What to watch out for on RX8s?

Soldato
Joined
26 Sep 2007
Posts
4,137
Location
Newcastle
What actually fails on the engine, surely It cant be rocket science to rebuild the engine?

Dont buy one to break though, the parts are worth pennies, my dad had a rear ended one, and only the engine was worth a bit, and thats just beacuse it had a rebuild 5k miles prior to the smash, the rest of the bits didnt fetch much at all on ebay?

Just looking under the bonnet would be enough to scare most typical mechanics off. It's called The Rats Nest for a reason :p
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Nov 2004
Posts
8,182
Location
Couvains, France
Yup warm start is an issue. I believe when you do a short journey you must rev the engine and turn it off while it is at high rpm as well to prevent flooding. (overrun pumps out all chambers of fuel I guess)
 
Associate
Joined
14 Oct 2013
Posts
917
Location
Brisbane, Australia
In America LS V8 conversions are really common, just a shame there aren't so many kits for engines we can find readily available over here :(

I know a guy who has done a Nissan SR20DET swap into one, it goes rather well but it looked a massive nightmare to do.

How do these engine swaps affect the weight distribution of the car? Would have thought a heavy V8 might spoil the handling, although an SR20DET might work quite nicely.
 

233

233

Soldato
Joined
21 Nov 2004
Posts
13,500
Location
Wishaw
What to watch out for on RX8s?
just make sure that when you go to look at one you make sure you have a clear escape path that you can beat a hasty retreat down.





lovely cars in looks and handling but you'd be better off buying the 6 grand S class mentioned elsewhere in motors
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Dec 2010
Posts
4,219
How do these engine swaps affect the weight distribution of the car? Would have thought a heavy V8 might spoil the handling, although an SR20DET might work quite nicely.

I think it's the most daft idea going. You buy an RX 8 for the engine and handling characteristics, both of which would be butchered by a big v8 engine.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2011
Posts
10,401
I think it's the most daft idea going. You buy an RX 8 for the engine and handling characteristics, both of which would be butchered by a big v8 engine.

True but when that engine decides to go bang it may well be worth chucking something "normal" in there.

Well....at least they don't rust too much
 
Permabanned
Joined
19 Oct 2007
Posts
6,322
Location
.
Yup warm start is an issue. I believe when you do a short journey you must rev the engine and turn it off while it is at high rpm as well to prevent flooding. (overrun pumps out all chambers of fuel I guess)

Really?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,686
Location
Sussex
By short journey it actually means when you just start it to move it off the drive or something, if its running full choke and you start it for like a minute and then just stop it the thing can flood. I had one for a year and never had issue.

Terrible on fuel (you can only dream of a tank range of 200miles) but so much fun to drive. Get the higher powered one and hear the engine at 9k in a tunnel :D
 
Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
39,945
Terrible on fuel (you can only dream of a tank range of 200miles) but so much fun to drive. Get the higher powered one and hear the engine at 9k in a tunnel :D

I average 260 miles to a tank. Have got 327 miles out of one though, but that was a dull drive.

But yes, 231 is the one to get.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Nov 2004
Posts
8,182
Location
Couvains, France

Yeah short journeys from cold with the engine running rich. Turn it off and the engine floods for some reason.

Revving it up and turning off lets the overun as the engine winds down pump any excess fuel out.

Research RX8 Flooding issue, plenty of threads about it.

There was an ECU fix from Mazda which helped but didn't completely solve the issue.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
16,660
Location
Devon
I think it's the most daft idea going. You buy an RX 8 for the engine and handling characteristics, both of which would be butchered by a big v8 engine.

The LSx V8's are all alloy, and not particularly heavy. I don't see what's so bad about replacing a fragile, unreliable, fuel guzzling waste of space with a V8.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
Posts
13,451
Just looking under the bonnet would be enough to scare most typical mechanics off. It's called The Rats Nest for a reason :p

Rats nest is on the RX7 not the 8, there is no turbo.

£490 a year road tax, no thanks lolz

Pre March 2006 are £245ish.

I have had two and loved them both among the most reliable cars i have ever had. You just need to treat it differently that's all. My oil consumption was about 1 litre every 3k miles. My second car had a bypass and ran 2 stroke so it was easy to keep an eye it properly that later got turned up to use a lot more oil as it was destined for the track.

If i were going for another it would be a low compression one and rebuild it. There are loads of how to videos a few specialist tools you need like a huge socket and long breaker bar to remove the eccentric shaft nut.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2006
Posts
22,990
Location
N.E England
By short journey it actually means when you just start it to move it off the drive or something, if its running full choke and you start it for like a minute and then just stop it the thing can flood. I had one for a year and never had issue.

Terrible on fuel (you can only dream of a tank range of 200miles) but so much fun to drive. Get the higher powered one and hear the engine at 9k in a tunnel :D

Slap a Toyosports cat back and it sounds Sexual.
 
Back
Top Bottom