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Hello everyone! Finally introducing myself and will begin posting projects and car's I've worked on. I'm a huge Mazda fan! Grew up with Rx-7's as my dad club raced multiple improved touring cars since the late 90's. I've actively posted on other platforms however never RX8Club. Rx8Club has been an awesome repository for me to reference information over the last 5 years and I plan to contribute learnings of my own. I've owned 3 Rx-8's with 2 still in the garage. Additionally, I've owned 2 Mazdaspeed 3's and over 10 Miata's. I hold a SCCA competition racing license, time trial license, coach SCCA TNIA and enjoy developing the Rx-8 platform.
Car was originally from Texas, purchased by a friend who shipped it to Mass, sat for years until I purchased and began fixing it In October. I thoroughly documented the majority of the parts replaced below if anyone has any questions.
Mods/ Parts from prior owner
- Hotchkiss front sway bar
- Koni Yellow shocks
- Reman 6 port renesis
- Lower mileage 6 speed transmission
- 17x8 Enkei RPF1’s
New & used components i’ve replaced—
Most of the used components are lightly used new race spares from my Gray car.
- New OEM coil packs
- New NGK spark plugs
- New NGK spark plug wires
- New OEM 02 sensors
- New Delphi fuel pump assembly
- New OEM intake manifold gaskets
- New OEM intake manifold solenoids
- New OEM MAF sensor
- New vacuum lines
- New OEM alternator belt
- New OEM thermostat
- Used enkei PF01’s 18x8.5 with all weather tires for winter fluidfilmed underside
- Used High power starter
- Used ignition wiring harness & grounds
- Used Optima AGM battery
- Used cold air intake with honeycomb
- Used Ecu w/ versatuner, immobilizer, dash cluster, ignition and associated parts swap.
- Used racing beat dual exit exhaust
- Used test pipe
- Deleted EGR & Air Pump
- DIY egr block off plate with new Mazda gasket
- Removed and cleaned SSV & VDI
- Used alternator bracket
- Used throttle body
Additional service-
- Coolant flush & refill
- Oil & filter change
- LOTS of cleaning years of mice droppings, nests and mildew
May 14th 2022-
I had been aimlessly overbuilding a caged NB Miata as a victim of self inflicted scope creep. Blueprinted bored long block, EFR6758 turbo, cage, aero....etc. 500 HP target would have been a lot of fun. Oh well. I missed the simplicity of arriving to the track in a "cheap car", having fun and going home. Aimlessly scrolling on Marketplace and there it was. Mint condition Rx-8 sitting for years, covered in dust almost looking too good to be true. Luckily the wife was on board to check it out as she noticed my fatigue caused by the Miata.
Bought a 2004 Mazda Rx-8 with 89,000 miles from the 1st owner. The car had been sitting for 7 years without running but he was confident it should run. The car was in perfect condition and was stock besides a borla exhaust. Luckily it was in triple a towing range and made it home.
After getting the car home and getting situated I got a new battery, terminal wires, oil + filter and wd-40 from the parts store and returned home. I took the spark plugs out, fogged the engine with wd-40, replaced the terminal wires + battery, changed the oil+ filter and slowly but surely it started.
May 15th 2022-
I got the car registered and drove it for the first time. I took it easy to get some of the rust off the rotors and washed it at the local car wash. Luckily there were no issues and it made it home. I continued to drive the car the next few days around town.
May 19th 2022-
Things were going well so I signed up for a track day and ordered some parts to refresh the car. I met up with my buddy Mike who was nice enough to give me a deal on some rpf1’s with hankook rs4’s. I put the rs4’s on and went for a drive, much better! The car looked great and even got noticed at work.
May 21 2022- I met my buddy Evan after hours at a local garage to use a lift and prep for the track day. We put new rotors, hawk drc-60 pads on, flushed the brakes + put motul rbf 600, put 4 new iridium spark plugs in, changed the diff fluid and transmission fluid. I packed the car with tools and brought it to the car wash. As ready as we’ll ever be…
May 22 2022-
Woke up bright an earlier to drove an hour to Palmer Motorsports Park for the debut track day. Met up with my buddy Larry and was feeling optimistic. The car did great during the first session with some slight overheating. At the start of session 2 I was climbing uphill and the car wouldn’t leave 3rd gear. I limped it for 1/2 a lap and made it to the paddock. We tried to bleed the clutch with no success, it was something mechanical. 7 hours later hagerty arrived and towed the car home. I made it home at 9 pm but overall had a great day.
I took the day off work since we had contractors installing AC. Time to teardown and see what went wrong. Unfortunately I had some house stuff in the garage and had to drop the transmission in my driveway. Cause of failure was a mouse making a nest in the bellhousing which got caught up in the throw out bearing and seized. That caused the bearing to explode and wedge in the pressure plate. Talk about bad luck lol. I ordered a new oem clutch, flywheel, throw out bearing and called it a day.
May 27 2022-
The contractors were having difficulty with the ac install so I stayed home again and took another vacation day. The throw out bearing has scored the input shaft pretty badly so I sanded it down the best I could getting rid of the high spots. The parts arrived and I put the car back together with a new oem clutch, flywheel, throw out bearing and new transmission fluid. The car was back on the ground and ready for break in miles. I signed up for a time trial on June 6th so I drove the car every day for a week.
June 3rd 2022-
Got out of work late and headed to the shop to prep for the time trial weekend starting tomorrow.… Work had been crazy so we’re just about out of time. We got the car on the lift at 6 pm. We thought it was going to be a simple koyorad radiator/ hose install but we’re mistaken. We had to take the undertray and whole front end of the car to get the radiator in. While we were at it we removed the a/c condenser to allow for better airflow. Soon it was midnight and we got the car back in 1 piece. I got home, loaded up the car, showered and went to bed at 2 am. Shout out to Evan for staying at work until midnight to help me finish the car.
June 4th+ 5th-
I woke up at 6 and headed to Palmer for the COMSCC track day/ time trial. I arrived successfully passed tech and unloaded for the track day. Day 1 the car was great, the car ran all 4 sessions. I learned it would fuel starve under 1/2 tank and made sure to keep it topped off. I planned to sleep at the track so I could keep the car at the track but my friend Mike was nice to let me stay at his place. We arrived back to the track for the lapping and time trial portion and the car ran perfectly again completing the day. I packed up, drove an hour home and stopped to pick up pizza. Great weekend but I was exhausted.
June 8th 2022-
Why not head to lime rock after work for 3 sessions of lapping? I left work and ran 3 clean sessions at Limerock. This is probably my favorite track. You get in a rythym turning laps and it’s like no other track in my opinion.
Welcome to the forum!! You've had some awesome cars over the years!! I really like your Titanium Gray 04 GT! Looks like you found a great car! Do you still have the car and have you repaired the issue that made it have to be towed home on that track day?
Welcome to the forum!! You've had some awesome cars over the years!! I really like your Titanium Gray 04 GT! Looks like you found a great car! Do you still have the car and have you repaired the issue that made it have to be towed home on that track day?
Thanks! Yes the gray Rx-8 is actually the partially black Rx-8 from the first set of images in the thread. There’ve been many changes since the car was stock it’s been a work in progress. The fix from the track day was a new throw out bearing, clutch, pressure plate and flywheel. It’s the 8th reply in the thread, for some reason it had a delayed upload. I’ll be updating more of the backstory later today.
