morkusyambo

Great thread! Thanks for the info.

rotorhead335

I don't think they were going after the youth market with a 4-door, 4-seat car. They were going after Yuppies with kids: "Hey, you can have a family and a career and a midlife crisis (sports car). But that's beside the point. RR is right. I first had an RX-7 (two, actually) as a daily driver beginning in 1984. It was fun, quick if not fast, nimble...and reliable. I think Mazda has seized defeat from the jaws of victory with our car. Yes, I do love driving it and, lucky for me, I have needed only a water pump in 70k miles. However, I doubt that many drive the car as gently as I (uh, most of the time).

This is my fourth Mazda, so I think I have demonstrated a fair amount of brand loyalty. And I have had very few problems. So why am I carping? Because we sports car fans need every reasonably priced product we can get, and how many auto companies have been willing to even get involved? ($Half-million doesn't count.) And now we have Global Warming and The Great Depression, Part II. How many more affordable, mainstream enthusiast automobiles are we likely to see in the next decade? I do not think Ford is going to look too kindly on this chain of events.

We have needed every model we could get, and not only affordable ones, but reliable and economical ones (within reason). We need them even more now.

ASH8

All the series II RX-8's now have two oil coolers (Australian spec, auto and manuals only had one) with larger intake area and a larger radiator air flow intake (hence the larger grille), I am not sure yet if the actual oil coolers and radiator are larger in size, or if Mazda have adjusted the electric fan(s) on/off temp range.

As far as spark plug/housing cracking goes, we know that rotaries generate a lot of heat around that plug area, could the Iridium spark plugs generate more heat then previous NGK's?

Also on the subject of heat, I would like your opinion on all the plastic engine/battery (etc) covers in the engine bay. I wonder how efficiently heat is extracted away, rather than "hanging" around particularly when the car is stationary.

ASH8

First, there are (in the US) many very young new RX-8 owners (17-25), who were 8 and 16 years of age when the last FD RX-7 was sold in the US, so for the US a new rotary generation was and is born. Here in Australia we pay 40% more for the same car so there is a older demographic of RX-8 owners.
Remember around 50% of all RX-8's are sold in North America.

Yes, I totally agree with you on wanting affordable enthusiast cars, and am very concerned on the future of Mazda and the Auto Industry now we have this "Financial CRISIS", aren't you sick of hearing about it..already!..

Personally, and sadly, I am almost certain Mazda will be shelving any new RX-8 or rotary for some time until alternative fuels (hydrogen) becomes mainstream.
Why, the face lift RX-8 sales have been very disappointing, 355 a month in the US and 40 a month in Australia, 150 in Japan, and I am guessing about the same in Europe, so we are talking about 9000 units a year, not enough to warrant a new model, unfortunately, and again the high gas price has almost killed any type of new fuel guzzler.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

well at least i live in a part of the country were i am able to get the temps to 180F and never cooler than 165F ---even on track with ambiet of mid 70's. Street temps are that even in the high 90's. Just takes a few little mods to do it.
Nice info--thanks .
following with interest
OD

auzoom

Well, I bought myself a second hand engine as a backup for my tired, low compression current engine. The "new" engine is supposed to be off an '04 model that was pulled with 10,000km's on the clock due to low compression. I bought in from someone interstate so had a rotary shop check it out. Their opinion was the engine was fine, it was just carboned up (especially the apex seals).

Here are some pics I took of the rotors. I haven't yet taken the housings out of the packaging.

Curious what people think.

Cheers

Andrew

auzoom

some more.

auzoom

Last one and I have a few questions on it.

Is the flame front moving from left to right in this picture?

What is the "hole" right near the tip?

What causes the "tappering" of the carbon build up on the outsides towards the tip?

Cheers

Andrew

robrecht

I think that's where the MOP 'injectors' have been oiling the rotor. Damn that's a lot of carbon build-up.

Nubo

Here's my wild guess -- The tapering is from oil that wept past the apex seal; enough to keep carbon from sticking there. This would indicate the direction of rotation would have that rotor rotating from left to right as it sits on the table. The little hole in the carbon in the center of the rotor face just past the seal would be from a puff of hot compressed gas exiting the spark plug recess, being released as the seal moves past.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

i dont think there is enough oil there to cause a difference in carbon deposits like that. that hole is from the leading sparkplug.
the patterns of the carbon is almost exactly like the different heat ranges on the rotor face during combustion?
that is a lot of carbon for that many miles--the sides are more interesting to me.
look and see how much carbon is in the lead sparkplug area on the housing.
i wonder what compression that engine ended up having!
it sure could have used a water meth system
OD

Nubo

Clean that thing up already! What are you trying to do, make me sick!?

