I bought a BARN FIND RX8! 

Disagree. Please engine swap it and give it 300 to 400 horsepower. The car will be absolutely insane.

So many of them are ruined by engine swaps :(

Lol more power baby

Ruined?? You mean made awesome?

No and no. LS Swap it and stance it. Just to piss everyone off.

Hey, can you tell me which model did you have and what did you do maintenance wise to keep it running for 12 years without issues? I’m toying with the idea of RX8 ownership but everybody is scaring me about the non-existent reliability of the engine….

@@TheGabrca it's not about the model, it's more about it's maintenance history. I did oil changes regularly and made sure the level never went low. Regular plug changes, more reliable coils, and maybe some emissions related improvements. Maybe I got lucky, but I didn't do anything special outside of being attentive. If this will be your only car, don't get it. I've had mine since basically new, so I know it was taken care of. If you don't know that for certain, assume worst case scenario.

@@TheGabrca If you have full control over the car from start to finish and you keep up with maintenance and don't neglect all the other systems on the car. It will run just fine for years to come. My advice is the same as @ilikecars212 Do not buy one as your only means of transportation. It's just way too risky and expensive to maintain unless you make enough money to cover a 10k dollar engine replacement at some point. Don't buy an RX8 from a random dealership that has no idea what condition it is in and is just flipping it. Try and find someone from a forum or has some sort of work history and knows what they actually own. Just to give you an idea of what my history is like, I bought my 2004 RX8 with 86K miles for like 7-8 grand or so. I knew it had lower compression on one of the rotors or faces because I could hear a slight weaker pulse in the exhaust so I was already slightly concerned. 6 months later either the engine died or flooded or something happened. Ended up buying a rebuilt engine with used parts from a rotary rebuild shop in Texas. Even without labor and doing the engine swap myself, it cost around 4 grand for just the engine and closer to 6-7 grand after changing a bunch of parts to freshen up the whole car. Clutch, Solenoids, Starter, Coils, etc... I've owned the car now after that happened for 4 years. I also ended up spending another 4 grand or so at the dealership because shortly after buying the car it also had weird power steering issues with vibrating and just losing power steering entirely. Tried fixing it myself with bypassing connectors, but to no avail. Apparently it was a common issue with a sensor inside the rack that goes bad. So all in all for a 90K mile car I have probably put in nearly 16 grand into the car including the purchase price. So if that gives you any idea of how bad it can get, it can get very bad. I fortunately got help from my parents, so I only paid about half of that. But I know not everyone has that kind of luxury (most don't). Hopefully that gives you some insight of what can possibly happen. My advice is yes it's a cool car and all, but it just doesn't make financial sense to own unless you are like balling out like crazy and a car collector. They can just have someone else fix it and have no worries about financials.

@@IStratz why buy a car if you can't drive it every day. this is why I never like rotary motor. it not reliable

@@funtyes1970You totally can and I do! its just about making sure the maintenance is taken care of!

If you could smell this car… its definitely not overkill

It always amazes me to see so many channels (like tavarish) work on a very similar state of car without any kind of protection, not even eyes I always wondered if it was worrying about perception from other insecure men (those at the heart of the anti-mask movement for example, imagine rejecting a simple considerate thing) in their viewership

@@jd_99I think it might have to do more with the fact that tavarish is kind of an idiot sometimes.

Leptospirosis is no joke .....from rat 💩 and piss.....better safe than sorry

Maybe the rx8 has covid 😂

You nailed it mate! These type of content is the bee's knees!

This is far from rare people

@@rolexmd69 I swear half of youtube is brain dead teens mimicking bot comments over and over again to farm thumbs up's... its sad.

if a RX8 is rare then im john cena....these things are everywhere and not in good shape

K swap RX8

@@AudiRSAvant gross

@@AudiRSAvantNAY! I've owned my RX8 for about a year now, its not worth the hassle and you'll end up spending A LOT

i smell K-series

Definitely these guys make awesome videos and something new would be cool to see especially with them learning along the way

Also worth noting that R3's were not a limited model, you are probably thinking about the spirit R

Fake parts are also a really big problem, stick with known good NGK suppliers for plugs as both fake plugs and coils have been known to enter the dealer network.

