Zippy's Copper Red Evolve.

[zippyonline]

Hi All,

About time I started a thread on my RX-8.

So after having been to the Essex RX8OC meet prior to buying mine, and spending ages researching everything and many failed attempts at viewing cars, I thought I was getting good at reading the correct adverts and asking all the right questions. After a few months, I decided that if I was going to get one, I was going to try and get a good condition Evolve.
An ebay add caught my eye, it was registered 20 days before the tax band change, looked good initially and a phone call to the seller had vaguely the right answers - he'd owned RX-8's before, ex ford mechanic, just changed the tyres and brake pads and new battery, but no compression test. For some reason I agreed to buy it .

Here's the photos from the advert.


RX-8 ebay_advert by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So a sunny July (2015) morning I roped my Dad into driving me to Wales to collect the car - after which I was off to a friends birthday party in Stamford before I returned home - so this Rex better be what I thought it was .

First impressions, well it looks ok, but I spotted that the tyres were autogrips...apart from one, which was a bald maxis. I could see bits of overspray on the indicator light and under the arch liner. The wheel arches were also just starting to rust (although I was told over the phone no rust). The test drive revealed that the engine felt good - so that was my main headache mostly alleviated. Anyway, we did the documents, and I took the key, and then the seller couldn't find the second key and spent a while looking for it - so I was left with just one key - great! Next stop straight to fill up the near empty tank, which is where I find out the supermarket fuel has been used - I swiftly went off the the Shell garage for some V-Power.

Here I am driving it for the first time.

First proper drive by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

In fairness it didn't miss a beat and I beeped it a fair few times. I also averaged 23mpg on that trip - so that looked promising in terms of the engine behaving. However, over the trip to Stamford (where obviously a few friends at the party all looked over and pointed out all the things I'd spotted earlier!), and then the next day driving back home I discovered the following things.
-The aircon didn't bl00dy work, and it was the hottest day of the year.
-That welsh flag on the windscreen was hiding a stonechip.
-That bald tyre in the wet was scary and I shouldn't have driven away .
-The diff was making noises on tight turns.

to be continued....

[Scartlead]

Welcome to the project thread thingy forum Looking forward to see whats planned for her

[PeteH]

Always good to see a new thread. Looking forward to reading more.

[zippyonline]

Forogot to mention in the first post, she was on 41,800ish miles when I bought her, and had an apparent FSH, with the majority of them being at Mazda...

So, the first thing I really really needed to do was get some new tyres. This is where on closer inspection I find 3 mismatching autogrips and the Maxxis really was foooked.

So it looked like this for a bit. 4 x new Bridgestone Potenza RE05A's ordered, and fitted by a garage round the corner from where I worked, so my trusty 323F did what it did best.

new_tyres by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

In the meantime, I discovered that the ford technician can't even change a battery properly, both terminals were loose. It did look like a new Yuasa battery though, and it only required a couple of extra turns with a spanner to sort that.

Next stop was to then get a compression test to confirm or deny any fears on the engine. A trip to Aston's (Essex Rotary) and great news - the engine has good compression! (high 6's, low 7's, I even got a copy of the datalog to play with numbers on excel to my hearts content ) Crucially though, I had very little difference between rotor faces.


Compression Testing @ Essex Rotary by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So with that, I set about buying all the usual bits and pieces with these R-8's. A set of D585 coils + magencor leads, new sparks, diff oil, gearbox oil, engine oil, oil filter, air filter - these things very quickly add up, especially after you've just bought 4 new tyres

Oil and filter changed straight away - it was fairly ok, if a little black. There was a load mayo on the stick though - I think this car has had a lot of short runs prior to when I got it, and having a deeper look at the "history" file the full mazda service history is actually a full mazda service history for the first 6 or so years, then a couple of random indie's and nothing for the last 2-3 years, but it has only covered about 4k miles in the last 2-3 years. There's a good chance I may be the only person to beep this Rex .


Oil_change by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Before I did the rest of the fluids, I popped down to Rallysport Automotive near me which had a deal on a proper aircon regas, but also as they're also an academy to teach the youth how to spanner on cars, they also do things like free "health check"'s - which meant I could get the car on a 2 post lift to have a look underneath.

