renesis rebuild options?

I mixed about 200:1 and installed an adapter to inject 2 stroke oil instead of crankcase oil on mine.

This is making me want another. I don't miss the 16 mpg on premium....

I get 19-21mpg in mixed but mostly highway driving and up to 23-24mpg pure highway. 2005 manual tranny 111k miles.

old_ wrote: Thanks for the info guys. It's at a (new) mazda dealer and I am wondering why they don't just fix and sell it (no rotary experience?). I've not talked to them to get any specifics but I do know they are asking $2k. I will update when I find out more

$2k is just about the most I would pay for one that needed a full rebuild since as others have indicated prices can go up to $4k depending on what you need and who does the work.

As others have indicated, if it runs then just changing the coils and plugs and installing the Series 2 starter can raise compression numbers quite a bit and in some cases "fix" it.

Matt Huffman wrote: I get 19-21mpg in mixed but mostly highway driving and up to 23-24mpg pure highway. 2005 manual tranny 111k miles.

There is always a guy like you getting 24mpg highway in one of these discussions. I never got above 18mpg with mine, no matter how much I babied the thing. I've never met anyone in person that got better than 20mpg out of theirs and I autocross with lots of RX-8 owners, but I guess there must be some out there that get better mileage somehow since there is always someone saying they get decent MPG out of theirs.

Prices are all over the board on these things. My local CL has them anywhere between $2k and $12k. I don't think this is the answer for my stop-and-go, straight-line highway commute but sure seems like some cheap fun.

They're only cheap to buy, but anything but cheap to run. Between the higher cost of consumables (set of spark plugs for ~$130, anybody?), the fuel consumption and the special rotary ointments, they're not exactly Miata-cheap. And that's before you get to the remaining list of E36 M3 that can go wrong...

But boy are they fun to drive.

Looking at my loocal CL, there seems to be a significant jump in price for the second gen ones. It's tempting!

old_ wrote: A local dealer has a 04 RX8 with a popped engine. The car is in pretty good shape with only 50kmi. What kind of $$$ would I be looking at for a rebuild assuming the rotors and housings are usable? I found these guys after a quick search: http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/ looks like $1600 + ~$250 shipping both ways. Thoughts? yes I know, LSX swap. that's not really feasible for my situation.

Why is an LSX swap not feasible? It will be cheaper, more reliable and get better MPG. You don't have to have welding skills to swap it, it's all bolt in now a days. Rent a storage space and knock it out in a month or two.

Kreb wrote: Looking at my loocal CL, there seems to be a significant jump in price for the second gen ones. It's tempting!

That's because the second gen ones don't blow up as much due to the extra oiling port in the motor.

My goodness. I knew these things didn't get great mileage, but this 2 ton 500 hp naziwagen I'm driving is easier on fuel than an rx8? Really?

Jay_W wrote: My goodness. I knew these things didn't get great mileage, but this 2 ton 500 hp naziwagen I'm driving is easier on fuel than an rx8? Really?

I get better gas mileage and use less oil than my friends with e36 & 46 m3s, but neither of those is saying too much :)

Seriously, plan on 18-20 mpg in normal driving and you won't be surprised. Plan on 8-10 on track depending on how fast you're driving, 6 or so after mods.

We're going down this road, a friend just picked up a quite nice base model '04 with a blown engine (as in, smoking, coils aren't fixing this..). He got it for 1k, and it was able to drive home, although it started using drinking some coolant on the way home.

Harvey wrote:

Matt Huffman wrote: I get 19-21mpg in mixed but mostly highway driving and up to 23-24mpg pure highway. 2005 manual tranny 111k miles.

There is always a guy like you getting 24mpg highway in one of these discussions. I never got above 18mpg with mine, no matter how much I babied the thing. I've never met anyone in person that got better than 20mpg out of theirs and I autocross with lots of RX-8 owners, but I guess there must be some out there that get better mileage somehow since there is always someone saying they get decent MPG out of theirs.

I will be that guy, though keep in mind this was a drive from Baltimore-Mid cost Maine with my 10 Sport traveling overnight (Midnight-11am ish) and I ended up getting 25.1 over the whole trip so its possible, though regular driving its anywhere between 14-17 city and 20-22 highway.

Did OP end up getting it?