jimisbell

I have been looking for two years now for an RX8. To begin with I was looking for one with some warranty left, but that doesnt exist now. The 2008 or later seemed like the best choice but then I became enamored by the Shinka and found everyone with a 2005 thought they had a Shinka except that only 1300 of them were imported and often the offered "Shinka" was NOT Black Cherry. Then after much research I wondered if the Shinka really was anything special anyway. Is it?

So now, with much research that is actually making me less sure of my choices and no warrantied cars left, I am back to square one. Still have money burning a hole in my pocket and a burning love of the design. I think the pre 2009 body design is better to my eyes.

I have since found that there is an engine rebuilder down here in South Texas that seems to have reasonable prices for engines and swaps, so I am no longer restricting my search to low mileage cars.

OK, so anyone have any suggestions? Is a later engine swap into an earlier body frowned on? I am looking for a good looking driver.

Roytary

If you're thinking about a swap already don't pay too much for a mint rx8, get one with great condition bodywise, working electrical, great shape interior and swap a REW or 20b in it depending on your goals or taste. you'll save lots of money. If the Renesis engine has enough power for you get a good running one, if not, swap is mostly your only bet. Renesis are pretty amazing powerwise for a NA motor, they can be bridgeported for ''medium'' power gains,but they're not engineered at all to be turbo'd at all, way too much compression and thin rotors ''lightweight'' for turbo applications.
Mine have a 13b Rew swap in it with aftermarket Ecu, I did my wiring the right way so my oem clusters works as a oem one, and everything was rock solid and reliable until i went ape sh** and went over the 400whp bar, then drivetrain had to be modified to handle it, Drive shaft, axle grears, Axles. Oem ones just wouldn't handle it. The car was on a 365whp setup for 1yr 1/2 without any issues but over 400 things got wrong lol.

jimisbell

Yes.....
The reason I was looking at swaping was just that, the dead engined ones are cheap and there is a shop about 100 miles from here that specialises in swaps and overhauls for around $2500. I was wondering if an upgrade into the bargain would be frowned upon by the purists.

diabolical1

what difference does it make what purists think? it's your car. i will assume you're not doing the work yourself since you've already gone through the trouble of locating a shop already.

if you want it to be Renesis, there are many places/people that can get an ailing car back to health. if that's what you want. if you want to go with an older turbo block, it's the same. there are many people/places that can get that done for you, too. if you want to with something non-rotary, well, you can find places that do that, too.

the premise you're using is the right one. get a cheap car that's structurally and electrically sound, then do what you want with it. just do your homework on whatever shop you choose. i've seen plenty of nightmares.

jimisbell

Well, being a collector myself I am sensitive to what the purists think.

I have a 1970 2+2 E Type that I have been planning on turning into a Roadster for 10 years. I have all the parts and it is even accepted by most purists to do that. But I am still working up my corrage to make the first cut in the tub.