I have a dealership, and I bought an auto RX8 at one of the auctions for $700. It has 70k on it, and it starts. I don't know if the tranny works. All the body panels seem to be in good shape and the interior is good. It does have a salvage title, though. Should I part it out or should I try to get it back on the road? It has 70k on it. Will I make my money out of it? I thought it was a manual, and before i remembered to double check, i had already bought it.

 

For $700, you didn't do wrong for sure. You can easily make money parting it out. The reason for the salvage title and the extent of damage will determine if you could repair, retitle, and sell.

If you get it to a Mazda dealer for a compression test (You will need the rotary specific compression tester), you have a good chance of making a profit on selling the engine alone, even if it doesn't pass spec.

 

Alright, cool. How much does a 4 port long block go for now-a-days? Are they hard to sell?

 

They are the rarest of the engines, only used in 2004 and 2005 on the automatics. The rarity can work both ways. A 4-port reman is $4,500 list price from Mazda for example, vs $3,300 for the 6-port reman. You can charge more on that basis, but then because of the rarity it's going to be a bit harder to find someone that needs it.

Price is going to HEAVILY depend on the compression scores of the engine, and be at the bottom of that if you don't have the scores when you list it. Good scores, you could probably get $2k-$2.5k for it without much trouble. Bad scores / dead, and $500-$1,000 might be more reasonable, because you will likely only be selling it to someone that is going to use it for a rebuild core.

 

That's hilarious! Do a part out and you're bound to make several times that on the engine alone!

 

Can I just do a regular compression test and note the peaks in compression? I've done it before like that. I guess I could use a really good video camera and slow it down.

How much does a compression test cost at mazda? or How much does a rotary compression tester cost?


Also, is there anyway the transmission could have any problems? The auction claims it only starts and doesn't move, but they also claimed that the transmission was of an unknown type. So, they could just be stupid. Is there anyway a 70k auto trans could have any problems with it that would make it not be able to move?


UPDATE!!! It's a 2006. Does that mean it's a 6 port?

 

A dealer will usually charge around $120-$180, lowest i've seen is $90, highest $250. Anything over ~$150 and you can object pretty heavily since they are just gouging you on labor time.

There are ways to get it with an analog tester, but it's subject to all sorts of inaccuracies Could you get away with making someone believe that the test was accurate or valid? Yeah, but it's not very honest.

The problem is that even if you get the individual face numbers from a video like that, you have to correct for RPM and air density (altitude being the main one, but temp too). What is passing at 1,000ft or 210rpm can easily be failing at sea level or 260rpm. Can you get an accurate testing RPM and air density at the time of the test? The Mazda tester measures all of that at the same time and spits out normalized test numbers.

An analog tester is a 'rough guess'. Feel free to go with that method, but I'd recommend being honest when you list it as just being a rough guess, not a precise number.

The cost of the test from a dealer will easily be recouped in a higher price point on the engine, much less all the other stuff on the car you can sell. Seats alone could cover the testing cost.


I don't know of any testers for sale, but you could probably ask the dealer. I think the price is north of $500 if you get one of the aftermarket ones when they do a periodic production run. No idea what the dealer price would be, probably north of $1,000.

 

Ok. I will call around to the nearby dealers and get them to quote me on a test. Are the 2006 auto engines the same 6 ports as all the manual engines? My car is a 2006, i just realized. Does that mean I have the sought after engine?

 

New and Potential Owners Start Here: 4-port vs 6-port, which had which?

 

Thanks!