RX-8 Owners Club UK

06:44 Train to Stansted.
10:00 Flight to Edinburgh
11:40 Coach to Glasgow
21:30 Arrive home after driving 400 miles D:

I'll get some better pictures tomorrow, right now I'm going for a long sleep.

Respect

At last you have got an R3 Dan

Not only have you got an R3 but you have only gone and bought the best colour.
Well done.
Loads of piccies and tell us all about it.

Love a decent road trip (or flight) to pick a motor up...welldone sterling effort.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

Excellent and congratulations so apart from it being a really long day, did you enjoy the drive home?

I don't think I've posted this up for you yet (I normally wait until someone has the car), so I'll do it now. Have a good read through whatever in the FAQ section you didn't already read and then (and just ignore me if you know all this already) here are my best tips for keeping it all running sweetly:

1. To start up turn the key to position 2, wait for most of the lights on the dash to go out (I watch the airbag light by the glove box), press the clutch to the floor (optional, but reduces drag), turn the key to start and do not touch the throttle until it has started. You can drive off straight away, just keep the revs down for a bit (see #4 below).

2. Never turn off the engine before it has reached at least somewhere towards normal operating temperature (should only take a minute or two, but best to go for a short drive if just swapping cars round on the drive etc). Switching off cold risks flooding, which is a real with a rotary engine. Mazda recommend rev to 4k and hold it for 8-10 seconds switching off while still revving if you have no option but to switch off cold (it is not necessary to do this in any other circumstance).

3. Check the oil level regularly (use the dipstick - the oil gauge tells you nothing other than that you have or don't have pressure) and top up if necessary with semi synthetic 5w30 (most people and specialists are advising to use 10w40 now though) ... small amounts at a time, no more than ½ a litre then check the level again before adding more as you don't want to overfill it.

4. Use all the revs once the engine is nice and warm (don't sit idling to warm up, start up and drive but keep it below about 4k until the needle on the water temperature gauge is pointing straight up, then give it another 10 minutes for the oil to warm up too before really thrashing it although with the R3 you do have a red line that rises with the coolant temp as indicated by the lights on the rev counter, but I think the advice is still good) and hit the beep often. Best acceleration is from 4k revs up - to pull away you really need to rev to 2k - you can let the revs drop after lifting the clutch if you are in traffic, cruising steadily at 3½k revs and changing down to go up hills or accelerate gets you the best mpg ... which still won't be great.

You don't need my fifth and most important tip as you already joined the club.

Hi

The drive back was pretty straight forward really but its by far the longest drive I have ever done. M74, M6, M61, M62, A1, A17. The car is amazing to drive, I should have got one years ago!

I didn't really feel tired until I got nearer home, I was pretty happy with how the day had gone so I think that saw me through. Slept until the afternoon, went for a drive with the wife and kids, then gave it a wash!

Noticed tonight that the rear number plate lights aren't working, are there any things I can easily do to see if it a loose connection etc? Is there any how-tos? I had the rozzers behind me a couple of times last night, but I guess they have better things to do. I also lost a rear bumper reflector on the way home any idea where I can get one of these from?

Another quirk I found is that it doesn't like to eat CDs, it half eats them and then spits them back out!

I'm going to give RRP a call tomorrow and see if I can book it in for a once over, and there are some bits that need doing. It hasn't ever had its coils and leads done for example.

Thanks to everyone that has given me advice etc so far. Thanks to Dan as well, he pasted me the advert for this car on Wednesday evening, it had been up for less than a day and I was the 4th person to make contact with the seller. If I hadn't have gone to get it yesterday, it would have been gone by next weekend I bet.

Dan

Glad you finally got one mate, and no worries on the help at all. As long as you enjoy it, then it was worth it.

Rear plate bulbs fail and people don't notice, so get a couple little wedge lamp bulbs and see if that fixes it before investigating further.

The CD changers do fail, so that could just be bad luck for you. Some replacements work, although it's worth knowing that there is a 3.5mm jack on the R3 in the arm rest console - get a cheapy Bluetooth jobber from Amazon etc. and that may serve you well. I may have a working CD changer in the barn, but would need to check. The changer can be replaced separately from the main unit. That said, have you tried ejecting discs to see if it's full? Sounds obvious, but I've done it before

Rear bumper reflectors are only clipped on, so it's easy done. Have a chat with your local stealer about a new one, or chat to Luke Murdoch, BigPete or NuttyChappie about it as they may have an R3 bumper with one on a breaker. It is only a legal requirement to have 1, so you won't get pulled etc. but it will obviously look odd and I'd want to get it sorted if it was mine. Can't imagine they are much from a dealer.

