looks jaz, nice to hear from ya here. sucks about the blowed up renny but hey they all are. i like the purple strut bar on the black. miss my black 8, i painted the calipers and brackets a darker purple than that and the rotor hats black

Heyyy :) I mean, it's not exactlyyyy blowed up, it starts up hot within a second and has no noticeable power loss... id imagine it has some life left, especially with how little I drive it. Regardless, Im going to drive it till it gives out and go from there. With how little I actually drive it, that'll probably be some time, haha. I don't like that color purple. I need to re-do it, just haven't gotten around to it. Apparently I needed a black undercoat, not the primer I used (to give it the appropriate hue) ... but thanks for the compliment :)

yhea unless you have a serious engine failure they still run fine with low comp if your ignition and starter are good

i used a dark purple, think i had to order it from a local parts shop since its not a normal color they stocked. its actually high temp engine paint. still have the cane in garage

I've been keeping my eyes on the local various classifieds for a replacement set of wheels, for quite awhile. I was honestly looking to stay with an OE option (Shinka or S2s, or even a much cleaner set of the generic S1s). I happened to find a set of the black chrome, in near mint condition for 200$. They were for sale listed as generic 18s for nissan/honda, etc... The man selling them was given them as a trade from someone who owed him money, so he didn't know what they came on or anything, and was just trying to get rid of them. Lucky find for me because it appears they sell for a lot more than that traditionally. I almost felt bad taking them for the price but ::shrug:: Im normally not one to look for chrome, but the black chrome is pretty neat and I like the stock option as well. I have to admit the girl in me is pretty excited about the shiny, Lol.

Just ordered some Bridgestone Potenzas for them as well and will hopefully have them mounted within a week or two, depending on when those arrive.


Last night before cleaning them.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...d77c1f7e98.jpg

Today after washing & hand buffing with a chrome polish.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...1aac3f3e65.jpg

I was only joking in the other thread :), those will look great on your car :icon_tup:

I figured, no hard feelings, haha. I appreciate it! Im excited to see them on there. I haven't come across any BB with em.

Congrats, $200 for those wheels is a qualified steal.

Those Shinka wheels look amazing!! They will look great on the car!

In regards to the compression numbers, my 04 has about the same lower numbers on both rotors. its always ran great and has had no hot start issues. The thing I notice the most is a drop in fuel mileage. Before it went into storage I was getting 17mpg. On a better engine I was getting 21mpg. So no power loss, no starting issues, just fuel economy issues. I can live with that.

The dark chrome wheels were actually an optional uprade, they differ from the Shinka wheels. I think they might be even more rare since I see them even less. Probably due to the cost of the option (my research led to about 650/wheel at full price).

Yes, I have noticed some fuel mileage loss, I actually just changed my plugs to see if it helped some (and I had some concerns my plugs may not have been genuine).

​Im a little concerned about the amount of build up on the rear trailing plug compared to the other 3. It was pretty gunky, and that's the rotor that does have one face that's a bit of an outlier with the compression results.

I can post the plug images. If anyone has any thoughts on what the plugs say, be my guest. I'm a bit more educated on what piston plugs tell me than rotary. Despite hefty research and 4 1/2 yrs of ownership, still learning.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...9c7b0b9dc9.jpg
Rear Trailing
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...89a0f92e8b.jpg
Front Trailing
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...9044c3d518.jpg
Rear Leading
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...d591972734.jpg
Front Leading

Also to note, I can't recall exactly what mileage I put these in, it's in my files however... But I'd estimate approximately 5k miles maybe a bit more on these plugs.

Other than the rear trailing, the other plugs look good as far as I can tell. Brown buildup and dry plug should be OK. Black and sorta wet buildup - not so much.
Let's hear the experts chime in.

Thanks. That's what I was feeling. I was recommended by williard to test my coils and change plugs. I had already done the latter, and am looking into a hei coil tester atm. I may also switch back to my OEM coils/wires - especially if that D585 is the culprit. Hoping it's just the plugs as that has been remedied.

Brown stuff is pretty normal, especially with premix.

There were some discussions about counterfeit plugs. Bottom line is that as long as you are getting them from a legitimate source(NAPA, Rockauto, Mazmart, etc.), it shouldn't be a concern. Rotary spark plugs are special and there aren't that many RX-8s out there compared to, say, Honda Accords. Not much money to be had by counterfeiters.

I had purchased the set that I just changed out, via Amazon (before realizing that counterfeits were a common find there, so that is my mistake). When I looked up how to spot counterfeits, my they do look legitimate but I still can't say for sure. Either way I changed them out from a better source, lol.

I do premix, 1/2 oz per gallon with idemitsu.

Since I have a multimeter, I checked the resistances of my OEM coils just out of curiosity... turns out the numbers indicate 3 out of 4 may be failing - from the walk through I was following.. so those are out of the question.

I might just say fuck it and replace them all. It looks like my coils are the AC Delco BS-C1251 as opposed to the D585 (aka a lower cost possibly lower performing version)... so I think I wanna pull those out regardless of their health.

Tires are being mounted on the new wheels. After I mount them on the car, Ill pull the car out of the garage to take a few pictures.

Also just placed my order with BHR for his new coils with msd wires.

Right now she stands a bit nekeh.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...e800dead54.jpg

For anyone interested in why we have a Nurburgring flag (no we aren't *posers* haha) - we lived in Germany for a few years and spent a weekend there. My husband brought the Evo on the track. I was going to do a lap, but unfortunately had a horrific migraine that weekend, which would have been very unsafe for me to drive on a race track like that. I was pretty bummed, but it was still a really cool experience to go there anyways! Such a piece of automotive history and culture.

Here is a photo I took of his Evo coming off the track.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6edd507818.jpg

Got everything mounted! Just need to put the center caps on. Thinking about vinyl wrapping them first since the OEM color doesnt match.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...bbc3eae2ca.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...34a3f740cf.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...871cbb40c2.jpg

Wow! That's truly a black beauty.
al

I think I forgot to add this small update to the thread. Nothing very exciting. Went back to a OEM radio. Had a few issues with the head unit and/or metra kit... The OEM radio fixed it so Im going to stick with this for now. Debating on adding an aux connection in the back or going towards revamping my tablet setup in the nav hood to do the media control.

I also wrapped the shift knob rotor trim piece with black vinyl.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...f1fbad1130.jpg

Another picture with the "new" wheels I took today. I need to take it out with my Nikon (didn't have enough battery on it today).

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...0bfa668194.jpg

Wow

I hope that's a good wow, haha

Is that for appearance or to cover flaking?
Both my of my shift knobs are flaking.

I've been thinking about trying to make a crude shift knob at work.
I do little projects on the mill for my work area, I think I could get away with making one.
Almost unlimited access to SS dropoff material.
I just don't have a way tho engrave it neatly, and we have no small CNC mill to do it.

Both. The aluminum was flaking when i received it. I peeled it all off and then painted it. It eventually dulled so I decided to try wrapping it. It was pretty easy. Took me 1-2 times practice, to lay it out without a single crease, after folding to the underside. If you'd like some vinyl to try, I have plenty in various colors, id be more than happy to send you a square or two to try!

Lil update. Just recieved my BHR globally compliant coils with MSD wires. Will be installing later today!


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...21842edf6e.jpg