http://www.jaguarspecialties.com/xk8-lsx.asp
http://www.jaguarspecialties.com/xk8-lsx.asp
Whatever you do, do not accept their first offer! Or thier second offer for that matter. They will try to low ball you.
I feel bad for the guy who got $2500 for his e36 M3, there's no way he could have replaced his car for that much unless it was a rusting crap pile.
I recently had my daily driver Prius rear ended and totalled. I ended up getting nearly 2.5X their first offer.
In reply to 2002maniac:
Depends wildly on your insurance carrier. USAA's first offer was more than fair both times I was in this situation
I read that the stock rx8 rear End is good up to pretty healthy v8 power levels.
Does the stock gear ratio work or do you need a r&p swap?
In reply to calteg:
When my E36 was totaled a couple years ago, again with the other party 100% at fault, I worked entirely through the other guy's carrier (Donegal) and their first offer was extremely fair - like probably double book value. I'm filing through my carrier this time (Progressive), so not sure if/how that may affect anything. Based on prior dealings with their CS, I'd venture a guess that it won't be as pleasant.
Since the car was actually listed for sale prior to the accident, that's obviously the basis in my mind for where I would value it. I've left up the Craigslist ad with my $7500 asking price in the event I need to defend my stance on what the car is worth.
icaneat50eggs wrote: I read that the stock rx8 rear End is good up to pretty healthy v8 power levels. Does the stock gear ratio work or do you need a r&p swap?
Yea, looks like they're good up to 400-500hp from what I am seeing. I believe they all have the LSD too, correct?
Gearing is definitely on the short side, I think 4.44(?) vs 3.42 in the Camaro. I'd prefer taller gearing, but it would do. Highway cruising should be fine with the stupid tall (.5:1) 6th, but I'd imagine WOT in any of the first three gears would be, uh, interesting .
any aftermarket gears? Best I'm finding is 4.3
I haven't dug that far into it yet, still kind of at the point of researching all the options in rather broad detail. Seems like most of the re-gear kits I'm seeing are for numerically higher ratios, though.
Actually, now that I'm looking at it, it seems 4.30 is stock gearing in the auto trans cars, might be able to snag a diff from one. Which is good because gears look to be several times the price of what they cost in a GM 10 bolt. 4.30 probably isn't completely ridiculous though, 4.10s are a common swap on the Cramit and 4.56s aren't unheard of on the drag strip (granted that's in a car that probably weighs a solid 1/4 ton more in fighting trim.)
As far as RX8 vs. E36, the 8 has a better suspension layout (dual A arms vs. struts up front), bigger brakes, more room for bigger tires, is newer, so should have lower miles and less wear on the interior, and isn't prone to tearing out suspension mounts, subframe mounts, and so on.
For OBDII compliance, the engine shouldn't really care what car it's in, right? Just wire the plug to the ECU and even if the gauges aren't all working it should be ok. That said, for a street car having working gauges, and all the other ancillaries is important.
RX8driver wrote: As far as RX8 vs. E36, the 8 has a better suspension layout (dual A arms vs. struts up front), bigger brakes, more room for bigger tires, is newer, so should have lower miles and less wear on the interior, and isn't prone to tearing out suspension mounts, subframe mounts, and so on. For OBDII compliance, the engine shouldn't really care what car it's in, right? Just wire the plug to the ECU and even if the gauges aren't all working it should be ok. That said, for a street car having working gauges, and all the other ancillaries is important.
The issue with OBDII compliance is that if the CEL is on they're not even going to bother plugging it into the scan tool in PA. As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be an off the shelf solution to get the GM ECU to talk to the RX8's CAN bus and fully control the dash.
I suppose the ghetto workaround would be to simply physically disable the CEL or otherwise wire it direct to the GM ECU. The more "proper" solution would be to buy an arduino and program it to convert the GM ECU signals to speak Mazda CAN BUS. I've done a little bit of messing with programming and embedded electronics for required courses in college, but I'm nowhere near comfortable or confident enough to depend on myself to get this done in anything close to reasonable time period.
Well the results are in, the Cramit is officially totaled and sure enough the initial offer was way low.
