Laminar

First, a little bit about me - I originally joined this forum back in 2014 when I was looking for my first project fun car. I ended up finding an E36 M3 sedan that I've been playing with for the past 6 years. Well, the M3 is pushing 24 years old, and the age of the chassis is showing as bits and pieces of it disappear into the ether. So I was back on the hunt for a fun racecar that I can also throw a car seat into and DD when I need to, so naturally I turned back to the RX-8. I've been looking for a cheap one with a busted engine that I could fix up and have fun with. My only stipulation was that it had to be in great cosmetic shape - I didn't want another rust bucket, and I hate doing bodywork, so it had to be pretty. There doesn't seem to be much of a shortage of broken down RX-8s out there, but in the last year, it seems like anything in good shape either gets snatched up way too quick or is priced absurdly high for the work required. I finally stumbled on a 2009 Sport about 3 hours away that needed a new clutch. Had a recent rebuild and a few mods, but was in otherwise perfect physical shape. And most importantly, no sunroof!

I went to look at it last Saturday and ended up bringing it home.



Thrift shopping in KC makes the wife happy.



Funny story, I parked out of the way in that lot so I wouldn't be a bother to other people. As we were coming back out a Jetta wagon was stopped next to it. The driver asked if it was mine and if it was a brand new car...he thought it looked awesome and specifically drove around it to check it out

That night I adjusted the clutch pedal correctly and voilą, functional clutch. I'm guess it's been wrong ever since the reman engine was installed a thousand miles ago and was just never addressed.

I got it jacked up yesterday to do a post-purchase inspection, where I find all of the things I should have looked for in the pre-purchase inspection.











Dorman "HELP" starter bolts were in one of the trunk boxes...must not have been the right thread.

Started with the really important stuff like clearing the headlights.

Before:


Better:




The seller said the key for the lugs was in the boxes in the trunk with the other spare coils, wires, lugnuts, ECU, etc.



It wasn't.

Not pictured - battery completely missing any sort of tiedown, and with a very loose positive terminal.

You can see other vital work happening here too.







Took the kids to Menards to pick up a map light bulb, a battery for the keyfob, and a few more things. Came back out to find that I had made another friend.



Has a few codes. I'll have to figure out what's due to the catless midpipe, and what actually needs addressing.



Lots of questions to come!

Laminar

So some questions that I haven't been able to answer myself through searching:
1. It only came with 1 key. Is the dealer still the only place to get a second one made and programmed? I can use Forscan to program new keys for my Ford vehicles, but I assume there's not an equivalent for Mazda?
2. Will a factory catted midpipe/catback from any year bolt up? This thing is looooooooooooud and I'd rather it not be. If I could trade someone my nice midpipe and catback for their functional stock unit, I would. Also I don't want to be stinky and have a headache every time I get out of this thing like I do with the M3.
3. What's the thread for the lower starter bolt? I can't seem to find it listed in any of the parts diagrams.
4. What's currently the best source for OEM parts? I need a new dipstick.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

not really knowledgeable on the key thing, but it may be possible to program it with Forscan. There was collaboration between Ford and Mazda at the time the RX8 was developed. I seem to recall Forscan being mentioned in the past. Quickest way to find out for sure is just to ask them directly.

S1 and S2 catback exhausts are different in the hanger length and how it lines up with the chassis and bumper exhaust shrouds; any S2 specific catback should fit

I want to say M12x1.5 on the trans and starter bolts, but one is short and threads in and the other is long and passes through with a nut on the forward end. That long one with the nut may be 1.25 thread. Now thinking the short one might be too since it’s not really part of the transmission mounting. I can take a look and see for you, but just ordering the OE parts and then matching is the way to be sure.

Joining Mazda Motorsports is you best long term option for most OE parts. Basically wholesale pricing, but they don’t take core returns on starters etc. and you’d have to eat that core cost. They stopped selling whole engines a few years back, I believe it was due to the core charge deal.

https://www.mazdamotorsports.com/get...am-membership/

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Laminar

I hooked it up to Forscan Saturday night and the baked-in options were sparse. I'll check with a local locksmith but may just end up going to Mazda so that I have the peace of mind of two keys.

This is making sense - the rear hangers were all hacked up and re-welded together, so I'm going to guess that mine started out as an S1 catback and was..."adapted."

I tried an M12x1.5 I had an it didn't even want to start. I went to an M10x1.5 and it went in for two or three threads and then froze, so it may be M10x1.75. Or the PO may have just screwed the threads by putting in something totally random.

Great info, thank you!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

yeah, maybe M10 since I recall it being a 14mm hex head socket. Maybe try M10x1.25 then, a fairly common size on this chassis.

Otherwise I should be going out to my shop tomorrow and can check.
.

Laminar

Oh yeah 10x1.25 is the fine thread. I'll give it a shot.

Finished off the headlights. The Turtle Wax kit I got has some kind of two-part coat that's supposed to protect it from UV so it doesn't yellow again right away. We'll see how it does.