​@@HitpersonI thought the spirit r was a Japanese exclusive. If that's the case, then the r3 are the rare models everywhere else

@@dannythor2012 not in the UK they are not, definitely more than 500 here...

@@Hitperson The R3 is rare in the US. Its the rarest version of a Series 2.

Especially with this rx8 being owned by an older man I’m sure he wasn’t redlining it often enough to clear out carbon. I think it’s very likely that this car needs a couple heat cycles to free up some seals and then a good bit of hard driving to wake it up

partly correct. ive owned multiple rotaries and recently even brought one back to life after sitting in a field for over 10 years. spray like a whole can of fogging oil into the spark plug wells. this allows for lubrication and allows the seals to come unstuck without the chance of cracking them. you should only redline this engine after driving it about 50 miles to allow the seals to reseat into the housings properly. after that, you're OK to beat the snot out of it. on a generation 2 rx8 you dont need to premix but i would stick 0.5oz/gal of premix for the first 5 fillups. honestly im sure these guys have plenty of money and resources to figure this out, or they'll just go full youtuber clout and stick a K in it for ragebait. im leaning towards the latter.

yeah revs to the moon are part of the fun of a spinning dorito!

Till it blows up

imma be honest ive had my R3 for 2 years now and they're really not that rare, maybe in america they are? but worldwide the total production units is quite high theres always many on the market in the UK theres currently 577 known R3's in the UK as of Q3 2023 but i would agree keep the rotary maybe keep the S2 renesis as they are a great engine compared to the S1

your saying this to the man that threw out an REW for a stupid K engine...,

yeah right buddy sure you did buy a RX-8. yeah, and I buy 10 of RX-8 today .lol

I've Owned my 06 RX8 for about a year now and I've had my fair share of issues (clutch right now) So please Cherish when it works!

@@funtyes1970 what's so hard to believe about someone buying an RX-8? I might buy one in the future too, cuz they're fun little cars and I love the suicide doors. besides, they're cheap as hell.

Give us an update on how that goes I would like to see pictures and videos if you can

IKR. They don't live up to the RX7 hype. But nothing ever can or will. It's a good car in its own right

The cars handle, rev, and accelerate well but the fact is, the rotary in them burns more oil than gas. When I drove them at my dealership they were amazing but I'd hate to own one for more than a weekend warrior. If I had one and had the money I'd drop a K20/K24 in it b/c the Rotary just isn't reliable in the long term. So great chassis, handling, turning, weight to power ratio, but the engine was not so good.

@@jacobrzeszewski6527 The RX7 was an all time great car, a lot of cars aren't gonna be as great. The RX8 wasn't a great RX7, but it was a great car.

@matthewmohri9990 why do people always bring up the oil burning thing? They are literally designed to do that. There is an OMP which injects oil into the combustion chamber for lubrication. Just more hate due to a lack of understanding of how and why these motors work the way they do. Also, the renisis motor is a fantastic motor. 200-230hp out of an n/a 1.3l is genuinely impressive. The downfall of the rotary came from mazda trying to make a race car motor work like a regular car motor. They made it a 4 door like you're going to put a child seat in the back and daily drive it. Had they advertised these as the car that they are (a fantastic handling sports car with a race motor in it), you would see more on the road today.

t's also always lovely to see people praising the RX7 but hate on the RX8 for burning oil, As if the RX7 doesn't do the same thing.

There is Benefit to an aftermarket intake, just make sure its a racing beat or an AEM. But I agree, Generally, its not really worth it.

Not if you live in a wet climate. I live in Washington and I am a Mazda tech and always see cars tow in because Mass Air Flow reading incorrect because it collect water.

Honestly same

Near me, there’s a 2008 Audi a4 1.9tdi (s-line) that’s been parked under a tree for 5 years. Checking the reg, it says that it only has 100,000 miles. Very sad for such a nice car

Go into Rural areas, and this will be pretty common, I've seen dozens of rural houses with a slew of 2000s sedans, sports and trucks wasting away in tall grass.

