cricha5

Hello all. I just purchased a mt 2004 RX-8 with just under 100,000 miles. I've been working on it to get it up to snuff. Changing oils, bleeding brakes, repairing the plastic under tray, adding ipod adapter, etc. I've noticed that this is not the easiest car to work on. For example, I'm about to pay the dealer to change out some rear wheel studs. I can't even remember when I last went to a mechanic, much less a dealer for repairs. I bought the car knowing I would have to work on it often, so now I am looking at ways to make the car more maintainable.

Firstly, I can't see anything in the engine bay. I could relocate the battery and add a cai. Those seem to open things up a bit, but will these cause more trouble? Has anyone had long term experience with these mods?

I have a OBD-II reader. Do I really need the Cobb Accessport?

Any other suggestions to make this car easier to work on? Thanks.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

1. relocate the battery isn't necessary. Neither is a CAI. Maybe a K&N drop in filter to replace the OEM.
edit: I read your question wrong. To open the engine bay, you could do those without trouble. Just make sure you do things right.

2. No need for the AccessPORT. Unless you want to optimize your tune, or if you plan to go forced induction.
3. Read these:
FAQ’s https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/rx-8-faq-please-read-before-posting-959/
New and Potential Owner’s, Start Here https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/new-potential-owners-start-here-202454/
Congratulations, you got an 8 https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/congratulations-you-got-8-a-202548/
New Owner FAQ’s https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...&highlight=FAQ

Also, make sure you read the “stickies” in each sub-forum

Welcome to the Addiction

cricha5

I found one more thing. You can evidently delete the air pump.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/air-pump-delete-193675/

http://www.racingbeat.com/RX8/Exhaus...nts/16346.html

cricha5

I was very annoyed today when I simply wanted to see whether or not my fans were coming on properly. I had to remove the airbox and airbox under tray. I've seen different types of intakes. Do all of them retain that plastic tray, or is there a way to get rid of it?

wcs

iTrader: (2)

? Wow ... what the hell was the last thing you worked on a Bus?
Unless you are old skool hot rodder any modern car, especially a compact sports car is crowded under the hood.

But you really don't need to ...

You can get rid of the undertray with the AEM CAI or MS Intake.
The RB Revi intake also removed the airbox undertray however you replace it with the Revi airbox .... so I guess that defeats the purpose for what you are trying to achieve.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

you think a RX-8 is hard to work on?

try to work on a Buick. You will be AMAZED.

the simplest car to work on, based on MY limited experience, is anything from a Honda. Everything is very straight forward, their designers clearly wants to make the handyman's life much easier.

Then it's Toyota, and Suzuki, then its Mazda.

Ford should be next, then its Subaru.

After that it's pretty much all the same, same kind of "you want to trash the car instead of fixing it"

some GM and and most Mercedes were the worst. mark my words.

cricha5

Thanks for the intake answers.

The last cars I owned and worked on were an e36 m3 and a s13 240sx. The m3 was beautifully layed out and easy to work on, but the price of the parts killed me. The 240sx was where I really learned how to do everything including rebuilding an engine and megasquirt. It was harder to work on initially than the m3, but I made it easier. For example, changing to megasquirt allowed me to get rid of 95% of the rats nest on the intake. I do not, however, want to get that drastic with this car.

I can't afford to buy new cars, especially new cars with soul like the rx8, so I have to be able to fix and maintain. And it's looking like the rx8 is going to need a lot of attention.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

German knows how to make beautiful cars, but they have NO IDEA how to make durable cars. This is coming from a friend who owns a big shop. their **** breaks left & right.

Megasquirt won't work on RX-8. That's a sad part, but there are a lot of solutions out there if you need them.

and RX-8 is not that hard to work with. Some space might be tight for a big overweight guy like me. but everything is actually fairly straight forward.

as for "a lot of attention," I don't know what you mean by that, I just do oil change every 2K miles or so (cuz I like to waste my money OK!?) and coolant change maybe twice a year (Again!) ohhh yes I premix everytime I add gas.

most people don't do what I did, and just change oil every 3-5K, top off in between, and coolant change every 2 or couple years or so. which is typical for any cars.

wcs

iTrader: (2)

The only thing the two have in common is that they both plug in to the ODBII socket and you can read and clear engine Cel's.

Battery relocation is fairly straight forward.... I was surprised, I did it last weekend took a few hours.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-battery-relocation-trunk-173180/

cricha5

I just replaced my fan motors. It was a pretty big job. I had to remove the under body plastic thing, air box, air box tray, battery, battery tray, coolant overflow tank and radiator and fan shroud. Jack stands dont really get the car high enough to slip the radiator out the bottom. If anyone else does this, try to get the car as high as possible. I got to know her a bit better and found some things that need attention. I'm missing a rubber grommet for the radiator, one of the mounts on the air box is broken, etc. I still maintain that she is overly complicated to work on, but now that we know eachother a bit better, I think we will get along just fine.

I am in the process of purchasing parts for the battery relocation and the aem intake. Both things would have reduced the time of this job by half.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I have no problem sliding the radiator from the bottom? and I did it 3 times?

So, you still think RX-8 is hard to work on? wow

I've been looking at an 2004 Audi A8L lately, from what I've researched about the car, it takes about 2 hours to change the oil filter ... yep. you read that right. 9 quarts of Synthetic oil.

and many other ridiculous crap like if you don't put your suspension into "Jack mode" and raise your car with whatever (jack,lift), your suspension pump will be fucked.

*hug my Rx-8 another time*

cricha5

It's not a problem to get the radiator out from the bottom if you have you car jacked up high enough, which I did not.

Wow to the Audi. That's crazy. A friend of mine with a WRX had to take it to the dealer to get the spark plugs changed.

I guess for a modern car, the RX-8 is not so bad.

fuztupnz

iTrader: (4)

I've found my 8 easy to work on. I've worked on far worse. I got my radiator in and out through the bottom with just jack stands. Getting rid of the battery and airbox will give you a ton of room, but i think it's hardly necessary. I can have all of that out in less than 15 minutes to get it out of the way. I thought my buddies e36 M was a lot more of a pain to work on. Oil changes and the spark plugs and coils are easy, but everything else seems on par with other cars. His intake mani swap was a bitch. I've never been that cut up from working on anything before.

cricha5

I think I'll take you guys word for it count myself lucky with the RX-8. And be thankful I didn't get an Audi. Bitching is done.

ken-x8

Have to do that with my wife's '94 Camry V6. Intake plenum has to come off before you can get anywhere near the back row of plugs.

Funny conversation with my wife yesterday. I recounted a tale from years ago about helping a stranded motorist with what turned out to be a broken wire. My wife does not know much about cars, but reacted by saying "That must have been a really long time ago if you were able to actually find anything under the hood."

They're all hard to work on these days. I really miss my '53 Chevy. Or my wife's '74 Hornet, which looked just like the Chevy under the hood. Down to the Carter YF.

Ken