Aircon regas fortunately sorted the aircon - I could hear the compressor kicking in beforehand which is why i thought it worked, so all seems well. Underneath the car, it looks a bit rusty like a Rex would - but nothing majorly for concern (phew!). I did however notice a collapsed engine mount (exhaust side) - another thing to add to the list then!

Aircon_regas by Chris Reeves, on Flickr


2 post lift. by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

With those bases sorted, I decided I'd give the old girl a chance and it was time to get the tools out and start giving her some long overdue TLC.

[98of400]

Great write up so far. You did well to take the photos as you went along. Looking forward to seeing more about how you have nursed her back to health. That's such a nice colour.

[zippyonline]

Looking forward to seeing more about how you have nursed her back to health. That's such a nice colour.

Cheers Johnny, I was on the verge of the 40th Anniversary, but I they were out of my price bracket at the time, and the colour of this plus the tax band swayed me on this...

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So on with the 'simple' maintenance/servicing stuff. I was hoping it would be a case of compression test - ok, then do oils / filters, coils and spark plugs - simples, take a day over it if I want to be good and clean everything nicely plus have a poke about.

Hmm, lovely, lots of oil in the intake, a snapped bolt on the jubilee clip, and a snapped plastic locatey thingy.


airbox by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So cleaned out the accordian tube, the airbox (took the right apart - flexi screwdriver end bit was very handy!), cleaned the MAF etc.


Cleaning by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Airbox fixed with aradlite and a cable tie.


Airbox_fix by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Then out with the coils. They were alright actually, seemed like the original at a guess, revision A it looked like, and white spots just starting to show. I took the coil bracket off so I could clean that up.

original_coils by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So we were left with an engine bay that looks like this... and as you can see I had an oil catch can as I didn't like the oil in the intake and was just trialling a few positions for it to go - that can wait for now. Now, since we're here, we might as well take the battery out and just check the condition of the crossmember.

Engine_bay by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Oh wait, what do we have here - only 2 bolts holding the battery box down.


Battery box - missing a bit! by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Now, it wasn't a simple case of just unbolting the two remaining bolts - oh no, that bolt closest to the secondary air pump did not want to come undone, it was in there very solidly. So off popped the cover for the PCM, and the "WTF is this" thought came in as I saw the thatcham cage. A bit of research later and I resigned myself to having to drill the bugger out - carefully. Eventually I got it out (magnets and rags to keep swarf under control) and then managed to finally get the battery tray out.


battery_box by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

In the end, that final bolt got drilled out.


Bolt removal by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Oh, and I needed a new crossmember - it was not healthy. I guess the previous owner changed the battery coz it was leaking


crossmember by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Thanks for reading, I shall continue the saga.

[zippyonline]

So progress somewhat slowed from this point - many reasons including I just hadn't set aside the time to fix rotten crossmembers and had other things going on at the time. Also, tinkering on the car is at the mercy of the weather - and you have to be careful when you have exposed electrical connectors - so spend time taping them all up etc. Anyway, progress did still happen - just had to resign myself to not having a rx-8 to drive...

First up, battery brackets, nuts, bolts, coil brackets etc. all got de-rusted using a combination of flappy wheels and some Bilt Hamber Deox-C.


De_rust by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

These then got a coating of either some electrox zinc primer or some VHT paint for the coil bracket. Maybe a colour coat too if feeling generous


Painting_brackets by Chris Reeves, on Flickr


Painted by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So onto the crossmember. I couldn't weld at the time (nor did I own a welder), and drilling out spot welds etc. was all new to me. I got some practice on the good condition crossmember from BigPete who cut one out of a breaker car.
Inside my engine bay, I drained the cooling system, got the coolant pipes and expansion tank out of the way and carefully set about drilling out the crossmember.


Crossmembers by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

With that out, I treated the bottom half of the crossmember to some Bilth Hamber Hydrate 80 rust converter, then prepped the metal for welding. I roped a friend from work in to weld the replacement crossmember in providing I did all the prep - I then zinc primed it all, top coat and then filled the insides with BH Dynax S-50 anti corrosion cavity wax. Hopefully that's that bit sorted then.


