hard to keep the RPM below 4000, short shifting all the way, and pissing off all of DFW by driving under 70 in the right lane for 120 miles. Everything seemed fine. No drama to report. New release bearing fixed the previous noise problem. Clutch felt great. Smooth sailing.

The mediocre news: It has a slight coolant leak, an exhaust leak, very creative vacuum line routing, and some rattles. It looks like a greasy abortion under the hood. Will need to fix the leaks, chase down the rattles, re-route some of the vacuum lines, re-torque all the nuts and bolts I can reach, and detail the engine bay.

The good news: The engine is indeed NEW, and NOT A REMAN. Part number on the parts list is for a new engine, and no blue tag on the block.

I will continue to break it in gently and hope for the best.

Meanwhile the car is for sale. It is all stock under the hood. The body and interior are both 8.5 out of 10. Full maintenance schedule and parts list available. I will create a proper FS thread, once I have time to fix the minor issues, wash it, and photograph it. PM me with any reasonable offers.

Sooooo... I think this engine is actually a reman. The part number is N3Y4-02-200R-V0, and I see it used for both new and reman engines on various OE parts sites. The engine has no blue tag, but it does have a somewhat rusty crank pulley, which methinks is the giveaway. The only way that isn't true is if they transferred my old one over for some reason, but to my knowledge, all engines include a crank pulley.

The service advisor and the tech both told me it is a new engine, but they have both been wrong before, sooooo...

There are parts that do get reused in "reman" engines while the rest of the block can be new. I would not fret much about the pulley or oil pan. Inspect other components such as the housings, irons, water pump, and other externally visible components.

Its possible the water pump could be used, unlikely but possible. What you really want is new housings, thats one of the biggest items obviously.

Yeah, I get all that. But, if I am to sell the car, it is important to know what I am selling.

I specifically asked the gentlemen if it was a reman or a new engine, and they both said "new, not reman". The crank pulley says otherwise. New engines don't come with rusty crank pulleys. And, there should be no reason to transfer my old one to a new engine.

If you're feeling adventurous, you could try removing the oil filter and checking if the mating surface on the block is virgin or has clearly had prior installations. I imagine Mazda refuses the filter pedestals given the opportunity.

Ditto for belt tensioner adjustment bolts. Anything that would have had multiple movements on a used engine.

Fortunately or unfortunately, "new" vs "reman" doesn't currently mean much for the Rx8 market in terms of value to the vehicle overall. Reman engine production volume has diminished exponentially, and the number of reusable core components is dwindling. Nearly all remans now are brand new engines internally with reused oil pans (that were cleaned), pulleys, thermostat housings, front covers, and other minor components that pass a basic inspection. The rotating assembly, housings, irons and even usually stationary gears are often all new components. The lower production volume has allow reduced the pressure on builders to put engines together which has allowed them to take their time more and as a result the overall build quality of the reman engines has also vastly improved.

^ Right, but potential buyers don't know that. Odds are good that any given buyer will believe new is better. Loki has a seemingly good plan. An oil change will come sooner rather than later. I can check the filter plate for signs of wear. That still doesn't address the used crank pulley, though. To be fair, I think I have to list it as a reman.





Potentially interesting point of fact: I stopped at a Ford dealership on the way home from picking it up and had it evaluated for trade against a used F150. They showed me the live auction listings, and 2011 models were going for just under $6K. They offered me $5K, which is "keep it and drive the hell out of it some more" money. The blue books show between $11K and $13K at private sale, depending on location and condition. I'll put up a trial balloon and see how much I can get for it.

Should you sell private party (which is the way to go always) to a rotary enthusiast, they should be well aware of the availability of engine parts from Japan.

Should you sell private party to a car enthusiast, it would be easy to point them in our direction so they can become informed prior to purchase that currently remans are effectively new engines with non-essential components like pulleys, thermostat housings, and oil pans being the bulk of the only reused components (oh, and front covers).

You basically have a brand new motor, "reman" or not. It should be priced to sell accordingly especially since it was dealer installed and you have a well documented record of the cars history for potential buyers.

It might possibly take time to sell, but when you do it will likely be to someone with a brain cell that is looking at your vehicle and contacting you as opposed to others because of the advantages of your car having a new motor and being mechanically sound, as opposed to $5k SII's with none of that and questionable compression.

I emailed the service rep at Mazda NA and asked if she can look up whether it is new or reman. I will probably hear back in the next couple of days.

