BoxheadTim wrote: Anybody tried driving one in the snow with "proper" tires?
I have driven mine with proper snow tires. It does a great job in snow up to 7"-8" ( the deepest that I have experienced) I don't want to take it down a drifted country lane, but on travelled roads it is good. It infuriates 4X4 drivers with poor tires when I pull away from them at a stop light and when they slide by me trying to stop.
Look into the Sohn adapter to burn 2 stroke oil instead of crank case oil. I run it on mine and also pre-mix 8 Oz of 2 stroke with every tank full.
We don't get much snow here but a couple years ago we did get a couple inches that stayed around a while. My RX8 has MazdaSpeed springs so it's a little lower than stock and at the time had Hankook Evo V12s on it. Did a lot better than I thought it would, even plowing snow with the front a bit. DSC and careful driving and I had no issues. Not looking forward to doing it again with the RS3s that are on it now. Been raining here for over a week so everything is soaked. The RS3s will actually slip some before the DSC kicks in. Day before yesterday I must have got a school bus driver a little concerned when I turned left into the left lane and accelerated to traffic speed and did some fishtailing (DSC never kicked in also). He was behind me and in the right lane. Didn't have that issue with the other tires I've had on it. The DSC would actuate before or at the moment of slip.
Alright. I used a junkyard connection to get a minty fresh driver seat, a steering column and a coolant overflow for $125.
The tires arrived at the shop this afternoon, too.
Tomorrow, tires. This weekend will see an oil change and a more complete shakedown of the car.
Note: I just verified that a rear-facing infant seat CAN fit in the back seat on the passenger side. A passenger sitting in front of it would have to be short, but it would work as a backup to a primary baby-carrying car. That is all.
In reply to Brett_Murphy:
Any chance you can hook me up? I need the ECU cover (The one on the pass. side of the battery) in the engine bay. The cable hook broke on mine. Thanks!
scardeal wrote: Note: I just verified that a rear-facing infant seat CAN fit in the back seat on the passenger side. A passenger sitting in front of it would have to be short, but it would work as a backup to a primary baby-carrying car. That is all.
I have one forward facing and one rear facing child seats in the back of mine. They even have yellow trim to match the paint!
bgkast wrote:scardeal wrote: Note: I just verified that a rear-facing infant seat CAN fit in the back seat on the passenger side. A passenger sitting in front of it would have to be short, but it would work as a backup to a primary baby-carrying car. That is all.I have one forward facing and one rear facing child seats in the back of mine. They even have yellow trim to match the paint!
Uh oh, I'm getting ideas here. I have a 3 year old, and now a 2 week old. I own a Spitifire and a Miata... yeah. Although my wife has a nice Jeep Patriot with plenty of room, I'll need to get something for myself. This is looking good. No, I won't sell the other cars either 
.
-Hamid
I have a third on the way... no way it will fit unless I strap the seat to the roof!
pilotbraden wrote:BoxheadTim wrote: Anybody tried driving one in the snow with "proper" tires?I have driven mine with proper snow tires. It does a great job in snow up to 7"-8" ( the deepest that I have experienced) I don't want to take it down a drifted country lane, but on travelled roads it is good. It infuriates 4X4 drivers with poor tires when I pull away from them at a stop light and when they slide by me trying to stop.
That would most likely be good enough for me - the only potentially uncleared part of my trip to work is the last half mile and even in bad snow storms I have yet to see more than 7-8" on the ground there before someone took pity and ran a snowplow over the road.
Now, finding a good one might be "interesting". There are a lot of pre-facelift RX8s for sale around here but not that many later ones. Interestingly enough you can generally find a few with less than 30k on them.
In reply to CGLockRacer:
Gah, I missed this. Sorry. I probably can, but it would probably be cheaper to get it locally vs. shipping. Maybe not; I have no idea how much it would cost.
I went to start it today, and the starter was sllllooooowww. Not even really turning the engine. I am going to hook it up to the trickle charger tomorrow and see what happens.
Does anybody know if the "updated" starter that is $400 at the dealer is available through the aftermarket?
Not that I have found, but if you find a source let me Know. Best may be a junkyard. Mine is slower than it should be but so far still starts the car.
Carquest offers a Mitsubishi 2 Kw starter for ~$225. I'm probably going to go that route.
Before I go that route, I'm going to roll it down the hill today and see if it will bump start. The engine isn't frozen, but I want to be confident it is the starter before I start turning bolts.
I heard the RX8 starter can be an upgrade for certain FC RX7. If your google fu is up for it, you may be able to put a FC starter in there to determine if it is in fact a starter that is needed.
upon visual inspection, it looks like a t2 start would fit, they do utilize the same ring gear, I know that for a fact.
Never did get a chance to roll it down the hill.
New starter got it started, but it is still not quite right. Coils are enroute.
I'm hoping it is able to be driven this Saturday, because I have my autocross school. The backup plan is to drive the Forester in that, but if I drive that, I give it even odds I forget I'm on pavement and try to slide around a corner with comical results.
Driving the Forester also gives me nothing towards getting my Mazdacomp going.
Coils helped a bunch. There is still a bit of a hot start problem, but it isn't nearly as bad.
Current plans:
Race this weekend.
Buy a donor RX-8.
Keep racing. Get a Mazdacomp membership and get good parts for engine rebuild.
Rebuild engine and work on RX-8 as time allows.
The good news is the donor car I am looking at is a Shinka. I can probably sell the interior quickly and it will net me factory Bilstein suspension components, ugraded front control arms and k-member.
Congrats! I have always had a thing for these cars. despite not being a huge rotary fan personally. Best of luck with the project! Would an lsx fit in the engine bay? Just curious
An LSx engine can be put into an RX-8, but the swap is more difficult, much more expensive and not as well documented as putting one into an RX-7. I hope that doesn't remain the case forever- an LSx in an RX-8 seems like a super-winning combination to me.
I grabbed some a lightly used set of dampers and springs from another club member, but they are from a 2009 RX-8. Initial research says that they can be made to fit on a 2004 car, but more research is required.
Did you go with stock coils or convert to GM coils?
I went with stock coils for now, mainly because they were $40 each at Carquest. I may eventually go with the BHR kit.
Pictures from the autocross!
Low compression on the front rotor. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I was expecting that.
I just found out that the workshop manual does NOT have the rebuild procedure for the engine included in it. Nor does it have a wiring diagram.
Anybody know where to get the rebuild procedure for a RENESIS?
Maybe it is in here... http://www.pineappleracing.com/renesisenginemanual.aspx
I have to call Pineapple.
Try a decarb before you tear it apart could just be a nasty bit of carbon. I think that a mazda rebuild is $3k with a $1k core from your dealer.
Have heard that running ATF can help as well as a decarb don't know how true that is, Good luck no matter sir!
at 160k miles, I think doing a rebuild or finding a junkyard engine are the best choices right now.
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