Welding services by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

It was late October by this point (although I had done a few other things which I'll mention in the next post).

[Keke]

looking great,
might have to start one soon,i have owned it two years
I wonder how many owners like us bought a slightly ropey rex and brought it right backup to what it should be?
got to love the auto grips!

[zippyonline]

I wonder how many owners like us bought a slightly ropey rex and brought it right backup to what it should be?

I do wonder too actually. . It's always amazing what you find out when you start digging (even in say your own car that the family have had since new - so it's loads more if it's a car you haven't had for it's lifetime!).

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Onto the engine mounts (bear in mind that this was happening at the same time as other bits - but jumping between different bits in pure chronological order would just get confusing! )

I spotted this when it was on the 4 post lift, and it also explained why I struggled to get 3rd gear sometimes - however being the smooth engine the rotary is, you don't notice massive vibes, so if you're new to rotaries you wouldn't notice it straight off - that was my excuse anyways. After much penetrating spray, breaker bars, extension bars + universal joints and effort, after far too long (but not quite a full day!) I managed to get the engine mounts out. Temporary support was provided by blocks of wood!


extracting-engine_mounts by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So next up, I was following a certain spin doctors car thread who mentioned completely removing the innards and filling with polyurethane. So I split the engine mount, drained the oil, and attached the mount with a drill! Cleaned the mounts up, rust neutralised and then a top coat of hammerite, and filled with Shore60A polyurethane.


engine-mounts-refurb by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

As the previous bolts were toast - and they don't appear to be an off the shelf bolt (although I now know more suppliers, so might be able to get them more readily now...!) I ordered some genuine mazda replacement nuts and bolts - these had to come from Japan!


Mazda OE bolts! by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

I fitted them with lots of copper grease, and sprayed over with ACF50 to try and prevent the corrosion.

Well...that didn't work. Initially there was an improvement, but the engine was still sitting low. The the mounts settled and the whole polyurethane section settled and slid down within the mount - not enough friction for the pure polyurethane filling to work. Use the usual method of drilling the holes through the plastic and don't remove it - you also use less chemicals then.

Now, mazda mounts cost a lot, and so do aftermarket ones - which I didn't really want at the time. All I wanted was a set of engine mounts, used or otherwise for me to refurb again, or replace with some good ones. After contacting loads of breakers, everyone was sending them to Project RX8 to get refurbed, and project RX8 only wanted to sell me there refurbed ones.....eventually Nutty came good and I got a set from a low mileage PZ that were good. I cleaned these up and just straight swapped them - which was super easy given the fresh nuts and bolts + copper slip.
Here's a photo of my refurbed ones and the replacement PZ ones. You can sort of see the difference here.


Refurb vs second hand by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

And here they are in place. You can see I've also made a start of cleaning up the chassis and subframe + neutralising with BH hydrate 80, it's starting to look a bit better.


Replacement Mounts by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

[zippyonline]

So eventually we get back round to the position where we can install the D585 Coils, Magnecor leads and new spark plugs! Now I didn't like how the fitting kit forces itself hard on the bit of loom that runs past this, so using some threaded spacers, I raised the whole coil pack up. This worked well for both not wedging against a loom, but also gives me some marginal airflow to remove heat from the coils, or air gap "insualtion" against ambient engine heat - not very scientific but I can't see any harm in it. You may have also noticed that I included some extra insulation on the earth harness and leads after I read about someones chaffing causing some issues - oh and since the coolant was drained anyway, I went ahead and undid the lifting eye on the front of the engine to further reduce the chance of chaffing.


D585 coils by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

The original sparks from the engine, they looked ok, if a little rusty and one of them was a bit fouled. However they were the correct sort, and in fact preferential if it's been doing short runs - which I'll also put down to why one of the lugs is fouled if the engine has been pretty rich doing the 1 mile journey the previous owner did . You can also see the leads have plenty of slack down to the sparks and nothing is straining.


Old Sparks by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

[PeteH]

Quick question. I guess the number 1 harness and earth lead for the coils isn't as close to the engine pulleys as it looks in the photo?

