[firechicken]

Thinking of buying an 05 Mazda RX8 6speed manual trans and it probably needs the engine worked over by the sounds of it. Just wondering if anyone here has any experience with these. I've built plenty of V8s but never opened up a rotary. Seems it could be a fun car if working right and I haven't even looked at the car yet. Any tips appreciated thanks.

[67GTONUT]

I dont know if its still true...... but when I was younger I always heard that once a Rotary was worn out.... it was essentially done, there was no "rebuilding" them .....

[98 SNAKE EATER]

My advice?

Run

And this is from someone who has blown up and built them before

[Ben M.]

I owned a 2005 RX-8. Great car, lots of fun. Terrible fuel economy for it's size (like 20ish) and the small fuel tank (13 gal) made it a lousy road trip car but it sure was fun to grind through the gears (mine was a 6 speed).

The rotary engine *is* rebuildable. The seals go out normally but that's easy enough to rebuild. It is *not* easy or cheap to do if the problem is if the guy didn't change the oil and it ate into the housing or rotary assembly, that is not easily repaired or replaced. These engines are really unique and very unusual, people do not understand them nor are these engines common. I ditto snake, if you can't get it SUPER cheap I'd just run away. Money pit.

[Chris65LeMans]

If you’re gonna take on the challenge of a rotary, get an RX-7, not the larger one.

[69hardtop]

Great car - poor engine. Almost everyone of them has had an engine failure of some type = cheap prices. My extended family who runs a large used car lot (less than $10K cars) has the RX8 on the “do not buy or trade for” list.

[firechicken]

Thanks for the input so far. This car looks good in pictures and ad states "loses power when hot so probably apex seals". Asking $4k Canadian and I wouldn't mind playing with the rotary if it's worth the effort just for fun factor. I bought a Fiero last spring to play with but it was too uncomfortable and outdated to really enjoy I found.

[android 211]

Coworker had one, I recall it broke 14 seconds at over 100mph in the 1/4. Phenomenal handling. Another coworker had a beat up RX-7, he asked me to look at it. I recall it had the filthiest spark plugs I'd ever seen; I cleaned them, it started and ran OK!

[mgarblik]

I tend to agree with the gentleman who posted if you want to dip your toe into the rotary pool, go with an RX7. The RX7 has a much larger following and there are more of them out in the world for parts and so forth. They also have decent resale value when the time comes. My mother owned an RX8. It was the last car she had before her passing. It was an auto trans model. I drove it many times and took some moderate length trips with it. I found it to be pretty uncomfortable, very hard to see out of and as mentioned, it got horrible gas mileage for such a small car and engine. I drove it from San Diego to Disney Land and back with my wife and couldn't believe it wouldn't make that 4 hour round trip on a tank of gas. It averaged only 16-17 MPG in mixed driving. That was auto trans though. A stick shift might eek out 20 if your lucky. Lots of electronics, accessory, trim, little annoying small stuff going wrong with it constantly. Seems like I was always working on something that was broken or failing on the car. She bought it new and when she passed away it had only 40K miles on it and a 1/2" thick folder of repair receipts. When her estate was settled, the car brought almost nothing at the sale. I think there are many much better choices in that type of car out there. FWIW.

[jerry455]

If the car is in good shape, swap an LS into it. I have heard of other Mazdas with LS engines swapped into them. I remember in the mid 80's Mazda had a recall about spark plugs falling into the motor and destroying them.

[TedRamAirII]

The last good one was the 1985 RX7 GSE Old Body Stye and Fuel Injected. You can "rebuild" them, but just replace parts, no machining can be done. RX8 had lots of engine issues, the dealers were replacing them like popcorn.

[firechicken]

Well second thoughts have definitely kicked in now thanks. An LS swap would be interesting but not something I want to undertake at this point.

Suggestions on a different car in the same category would be appreciated.
There is a Solstice for sale I've had my eye on but it kinda feels a bit on the feminine side to me. No offense to anyone that owns one, I do think they're cool as hell.

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Originally Posted by firechicken

Well second thoughts have definitely kicked in now thanks. An LS swap would be interesting but not something I want to undertake at this point.

Suggestions on a different car in the same category would be appreciated.
There is a Solstice for sale I've had my eye on but it kinda feels a bit on the feminine side to me. No offense to anyone that owns one, I do think they're cool as hell.

The LS swaps are awesome

Believe it or not, an LS/T-56 swap on an FD RX7 is actually lighter than the original 13BT rotary with all the typical accessories that go along with the turbo

And because of the rotary's high centered eccentric shaft, they have huge trans tunnels, so you wont have to do much hacking at all.

Now, if youre seriously considering a Solstice, you may want to consider a Miata

Not gunna lie, although they're deathly slow, every single one I've driven made me feel like I was in a race car.

[455dan]

Originally Posted by 98 SNAKE EATER

The LS swaps are awesome

Believe it or not, an LS/T-56 swap on an FD RX7 is actually lighter than the original 13BT rotary with all the typical accessories that go along with the turbo

And because of the rotary's high centered eccentric shaft, they have huge trans tunnels, so you wont have to do much hacking at all.

Now, if youre seriously considering a Solstice, you may want to consider a Miata

Not gunna lie, although they're deathly slow, every single one I've driven made me feel like I was in a race car.

If the platform of the Solstice will work- maybe a Saturn Sky would fit the bill- more angular lines and LS can also be swapped.

Agree on going earlier for an RX 7 over an 8, even the FB's have lots of room for a heart transplant

https://www.thedrive.com/content-b/m...jpg?quality=60

[mgarblik]

As I mentioned, there are much better choices than an RX 8 IMO for this kind of car. In no particular order, here are some possibilities of reliable cars in this general type of sporty coupe. Personal taste plays a huge part in cars like these. Mazda Miata, Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, Toyota Celica, Honda Civic SI, Volkswagon GTI, Nissan 240SX, Subaru WRX, Nissan 300 ZX, Infinity G35, Mazda RX7, Scion FRS, to name a few.

[jerry455]

The Solstice/Sky platform has plenty of potential. The turbo 2 liter has 260 horsepower stock and there are upgrade kits from GM and some aftermarket companies that get them close to and over 300 hp. The also accept an LS very easily. I work for GM and we built the " Hot Rod" test car with an LS7 and a manual trans. That thing was a rocket. GM put out a book on that platform with the SCCA mods and the LS swap in it. We had some Solstice cars with 310 hp and 340 hp that were test mules. Those things ran great. GM also had a book on the Ecotec engine and the horsepower levels and parts it would take to get there. Mallet also built some LS powered cars. CammerJeff could tell you everything you would want to know about those.

[firechicken]

I'd never heard of a sky until now. Were they sold in Canada?

I like the look of the sky much better than the solstice but would really regret the missing arrowhead.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by firechicken

I'd never heard of a sky until now. Were they sold in Canada?

I like the look of the sky much better than the solstice but would really regret the missing arrowhead.

I'm just the opposite, I hate the sky body, and love the Solstice.

I wonder if a Stratostreak V8 would fit well. I know the LS takes up a lot less real estate than a Stratostreak does. I bet no ones even attempted it at this point.

[mrennie]

Originally Posted by firechicken

I'd never heard of a sky until now. Were they sold in Canada?

Yes they were. After your previous post and the responses suggesting to look at the Sky, I looked on Auto Trader and Google and found a few, mostly in Ontario/Quebec but a few in BC.

After seeing them, I think they look pretty good. Looks like you can get a nice one for under 20K CAD. Sure would be fun to swap in an LS engine.

[455Grandville]

Big harm to a rotary is reving them past the redline, it puts hell on the apex seals.