hello everyone.
i took my car in for scheduled maintenance, and lo and behold, as i walk around the showroom and the shop (checking out the mazdaspeed miata and the station wagon mazda6) i wandered into the service area where i saw this.
the story i was told is that the engine had overheated (possible coolant leak?) but they had no idea why. so they were in the process of swapping the motor. i whipped out my camera and took some pix of the engine bay. in case yall were wondering what it might look like if you decided to rip out the engine and the tranny.

oh and get this, this car had approx 26miles on the engine. WTF.

Also saw a yellow rx8 that had blown its pressure plate and had its tranny ripped out, unfortunately it wasn't on the lifts so i didn't take any pix. some idiot kid took his parent's rx8 out and tried to race it. probably did a clutch
bomb.

i talked with the mechs a bit, and was told that yeah, the tranny on the rx8 sucks. apparently they get alot of tranny work in the shop and some flooding. they were talking about a possible mazdaspeed rx8 in december, but that's probably alot of bull. it was real fun hanging out even for a few minutes. they let me look over their shoulders while they worked. a big guy actually lifted the old engine off the floor by himself - damn that thing is light.

i dont have hosting so if someone wants to host these pix for me, let me know.

EDIT: I have found (told/yelledat/screamed/stapledagainstmyballs) hosting.
EDIT2: Apparently, I suck at this thing called the "Internet". Let me try this again:

 

Wow, that's interesting. I'm surprised they let you back there. Usually, their "insurance won't allow non-employees back in the maintenance areas." Very informative.

I'll post them on the MazdaNow site if you need a place to park them....

 

more

 

finally (I LEARNED THE INTERNET TODAY! THE ENDBOSS IS HARD!)

 

After how many miles is that, 5,000?

 

If it were me, I would be installing the Mazdaspeed flywheel :p

 

this engine was being replaced at 26miles.

that is not a typo. its twenty six miles. 26. 2 and a 6.

they are shipping the motor back to mazda for analysis.

 

whats with the dent in the last pic?

 

ha ha ..by the way told they to install anotherd rotary to ur car. then ur car well be a 3R .. COOL. or... this one.

I AM DREAMING.. HA HA .. FORGET THAT.

 

Man! I can't believe they just set the driveshaft on the floor like that. The shop manual specifically says to wrap the carbon driveshaft with padded material BEFORE removal to prevent damage.

Also, it appears they did not cap ANY of the openings in the motor.

 

I would not want that car, they never put them back together like they should... This mechanic is not very organized... And he has the starter hanging by the wires, ouch...

 

i didnt know rx8's tranny sucked. ppl said it was very smooth ...

 

Wow. Thanks for the Photo. Rare sighting....

 

It has a great trans, it just was not designed for drag racing...

 

Only 26 miles...that sux...glad it isn't mine.

 

This is what the dealers want you to beleive but it is not true ... just like a red car cost more for insurance then other colors .... another rumor that is not correct.

I'm an Insurance agent for the last 15 years ... whenever they tell me that is the reason why I can't go into the service area, I tell them I'm an insurance agent and that is total BS, I've never seen a policy written with an exclusion eliminating coverage due to a client being in the service area. Though it is sometimes a question on the application, it is not necessarily an exclusion.

 

That's interesting. It would be even cooler if it was a 13B-REW/13BT, or even a 20B swap.

 

Yeah, this is the first that I have heard of anyone calling the 8s tranny "crap".

 

The tranny is really great, but sometimes a few bad ones manage to slip by, or they are overabused. I'm sure the RX-8's 6-speed can handle lots of torque. Until we can make crap-loads of shaft power, we are still unsure about the transmission's capability.

 

As someone said above, the transmission in the '8 is not crap, it's just not designed for drag racing.

 

amazing how much my 20+ year old 12a rx-7 motors look like that motor. Same oil filter section, same casting lines, just amazing. I know I am a dork, and I wish my 12a made 238 hp. hehe.

 

My engine is being replaced after 4000km about 2500 miles. The engine is on order as we speak. They seem to think a bearing went in the engine. The engine is aldso getting shipped back to japan.

 

They are mass produced engines and some are going to fail, this is normal and planned for by the manufacturer... In the first few years of the 996 3.4 Porsche replaced allot of engines on those cars. First with new ones then eventually with rebuilt units...

 

Probably got so excited and down shifted it to 2nd instead of 4th.

 

Mine has 400 miles and grinds 4th getting onto the highway already. Never even been redlined yet..