Initial offer from Progressive is ~$5200 (inclusive of my deductible, so basically they're valuing the vehicle at $5700) and $1100 to buy it back. I basically told them that number was completely unacceptable and explained I had the vehicle listed for sale at $7500 prior to the accident. I also pointed out the two comps they looked at were both auto tranny cars and the six speed adds significant value.
So basically, I'm now looking for data and advise on how to support my claim. Should I just send them a bunch of ads for 6 speed LS1 Camaros?
yes. Ultimately you guys will come to a mutual agreement, either because A)you've proven that it's value is $X, or B) They'll simply get tired of dealing with you and want to close the claim, haha.
Shoot user klayfish a PM, he helped me out a lot when my Focus SVT got totaled about a year ago. Basically you need to find comps that are as close to your car as you can, and the geographic location of the cars for sale makes a big difference too - they need to be within 100 miles(I think) to be considered.
Why are you responsible for your deductible if the other party is at fault?
cmcgregor wrote: Shoot user klayfish a PM, he helped me out a lot when my Focus SVT got totaled about a year ago. Basically you need to find comps that are as close to your car as you can, and the geographic location of the cars for sale makes a big difference too - they need to be within 100 miles(I think) to be considered. Why are you responsible for your deductible if the other party is at fault?
Will do, thanks!
What they said is I basically have to pay the deductible up front, then once they recover it from the other guy's insurance co. they refund it to me. Not thrilled about that arrangement.
In reply to Furious_E:
Ah. That sucks. You can't just go through his insurance? That's what I've done in the past.
I built a LS 944 turbo and if I had a choice of chassis to choose to swap, I wouldn't choose the 944. The engine bay is just too narrow, which causes all sorts of compromises with the brakes and makes managing the heat very difficult.
The LS fits SO much better in an E36 compared to a 944 its not even funny. Plus you get to use the T56 transmission, which gives you much better ratios and a real over drive.
For both chassis you're spending a bunch of money for special headers, motor mounts etc, so the cost there is a wash. (Texas Performance Concepts for the 944, Vorshlag for the E36)
I put it in an E36 in a heartbeat...
cmcgregor wrote: In reply to Furious_E: Ah. That sucks. You can't just go through his insurance? That's what I've done in the past.
That's what I did when my e36 was totaled (again, other driver 100% at fault.) Would have preferred to do it that way again, but at the time I left the scene in the amberlamps his vehicle was still on its side with the insurance info inside. The Trooper who responded is supposed to have mailed me the info, as well as the citation he received, but I have yet to receive it. Just left him a voicemail actually.
docwyte wrote: I built a LS 944 turbo and if I had a choice of chassis to choose to swap, I wouldn't choose the 944. The engine bay is just too narrow, which causes all sorts of compromises with the brakes and makes managing the heat very difficult. The LS fits SO much better in an E36 compared to a 944 its not even funny. Plus you get to use the T56 transmission, which gives you much better ratios and a real over drive. For both chassis you're spending a bunch of money for special headers, motor mounts etc, so the cost there is a wash. (Texas Performance Concepts for the 944, Vorshlag for the E36) I put it in an E36 in a heartbeat...
Huh, well that's certainly interesting to hear. Do you have a build thread? How's it drive?
I walked past an RX-7 convertible yesterday, red with a black top, and I still think these cars look awesome. The interior seems a bit dated, kind of like a late Fox Mustang, and I don't know what parts support is like at this point. But an LX-7 (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) convertible would be high on my list if I had the motivation/money/etc.
Although I'd rather do an F2T swap. But still.
Whichever you choose once it's done call hagertys for insurance and you will never have a problem with insurance
Furious, it drove pretty well. The gearing was off, it really needed a 6th gear for freeway cruising and there's no way to add it.
On the track it was really fast but I was constantly battling water and oil temps. The guys with these cars at sea level and no A/C didn't have the kind of issues I had.
The brake solutions work but feel weird. I had the hydroboost setup, it wasn't until recently that TPC machined an adapter to use the stock 944 master cylinder with the Ford unit so for years I dealt with poor modulation and brake bias.
