Well- the engine is back in the car, and it runs!!!! woot!!! so excited about it. Anyway, it runs and idles fine, but haven't driven it yet. I used atkins rotor rebuild kit, their gasket kit, and a couple more bits and pieces. Thanks to midwest7's to getting that housing out to me asap! Oh- and I highly reccomend their rebuild video if you're going to rebuild- a lot of helpful hints in there.

While it was cracked open I tried my hand at a little porting. After being happy with my work on some practice irons and housings, I went at it on the ones being used. I did a VERY conservative port job, and only on the secondaries and exhaust. Let me tell you- it is A LOT louder now. There could be an exhaust leak, as I used the old gasket over, but it sounds like a it7 race car or something. craziness.

Another item that I installed was a racing beat lightweight steel flywheel. I haven't driven it, but from the slight reving I have done (2k rpm max) it seems like it has made a pretty big difference. I full review will come after everything is broken in and all the kinks are ironed out.

Speaking of kinks-
There is a small coolant leak near the rear of the intake manifold. Some water is collecting in the valley between the housings and manifold. My guess is one of the water o-rings unseated itself while the carb assembly was being installed. Other than that, everything seems to be working okay. But damn- it sounds SO MUCH DIFFERENT. Probably because of the exhaust leak, but hey, it sounds cool for now.

Any hints on break in time? I was thinking taking it up to 3k- 3.5k for the first 600miles or so, than bringing up the revs gradually from there. What are your thoughts? And when will the smoke go away? I attribute it some, maybe most of it to the intake coolant leak, but any experiences?

Anyway- it was a lot of work, but well worth it! Like I said, it hasn't been run for very long, but it is running good so far!

 

i dont have any advice for u but damn, congratulations man , i got some q's for u if its ok.??

 

sure

 

was rebuilding the engine easy, i want to rebuild mine during this winter or the next but i have no exp. wat tool did u use on ur porting, a dremel or a die grinder, and how long did it take u??

 

I would keep it under 3k for 500 miles then change the oil.. 500-1k under 4k then change oil again then it's good..

 

Just be careful how you brake in Atkins seals. They are great seals, dont get me wrong but Judge Ito over at nopistons.com suggests a few tips on properly breaking in the Atkins apex seals. Great job by the way!

 

I would fix the coolant leak before you put any more run time on the engine. You don't want coolant in the housing while breaking in a fresh rebuild. Congrats on getting it to fire right up.

 

That's really great news, its really cool that the rotary is so easy for people to build and port in their own garages. I can't wait to get a random block and do the same.

And I completely agree that exhaust leaks sound badass. I have one right now and several of my friends wanted to know what kind of exhaust I had on there. OH ITS STOCK!... for now. Certainly won't be next week.

 

was it easy?

hmmm....

I've never rebuilt an engine before, but my grandfather assisted me a bit. It wasn't that bad actually, just as long as you have all the right tools!! Flywheel nut wrench, flywheel stopper, clutch alignment tool, hylomar sealant, threadlocker, rtv, and more are all things that you will need. I did it without an engine stand and the makeshift table I made to support everything worked out fine. It was just some old 5 gallon stain buckets with some 2x6's over it. It does take some time to clean everything, and more if you're going to paint/ powdercoat. Actually, I took some of the parts to a local automotive machine shop and the guy threw them in his jet washer- $40 a load, and it only took one load. The parts came out looking great!!!

Taking it out and putting it back in wasn't that hard either. Just label everything your not COMPLETLY SURE of where it goes, and label and bag ALL FASTENERS. It sucks not knowing where something goes!!! Another thing- the shop manual says to put on the rotor, then the housing, but it seems to be A LOT easier to put in after the housing is in place. Oh, and make sure you don't drop a apex seal corner piece down one of the water jackets- especially on the rear rotor. It really really sucks to try to fish it out threw 4 layers. But all in all, I think it went relatively smoothly. Just be prepared to get new, or at least good condition used rotor housings if yours are trashed.

Porting-
I bought a $20 mini die grinder from home depot and some double cut carbide bits. I bought the 1/4" burrs from coastal tool, right here in connecticut. One was a small egg shaped one and the other was a round ball. Both worked really good, but I found myself using the egg shaped one a lot more. Here's a link- http://www.coastaltool.com/cgi-bin/S...ng8585ff522f52

I also used my dremel tool, but mostly for cleanup work and polishing. Small stones work real good, as does sanding rolls. I HIGHLY reccomend practicing before you do the actual work. My first ones looked terrible, but they got progressively better as I worked on them. Just take your time, and but some duct tape around the port just in case you slip. But like I said, I did a very conservative port. I bought racing beats street port templates, which I hear are conservative, and didn't even go the full length of those (and that was only on the secondaries) Same thing on the exhaust.

Any other questions feel free to ask.

 

You can take the atkins seals to 3.5k for as long as you want. More than 5k is pushing it.

Treat her good for the first 1k miles and after that she's all yours.

 

oh man, I got go on a road trip!! School is about a mile and a half away and my work is 4.

 

cool, thats some good info ,so u didnt just do the intake u did the exhaust??wat kind of port job did u do?? street port, bridge,J, pp??

 

no, i did the intake too- just the secondaries (outer two ports) Those ports only flow when you really step on it, above 4K. I didn't want to affect drivability or anything, but I did want some more upper range power.

 

i cool, when u reinstall do u have to put the rotors back a certain way or they only go one way??

 

front rotor goes gear down, rear goes gear up. Other than that, they go in really only one way. But make sure you make a note of timing and stuff.

 

o interesting, ok thats it thanks man

 

nice job dude
a video,sound is a must
i like the idea of just porting the secondays
wonder how this would go with a brigy