I washed it this evening and did not find any body damage from being in the shop. Saturday or Sunday morning, I will put it up in the air to fix the exhaust and coolant leaks. While it is up there, I will pull all the bottom plastics and check out the tension bolts, water pump bolts, and all the rest for freshness. I need to reseal around the radiator and fix any other minor niggles anyway. I will know what it is for sure soon enough.

From Mazda NA Customer Service:

Good Morning Mr. Scott,

I did receive your email and got an answer this morning, the engine is a remanufactured engine that is from Mazda direct. If you have any other questions feel free to reply to this email.

I hope all is well and thank you again for all the patience that you had through the process to get the engine replaced.

Part number is for reman engine, but like I said even just one non-essential used component on an otherwise new engine automatically makes it a "reman" engine. You could have a reman engine for something as simple as the front cover or oil pan, and the rest of the block could be entirely new. Do not let this news discourage you, I mean look at the motor that NotAPreppie got and the compression numbers it has at his now time of sale. That beats a lot of "new" engines in terms of compression.

Its a new-to-the-car motor, with all service records and receipts. Post break-in you are going to have a fantastic engine that is sure to fetch a satisfying return. Go back to what you were doing before all of this, enjoying the car. You have 100-115psi compression numbers, far better than nearly every 8 out there (including mine with 50-60psi compression numbers)
-X

I mean, if you are losing sleep over it, replacing the pulley isn't the hardest thing to pull off.

Personally I wouldn't let that bother me.

You guys seem to think I am much more worried about this than I really am. I just wanted to know the disposition of the engine, so I can list if for sale honestly.

If I can't get a decent offer for it, I will just make it my daily driver, see how long it lasts, then decide what to do with it and the next engine failure interval.

In the mean time, this will be my new toy (buying from a friend):

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...fc584de507.jpg

And, it's for sale:

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-w...6/#post4889896

Very nice. I'm partial to the E9x and in wagon form.

Thanks! It started as a Vorshlag shop project car. A friend of mine bought it and commissioned them to finish it out to his liking, which happens to be pretty close to my liking. He was only able to take it to the track a handful of times, before life got in the way. It has been idle for a couple years now, and I am buying it from him and making it my primary track car. (My Miata will still have lots of fun out there, though!)

can you share the details on this new beast?

sorry to see this go,
as your info has been a huge help to me,
since I got back in the RE scene, its a great buy for someone.

There isn't a ton to tell that isn't included in the 300+ photos at the link. It is basically stock power at something like 185WHP. Otherwise, it has been totally track prepared by Terry's team at Vorshlag Motorsports, including reinforced subframes, poly and Delrin everywhere, etc. Fender flares are there to stuff 255 tires on 10" rims. It's power to weight ratio is a little better than a RX-8 with 200WHP, with a better torque curve. I have driven the RX-8 against it, and we ran right together in lap times. I am a crazier driver than he is, so I should be able to wring about 2 more seconds out of it. And, it will pass many more safety inspections than the 8 will, which means more track opportunities.

Thanks for the kind words. It has been a hell of a fun ride owning, learning about, and working this car, but I can't find a good scenario for keeping it. It is too nice and too expensive to be turned into a dedicated track car, and it doesn't work for me as a daily driver, where I need a truck due to owning property. I could keep using it the way I have in the past--occasional pleasure cruiser, occasional track car--but having a depreciating asset sitting in the garage doesn't make a lot of financial sense.

sorry did see the link,
looks good

Sure they love to rev, but like any motor the more you push it the more it will wear. A motor on a test stand that is run at 8500 RPM's 24/7 will not last as long as one run at 3500 RPM's 24/7. It is great to get rid of the carbon, but there is a cost to running harder on the street car. I have a 2010 with 82 K , no track time, 3 to 4 k oil changes and no premix, had 8.1 8.2 8.1 8.2. 8.1. 8.2

They have no resell value compared to other sport cars. I bought my 2010 with 82k, mint condition, older owner that had it 8 years for $6100.00 in April.

What cranking RPM are these numbers from? Are they normalized?

And the whole high RPM gets rid of carbon thing... It's debatable. A track car can do it since it gets all the parts get to the temperature for carbon removal, while a DD never will see that kind of internal temperature.

RED-LINEEEEE... That is all

We need normalization info to make sense of your numbers (RPM and altitude). Unfortunately, engine longevity is all over the place. Some engines last 5K miles. Others last 150K miles. It truly is a crap shoot.

You stole that car, if it truly is as you describe. Wholesale auction for your model year is over $5K. In any case, you have one data point, which is a very poor sample size.