ASH8

Andrew are you positive that RENY has only done 10,000KM (6,000 miles) ?
That is a lot of carbon for a very low mileage.

What did the owner do, stay under 2500 RPM all it's life, is it a 6 or 4 port, I guess a 4 from an Auto.

Most dealers here are throwing away the old engines and or give them away if you know the right person.

bse50

Afaik, in italy they SAY that they still send them to japan. Strange enough, i have a couple of engines here :p I'm just getting ready, our 5 years warranties are coming to an end, and 9 or 12000€ for a new engine is way too much.
We will just try to help each other out

auzoom

Ash, as far as I know it was 10,000km. At worst it was 20,000km.

Its a 6 port and in the early days, all engine pulled HAD to go back to Mazda Australia for "research".

bes50, what are you picking the engine up for? If they are cheap I would definately be hoarding them because they are rare as hens teeth in most places.


I will hopefully get a chance to pull the housings out next week and post some pics up.

Cheers

Andrew

bse50

I'm picking them up to help the italian community. If they break an engine i give them a freshly rebuilt one and they give me their broken one + cash to rebuild it.
With 0 income and such it is not a business, but you realize that paying something between 9000 and 12000€ for a new engine makes rebuilds pretty cheap!

mysql

exactly. omp injects on the sides, so thats where it's clean. Here's mine with 50k miles:

http://img.ircimages.com/ircimages/1...555e9ccb40.jpg

http://img.ircimages.com/ircimages/e...b7fa81434f.jpg

PotatoSoup

That looks like a fair bit of carbon. Is that typical of the RENESIS at 50K?

Just curious...Are you the original owner? What oil do you use? Change intervals?

mysql

the rotors will always have carbon. mine likely have less than yours.

olddragger

iTrader: (3)

those actually look pretty good.
OD

G3tR3DDY2GR3DDY

iTrader: (8)

yea if you think about it those are all the uneven pressure points on the apex seals and springs. Its sprung in a bowl shape so you have the two edges and the contact point of the spring... makes some sense

ASH8

YES Mate, your rotors look very clean for an engine that has done nearly 90,000KMS (50,000 miles)..

Do you mind me asking what was your regime of ownership...like
1.Did you pre-mix..and if so what ratio.
2.What engine oils did you use.
3.Type of Gas and Octane.
4.How did you drive it what were you rev ranges.

Was the re-build because of low compressions or other?

Look forward to your reply,
Ash

mysql

30,000 miles NA
20,000 miles turbocharged (9-12 psi, so 280-350 whp range)
-------------------------------
50,000 miles total

Rebuild done because of mazsport ignition coils + detonation cracking the front iron (See rebuild thread for details). Engine still ran fine, had normal compression. When it was being rebuilt, I expected further damage, but everything was OK besides the cracked front iron, which wouldn't even be an issue if it wasn't for the fact that oil was leaking from it. I had already bought all new parts, and with 20% restocking fee for most of it, I decided to use the new parts even though the engine didn't need them... so my engine is pretty much brand new. Only the center and rear iron, and rotors were retained from the old engine. All new seals, all new gaskets, all new rotor housings.

I premix at 4-6 oz per tank. FP+ and Idemitsu.

I use the sohn adaptor, and run synthetic oil in the engine. I used to use 10w30, I now run 10w40.

I change coolant, transmission oil, spark plugs, and coils once a year.

oil is changed every 2500-3000 miles.

I now use the accessport and increased omp flow rates, but that came after the rebuild, so it doesn't count.

only 93 octane due to the turbo. I boost all the time with it.

see my sig for the photos and rebuild threads.

rebuild video, including what the cracked iron looked like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgJZA0aI5E


I dare say that most people do not take care of their rx-8 like I do.

mysql

btw, I didn't mean to throw this thread off topic. RotaryResurrection does great work and I was actually very close to having him rebuild my engine. We ran into some logistics issues and so it wasn't meant to be.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (3)

yeah bro, my wife would have bitched us both out if I tried to work while on vacation, since I work so much the other 51 weeks of the year.