The First Project Car…

[ebarratt]

Not done much to it recently, but did find electronic seat buttons online which I 3D printed and they fit perfectly! Unfortunately the forward-back electrics don’t work, so I can only really change the angle.

Did also get a fine down my road because I stupidly forgot to change my registration on the parking permit website. Hopefully they’ll accept my appeal!

Going to be saving up money for some larger tasks next, and I want to get some new trim clips as some are missing and others are very brittle.

Oh, and anyone know about the different seat configurations you could have? For some reason the drivers side seat, which is the only electric one, is black leather rather than black and red. Didn’t know if that was a quirk of this car or a standard thing.

[350matt]

no thats not standard, someone has swopped in a black seat at some point as the original would have been red and black to match the rest

[ebarratt]

Took it for a relatively long drive last night as I haven’t been able to recently. Good news is that the death wobble at ~70 appears to be fixed with the new calipers and pads, bad news is that I now get a braking wobble. First port of call for me will be to look at the disks and see if they’re warped at all, which wouldn’t surprise me if it was running on seized calipers. Next will probably be getting the car balanced again.

[ebarratt]

Brake discs are definitely warped which is a shame. Will have to get some new ones!

While i'm on the subject, what discs do you guys use? I've heard a lot of praise about EBC brakes in the forum.

I aim to *eventually* take it to a few track days but that won't be a while yet. I need an all-rounder good set for casual driving and maybe the occasional track day here and there. Unfortunately I am not made of money nor have a tree where it falls from so some relatively good, affordable discs would be ideal.

[warpc0il]

Avoid drilled discs as they just encourage cracking.

Slotted or J-groove are popular, if you want to look "upgraded" otherwise oem or plain discs like Pagid are fine.


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[ebarratt]

Thought i’d get some of the “cheaper” things done today. Replaced the windscreen wipers and decided to check the cabin air filter, definitely should’ve done that sooner as who knows what was living in there!! New one has been ordered, and i’m very surprised that old one didn’t smell.

[casey]

I can recommend MTEC disks. Good on the road and have survived quite a few trackdays too on the front of my car . Very reasonably priced. I recommend the grooved only. Avoid drilled disks, nothing but trouble with cracking.

https://www.mtecbrakes.com/brake-discs/ ... 7-03-12-10

[ebarratt]

Well, some good and bad news today unfortunately.

Trying to get insured for a good price on this car with only a couple of years driving experience wasn’t easy, and coupled with many phone calls to insurance raising my prices due to my private plate and change in location, I cannot currently justify insuring the car. At £170 per month (was £115 before the changes) it just seems to extreme.

However, hope is not lost and I will NOT be selling the car!
The current plan is to drive it to a relative of mine (150 miles away) and get it SORNed for about five months. This gives me time to save up some money and move into my next house, which will hopefully have a driveway rather than needing to pay the £150 permit for street parking. My insurance should then reduce due to the parking, location, and additional year of no claims, to be able to tax it again (hopefully before Brooklands and Classic Japfest).

This will also give me some time and extra money to do work on the car that is needed from alloys to painting to brakes. With a driveway it means I can actually work on the car when i’m nearby.

So overall it is sad news as I love driving the rx-8, but it’s for the best and will give me the opportunity to get the car to the standard I want it.

[warpc0il]

Do you have a partner you could add to the insurance?

It's a bizarre fact that adding another driver, especially one with a potential low risk factor, can lower the premium.

It's also perfectly legal, as long as the insurance is in your name, as the primary driver.
It would be illegal for them to take out a policy in their name, and add you as a named driver, when you're the primary driver.

[ebarratt]

I’ve tried that unfortunately and it doesn’t seem to lower the price enough. My partner only has a couple of years no claims like me. I can add a parent too but only reduces it by £20 per month, which still makes it £150 per month.

I think considering my circumstances and how work does need doing it’s better to SORN the car for a few months and then look at it again in the future when I fix some much needed things.

[ebarratt]

Checked my quotes again, and tried with a variety of names drivers and most seem to increase rather than decrease my insurance. Tried it with a parent, who has had no claims, and over 30 years driving experience, and this increased the insurance to £220 per month. The best reduction has been by £20, which still isn’t really viable. Just doesn’t seem to make sense.

[ebarratt]

Well it got transported to a driveway to get sorned today, loaded with goodies so that I can work on the car when I visit.

Was a shame that it had to go but it means I can spend the 6 months getting the car looking how I want it to! It left with a boot full of spacers from Phil, and a bunch of goodies from Essex Rotary.

It’ll be back soon enough hopefully in a better condition than it left! The guy who transported it loved the car and said he used to have one about 20 years ago.

[DrewR3]

That is a shame on the insurance. I am still happy with Admiral, I just added my AutoeExe intake, R magic spoiler, Wheel colour change, headunit interior change and they charged a whole £15 extra this time of mods around until March next year. Puts me at £32 for the year extra for all Mods declared.

[ebarratt]

I do still think Admiral is the way to go when I get the car back. By far the cheapest quote and when I made a change previously it didn’t up the price by much. Will just have to wait and see when I move into a new place; an added year of no claims and hopefully a driveway should knock the price down a bit.

[ebarratt]

While it’s been SORNed i’ve been slowly getting all the bits I need to make get the car running nicely (and safely). Mtec brake discs, some nice lights which were definitely a necessity (when they arrive) , and some much needed new tyres. The list does keep extending which I can’t be too unhappy about, i’d rather it was sorted now than later. I’m hoping to get this all fitted during the week i’m home in August, so I can hopefully get it back for September!

While i’m updating this post, are their any methods people use to keep the car happy while it’s sat? At the moment we’ve been giving it a roll on the drive and idling it for quite a while before giving it a bit of a rev when it gets up to temperature. Haven’t bothered to unplug the battery or anything like that as it’s pretty old as is, and could do with a replacement at some point anyway.

[warpc0il]

Don't run the engine, unless you're driving it somewhere, and definitely don't let it sit there idling.

The fuel mix is very rich from cold, the oil pressure is low at idle, and idle at no load takes a long time to build temperature.
Also the temperature is very localised at idle, not distributed at it would be while driving, so in all ways this is bad news.

You will create condensation in the oil and exhaust, and damage the bearings. More bearing wear is caused in the first few minutes from a cold start than 1000's of miles of driving.

Connected a battery conditioner, if you have access to mains power, or otherwise a solar charger, via the ODB port as the lighter socket isn't connected with the ignition off.

[350matt]

another tip for storage is to pump the tyres up to 40 psi and roll the car occasionally as you're doing

[ebarratt]

Thank you for the tips. It’s only been started up a couple times but we’ll stop doing that. Not too bothered about the tyres as they’re currently 12 years old and are going to be replaced soon but it’s good to know when I get the new ones on!
This car always surprises me with how different it is to most other vehicles out there. When I had my old car stored for a few weeks it was recommended I run it for about 15 minutes! Different engine, different process!!

[Ouzify]

Had the chance to head back to work on the car for once.
Ouzifys lights arrived just in time and I was able to get them (mostly) fitted. A few teething issues but that was pretty much all my fault resulting in a blown fuse.

Also had the chance to fit my new MTEC brake discs and have a look at the spacers too, not sure how I feel about those but will let the suspension settle and see what it looks like soon.