A friend of mine owns a wrecking yard and offered me a Renesis rotary from an RX8 for "a couple hundred bucks". I stopped by with me Z today and we were bullE36 M3ting about engine swaps and the like.
I know next to nothing about wankel engines in general, beyond the core basics of how they work.
Is this a good idea?
The Renesis is a bit problematic because of the different exhaust ports compared to the older 13Bs.
Is this out of an automatic or a manual RX8?
This teardown video was informative on the Renesis; https://youtu.be/J2_ro7aWD8Q
If it is a good running motor get it. Rx8s with bad motors are cheep. A little wrench time and you will have a fun car with out being in to it for much cash.
If it turns freely, compression tests good (special procedure required), and the oil isn't contaminated, it should at least give you "a few hundred bucks" of fun and you'll have a shot at winning the jackpot...stumbling across a perfectly good engine.
Buy a clean RX-8 with a blown engine <$1,500, drop the engine in and enjoy.
I got 88K from my first Renesis (bought new) & 156K from my second Renesis (Mazda rebuild with improved oil delivery).
I ended up trading my RX8 for another car because I couldn't find a reasonable price on a core to rebuild. I would have jumped all over one at that price.
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