Is the RX8 the bargain priced performance vehicle of the day?

Maniac0301 wrote “you can get a factory rebuilt engine for around 2K”.

The engine on my RX-8 blew last month and I worked with both a Mazda Service Center and Tri Point Engineering and either way, it was going to be $6,000 out the door. Perhaps your number is based on doing the swap yourself, but still, the rebuilt engine alone was something like $4,200.

Fun fact, I learned that there are 14 brand new Renesis engines sitting in Hiroshima and they are available for the same price as Mazda charges for a rebuilt engine you just have to pay an additional $500 for shipping and wait two weeks for it to arrive.

Penultimeta wrote “do engine failures really happen all that often or is that just perception”.

I drove an FC RX-7 for eighteen years, put 286,000 miles on it, and sold it with compression numbers that were getting low but indicated the engine still had some life left in it.

I then bought an RX-8 and its engine blew suddenly and catastrophically at 86,000 miles. I couldn’t definitively assign cause to the engine at that time as the car had previously received front end damage and I suspected the cooling system hadn’t be repaired correctly.

Mazda put a rebuilt engine in the car for free as they had voluntarily extended the warrantee to 100,000 miles. Amusingly, when this happened, I received a call from someone fairly high up at Mazda and he simply said “look, we’re going to give you a new engine, now tell me exactly - what - happened”…bhahaha

I put 159,000 miles on my rebuilt engine and it died in the classic seal failure fashion as I described above.

At this point, based on my personal experience and all the data points I’ve received from mechanics and owners, I can say with reasonable confidence that these engines are only good for somewhere around 90,000 to 120,000 miles on average.

The old 12A and 13B engines were excellent and so long as you didn't turbo them, they actually tended to outlast most piston engines. The Renesis engines however, just don't hold up and they're expensive to replace.

I've considered one for a 4.8 LS swap daily driver for some time now. No time for the project right now though.

I havent really paid attention to the rx8 community much, but does anybody know if the series 2 renesis fares any better? I know they messed with the oiling system, did it make a difference? Early s2 renesis engines should be hitting high mileage about now.

RX8driver wrote: For the V8 swap, I think there will be issues with getting the gauges working, as the RX8 is all CAN bus as far as I know...

I believe you are correct. The suggestion is that it would probably be best just to swap in new instruments, which is clearly going to be a bit of a compromise (and may not look very good).

I believe the solution for gauges is to just run sensors for both the engine management system and the separate gauge system.

In reply to Rufledt:

Yes, the series two engines were redesigned to fix a bunch of the problems that were causing premature failure.

I'm pretty sure some have failed series 2 engines, but as far as the changes go, they'll help with certain failure modes, but side seal failures shouldn't be any different.

just pay money, replace otherwise good parts, add labour and eventually you'll have a running car.

Good quote for the mag..

My friend is finding rebuild motors for $2500 or so, although it seems to depend on what exactly you need to be rebuilt. He is also willing (and able) to rebuild the motor himself and says it costs about $1000 in parts. Not sure if those are hard and fast numbers, but he seems pretty confident.

He's a pretty capable guy though having rebuilt a WRX motor and completely assembled an 818 in his garage with his girlfriend. The price they got the car at makes it worth another $2-3k for a motor if the thing blows up.

I think that just as a buy in, it is the performance bargain vehicle today. An RX-8 with a known bad engine for $500-1000 is a good candidate for an engine swap, and not just for a LS1,LS2,LS3, etc.

There is a RX-8 sitting on the side of the interstate in Charleston SC that is getting cheaper by the day. Someone stole the wheels off of it yesterday, it's sitting on blocks.

Just be aware that there are many levels of rebuilds. Some would replace only the seals, gaskets and o rings, others replace housings, machine side plates, replace bearings and more. There WILL be a difference in lifespan and possibly power between those, but if you're just wanting to keep it going a while longer and you don't wait for it to blow completely, I do believe it is possible to rebuild it for ~$1000 in parts, like was said.