[zippyonline]

That's not it's actual final resting position, it's completely loose at the time of that photos! It looked more like this when done. With those star washer things for better earth contact.

[MadTaz]

Good write up so far Chris! keep it coming mate!

Nice to see an Rx8 being bought back to how it should be!

[zippyonline]

Nice to see an Rx8 being bought back to how it should be!

Cheers Carl, means a lot from you

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So onwards with what I hoped was the last little bits and pieces before I took the Rex back on the road.

First up, having cleaned out the airbox, MAF etc from the obvious previous oil burp. I then finished off by replacing the tired sponge by the intake tip with some neoprene I had from some other random project, and fitted an official mazda air filter!


airbox_details by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Some new FL22 coolant was purchased from deepest darkest Germany. I then tried to use one of these airline powered suction bleedy colant thingies - which should also have pressure tested the system....I couldn't get it to work. I was infact then a bit confused and wondered if the cooling system was ok - everything suggested it was, but testing the fancy tool in a small bottle revealed the tool was faulty and I sent it back. So the system was bled the old skool way, which went fine, probably aided by having the front raised.


FL22 by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Then standard gearbox oil change (castrol syntrans GL-4 stuff) and some motul 9PA diff oil changed. Gearbox oil seemed ok, diff oil looked old! That did in fact cure the noise from the diff, nice when it's the simple things! A couple of other little snagging things happened, for example the strut brace bolt sheared, so got a replacement one of them from one of the Pete's, I also managed to lose a centre cap for a wheel on a drive - little things like that, but all sorted.
So, hooray - kindof.

I'd been reading on the forum, as you do, and decided I really ought to check the oil lines. I new they were rusty from when working in the engine bay via the bonnet, but tbh had been burying my head in the sand a bit.

So I pulled back the splash gaurd / arch liner, to er reveal these lovely specimens. Which judging by the fact they're black, are the mazda recalled items.


oil_cooler_pipes by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Yeah, I wasn't happy driving it around like that. The MOT date was looming, so I did a bodge fix and covered the joint in self amalgamating tape and took it off for it's MOT! She passed with one advisory which was "engine covers fitted" - so clearly some of my work had been paying off - even if it was just the stuff like tyres with tread!


oil_cooler_pipes-bodge by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So chronologically we take a brief pause here as my trusty Mazda 323F (parents car first, and my first car) had failed her MOT and needed some not insignificant welding done to the sills....and I needed to buy a welder and learn to weld first! . (If you're interested in that story - that's here).

353 (19-12-2015) by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

In the next instalment, you can read about me getting a bit carried away with what started as just changing some oil lines turned into a bit more of a restoration project!

Thanks for reading

[722Adam]

Nice write up! I wonder if there are any more LSCC (+ Engineering) Alumni knocking around amongst the RX8OC

Need to start a thread on my car one day, might wait until I have more content first though.

[casey]

I enjoyed reading that Chris - some good work there

You may have also noticed that I included some extra insulation on the earth harness and leads after I read about someones chaffing causing some issues - oh and since the coolant was drained anyway, I went ahead and undid the lifting eye on the front of the engine to further reduce the chance of chaffing.

[GreySilver Beast]

Nice car Zippy and well done so far

[zippyonline]

I wonder if there are any more LSCC (+ Engineering) Alumni knocking around amongst the RX8OC

Ha ha, Busted mr Mealand! I didn't know you were on here - I thought you were rocking a Volvo! Still riding much? Next event I've got on is BearBones 200 in October..I think I might struggle to better my 3rd place from last year

I enjoyed reading that Chris - some good work there

You may have also noticed that I included some extra insulation on the earth harness and leads after I read about someones chaffing causing some issues - oh and since the coolant was drained anyway, I went ahead and undid the lifting eye on the front of the engine to further reduce the chance of chaffing.

