RX-8 Owners Club UK

Hi there.

I've been wanting to buy a new car for a while, something sporty whilst I'm still 'young', but never really set my sights on a particular model. Then a friend suggested an RX8 and I've been on the lookout for a few weeks now.

I've done quite a bit reading on the costs of maintaining and running an 8 and for the small amount of miles I'll be doing a year should be good bang for the buck.

I've decided on an R3 as I think they still look great for a 10 year old car.

Having read the buyers guide here, I think I'm glued up on what to look for when searching and hopefully eventually buying one, but are there any other tips anyone could give? Apart from the usual places, is there anywhere else I should keep an eye on for an R3 to pop up?

I'm not in a rush to buy one so don't mind waiting for the right one to come along. Although I have noticed most on sale online are either down south or in Scotland!

Cheers
Adam

Hi and Adam. Well done on doing the reading first ... the buyers guide gives you pretty much everything you'll need to know when you're looking at cars. I have some tips intended to help keep it running sweetly once you get one, but nothing more on what to look for when you are on the hunt. I will just say there are less R3s about so don't completely rule out a well looked after series 1 if the R3 for you doesn't materialise.

Hi Adam, welcome along. when looking for a car,try ,within reason,not to let the distance put you off. you will probably only do this once,so get it right first time,also corrosion has become more of a check over the last couple of years,and is not confined to just the s1 any more.good luck,rob.

Hi and to the forum Adam.. please do read everything you can about these cars and good luck with your search, the R3 is worth the effort.. but then I could be biased

Hi Adam & to the RX-8OC


Please check out the EVENTS SECTION's for anything coming up soon in your area

Events Team

Welcome Adam!

I'm still looking!

I messaged one guy about his for sale, and he said the compression test results were front 6.4 and rear 7.2, done by a specialist. Is it concerning that there is a large difference between front and rear?

That big of a difference if memory serves me right isn't going to be killer. I could be wrong here, but I think you want the chambers to ideally be within 1.0 if each other or that could be each apex seal. Ask which specialist did the compression test for the sake of it as well as ask for the none averaged compression aka there should be three numbers for the front and three numbers for the rear rotor.

I'm viewing an R3 in Birmingham tomorrow.

A bit of a cheeky request, but is any member close by available to check out the car with me?

I've read a lot about what to look out for when buying one but I think having an owner's opinion is invaluable.

Thank you very much!
Adam

Not that cheeky a request and many owners are up for this, at least in principle.

"Tomorrow" might be a bit of a stretch due to the late notice.

Try looking here, here and here for members that might be close enough and then try a couple of PM's

Have you 'found' one Adam?

Adam,where in Nottingham are you

John, hopefully!

SeeJay, I live in Arnold.

I saw it today and basically checked everything the buyers good told me to.

It started hot and cold. At idle when it was warm, the revs were very stable but I felt a few vibrations through the chair every now and again. I'm not sure if it was me looking out for it. The guy said he thinks it could be the transmission? It revved out nicely.

The only other worry was that the front right tyre loses pressure really slowly over a period of a week, despite them being new tyres. He said he had the same issue with a different tyre and the issue was actually the new tyre not being fitted to the rim properly. I don't know if this is actually possible?

Apart from that, it just needs a compression test. I want to buy it asap but need to find somewhere to get it compression tested. I made some calls and I think tomorrow is out of the equation. The owner is free Monday to get it tested, I just need to make some more calls Monday morning to see if anywhere can do it there and then (probably a slim chance! )

Adam,I'm just over in Gedling,mate

RX8's tend to have a bit of a 'lumpy' idle,which is what you were most likely experiencing.

Check the rim itself with the tyre that keeps going down - look for any signs of an impact having been hammered out,both outside and inside the rim.

If the owner is willing to bring the car to somewhere to have it comp tested,then Nick Black - 13Black on here - may be able to do it.He's based in Wymeswold.

Oh nice mate! Hopefully I will pop round if I get it just to see another 8 up close (today was the first one I'd test drove).

Thanks for the info. I didn't check the inside of the rim, but the outside looked alright apart from the usual wear.

I've pm'd him, cheers!

Test results... I noticed the crank speeds are higher than they should be. HME said it was a healthy engine and that it needs new spark plugs which would improve the results. Do you think it is worth going for?

https://imageshack.us/i/pos8sL70j

The crank speeds would be "as measured" which is fine for the raw data.

You need to either run those numbers through an app to "normalise to 250rpm" or just check against the graph in the compression thread in the forum FAQ

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

If all else fails Adam, my one is still available in the for sale section

Normalising the results at 250rpm it comes out at low 5s front and mid 5s rear which isn't great. But the seller has said because HME Rotary used a digital reading to get the direct PSI readings, you need to adjust the numbers to get the maximum PSI readings. In his adjusted results, the results come out with 6s and 7s.

Does anyone know what he could be on about? To be fair the HME said the engine is healthy and new spark plugs would improve the results. How much would this improve results by?

Ray - unfortunately I'm looking for more of a stock one. I think my insurance would also be really high with yours!

Do you have the actual figures, if so post them up

Results normalised using http://foxed.ca/index.php?page=rotarycalc @ 250RPM 99m/324Ft elevation:

Front:

7.25
7.18
7.39

Rear:

6.08
6.08
6.08

Thats a fair difference in front/rear rotors. It might be outside of the safe amount because off the top of my head I can't remember the exact figure you want your chambers to be within. Unless I've done something wrong but those figures seem pretty right to me.

Edit: Ignore these results they're incorrect Petes on the next page are much more accurate!

Having problems attaching the pic, but a link to imageshack is a few posts above.

Sorry, had missed your earlier post with results

Adam41 wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 23, 2019 2:31 pm

To be fair the HME said the engine is healthy and new spark plugs would improve the results. How much would this improve results by?

Humm....

Maybe someone more educated can comment on this, I cannot think of any sensible reason why new spark plugs would improve compression!