Thinking seriously about buying another Rex, either no engine or one in need of a rebuild. My question is would you or have you had a go yourself and had good results. I need a project and a reasonably cheap one that I can put evenings and weekends into, the engine wouldn\'t be skimped on, but things like tucking and hiding looms would be high on the agender which lets face it doesn\'t cost an awful lot.
Ill def be giving its go on my next one, bottled it this time and had a half bridge engine built by Jaydee :)
Think building a couple of standard engines up is the way forward before attempting porting and the like.
I\'m no mechanic but I\'ve re-built a 20V 4AGE, Helped my neighbour re-build his Elise K Series in his dining room and will be changing the valves, cam and push rods in my V8 very soon.
If you\'ve got a good guide to follow and some decent tools it\'s not too difficult just a bit daunting at first.
I think re-building my T56 6 speed gearbox will be far more complicated than any of the engine I\'ve owned!
A rotary is far simpler to rebuild than a piston engine.
Far less moving parts. No valve train, no timming to set. Piece of cake.
Just make sure you measure the side seal clearances correctly.
Prof rebuilt his own engine, the actual engine is really easy to rebuild, just a case of a few plates, housings, seals and a lot of long bolts, the hard bit is the measuring and checking of parts to make sure that they are all within limits and usable.
Here is a sped up video of a complete rebuild on a Renesis (RX8) engine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQm7HP6IOhI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLCDCB36EBDA7E9A84
I would also check out Mazda rotary parts for a full rebuild kit, here is a FULL FD rebuild kit:
http://www.mazdarotaryparts.com/brx-7-turbo-93-to-95-engine-rebuild-kitb-1591-p.asp
Thats with EVERYTHING including new apex seals, all OEM Mazda, it may look quite a bit but if you are going to do it, you might as well do it properly :)
Word of warning - if you buy a car with a blown engine, ask what went wrong, if its just water seal failure and everything else is ok it might only cost about £400 for a soft seal rebuild, if the engine blew a tip on a rotor it would have trashed the rotor and housing (which is where it gets expensive) although there are good used engine or indeed good used parts in the for sale section usually, so check it out.
Might be worth you getting a project car and dropping in a good used engine, or buy a car with a blown engine, drop a used engine in and then rebuild the blown engine to your specs, you get a working car plus can rebuild a new engine, plus the benfit of probably having still a good used engine to sell on when you swap them over :)
Sorry to hijack your post.
My OEM rebuild kit has been up for sale for ages. Would keep your costs down a treat!
Regards
Paul
I\'d love to have a go at rebuilding an engine. I\'ve just never had the room to do it, but that will be changing soon so who knows one day i might give it a go
Adam
I would love to have a go on a rotary engine, I\'ve rebuilt a V6 from the bottom up. My previous experience in mechanics before that was a head gasket change on an Audi A4.
Like others have said theres plenty of documentation around, all you need to do it take your time and double check everything. I\'m quite tempted to buy a second engine just to rebuild for my FD.
I rebuilt my own engine... Before starting I had very little mechanical knowledge... Sorta learn as you go...
The car is up, running and is road legal...
There\'s plenty of guides... there\'s some from pineapple racing on youtube and there\'s always the DIY-RE DVD set, which will give you at least a bit of an idea what to do (and what not to do)
It\'s all just patience and checking, not really all that hard to do :)
The hard part is the cleaning and all the measuring you have to do...
I rebuilt the rotors in the house, as you can do these before assembling the engine and just bag them up ready. The only thing I would say is that when you do assemble the engine, set aside a couple of hours, turn the phone off and then do it uninterrupted. The parrafin they suggest you use to lube the slots for the water seals does actually cause them to swell a little over time, so you want to make sure the engine is together and torqued up before that happens.
It\'s fun though, but don\'t be afraid to ask questions...
Thanks for all the kind advice, I\'m going to pick an engine up on Friday with suspected side seal failure, and will get it stripped down and see what I find, fingers crossed no tip failure.
This is going to be a reasonably long term thing As I will be setting money back each month to buy the seal kit and then the car itself and what ever extra\'s I will buy. This has to be set to a budget and will be unlike my last build which was a supra I rebuilt and single\'d. So from what you have all said I\'m fairly confident I could have a go at it. One thing is for sure I am keeping this one standard apart from a street port and some breathing mods.
My rx7 was the most reliable and fun car I have owned BEFORE I went single. After that it was a nightmare. So the key is keep it simple and reliable. Roughly what is the time to switch and engine in an rx7 once I have the rebuilt one ready to go?