Finished up with the wheels and put them back on.



Got the battery tiedown installed so the thing won't flop all over the place.



And then went through the spares that came with the car. Three or four sets of ignition wires:







Some plugs (don't know if they're the right ones):





LS coil conversion kit:



Also a thermostat, some brake pads, a couple sets of lug nuts, a couple O2 sensors, and an ECU:



So I'm wondering if my ECU has a tune on it maybe?

Laminar

M10x1.25 was the ticket for the starter bolt, I think I went 25 or 30mm long. I also picked up another M10 bolt and nut to replace the one missing from the 3-bolt flange between the header and mid-pipe. That may have been contributing to some of the excessive exhaust noise and smell. I put out some feelers locally to see if anyone wants to trade me their stock pipe for my "fancy" pipe, we'll see if I get any bites. Otherwise I'm working on getting a TIG going so I could weld in my own accommodations.

Next up will be pulling the tint from the front windows. It's not legal in Iowa and I have been hassled and ticketed before in cars that I bought already tinted. I'm coming from an absolutely invisible grandpa car to the RX-8, which is a bit more...noticeable. So I'm not looking for trouble. In that same vein, I ordered a front license plate mount because, again, don't want to offer up any excuses to stop me for a chat.

DocWalt

Those are indeed the correct plugs.

You can indeed program keys with ForScan, but IIRC it's a messy process. There are details on the ForScan forum somewhere.

I assume you're building towards STX for autocross, or just for fun and wherever you end up you end up?

Laminar

Ooo, I'll do some digging and see what I find. I was able to add a new key to my F-150 last night with just a couple of clicks, but the F150 is fairly well supported. I know that if I already had two keys it'd be easy to do, but one is trickier.

This is a question I've been trying to figure out myself. My M3 is V8-swapped and I run in XP locally. Though the BMW would be legal in SM (since they started allowing non-same-manufacturer swaps) or the new XS-A (I ran Hoosiers for a season, but I'm on Bridgestones now), in my local region there are a few weird cars like mine that all got dumped into XP, so we all have fun together convincing ourselves that pax is unimportant.

My RX-8 is currently catless, so I'd have to fix that if I wanted to do anything less than SM I believe. I'll still be racing the BMW until I get tires for the RX-8, so if I do run it this year, it'll probably still be in XP to keep stacking up points there.

I don't currently have any aspirations to take it to Nationals, but I do keep pulling up Tamra's article on making an RX-8 Nationals-competitive, then looking at 18x11 wheels and Hoosiers... Funny story, I took the SCCA Starting Line class back in 2017 and Tamra was my instructor. Small world!

DocWalt

Catless RX-8 with your current mods would be DSP. You're less modded than a normal STX car besides the cat though

Small world indeed!

Oh, I had the same headlight issue. I put LaminX over the headlights for more protection from UV and it seems to be doing well so far, ~7 months in.

Car looks really nice, hope it's a good project for you!

Laminar

What do you see that counts against me besides the exhaust? The coils/wires are currently stock and I don't know that it has a tune on it. Other than that, it's just the HID kit and LED underglows that I discovered last night.



Thanks! It's kind of killing me not driving it right now - with everything bolted back together I could have dropped it down last night and driven it today, except with our first event coming up this weekend, I need to get some miles on the M3's brakes before I start abusing them. I managed to get some Brembo calipers off of a Mercedes to fit up to my M3 with some later-model rotors and some fairly simple spacers.



After this weekend I'll be able to start commuting in the Mazda. As rough as its mpg is, the M3 gets low teens as does my truck, so it will actually be the most fuel efficient vehicle for me to drive

DocWalt

Just the header An easy swap to stock if you wanted to

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

glad you figured the thread out and my apology for not making it out to the shop yet like I said.

Laminar

No prob, you called the right thread without checking!

Good news, looks like Forscan can do the PATS thing, so I ordered a new key. I'll take some pics of the process but if it's anything like the truck it should be a piece of cake.

Laminar

Next question - there's a connector that lands behind the passenger oil cooler that appears to be blocked off. It has a black/white and a blue/white wire going into the back of it. Is that for something my car doesn't have (like foglights), or did the PO just cut something off?

Laminar

Dropped the RX8 down last night so I could get the M3 ready for the first event.

I'm happy with how the wheels turned out. Just not a fan of black wheels, and I do think the OEM wheels are really good looking.





Since the car seat was already in the RX8 this morning, I went ahead and drove it to work. A few observations:
- It's loooooud. I measured 96dB with my phone at 73mph. My truck does 88dB in the same conditions on the same road. Resonator ordered.
- There's some pulsing in the brakes, looks like I may be doing rotors and pads. Flipping through the STX thread, it seems like people like Hawk pads, maybe the HP+ for a dual duty street/ax?
- There's also a bit of vibration on the highway. The rear tires are new, but the fronts are all seasons with a 2014 date code. Looks like I should do tires soon, too.
- The clutch shudders quite a bit at takeoff. I also feel like the engagement point changes over time. Definitely going to bleed that as soon as my Speed Bleeders show up. Is it worth checking the PPF alignment?
- Still haven't pushed the car very hard. I can't really wail on the engine too much for fear of waking the dead in Australia. The rear does feel a bit squirmy around corners, I'm sure the 275s pinched onto the stock wheels aren't helping my case there. I'm pumped to get some real tires on it and get out to an event.

