How long have you tried cranking the car? You shouldn't continue cranking if it doesn't start after 10 seconds, or you could damage the starter.

Try the deflooding procedure first, like mentioned.

Then, start inspecting your ignition items. Healthy ignition system and engine shouldn't flood.

Replaced the Siebon hood with the OEM one, time to clean her up.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...73f3fbeb12.jpg

Today, with a heavy heart, I washed my rx-8 for possibly the last time in preparation to post a FS thread. =( After running great for 135k I think I've lost compression, it no longer starts, and I do not have the time to do a rebuild.

Have you done a compression test? Rx8 not starting is far from = lost compression.

Not a sophisticated one but after checking battery, fuel, and plugs I found a DIY compression test thread here (https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...n-test-244299/) and read about 75psi on the front rotor and 15psi on the rear (even with 'hold max reading' on the meter). For a little while prior it had been taking a while to start but I was hoping it was just a weak battery.

Having no access to my garage/shop tools right now, and limited confidence to do a rotary rebuild anyway, I had a local Mazda Specialist stick a Mazda Reman short block in there. So glad I did that. The car is young again! Still much cheaper than any decent new/used car that could replace it. Now I'm on premix 2 cycle oil, extra oil changes/top offs, and expect a little more longevity. Yippee, YeeHaw.

Repaired stripped screw holes in MAF housing with pressed-in brass inserts. Cleaned MAF. Insulated back and bottom of air box. That last one was probably a waste of time, but maybe I’ll see a few degrees lower intake temps.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...2d5924371.jpeg

Let my friend drive it then he put e85 in instead of 91 and I almost had a heart attack on the spot he only put $4 in and I had a lil 91 left but I’m still freaking out what should I do just drive it till it’s gone then put 91 back in her and hope she never noticed 😭😭😭😭😭😫😫😫😫😫

Moved it out of the way to get my 3000GT out of the Garage today since it was a nice sunny day. We had that huge rain storm Thursday that washed most of the salt away... Wanted to take the 3000 out and let it stretch its legs since It hasn't moved in almost 2 months...

Always satisfying that for a car (RX-8) with such a bad reputation for reliability it always fires right up, after sitting all week, outside, in sub-zero temps. Of course I let it warm up, and then drove it around a bit before shutting it back off..

I will definitely be taking it to Cars and coffee tomorrow morning, then to Brunch, and maybe just go for a nice drive after that. I have big plans for it to allow me to hang onto it forever - Rotary Engine or not.

Painted the ring of rust on the rear rotors and installed 20mm spacers. Still need to do the front, the rust ring is much smaller there. The high temp paint I used is flat so it doesn't match the coating on the rotor hats but it is close enough (the photo makes it look worse). Also ignore the terrible condition of the wheels.

what size are the inserts? where did you get them? That's a great Idea!

How?
 

How did you do that?

You painted the RUST???:yelrotflm:yelrotflm

Good idea. Why didn't I think of that?...

Part of it is filled with 3M leather and vinyl repair kit, but it didn't have near enough to fill the entire thing. I couldn't get their texture thing to work at all either. At that point I didn't think it was going to turn out well so I filled the rest with caulk (it needed filled to be able to wrap it later). Then I sprayed the entire peice with some SEM leather and vinyl die/paint that I had left from refinishing a steering wheel.

The results weren't great which is why I decided to wrap it. You could still clearly see the H since it is not textured. The wrap looks much better even if it is glossier than the rest of the dash. I may take some left over wrap and spray it with the SEM stuff as a test since the SEM matched perfectly.


I sanded the rust off first of course. The car doesn't get driven a lot and even less in the rain so it came off very quickly.

I used #6-32 inserts from McMaster-Carr.
https://www.mcmaster.com/#90363a017/=1b67v8r

Obviously you will also need round head #6-32 screws of appropriate length.
You will also need to drill out the old holes bigger to fit the insert - just don't go nuts and drill through to the inside of the tube.

Took a pic in the daylight with the 20mm spacers installed. I went with 20 because some people said they had rubbing with 25mm when lowered and 245 tires. The front tires look like they are just barely sticking past the fender, the rears are still sunk in. Maybe I'll end up getting 25mm for the rear later.