Knowing what I know now, for how I intended to use the car, I wouldn't do the swap again. Like I said, the engine bay is really, really narrow. The motor fits in an E36 with TONS of room to spare all around it, you don't have to mess with the brake setup, there's far more frontal area on the E36 for cooling and the "swap kits" are equally as expensive. Plus you can use the T56 with the E36 and get a proper overdrive.
Here's my build thread on the 944, I also have a huge build thread in the 944 Turbo forum on Rennlist. http://944hybrids.forumotion.com/t862-it-begins?highlight=docwyte+it+begins
In reply to docwyte:
A 968 6-speed could be swapped in with some work, but that may not ultimately improve the gearing.
The Audi FWD diesel version of that 5-speed has a better ratio set, but getting one requires shipping from Europe and adapting the guts into the 944 case. Again it may not be worth it in the long run.
The brakes are an issue with the swaps, certainly. Lots of solutions, most aren't terribly good.
A vented hood, oil cooler and other mods can help with thermal management to some extent, but like the Miata, this is an issue when putting a large motor in a tiny space.
All of this said, I agree that the 944 just isn't that great a platform to work with anymore. Its just a bit old now and it is compromised due to the strut based front end and the trailing arm rear among other issues. Fine if you're going Spec944 racing or just putzing around with an inexpensive entry into the Porsche world or even vintage racing, but ultimately? I'd go another route like a Boxster or a Miata as the chassis are better driving to start with and the issues are well documented with solutions.
In reply to Nathan JansenvanDoorn:
How did you get 2.5X their first offer for your Prius? What was your bargaining chip? And did you end up with replacement value or was 2.5X their first offer good enough? I'm curious.
You're not wrong about what they gave me for my M3, however, it had a salvage title when I bought it which was the only way I could afford that caliber of car so I could get on track. It appeared to have been stolen at some point which is probably why the title was for salvage but it was in pretty good shape. Didn't appear to have suffered any kind of crash damage. Hadn't been stripped or anything. Over 200,000 miles. Not a cherry E36 M3 by any means but solid. If it had a clear title I probably would have gotten a little more from the insurance company. I tried to argue that those cars are worth much more and that I couldn't replace it for that but I think Furious_E Dork is experiencing what I did which is that regular insurance companies are not in the business of giving full replacement value for a car if they can help it, especially one that is more than about 5 years old where the market value is more based on the enthusiast market and what people are willing to pay for something a little special. Banks are the same way. None of that matters to them and there charts and tables. You have to seek out the specialty insurer and do one of those agreed upon value policy things to put yourself in that position.
Good luck Furious_E Dork, I hope you prove your case and have better luck than I did. Will be curious to hear how it turns out.
The 968 6 speed unfortunately doesn't change the gearing at all. The 6th speed isn't an overdriven gear, Porsche basically took 6 gears and put them into the same gearing spacing that the old 5 speed had.
Lots of money involved to do a gear guts swap with the diesel stack. Whether its worth it or not depends on the thickness of your wallet.
Yeah, I had all that, hood vents, big radiator, big oil cooler, etc, etc, etc. It wasn't enough, I'd regularly peg my oil temp gauge at 280 and would see water temps close to 250. I ended up adding another, secondary radiator but then sold the car for the M3 before I could get the LS/951 back on track to see what difference it made.
It's really a by product of the environment I'm in as the CMC racers were seeing the same temps as me. It's really freaking hot here in the summer and the air is really thin because of the altitude, so things just don't cool down all that well.
I agree with you on the other parts, the 944 is an old car now, chassis was designed in the '70's. Wiring is old, everything about it is old. If you have a choice of chassis to swap into, picking another chassis is the way to go. I already had the 951 and had put thousands of dollars into it with safety equipment, so I felt married to that chassis.
In reply to SHAKESBEARD:
Thanks man! I'm hoping that by presenting whatever little bit of data in my favor that I can find and generally being a persistent PITA I can at least get SOMETHING more from them. We shall see...
In reply to docwyte:
Thanks for all the info and I'll be sure to check out your build thread. Sounds like it's about time to rule the 944 out.
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