Newish 231 Owner

[chickenwing]

In August 2019 I made a cheeky offer on a 2003 brilliant black 231 on eBay, based on the owners word that it had no hot or cold starting issues nor was rusty. The car had just passed an MOT, done about 50,000 miles and was well specced with black leather interior, satnav and what I believe is the appearance pack, so I thought I would take a punt. I have never owned a rotary before but have loved them since seeing my first FD RX7 as a child and always planned to own at least one at some point. I have reasonable mechanical skills and work in engineering, so rebuilding the engine myself when it inevitably needs doing is only slightly scary.

I went to pick the car up, gave it a test drive and got it up to temperature, made sure it would start again whilst hot, then handed over the money. It was on the drive home from Dorset to Surrey that I had a couple of issues. First was the drivers side wheel arch liner detaching on a dual carriageway and scraping along the road. I pulled over as soon as possible and fully removed it, not a major problem just annoying.

It wasn't until I was pretty much home and onto B roads that the next issue cropped up; I started hearing a scraping when turning. This one worryingly turned out to be the front left brake calliper which had fully disconnected from the carrier and was rubbing on the inside of the wheel. The previous owner told me he had changed the front brakes himself before the MOT, but it seems he did not hold the slide pins still when tightening the calliper bolts. The calliper on the drivers side had shaken loose one of its bolts on the journey too. Luckily I found a set of Honda bolts which happened to fit, so the callipers went straight back on.

I fitted a de-cat and started premixing the fuel and drove the car for the next month.

Then another issue happened in a Tesco carpark, I couldn't get the car to start. I vaguely remembered hearing about holding the accelerator fully down to de-flood the engine and after attempting this I managed to start the car but it was misfiring badly. I limped it the short distance home and diagnosed the coils as bad. Ordered and fitted 4 new coils and it was back to running normally for little while. At this point my confidence in the car wasn't great, the problems I had experienced combined with me never being happy with the handling made me decide to SORN the car and put it in my garage to give it a full going over that winter.

...but I've only just got around to it.

The car has been sat in the back of my garage for over 2 years barely looked at. I've booked an MOT for this Friday and over the past week have been getting it ready to go back on the road. Catalytic converter back on. Oil and filter changes, including gearbox and differential. Repaired the headlight washer feed. Replaced the damaged arch liner and secured all the undertray properly. Replaced a cracked indicator lens, removed some crusty window tints.

There is still loads more to do and the underside is more rusty than before because I didn't have a dehumidifier in the garage until about 6 months ago, but hopefully it will still get a pass. While its on the MOT ramp I'm hoping to get a look myself and work out a plan of what to replace first. Then I intend to do more of a rolling restoration, pulling parts off replacing bushes etc and treating the rust gradually. It will get a decent set of tires and a proper 4-wheel alignment so that hopefully my only concerns will be with the engine dying.

I'd love to hear if the car is known on the forum. It has had 4 previous owners but seems pretty unmolested, everything on the car is standard. I'm unsure of the original plate, but at some point the plate K155 RXB has been put on the car.

[79398]

Everything you have said about the car will be very familiar to almost everyone on here in some way or other.
Well done for sticking with it, many don't, which us why they are always a shot in the dark to buy.
Oh, if I knew then what I know now, to be honest wouldn't change a thing, good luck with it

[GreySilver Beast]

Hi & to the RX-8OC

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

Events Team

[Shagrington]

Hi and chickenwing. That sounds like an unfortunate tale, but well done for wheeling it back out and looking to get it all sorted and running again.

I don't see that number plate on the list of members' plates (but not everybody has added theirs).

about events. There is a monthly Surrey and surrounding areas meet at The Fairmile in Cobham you would be very welcome at if you fancy a chat and something to eat with a few friendly members - you don't have to have to come in the RX-8. Probably a bit too short notice, but if you can get there we will be there this evening from about 7pm on.
Details here https://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum/v ... 99&t=59273

[Calcifur83]

Welcome aboard. You will find everything you need to know here, and probably a few things you don't need to know! Loads of helpful folk so you're in the right place.

Good to hear another RX8 is getting some TLC.

[ChrisHolmes]

Thar plate which says "KISS" is probably quite valuable to someone.

[chickenwing]

Thought I should post an update. I completed a few more small jobs on the car and it passed it's MOT without any advisories.
I think the tester was a bit generous to be honest. I was chatting to him and he agreed I need to sort the rust as soon as possible, but there was nothing to fail it on yet.

I've got some Vactan rust convertor and Jotun Jotamastic ready to start removing and treating everything. I'm not looking forward to wire brushing and treating the underside of the car just on axle stands, but I will try not to put it off for 2 years again. Luckily all the removeable bits I can hopefully sandblast, paint and fit new bushes etc at work.

I've paid my membership, so am looking forward to having a look through the members area and gaining some more knowledge. There's definitely some bits already I want to improve on the car and I'm sure I will find more things I want to change now that I can drive it again.

[Ainmhidh]

Welcome to the club Chickenwing, and thanks for joining as a full member. Stick some photos up if you want to hear some virtual teeth-sucking and collective commiseration about the various rusty bits!

[casey]

to the club, chickenwing