Am I a buffoon? (potential rotary content)

Hey all,

I have a bit of a Mazda-induced conundrum, which feels appropriate given my username :) I raced an RX-8 last month with American Endurance Racing and had an absolute blast. I was drawn to the car because I remember how much fun I had test driving one a few years ago . After the race, I took out one of my team member's RX-8s to confirm that the street cars were still almost as fun. They are. I want one... a cosmetically-iffy one that I can street park without losing sleep. 

I'm not the most mechanically-inclined, and the streets of Queens don't always give me the most room to work with. But I have a solid contingent of enthusiast friends that could help me out. And these things are cheap, like sub 4k for early cars with engines replaced. And due to my time with the team and my rotary-obsessed teammates, I'm reasonably familiar with the car's shortcomings - particularly the earlier S1 cars.

Is buying one of these early cars on the cheap the right move? It's what my budget would allow, but I'm not sure how I could take an engine replacement... I should just buy an NB right? Why am I drawn to these rotaries.... why do I hate myself?

For an only car I'd say no, buy an NB instead. For a second car that you can afford to have broken down, HELL YEAH!

In reply to barefootskater :

Hah, I actually am fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) enough to walk to work, so technically I can "afford" to have it broken down. Living in the city, this will just be a toy

In response to your subject line, are you a Buffum, or are you a Millen?

If I wasn't married, I'd have a stick-shift RX-8 beater in my driveway right now.

Wizard_Of_Maz said:

Is buying one of these early cars on the cheap the right move? It's what my budget would allow, but I'm not sure how I could take an engine replacement... I should just buy an NB right? Why am I drawn to these rotaries.... why do I hate myself?

Because it goes HMMMMMMMMMM (and also brap brap) - Linked because there's a Savanna Sports Wagon in there and 70's TV commercials are amazing.

In answer to your question though: I'd also own one if I wouldn't get killed for bringing home another rotary.

I bought a 2004 rx8 about 2 years ago as a back up track car, and a car I'd feel comfortable letting my novice friends drive if I could convince them to go to the track with me.

The car had about 100k on the chassis, and about 35-40k on the motor.  I think I paid $5500 for it.  I didn't have particularly high hopes for it, it was just supposed to be a cheap backup and something to use to bribe people to come with me.(yes I have to bribe people to hang out with me!)

Fast forward a couple years and in addition to it's intended purpose, I have totally fallen in love with this car.  At least 15 different people ranging from first timers to seasoned racers have done multiple track days in it.  I've driven it myself on track a few days, and even run(and won) a few TT events in it.  (It's close to stock so it can run in the lower classes)

Everyone who has driven it, including me, has enjoyed it thoroughly.  It's also been by far my most reliable track car by a long shot.  Maybe I've just been lucky, but it seems to love the high rpm's it sees on track.  Other than consumables, and one $15 dollar solenoid that may or may not have even needed replacing once it cooled down, it just runs.  Additionally, I can run laptimes within a couple seconds of my heavily modded e46 330i(that I probably have 10x the $$ in)

It now has about 106k on the clock, with virtually all of the additional mileage coming on the track, and doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear.(other than a few dings and missing trim pieces from a couple off track excursions - not the car's fault though)

If you do take the plunge, and you should, I'd swap out the springs for something stiffer and a little lower (I have the eibach pro kit) and the sway bars(I have the Hotchkis front and rear).  It had a bit of body roll with the stock setup, and these easy mods took at least 2 sec off my laptimes on a 2.27 mile track for <$600 and a couple hours installing them.  I also bought lightweight track wheels, but when I weighed them back to back with the stock wheels, they were exactly the same, so save your money there.

I just love my rx-8!

(with all of that said, it was consistently lapping withing 1/10 sec of a relatively stock NB miata which did have a new motor, minor suspension tweaks and some weight reduction.  I think the driver of that car was a bit better than me though) 

In reply to cbaclawski :

Thank you all for the replies, and cbaclawski, I mirror your thoughts on its ease of use. The 2004s scare me quite a bit, but I can't find an S2 in my budget. In your opinion, should I just flat out not consider ones that haven't had the engines replaced at this point? Mine would be an autoX and track rat, so it'd definitely see some use.

I am unsure as to why insurance is so expensive for it. This is a 4 door 1.3 liter, is it not? :)

We had an '08 RX8 that was fantastic.  Other than flooding it once when I was moving it around the driveway (which is an easy fix just caught me by surprise) it was a good car although a little tough to live with.  I've thought about buying one as a back-up track car/loaner track car like cbaclawski did as well they're silly fun to drive.

In reply to Wizard_Of_Maz :

I'm not a rotary mechanic by any stretch, so take this with a grain of salt.  I think most probably have had the replacement done, or are not running at this point.  If it were me I'd just make sure to have it compression tested either way, and pull the trigger if the results came back good(like really good, not borderline good).  If it's the original motor, and still tests well, it's probably been well cared for over it's lifetime.

Maybe it's cause I'm old, but the insurance on mine is fairly nominal (I just have liability on it, and was just adding it to an existing policy)

If you have friends that can help work on it and offer a place to do so, then I'd buy one with a bad engine

and replace/rebuild it so you are starting at known good.   

Here is an S2 in your budget that drives really well. I know this because I went for a test drive and had to talk myself out of buying it. It has a few issues (coolant sensor, some cosmetic defects) but seems to be a solid car.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/382298432394760/?ref=messenger_banner

Do it. I used to have my FD in Queens. The RX8 would do much better. With an NB someone will eventually slash your soft top or steal the hardtop. 

There are a couple of decent rotary mechanics in the area and your buds can help you out as well. The car is pretty simple to work on