Sorry I never PM'ed you back Dan , but glad you got sorted out in the end

Dan123 wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 17, 2019 5:54 pm

Noticed tonight that the rear number plate lights aren't working, are there any things I can easily do to see if it a loose connection etc? Is there any how-tos?
Dan

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=47505

Nickp47 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 16, 2019 10:52 pm

Respect

Welcome to the club properly! Trust me, you won't get bored of it any time soon. It looks an absolute peach but I'd definitely be getting the coils sorted first and foremost if it's never had a change.

Enjoy the happy new car glow - I love it when people have this kind of adventure for their cars, makes the memory all the better. Looking for mine was the adventure over actually getting it, but I won't forget all that time spent bimbling about the country searching for it.

best colour

so how many miles, compression etc ?

id be investing in a set of rrp coils and leads asap. get everything changed and enjoy the back end action during the winter. whats the rubber like?

Dan123 wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 17, 2019 5:54 pm

I also lost a rear bumper reflector on the way home any idea where I can get one of these from?

Another quirk I found is that it doesn't like to eat CDs, it half eats them and then spits them back out!

What Dr Frankenrex said about trying to eject discs - you may have a few copies of Queen's greatest hits already installed!

Which side reflector are you missing? I think I have one lurking though I'll need to check which side it is. They are silly money from the stealers!

Ainmhidh wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:28 am

Dan123 wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 17, 2019 5:54 pm

I also lost a rear bumper reflector on the way home any idea where I can get one of these from?

Another quirk I found is that it doesn't like to eat CDs, it half eats them and then spits them back out!

What Dr Frankenrex said about trying to eject discs - you may have a few copies of Queen's greatest hits already installed!

If they've been in there more than a few days they will all be Queens Greatest Hits by now.

Congrats on the purchase. Smart move getting it over to RRP and having that ignition done.

Instead of messing with the stereo, consider taking it out and putting in a double din unit with bluetooth. I did instructions on here somewhere. But essentially a cheap fascia, a wiring adapter and any cheap double din with built-in bluetooth and you're sorted. No more cables, bluetooth dongles or quaint CDs.

Sorry for not replying.. on top of work I've been absolutely knackered.

After a little bit of fiddling it started to eat the CDs and works fine, was completely empty, so no free Phil Collins or Queen. Never really thought about double din before but they do look smart. I think whilst the stacker works I'll keep it standard inside at least.

74000 miles and no comp test but price reflected that, with me now being the third owner. New avons on the back but I don't think they will last very long. The cat was replaced a couple of weeks ago with a ECP one so I think resonated decat pipe is the way forward. It was looked after how someone would look after a normal car, so no doubt some other bits that need doing. Inside of the car is really good, few stone chips on the bonnet and the alloys need a bit of tlc. Key fob doesn't work either.

I've been trying to not drive it until its been to RRP but I haven't got around to contacting them yet and I CANT HELP BUT DRIVE, ITS SO FUN!

I'm missing the near side reflector and also the front passengers seat belt cover thing. - No idea what they are called, will have to post a pic. Rear lights condensation a bit too.

Nigel - no worries about not replying, it all happened very fast in the end and I would have bought it whatever - unless it was a complete sh*t but I think it drives ok, nice and smooth, feels very rapid, no weird noises etc.

Dan

I'm sure you know, but ECP cats can fail within weeks. I'd be nervous of driving the car any further than an MOT station with that fitted....

I can highly recommend the RB Dual-Res decat pipe along with the Pettit Racing exhaust

Congratulations, looks like a really nice example!

Hi Dan - did you get the reflector sorted? I failed to dig into the box of bits before but I can take a look if you still need one?

I hope you budgeted for the extra £1000+ worth of parts required to give peace of mind, coils, plugs, leads and a proper cat, just for starters
Congratulations, looks very nice
You will have it for years, I did .. by far the most fun car to drive.. Rotaries are truly exceptional .. enjoy

Hi guys

I took my car to Scott @ RRP in December and he did coils, plugs, leads, cat, engine, diff and gearbox oil. It drives a hell of a lot better, although I've been using the other car in the winter weather. The ECP cat had already started to move inside.

I still need a rear reflector.

The next things I wanted to do were;
Alloy wheel refurb - been kerbed a bit, wondering if they would look better in black?
New cat back exhaust system. - Any recommendations? Double checking it has to be able to fit an R3 as they are different to S1?

Dan

Best cat back IMO is the Milltek/Pettit one. I have it on my R3 and it's great. Nice pops and bangs on over-run ( I have a gutted cat) and it doesn't drone on the motorway.

It looks awesome too with 4" tips cut at an angle that perfectly fit the exhaust housing, it's absolutely flush which appeals to my OCD on such matters

Alloy colour is a personal thing but for me with the colour of your car I think a lighter colour would look great. Silver would look lovely as a contrast against the blue

Quick vid of mine doing her thang...

The easy way to gauge what black wheels will look like On a blue R3 is look at V8Power’s which is in the For Sale section.

Another alternative is a shadow chrome finish which I had done to my own car and a blue R3 I was selling at the time;