Mazda RX8

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Lets kick this off, what should I pay for a non-running Anniversary Edition? (lemmy.iwentto.science)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/rx8

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I'll start by saying the ad caught my eye for the wheels. I have a nicely running 2011 GT with ugly aftermarket wheels and I prefer the OEM look. I unfortunately can't find S2/Mazdaspeed 3 wheels in my area in decent shape without driving to the next state.

It's cosmetically rough with 92k miles, the interior isn't the best, paint is toast, driver side door handle is broken. Not counting the paint I could make the interior better and fix the door for $200-ish. Some of the paint might come back with polish but the clear is coming up.

When I first talked to them, I asked about the wheels, even offering to trade the wheels with wheels I had plus cash, but they want the car gone. They immediately dropped the price from $1400 to $900 without prompting them for a lower price so I think there is room to go lower.

I could only get out of them that the engine lost compression, but no real details. It's an S1 so it could just be bad coils/plugs/starter/flooded. I need more details on what happened to make them think compression loss.

If I did keep it and get it running again it would be a decent auto cross car to get started with or use for practice doing engine and body repair.

Upsides:

I get another RX8 to drive and my wife could drive it too being AT
I get to put the wheels on to my S2
S1 parts are easier to find than S2
It might be an easy fix
Could potentially flip for a profit

Downsides:

Finding room for it would mean I lose most of my shop space
If the coolant seals are toast, I don't have an engine hoist or stand for a rebuild
It could become a parts cannon project if it was never taken care of
Rebuild Cost
Unknowns as I haven't seen it in person
I don't have a trailer+winch to make moving it around easy
My driveway has a sharp incline so backing a trailer in isn't the best on the truck's transmission

If I just take the wheels and call a car haul away company they would give me less than $400 for a non-running RX8 and I feel bad for sending an Anniversary car off to be broken/scrapped.

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[–] Moob 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hell I kinda want it but I’m not batting a thousand when it comes to making good decisions.

[–] Fabulous_TRex 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Considering the loss of compression, milage, and the substantial discount given unprompted, i’d be concerned that the apex seals are toast. Cursory google search says a rebuild costs anywhere from $4-6K

Car - $900 Engine rebuild - $4000 to $6000 Respray - $1000 Interior trim - $200 Wheels - $750 Slush fund for other stuff you dont know is a problem yet - $1000

So, in my head its not a $900 car, it’s (worst case) potentially like a ~ $9000 car with 90K miles + the effort to fix it up.

I’m not an expert and i’m sure that i’m over estimating, but personally I wouldn’t touch this. Not worth the headache in my book.

Just the owner being so desperate to get rid of it is enough to put me off.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That is where I landed a week or so ago but it's still there and I keep thinking about the what ifs. Everyone I've talk to around me has said go for it, but don't have any rotary engine experience. So hearing someone saying avoid makes me think I'm not crazy for not picking it up.

Your estimates aren't far off for a complete rebuild. Those prices are also around just buying a remanufactured engine from Mazda. Interior would be tough to get back to OEM and I could get it wrapped if I wanted to make this a show car/daily driver but I already have one of those.

There's too many unknowns to for sure rebuild this engine. To me, it's really only for sure worth it for the wheels. If I could get away for $500 and rent a uhaul car trailer it might be worth it.

[–] Fabulous_TRex 2 points 1 year ago

I didn’t mean to give a false impression, i’m by no means an expert, or a rotary guy. I like cars and i’ve absorbed some stuff hearing people talk about rotaries over the years, but I gave you my perspective as to what was going through my head when I read your post.

I like my cars relatively risk averse. For context I don’t think i’ve ever owned a car with more than 80K miles (currently have a manual 2011 BMW E89 Z4 30i with ~50k miles).

The numbers i picked were from a crude google search over a coffee, but I think they served more to illustrate why I would be cautious rather than a bullet proof breakdown of costs.

I stand by my point that a seller dropping a 30% discount on ya is not confidence inspiring. However… have you thought about giving him a stupid lowball, like $50 more than scrap value? That way if you get to work and you start sliding in past your proverbial elbow, you can cut your losses at least knowing it was dirt cheap.

Having said all that, it sounds like you’re kinda down for a bit of a project, in which case my perspective is totally misaligned to yours so please take anything I say with a heap of salt.