I have a dangerous search setup on local CL that emails me every time there is a sub $2k RX-8. There are LOTS.
What commonly goes bad on the Renesis? Seems like if someone got to know the rx-8 reasonably well you could probably go racing for free by just buying cheap, parting the bad ones, and quickly flipping the good ones, and keeping all the trick parts for your race car. For almost $0 initial investment. This thread sort of ties in with Chris' recent rally RX8 thread.
and the rx-8 isn't exactly a slouch on the track either.
I think the only problem with that is most people who are interested in one, know that even rebuilt ones are still a time bomb. And are looking for one to turn into a toy with a motor swap.
How do you have the search setup? I've been looking for a way to have ongoing searches.
yeah I'm not sure they are a good fix and flip proposition unless you grab one cheap and find that all it needs is a coil and you happen to have 3 good coils sitting on the shelf from your other part outs. Then you buy for $800 and sell for $1600 since it is still a time bomb but a good running rx-8 (for the moment - haha).
It would mostly be that you can fund an entire race car simply by continually parting out cheapies from craigslist. You could basically offer $500 on every broken one that comes up and I bet you be high bidder on 2/3rds of them.
I am pretty sure your biggest problem would be the side housings. If they are damaged you are toast as finding replacements of good quality is difficult.
white_fly said:
How do you have the search setup? I've been looking for a way to have ongoing searches.
go to CL, make an account, login, and then search for something. Next to the search button you should see a link for 'save this search'. I think you can set it up to email you from there when anything new hits that criteria.
My 2009 just give up the ghost a few weeks ago, I will let you know. but they aren't any harder than a regular rotary actually the side seals are easier as they are labeled on the rotor and you can buy the correct length without and re-sizing!
apex seals are shorter and tend to fail I hear, the early 2004/2005 cars had bad side seal issues during assembly (too much clearance) and if any of the hard seal failures occur you likely need housings. Expect about 1000-1500 for a rebuild depending what failed, add 1200 if you need new housings - used of course are much cheaper but may not be a good re-grind candidate or just a general budget build.
you can buy reman s1 engines from mazda for about 3500 plus a core and the s2 they have no remans but a new engine is 6200 with the racer discount!!!! :O
if its race car application you fabricate or buy engine mounts for other 13bs and run a carb or standalone and have one hell of a toy. trans bolts right up, use the appropriate clutch combination and you are golden.
Slippery said:
I am pretty sure your biggest problem would be the side housings. If they are damaged you are toast as finding replacements of good quality is difficult.
is that what normally goes bad? Like if I bought two bad RX8s am I likely to be able to build one good engine? or am I going to have 2 good rx8s save for the 4 bum side housings?
Robbie said:
Slippery said:
I am pretty sure your biggest problem would be the side housings. If they are damaged you are toast as finding replacements of good quality is difficult.
is that what normally goes bad? Like if I bought two bad RX8s am I likely to be able to build one good engine? or am I going to have 2 good rx8s save for the 4 bum side housings?
potentially yes or you still may be a short a piece or two. Im tempted to rebuild mine with rx7 apex seals as they are longer but will need rotating assembly re-balanced
I loved my wife's old RX-8 and the price keeps me looking at them. What actually kills the motors that causes all of them to hit $1000 craigslist status?
In reply to dclafleur :
Heat, poor lubrication. The cats go bad, then the siamese exhaust port gets so hot that things warp, and as you can imagine, warping inside a spinning dorito sandwich is bad juju.
If I remember correctly the early Renesises (?) did not inject enough oil into the combustion chamber as well.
But I am no renesis expert. I have considered getting a renesis and slapping a carb setup together for it, because doubling my HP and staying N/A would be cool.