I still need to install my lowering springs, I've had them sitting in the garage forever.

plugs fouled after replacing plugs coils and wires

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YBNyw11IsVtPJL3X2

Idle after cleaning plugs with the wire brush

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cHbJcxwfYYK98mIu2

Great quote on the RX-8:

The lack of love for this car is a crying shame. It's a Miata chassis, stretched out and hard topped, with the boring 4-pot yanked for a batshit crazy powerplant you can't get in anything else.

Despite 20 years of safety regs, it's lighter than a 944. It's the same weight as an e30 M3, but with 30 more hp. It's brakes and tires are speccd' for a car twice it's weight - 275s will fit all around, and the stock brakes won't even sweat at the track. And at the end of the day, you'll barely have any wear while the Z-car paddocked next to you will have consumed the outside front tire and a set of pads.

You get 4 wheel independent suspension, adjustable for camber, caster, and toe. A six speed close ratio box, and a torque sensing LSD. Inside, you get a big tach front and center, as God intended, and a nice little beeper to remind you when to shift. The ergonomics are wonderful - you notice nothing, which is the way it should be.

When pushed, the chassis comes alive. It doesn't speak to you, it's hard wired to your brain. You can feel the weight transfer to each contact patch. Come a little hot into a corner, because transfer to oversteer is so gentle and controllable that you want to live there all day. Brake like a 911, heel and toe and the blip sounds good enough to melt your heart. Wind it out down the straight, listen for the 8000rpm beep because there's no piston motor harshness to indicate a shift is needed - wait 1 second, 1 and a half, shift at 9000 on the nose. Repeat all day - it's so easy and natural you won't break a sweat.

After you are done, throw all four tires in the back seat. Drive home in soft comfort - the car completely switches character. It goes dead silent, rides and drives like an Accord, and is smoother than butter. Every control is light as a feather.

And you can pick up a used one for well less than a comparable Civic Si or even a Mazda3.

Yeah, there's not a lot of power. Resale is crappy. The mileage is a pain. And, it's ugly. But it's a true budget exotic that is supremely useful day to day. And as a used sports car, it's a total steal.

You can have reasonable power (265 - 270 bhp at the flywheel with factory stock ports) and a decent engine life, you just have to be willing to get a pro built, hand-fitted engine with Iannetti “silver” ceramic apex seals in the deeper RX7 size for around $10k or so ...

I have dynoed a number of freshly built stock port engines (with stock intakes and race header back exhausts) for our pro7 race series here . They come in at between 199 and 208whp on a conservative mainline hub dyno.

This builder builds rotary engines for top world level race teams since the early 70’s and also special projects directly for Mazda. I have a dedicated post for him and his ability along with a link to his website in my turbo concept thread.

I and several other people have also posted the engine dynos that back that up as well as chassis dyno results that are higher than what you posted above (typically 225 - 235 rwhp NA).

Like I said in the other thread, imo nobody in the world knows more about the Renesis than him, even the builders in Japan. He will be building the 4-port Renesis engine for my turbo project and he also rebuilt the competition NA engine that is currently in my race RX8 that is still about 2 months from completion, which he built that same engine for me for the first time in early 2010

I know you consider yourself to be a “Renesis God”, Brettus, but compared to him you’re mud and so am I, sorry to be blunt about it.

Which I already proved back in 2006 as per my recent Renesis header theory thread, and hence it’s not theory but fact, that race header blah blah blah is totally meaningless on the Renesis due to the fact that there being no overlap occurring between the exhaust port closing and the intake port opening rules out any potential to create additional power through exhaust manifold scavenging. It can’t exist, PERIOD!


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It probably is based on my experience because that aluminum foil stuff isn't even remotely close to being insulation ...

Well, it ranges from "that's nice!" to "Eww...". It's all about personal preference.

However, out of all the cars that have clamshell doors, RX-8 is probably the best-looking. Your other choices are a Saturn Ion Coupe or a BMW i3(you know how some people only take pics of their steering wheels? i3 is the reason).

I merely posted the above for the sake of interest . This is what the engine builders here are getting . I didn't say any more about it than that . Why you had to make those derogatory comments ........... only you know.
FWIW I don't consider myself anything more than someone who has tried a lot and is willing to pass on any knowledge I've gained through that process.

Also : maybe I wasn't clear but those engines all just have the stock manifold with a free flowing exhaust attached .

You mean the same derogatory comment made about myself? :rolleyes: Not sure why you keep insisting on taking everything as so excessively personal. Are you insecure or something?



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