Cheers Malcolm - yours was one of a few peoples bits of "R&D" that prompted me to take a few extra measures - thanks for sharing! It's all the little details that make the difference (and take the time)

Nice car Zippy and well done so far

Cheers Nigel, there's lots more to come in the next few "instalments", and it's forever ongoing anyway

[722Adam]

Ha ha, Busted mr Mealand! I didn't know you were on here - I thought you were rocking a Volvo! Still riding much? Next event I've got on is BearBones 200 in October..I think I might struggle to better my 3rd place from last year

Only been on here since January so still relatively new. My 8 is a fast road/track project, so I still have the Volvo as well for everyday duties.

I try to get out on the bike when I can, but I don't have as much time for it these days. Good luck at BareBones!

[Scartlead]

Any further updates Zippy? Enjoying the progress so far

[zippyonline]

Yes, lots more updates to come. Erm, there's a lot of photos to sort through, and the next bit I did a fair bit - but lots concurrently, so need to do a bit of organisation to make it postable. And I've been doing other things too, including picking up more Rex bits

So, er yes, all in good time

[zippyonline]

So first up, I had a bit of time off, and thought I would tackle the oil lines. Jacked the car up, took off the front bumper and started taking off the plastics etc. Hmm, this all looks a bit crumbly Standard RX-8 then.


00-Dissembly1 by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So once I got that far, I thought it was time to spend a few days on it, and got a gazebo in an attempt to be able to work in a greater variety of weather conditions....


01-gazebo by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Banjo's were a bit of a big to crack off, but a pry bar on the crashbar holding the cooler in place did the trick.


02-cracking_banjos by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

And to be honest, without too much trouble the N/S oil line (the normally problematic one) came out without too many dramas.


03-n-s-line by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

The rest of the lines were a different story. Battery, battery box, airbox, upper inlet manifold, aircon pump were all removed - the most difficult bit being trying to disconnect the last blinking electrical connector on the upper intake manifold - even with small hands it was just really inaccessible. Got it off in the end - and had a plan for that later!
The the "quick connect" oil pipes aren't quick disconnect, and they really need some kind of disconnection to get them out. Just before I was about to resort to some cutting tools, I managed to disconnect the convulated line that goes to the back of the engine, then through removing the O/S oil rad and connector bracket, I was able to worm the pipework out. Phew! (that ended up being a days work..although in my defence I started late, was taking my time and cleaning stuff on the way!).


04-oil_lines by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

So here she stood in her "work area".


05-work_area by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Next - since I had quite a bit of the engine auxilaries out - we had a "whilst I'm there" moment.
So we started stripping out the PCM, crash bar, other oil cooler rad, headlights, bonnet release catch, and anything else within spanner distance. That bit of wood holding the bonnet open is because the proper bonnet prop opens the bonnet a bit too wide that it hits the top of the gazebo.


06-dissembly2 by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

I even took the sill protector bits off, and all the arch liners etc. Looks good under there, although a tiny bit of rust on the end of the N/S rear arch.


07-sills by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

And a bit more on the O/S rear wheel arch - which I was aware of when I got it, but it had got worse since I'd had it. Lucky I'd learnt to weld really...!


08-cursty_arch by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Anyway, all the undertray plastics, arch liners, sill protectors etc. etc. etc. were scrubbed up to within an inch of their life and put on the washing line.


09-undertray_plastics by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

And due to lack of space, everything was hidden away in a pop up tent!


10-parts_home by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Until next time - where you might find out how I tackle some of these issues!

[MadTaz]

Some more progess mate, it always looks worse before it gets better! Shame about the rust mate but you'll get there.

That's going to be one lovely Rx8 when your done!

Not sure about storing stuff in a tent though buddy isn't that just trapping moisture in?

[zippyonline]

Not sure about storing stuff in a tent though buddy isn't that just trapping moisture in?

Not ideal I agree, but the critical stuff with electrics etc. actually went indoors / inside the Rex. It was just plastics and wheels in there. It was also summer, so not really 'condensationy', and I figured it was better than the alternative which was just leaving it outside

[Scartlead]

Are you replacing all the oil coolers lines? Interesting to see your progress as I will have to change mine at some point having bought the racing beat ones off here, , I'm a diy novice but hey ho Looking to find a noob guide to doing it. Its much easier to do with the engine out, but my skills defo wont stretch that far. Love the progress, keep those pics comin