I think I just hit the car guy lottery!

In reply to petegossett:

Thank you.

The work is not a surprise- heck, it's a $900 car. So far, I haven't found anything I was not expecting. Just plodding through it.

It's looking great!

I saw one of these in town the other day. It sounded amazing! This car may now be on my want list.

Looks good. I dig the colour as well, it does suit the car now some of its F&Fness has been removed.

I assume you know that the front undertray is an important part of the cooling system? Without it and even with it flexing the cooling capacity is seriously affected. LRB speed and several other companies make an aluminum replacement that is supposed to help because they flex less. One of those is actually on my shopping list but I think shipping you my old undertray might be prohibitively expensive due to the size.

Oh, and as you found out they do allow for a fair amount of tire upsizing.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Yeah, thanks.

I discovered that missing undertray today, and it was pretty obvious there would be no airflow through the radiator without it. Plus, there is a big smashed area of the AC condensor which is not helping airflow at all.

I am going to make a splitter to replace it and direct the air properly, while cleaning up the air under the car and gaining a little downforce.

A $900 running RX8... people are crazy! That's borderline scrap money up here.

Last weekend I got the front end together- brakes, pads, rotors, disks. I also installed the balance of the struts taken off of BoxheadTim's car. Car sits where it should now.

Built a very cool splitter for it. I'll try to post pics this weekend.

After a full dismantling, I found no issues with the trans or clutch. I did find a shot pilot bearing. A PILOT BEARING?? Is it possible the problem with this car was a $6.57 part? Or did I miss something important?

This weekend I am reassembling it. Cross your fingers- if I'm wrong, then this car will not make it to the Challenge this year.

Here's a few pics of the splitter I built.

A seized/dragging bad pilot bearing will spin the transmission even when the clutch is fully released. It will have the same effect as a dragging clutch.

In reply to pjbgravely:

Well, then I may be very lucky. There was effectively NO pilot bearing left- just shrapnel and the outer race.

$6.57 is not a bad investment in a $900 car.

If the trans spins smooth in all gears then I'd bet that's your problem.

Isn't an unhappy hot start on RX8s an early indication of low compression? Then again, I wouldn't put it past being related to the exploded pilot bearing either.

My understanding from hanging out with rotary types is that if you catch low compression on a Renesis early enough it's a much cheaper job than later.

I hope all is well when it's put back together, that is too awesome of a deal. It looks so much better now that you've removed that flying-diaper rear bumper to boot.

ssswitch wrote: Isn't an unhappy hot start on RX8s an early indication of low compression? Then again, I wouldn't put it past being related to the exploded pilot bearing either.

Yes, but...

Especially early RX8s have a weak starter (the rotary wants to be spun at higher revs than a conventional engine) that can cause problems when the engine is hot. As can weak coils, another known issue with the RX8.

ssswitch wrote: My understanding from hanging out with rotary types is that if you catch low compression on a Renesis early enough it's a much cheaper job than later.

Again, it depends what's causing the low compression. If it's just general wear and tear than yes. If you had detonation then there's a good chance the housing is scrap metal and at this point things tend to get expensive. It also depends if you're shooting for a good enough rebuild and decide to skip re-surfacing the side housings or if those also need to be refinished.

And that's before you spend money on lightened rotors, porting and other fun stuff .

Great color, excellent score

Couple of things...

The clutch slave cylinders on these cars are a bad design. Just sitting with the clutch pedal pushed in can cause it to lose some force.

Mine would do it in stop any go traffic. Really good fluid and bleed fixed it.

Also, when my clutch pedal bracket broke, the clutch pedal fell off. Literally.

I would try a full flush and bleed of clutch hydraulics with race type brake fluid before driving it too far.

Splitter looks great! What are you going to use for rear aero to balance out the splitter?

Stampie wrote: Nice. How is it to slap a turbo on those?

I've seen vortech supercharger kits for them.

Just finished this thread, wow what an amazing find. This is garage find levels of greatness, basically got a car for 10% it's going price.

kanaric wrote:

Stampie wrote: Nice. How is it to slap a turbo on those?

I've seen vortech supercharger kits for them.

Greddy also made a CARB legal kit (if you live in one of those areas) for them. You'll need a tuning solution though since the Cobb accessport is now NLA. I believe Versatune works on them though.

Great job on the splitter

docwyte wrote: Splitter looks great! What are you going to use for rear aero to balance out the splitter?

Well, I understand the potential downside, and really want to build a wing and a diffuser to balance it, but the clock is ticking. Since I've never even driven this car, the likelihood of completing them in time for the Challenge is slim to none.

This year is not a competitive year for me. It's a year to see if I can bring this car back to life. If I complete the Challenge, I will be happy.

Well, that's not totally true. I won't be that happy if I'm not in the top 1/3.

I'll be riding on a basically stock engine with no power adders, a stock suspension with no upgrades, stock suspension bushings, stock anti-roll bar, and crappy old rubber.

The only "upgrades" that will effect performance are a light weight flywheel, open exhaust, and about 300 lbs of lightness added. Don't even think I will finish the nitrous install.

I do not expect a podium finish this year.

But, I WILL have a running RX8, ready to begin improving for next year.

In reply to SVreX:

What you wrote above about the RX8 and its near stock state is pretty much what the hail damaged Q45 was last year after fixing the bad $42 master cylinder.
That was good for 10th overall last year. The highest placing car with stock ride height and original engine size/configuration.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

You probably had a few more Concours points than I will. . I won't be bringing my own awards, so there is no way I'll win as much as you did!

I've been in the top 10 overall and the podium for AutoX every year for a few years now. I am ready for a break, and just have some fun. Doesn't bother me a bit. If I wanted the podium, I'd bring back the Mumpkin.

But I know this game, and still plan on beating quite a few people!

I have 2 (maybe 3) cars in the works for next year. 2 would take a shot at the overall, the third (and most likely candidate) would be lucky to beat anyone at all, but I'm pretty sure it would get featured on the magazine cover!

There's a lot of ways to play this game and have fun. I've done it in a Yugo, a Cadillac, an SVX, and on a tandem bicycle!! It's all about the fun, and I intend to enjoy myself.

The car is looking much better than it did when you picked it up.

After reading through the thread, I am betting that thing was a blast to hoon around off-road. I'm not surprised what it did to the suspension, though.

You're going to have the nicest looking car at the Challenge.