The RX-8, known as the underdog in the rotary engine-powered world, continues to hold a special place in automotive enthusiast’s hearts. This is in thanks for its distinctive design, rotary heritage, and many available modifications. Here we have Boone W‘s 2005 Sunlight Silver RX-8 from Seattle, Washington where we got to talk a bit about his build. Special thank you to Josiah Ferraro for the great photos.
“So, Boone what led you to own the RX-8? Did you come from something different before this?”
“My first car was a RX-8, but due to being young with little to no money to support the car it didn’t last very long. Now that I have more mechanical experience and more money I want to finish my first “build”. I learned mostly from building my Evo X. The RX-8 has been a dream car build since I was able to play video games. The first time I fell in love with the car was when I was a kid playing Need For Speed Carbon on my Wii and picking the red RX-8 as a starter car.”
“Then what inspired the way you modified/styled the car?”
“I see a lot of super clean stance cars in my area and my state but I don’t see RX-8s often. So I decided to ditch the first plan of making it a track car and enjoy being low and making my car look like a spaceship. I also took a lot of inspiration from the RX-8s in Japan. I also wanted to keep it simple and not go too crazy with my build. I just wanted to keep it “clean”.”
“And what would you say is the biggest challenge with modifying the RX-8?”
“The only problem I’ve ever had on my car was my header flange being too low. In Washington the roads are not the best, especially the driveways are really steep so when I do enter my exhaust tends to scrap causing an exhaust leak every now and then. Since it’s a pretty low car it’s hard to jack it up and fix the leak every few months.”
“How about anymore future plans for the car?”
“I do want to end up tracking the car later down the car’s life, but for now I want to continue modding the car exterior-wise. The end goal is to put it on Blitz 03s with a Vertex body kit.”
“Lastly, is there anyone you want to thank or give a shout-out to for helping with the RX-8?”
“I wanna give a shoutout to all my friends from helping me with this car. Sam Davis for helping me with my suspension. Clayton Kao for helping me with certain tools. Stage Auto Center for doing my alignments. And Josiah Ferraro for the pictures.”
MODIFICATION LIST:
-Mazdaspeed style front bumper
-Veilside side skirts
-Ings rear spats
-P2M front upper control arms
-Megan racing tie rods
-P2M rear camber arms
-P2M rear toe arms
-P2M rear lateral arms
-P2M rear trailing links
-Tein coilovers
-326 power Springs
(36K front 32K rear)
-K&N coil air intake
-TurboXS resonated mid-pipe
-HKS Hi power exhaust
-Work VSKF 18×11 +4 wheels (rear)
-Weds Kranze Ratzingers 18×10 -10 wheels (front)
-326 power red lug nuts
-Bride Gias II seat
-RWB x Renown 69/150 steering wheel
-Likewise shift knob
-Greddy Sirus unify gauges
Truly enjoy still seeing automotive enthusiasts still enjoying the RX-8’s unique characteristics. Hope you guys enjoyed this one. Special thank you to Boone and Josiah Ferraro for sharing this with us.
