Hey everyone I'm in the Army and stationed at hunter army airfield. I'm looking to get into an RX-8 club this summer.

 

Im USAF at Moody in Valdosta. 3 hours away If you are over this way, hit me up.

 

...which means Vidalia (2 hours West from Savannah) to the uninitiated.

I bought my '8 new from the Mazda dealership (Fairway?) on Abercorn a few months back. Kinda pushy folks, so I haven't wanted to use them for service. Have you had any experience with those guys?

d_of_e.

 

I was told by a friend to stay clear of the dealership on Abercorn. There very rude over there. Luckily I bought my 8 up in my home state of maine when I went on leave one time. From a place called Rowe Mazda they were really good to me at that dealership. So your 2 hours from Savannah, maybe we could meet up sometime and go cruising.

 

check out www.rotary4life.com

 

Thanks for the info on the Abercorn Mazda dealership. It just confirms what I'd suspected. That does, however, leave both of us with the problem of who to go to when something unforseen happens to our 8's. There is a Mazda place over here in Baxley (half an hour south of me), but my one contact with them was... unpromising (they had never had an RX8 to work on) .

I still have only 8,000 miles or so on mine, but I'd rather have a fallback position ready than scramble around when the excrement impacts the rotary cooling device! Any ideas?

d_of_e.

 

Actually I have two friends of mine, who have owned rotary cars in the past one had an 8 and the other owned a 7 twin turbo, my buddy who owned the 8 is actually a mazda certified rotary mechanic. He use to work on import cars all the time before he joined the army. He told me he did almost all the repairs on his 8 himself. He offered to help me as long as i just pay for the parts needed for any repairs. I'm sure he would be glad to help if you ever have any problems and can make your way down to the Savannah area I haven't had any real major problems yet (knock on wood) its got about 16,000 miles, but I did just have a turbo installed so I'll see how that goes.

 

...especially in the rotary sense.

Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it sometime (assuming whatever my problem is, that I'll be able to limp out there to see your army bud). In the meantime, I'll continue to search for a more local source of rotary repair goodness.

How do you like your Turbo so far? I've considered doing that sort of upgrade to my baby as well (has been totally stock since I drove it off the lot), but I really want to find a shop close enough to me to work with before I invest in major mods.

d_of_e

 

Well the turbo has been working pretty good so far. You can definitely notice the power increase. However you gotta be careful on the tuning. I wouldn't recommend going over 8 psi of boost. Cause anything higher then that, the turbo cant feed the engine enough air and your shift timer will stat beeping at 7,500 instead of around 9,000 rpm. This is definitely the type of upgrade that you want an experienced mechanic to install. I love hearing the spool up of the turbo and the blow off valve in between shifts

 

As an engineer, I'm already pretty impressed with the accel produced by such a small displacement (1.3 liter) engine. The boost added with a turbo must feel like overkill! I used to drive (dating myself here) a turbo Corvair (another example of a non-standard small/light engine), and the extra boost made it a great performing little car, as opposed to just barely acceptable.

I understand the turbo can be a bit rough on your catalytic converter. Did the guy who installed your turbo do anything special with the cat?

d_of_e.

 

Actually I'm not to sure after the install he didnt say anything to me about something being done to the cat. It seems to drive fine and that little bit of extra boost does make the car even more fun. I will agree even before the turbo the car was really fun, i'll never forget the day i test drove it from the lot and hearing the motor go up to 9,000 rpm's it was music to my ears. I catch myself rarely ever having the radio on i just love hearing the engine.