Ok guys, I'm a n00b with rotories so here are some n00b questions:

Whats a reasonable idle warm up time when shes cold?

When driving on a cold motor, whats the maximum revs to take her out to? for me its 3000rpm

And how critical is it that the motor is FULLY warmed up before stopping her again?

 

i usually warm up my car about 5 mins when its less than 50deg. and i also shift at 3k if it hasnt fully warmed up yet.

as for the shut off, the driver's guide on the on the rx-8 says it should reach halfway of normal operating temp before shutoff. so i just go with that rule.

 

I usually warm up about 2-3 minutes on cold mornings, but this is after bringing the car out of the garage which is probably about 60 when it's 35 outside.

As a rule of thumb, I wait until the temp gauge comes up off of the pin before I drive it, preferably until the needle is on the lower mark on the 'C' side. After that, I don't push it above about 2500 rpm, since the oil isn't up to speed and likely isn't even getting very good pressure to all the components until it reaches standard operating temperature.

After it hits the standard temp, I drive it like normal. Shut down after driving is about 1-2 minutes of idle speed, and then I rev it up to about 2k to get oil pressure up a bit and then turn the key off. This gives a last burst of oil pressure into the rotors which should help to keep it oiled as it's spinning down. As long as the engine is turning, the oil pump is running and pushing oil, but at lower pressure until it's at a dead stop. HTH,

 

I let it run for a minute or two before moving on a cold morning but tahts it, I take it real easy though until its fully warm and never shut it off unless fully warm

 

I let it warm up for the time it takes me to smoke a cig - about 5 minutes. Then again, here in Cali it never really gets that cold.

 

I hit the key and go no matter what temp.

 

that's my timer too!