😆😆😆

I wish 20Bs were economical to do anymore, but no one will do rep motors in affordable costs

These cars will have a comeback, people are realizing what they are.

im currently at 2 years with my R3 its been the most reliable car ive owned lol just expensive

Maybe he'll comment on the video later

My uncle did have a single rotor rx8 at one point before he got an s2k. I do recall some having v6-v8 swaps (around 2019 with uz and gr swaps), they are a rarity now among all the mehrans and corollas

@@ibgh2478 a "single" rotor rx8? what are u talking about lol. im assuming this was awhile ago when single rotor engines in general were extremely hard to find and not only that even now with aftermarket single rotors they'll still very hard to find and stupid to ever put in a car i highly highly doubt it was single rotor it was probably running bad and running on a single rotor but deffo wasnt a single rotor engine swap lol

@@Diontb I just noticed my mistake, im not really familiar with the wankel engines. I heard my father talk about one of his mates from uni having an rx8 just like my uncles that was higher spec, didnt realize the rx8 only had one engine option. Thanks for the clarification thou.

@@ibgh2478 well no 2 engine options a 4 port 192hp engine and a 6 port 231hp engine but both are 2 rotor wankel engines no problem 👍

You mean Black Halo Racing, but yes.

Black Horse Racing hahaha.

just got a set of wires and coils from BHR. Car Feels alive again, even with compression in the high 6's haa

slip angle media has the project gr8 daily

@@ZackNakazora1Yeah I should've mentioned them, Its my other favorite build. I use them for installation guides.

Both of your choices are financially risky af. 😂 Seriously like maintaining an exotic.

@@0HOON0 So true, I laugh about it now looking back. But that car was the reason I had so little savings. I can remember so many nights raising it up to do a "quick fix" or even maintaince. And then it's 3 am and I have classes in a few hours. Also did not help I always wanted to modify it. Sold it to cover a couple of sesmerters in college. My school did not have a shop class but everyone joked I did not need it.

all we can we do is wait. But i think he's gonna take that engine out.

no, just no and an RX8 can get 30+ MPG, just look at car throttle

​@@dohc7232 30+ mpg isn't crazy, I used to get 31+ in a 350+hp Mk7 golf. Also gotta remember that there's a difference in UK and US gallons so CT's 30mpg is about the same as 25mpg in the US

That’s not the reason he would k-swap. Actual power potential, decent sound and a well designed engine that doesn’t require ridiculous maintenance is why you would k swap it

@@HondaEnjoyer12 you have a weird way of spelling "TERRIBLE sounding" and nothing about the 13B is ridiculous maintenance, at best its a minor inconvenience...

@@dohc7232 let’s not lie here and say the na rotary in the rx8 sounds better than a k20… 13b turbo I agree is one of the best sounding engines ever, especially when ported, but the rx8 engine is the worst sounding engine of all time. It’s a shame as it’s arguably a better chassis then the rx7

*beers

Nah not worth the headache, LS it.

20B!

@@pakigangsta5 Definitely worth it. He said it himself that the car is the rarest trim the US market got. To botch the heart of the car would be worthless. The LS is great but if you want an LS get a corvette. The platform is special and deserves something just as special. The basic LS/Coyote/Hemi treatment is so overdone and doesn’t show skill or effort in my opinion. People like Rob who have made a four rotor RX-7 and have it for years on end going to multiple events and make more power then anything in its weight class is more then enough proof that the platform is worth it if you actually put in effort. Besides, throwing in an LS messes up the weight distribution completely kills what the car was made for, which is taking crazy corners and downhills and just revving through to crazy speeds. It’s not really that good in a straight line even with an LS and would just be a waste of money. A C5 corvette would be a cheaper and easier build for those just wanting a washed up and repeated cycle of LS engines

K20 RX-8s mostly retain the balance of the platform. Undeniably the best value performance wise. This late model R3 deserves something special though.