Laminar

Oh, and one more thing - the idle is noticeably worse now, with some cycling and hunting. I'm wondering if disconnecting the battery reset that and it has to do some relearning.

Laminar

Spent the weekend racing the M3, though I did have a chance to commute in the RX-8 for a couple of days, and I have some thoughts. First, it's horrendously loud. I cannot get on the gas at all without feeling horribly self-conscious about waking up babies (and also probably the dead) with the shrieking exhaust note.

This is inside the car at 70 on the interstate.


My truck is about 87dB in the same conditions on the same road.

Second, the rear seat cupholders make a great wine bottle holder.



Third, I'd like to see what it would take to adapt auto climate control. I know in the S1 it's a matter of some ***** and a module or two. I'm combing through wiring diagrams now to see what I think it'll take.

It also looks like the armrest accessory power plug is always hot. I have a bluetooth-to-aux adapter that plugs in there, and apparently it's always hot, even though the cigarette lighter is powered off of the ACC relay. I'll have to figure something out there as well.

Lastly, I finally broke down and got my own corner scales. Here's an S2 Sport with header, midpipe, and catback. Full interior, jack and tow hooks and everything still in the trunk, and with about 1/4 tank of fuel.



Looks like about 53F/47R. Even with a full tank I think it'd still be under 3000lbs and would be around 52F/48R.

My speed bleeders came in this weekend, so I'll need to install those and bleed the clutch. I do have a Motive pressure bleeder and it looks like the RX-8's cap might match the Ford adapter I already have. That should make the process go more smoothly.

Laminar

At first glance, the connectors for manual and auto climate control are the same, but I'm not sure if every wire is there in all models. The "climate control unit" is the button/**** assembly and differs between the two setups. The "A/C Amplifier" or control module is specific to auto control and is part number FF15-61-540. The auto setup uses a solar radiation sensor (Sun Load Sensor F151-61-751) and a passenger compartment temp sensor (In-car Sensor BP4M-61-757A).

Laminar

*crickets*

Okay, I'll keep going. I ordered a key from eBay that claimed to use the factory electronics but with a new case, it was about $37. The FCC ID matched the ID on the inside of my one existing key.





I took the key to a local hardware store that cut it for about $3. They had all sorts of caveats about how it wouldn't start the car and how they couldn't guarantee it would work and blah blah blah.

Took it back home, hooked up the laptop to the RX-8 using the proper ELM327 OBDII to USB device.



Service procedures > PATS programming



Walk through the dialog boxes and do what it tells you to. POOF new key programmed. You don't need two good keys, you don't need to go to the dealer, you just need a laptop, a cable, and some free software.

I did the normal procedure to program the wireless fob portion and I have a full functional second key. The only downside is that it doesn't have the Mazda emblem on the back. I'll just have to live with that.

My exhaust bits showed up this weekend and my friend got our TIG to fire, so it's time to learn how to weld stainless.

Warrior777

iTrader: (11)

Wow great stuff. Glad it worked for you. I bought a couple keys that I thought would work and ended up not working. Used a buddies shop quality obd handheld. Great to know that I can but OBDII to USB device to connect to my computer, did not realize that could be done and at the low price of 30 bucks is even better.

DocWalt

Glad you found a key that worked, I gave up. Most of them were extremely poorly made and didn't accept my already existing key (I have two physical keys but one of them has all of the buttons worn off)

I guess I should just accept that I need to get a key cut.

John V

iTrader: (1)

That S2 is a nice find. Do you mind sharing what you paid for it? I'm casually on the hunt for an S2 for my next project.

Laminar

He was asking $7000 but we settled on $5900 with the caveat that it needed a clutch. I was really hoping to find a cheap one in great physical shape but in need of mechanical repair but those all seem to have dried up in the last year - everything cheap these days is rusty or beat up beyond repair. The S2 seems to have its own set of challenges like parts availability, but I like how it looks. The clutch never slips, but it still shudders on initial engagement. I'm going to jack it up this week to do the exhaust, check the PPF alignment, and bleed the clutch.

I'm excited to hear what your next project will be - thinking about doing that engine-swapped daily you mentioned in your build thread?

John V

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, that's helpful. I also basically can't find any S2s for sale near me. I also prefer the looks of the S2.

I haven't really settled on what I want to swap into the next one, but it'll definitely be more tame than my current build. The goal is to make a fun daily driver. My only requirements are that it puts at least 250hp to the wheels and that it doesn't have a rotary