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My name is Max, and I am from Chattanooga, TN. Ever since my teenage years, I was absolutely fascinated with rotary powered vehicles--it was partially the motivating force for me to obtaining my mechanical engineering degree! My parents, slightly understanding of my interests (they had very little interest in cars themselves), were flexible enough to allow me to purchase a 2005 Mazda RX-8 during my senior year of high school (~2010). This vehicle ended up taking me throughout my entire college career without missing a beat. 6 years (and an additional 90k miles) later in 2016, I decided to purchase a new daily driver, as my commute to my new job was fairly significant (~110 miles round trip per day). I purchased a 2015 Volkswagen GTI, but decided to hold onto the RX-8 for a weekend vehicle. Fast forward to today, the RX-8 has finally become tired, as the engine was showing signs of power loss under high load. Low compression was confirmed on both rotors/all faces with the help of RotaryCompressionTester.com's digital gauge (man, that thing is convenient!).
Initially, I thought of going down the conservative path, and purchasing a replacement 13B-MSP. However, after more consideration, I've decided to take the more aggressive approach, and have started a 13B-REW swap project.
Even though the RX-8 is the ugly duckling of the RX family, I'm hoping to use a lot of information on this forum during my 13B-REW RX-8 build project.
Welcome Max!! I have had several RX-8's and they have all been excellent cars. They are reliable if they are properly maintained and as an 8 owner, we have to expect that the engine will become tired sooner than an older 80's rotary engine. Your car looks very nice and I wish you the best of luck in your swap!
Good luck with the rew swap, the rx8 is no ugly duckling just never had enough power imo and you are taking care of that!
Originally Posted by mazdaverx713b
Welcome Max!! I have had several RX-8's and they have all been excellent cars. They are reliable if they are properly maintained and as an 8 owner, we have to expect that the engine will become tired sooner than an older 80's rotary engine. Your car looks very nice and I wish you the best of luck in your swap!
