Chris Wilson Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 On A N Other forum someone was aking if he should buy a £2500 RX8 Mazda. A plethora of armchair experts spouted the usual opinions, from bargain of the decade to Mazda should be sued, but this post made me laugh, from a self confessed none piston head: "Out of 461 RX8s for sale in the UK there are three showing over 100k miles, the first five have dud engines and the majority seem to sell them when nearing 60k, Warranty Direct wants £1,430 for a years warranty. I may not have owned one, or know much about them, but I know when a lemon is a lemon" I was talking to a trader pal the other week and he'd just pulled a mint looking, but poorly running, RX8 off his trailer. I asked what he'd paid for it. "£350, with the original wheels and good tyres thrown in", he said. "Wow", I said, "£350?" "Yep, made the mistake of feeling sorry for the barsteward, should have given him £250". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham1984 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 When it said RX8 comment made me smile, I thought the word reliable had been used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendo11 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Unbelievable how much they be deteriorated in value. Still capable in the right pair of hands or quite rightly worthless? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellonman Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 When it said RX8 comment made me smile, I thought the word reliable had been used. But you can rely on them needing a 3k rebuild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_jza80 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 If someone could produce a conversion kit to fit a cheap, plentiful, lightweight and powerful engine to the RX8, they would really be on to something. Maybe something like an Audi V8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra joe Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Have a mate with an LS1 in a blue Rx8. Not sure if it's up and running yet as its a project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsia Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 If someone could produce a conversion kit to fit a cheap, plentiful, lightweight and powerful engine to the RX8, they would really be on to something. Maybe something like an Audi V8. Isn't the issue with the electronics in the car? The dashboard etc requiring something to do with the stock ECU? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny g Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 An S2000 engine would fit the character of the car, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 Isn't the issue with the electronics in the car? The dashboard etc requiring something to do with the stock ECU? yes, it's all CANBUS and a total nightmare to get stuff running on a different ECU. A race version would be relatively easy, with no real OE electronics to worry about. If anything the engines seem worse than the RX-7 ones. The old N/A rotaries were the most reliable, and would run on any junk petrol. But they weren't very powerful in a road usable form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_jza80 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 An S2000 engine would fit the character of the car, I think. Ive thought this, but a good F20 costs more than most RX8's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny g Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Ive thought this, but a good F20 costs more than most RX8's very true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham1984 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I wonder if anyone has put a 2jzge engine in....... that would be depressing going from an unreliable engine to a reliable slow POS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 POS enough said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 This is what Craig Taylors dropped into his RX8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc92 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 The RX8 was a bit of a shame, I do have a softspot for rotaries because of their uniqueness but the decision to offer a worse rotary than the RX7's and not give it a turbo was disappointing. Not to mention the styling. If anything they should have just stuck it in the lightweight MX5 where the lack of torque wouldn't be so noticeable and sold it as a special edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chazuk Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 This company sell the swap kit to mount a 1jz/2jz into a rx8 http://www.ls1rx8.com/1jz2jz-conversion-kit.html [ATTACH=CONFIG]207711[/ATTACH] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 Something looks VERY odd about the gearbox to diff angle there! But in fairness I am just looking at the photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abz Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I am VERY tempted to buy one and have an LS engine fitted in, if a company could do the conversion and keep the electrics working. It is a lot of car for the money, and a practical RWD car with a quick engine is a good win! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsia Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I am VERY tempted to buy one and have an LS engine fitted in, if a company could do the conversion and keep the electrics working. It is a lot of car for the money, and a practical RWD car with a quick engine is a good win! Aren't LS engines alone a good few grand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abz Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Aren't LS engines alone a good few grand? If I remember correctly they were quite cheap (well they certainly are in the US) and they were lighter than putting in a cast iron engine too. Think it was around the £1500 - £2k for an engine. Would have been good if a Lexus V8 could have been put in, nice and cheap to buy but most likely a pain to get it running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianhid Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I was seriously looking at them before I got the Supra, love a rotary and figured if I'm going to have a silly car I may as well go all in... If anything exploded/broke I'd just buy another one and move the bits I'd replaced across, cheaper than fixing (Rotary Revs do a basic rebuild for ~£2k). The bit that killed it for me was the shape of the transmission tunnel next to the clutch, just couldn't fit my foot in there comfortably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethr Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 I am VERY tempted to buy one and have an LS engine fitted in, if a company could do the conversion and keep the electrics working. It is a lot of car for the money, and a practical RWD car with a quick engine is a good win!There's an LS/RX-8 thread on Pistonheads (one of Craig Taylor's). IIRC it ended up at around £18K, although that was a turnkey conversion using a Monaro engine/box bought in the UK, plus a bodykit and glass-out respray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 If it's torque you want why not go completely different and stick a BMW 3.0L Diesel lump and box in one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formatzero Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Would have been a great 4 seat coupe if they had put a decent engine in it ,a missed opportunity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodalmighty Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Emerald and ECU Master both have a RX8 Can bus solutions. Nobody has managed to sort the ecu to ABS DSC encoding pairing yet. Running the stock ecu and a standalone falls over due to cab bus message ID conflicts. Craig's Doing my Supra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.