My New Car: First Impressions, Future Plans

I purchased my 2004 Velocity Red Mazda RX-8 GT 6 Speed on October 25th, 2008, which also happened to be my 23rd birthday. Many people celebrate their birthdays by going out to dinner or spending time with friends and family; I, however, decided to spend the day at a dealership. Although it may not have been the most exciting birthday I've ever had (5+ hours were spent sitting around while bumbling idiots filled out paperwork), the end result was all that mattered.

During the past week, I have spent a great deal of time reading about all aspects of the RX-8, from suggested maintenance to the numerous methods for increasing horsepower. I have already put together a list of the things I would like to do to ensure that the car is operating at peak performance; I have also thought of a few ways that I would like to add a little more power.

I would most likely not be making any performance or cosmetic modifications for a while since I still have the entire car loan to pay off, but I would like to do some of the preventitive maintenance to ensure that I don't run into any problems in the future.

Repairs:
- Fix some minor paint chips & scratches
- Look into the rough idle problem (might be loose engine mounts)

Maintenance:
- Change cabin air filter
- Change Trans. & Diff. fluids (Redline)
- Change the oil (Royal Purple 5w30)
- New spark plugs & wires
- New ignition coils (MazSport)
- Check/Replace engine air filter
- New performance oil filter
- Wash/wax/seal exterior paint

Future Mods:
- Window tint, 20%-30% (For the stealth look, and privacy)
- Tail light tint (I'm not a big fan of the altezza look)
- Exhaust (Greddy SP2, Borla)
- Axial Flow STS (Best early mod, according to most)

Distant Future:
- RB REVi Intake

- RB Ram Air Duct

- New springs/struts

- Front/Rear Sway Bars
- New pulley/flywheel
- Small wing (can't decide if I like my current wingless look)

- Car PC

- Small turbo kit (VERY distant future, if ever)

I washed my car this weekend, and doing so allowed me to get a better feel for all of the small imperfections in the paint. At some point, I want to spend a few hours fixing all of the tiny chips and scratches in the paint, and then clay bar the whole car, followed by a full seal and wax job. I was told by a friend that Klasse products are great for protecting paint and they bring out the shine in factory paint jobs.

I also am interested in attempting to clean out any carbon build-up that might currently exist in the engine. If the previous owner didn't redline the car often, there may be a carbon problem that could be cleaned out with seafoam or other carbon cleaning agent.

Anyway, this will hopefully be the first of many posts about my car's progress (as long as I don't get too lazy). I'll try to use a camera better than my iPhone for future pictures!