So my dad is driving around my rx8 and wanted to know of some good shops out there. He has only been able to find dealers. There are any good independent rotary shops or some really good dealerships to go to? BTW, the car is located in Golden.

not that I know of? Most mechanics won't touch a rotary engine, let alone know what one is.

What type of work do you need to get done?

closest dealer is lakewood mazda. never had problems there i just hated the new gm they had. was always trying to feed me a bunch of bs about the car. i dont know of any shops though. they arw all in co springs.

Don't know about RX-8s, but Precision Import Repair is pretty knowledgeable about rotarys, I have my FD there right now. MAC Autosport knows a bit about rotarys, their tuner (Nick) just bought an FD so I imagine they will start doing more work on RXs. A couple of my friends are also planning on opening a shop that specializes in rotarys, I'll keep you guys informed...

Ranger, might want to update your assessment of Precision haha.

Long story short, do NOT take your car to Precision...huge failure in my opinion. They screwed up Ranger's car royally. I heard Zion (Motorsports?) is good. Obie told me about them and Mike B confirmed it. The only problem is they're really backed up right now.

Yeah, I wouldn't take your car to Precision, if it is an FD or an RX-8...basically they didn't put my FD back together right, and the turbos are not working. And they're not really willing to fix it. I wouldn't want to have them try anyway, as they don't seem to know how. They do seem to know a bit more about the older 7s, though.

N00b to this forum, but reading the posts here tells me you guys are the experts. So here is my question:

Is there any shop near Arvada/Golden/Lakewood that you trust to replace the plugs on my (2004) RX-8's rotary... and not charge an arm and a leg?

It's got 42K and now's the time. Plus, acceleration is a bit boggy when hot.

I know that DIY is the best way, but I simply don't have the time or space, and I have this recurring nightmare about permanently screwing up the engine.

I've read horror stories about $800 or more just to replace the plugs - but that is just unreasonable. Yeah, I know I have a cool sports car... but that doesn't mean I light cigars with hundred dollar bills!

Any help finding a decent shop that won't rip me off, would be greatly appreciated!

Changing the plugs yourself isn't too difficult. I live kind of far from you (Loveland) but I can do it for you. Takes less than half an hour

I can also help. Not a difficult or time consuming job, really. I'm in Westminster. Just send me a PM. I can either come out to your neck of the woods, or you're welcome to my garage, too.

Heck, we could have an RX8 meet and greet at my place, everyone come on over!

What do you plan on replacing or fixing in your rotary?

Huzer wrote:I can also help. Not a difficult or time consuming job, really. I'm in Westminster. Just send me a PM. I can either come out to your neck of the woods, or you're welcome to my garage, too.

Heck, we could have an RX8 meet and greet at my place, everyone come on over!

That sounds like a great idea. We should have a get together soon! Organize it!

7th Heaven wrote:What do you plan on replacing or fixing in your rotary?

Huh? He's just talking about changing the spark plugs.

chickenwafer wrote:Changing the plugs yourself isn't too difficult. I live kind of far from you (Loveland) but I can do it for you. Takes less than half an hour

Don't you just remove the driver's side wheel and get at the plugs from there?

RX-7 Chris wrote:Don't you just remove the driver's side wheel and get at the plugs from there?

Yup, easiest way is to pull the driver's side wheel. There's a little flap in the wheel well that you take off, and the plugs are right there. But the leading/trailing in the right spots (marked on the housing, in case you forget, haha)...and yer done.

chickenwafer wrote:That sounds like a great idea. We should have a get together soon! Organize it!

I'll be busy the next few weekends, but I'd say we shoot for August 15th.

You can't get to the plugs from the top? I mean, I have to pull off my intake elbow, but that's it and it takes me about 5 minutes after that. I guess you guys have too much crap in the way haha. Can you get to them from the bottom? I can get at mine even easier from the bottom.

Huzer wrote:Yup, easiest way is to pull the driver's side wheel. There's a little flap in the wheel well that you take off, and the plugs are right there. But the leading/trailing in the right spots (marked on the housing, in case you forget, haha)...and yer done.

I'll be busy the next few weekends, but I'd say we shoot for August 15th.

That's mighty kind of you, Huzer. August 15 would actually work well for me - I'll be out of town the prior weekend, and then a couple of weekends after that - so 8/15 sounds perfect.

These are special plugs, right? Any recommendation as to where to order them from? Of course, the place with the lowest cost would be nice, since I know there can be a great deal of variation in the price charged for special parts.

Were any of you also at the first meeting of the RM RX-8 Club back in June 2004? I had grand plans of getting back involved in cars with my new '04 then, but right after the meet (same day) my wife gave me the good news that our time would be soon occupied by a different kind of "bundle of joy" - if you know what I mean. So, a carseat and DIY have both taken the back seat since then.