BigJim

hey all, im gonna be redoing the extiorior and interior of my car htis winter. im tying to get my parents to let me pull the engine so i can replace the seals and watnot, but they dont seem to keen on it. Wat are osme good arguements i can use to get htem to say i guess he needs to take the engine out. Also wats the cheapest rebuild kit cost that isnt really crappy

Mr. ImportGuy

Where are you in MI. Also just tell your parents its a learning experiance. Atkins has seal kits, remember most the time you get what you pay for. So be careful buying from a non reputable place.

Sk8r_dude

tell em the engine could catch on firte cause of the leaky seals if theyre not replaced lol.

BigJim

yea im in michigan, i live in Lake, its up my mount pleasant, i go to canton/livoinia quite often thou

AdrenalifeRX7

I'm with the parents on this one. Don't take apart something that you can't put back together.

djmickyg

my parents said dont by the car, but i still did
they said dont pull the engine out, but i still did
they said dont spray it, i still did

moral of the story.... i really cant think of one

timmya2

ouch

kettlman

iTrader: (2)

yeah. is there somethin wrong with the engine? or do you just want to?

vladu13

Put it this way, you can't be out drinking, drugging, or robbing liquor stores with your "bad influence" friends if you're home everynight dong something constructive!

pratch

Bah...

As a parent, I'm going to temper some of these posts with my *ahem* parental wisdom.

It is possible they didn't want you to pull it because their house is in a deed restricted community, or one where the covenant specifically prohibits prolonged/extensive car work.

They could know you well enough to know that you aren't ready to successfully and expediently rebuild an engine. Believe it or not, your parents are people JUST LIKE YOU. Only they have another 15-20-30 years worth of life experience. Perhaps you're just like your dad, and your dad remembers a time when he thought he'd pull and rebuild an engine and ended up selling the parts instead?

Respect your parents enough to talk to them, and they may respect you enough to tell you why they feel how they do.

Rebuilding an engine is a major pain. If you don't have someone to help you, I would advise against doing it. Any seals you can reach without a rebuild (intake manifold O-rings) are going to be pretty easy, but won't need replacement unless you're showing specific problems.


Soo...

I suppose I'd say that you better understand what you're getting yourself into. It is your parents' house, and they don't want a car jacked up without an engine sitting in their garage/driveway for an extended period of time. They have property value to consider.

Hope this helps you some.

White84SE

pratch pretty much nailed it. if you've still got parents around telling you not to do it, you're more than likely not ready to take on the responsibility and amount of work necessary to do this and do it properly. Trust me, I'm in the middle of just swapping engines out and there are MANY gremlins that WILL pop up when you least want and expect them to do. I work in a restoration shop and about 90% of the parts cars we buy are a result of what you're proposing. People start out with good intentions but they simply don't realize just how much work, time and effort are involved in something like this. My advice, unless the engine simply will not run any more, leave it where it is.

--Danny

ladelberg

Also as a parent, I would add that taking an engine out is a messy experience, maybe they don't want oil and other fluids all over their driveway, carport or garage.

When I was younger, my brother and I rebuilt a couple engines, promising our parents it would be no big deal and minimal mess. By the end of day 1, my mother was yelling at us because you could smell the gasoline throughout the house. Of course, one could not order parts until you had the engine apart and I am 37 so the internet was not around. We had to call the order in and wait for it to ship (back when warehouses hand picked everything). Two weeks later (and two weeks of gasoline smell in the house) the parts arrived and we put it back together.

From that time forward, the engines were not allowed anywhere near the house. Fortunately, my brother got a job at a shop and we could do it there and that, my friend, would be my suggestion.

I commend your desire to rebuild your engine, try working with your parents to understand WHY they don't want you to do it and find a solution. I would start the conversation with "I know you don't want me to rebuild the engine and I respect that. But the engine needs to be rebuilt because......... and I would like to work with you to try to figure out how we can do that"...

Bayce

Well, I was gonna make all sorts of jokes etc, especially when you asked us to come up with some cool REASONS why you SHOULD pull it (Like, tell them its for charity, and all you learn is going to benifit the poor) But after reading Pratch's wisdom. . . I decided to just go with him. . .

Metallic_rock

Yeah, and I haven't heard exactly what seals need replacing. I, personnally have pulled a few engines in my lifetime, and I've torn apart a rotary... haven't put one back together yet. They aren't exactly easy, especially for someone who hasn't had any training. I would highly advise against pulling a running engine unless you have someone else who knows exactly what they are doing on rebuilding.

Oh, and I don't plan on letting my kid rebuild a car in my driveway. IoTus's car has been sitting there for months now... covered in Dirt and Dust... Robert from ROTARY SHACK is SLOW AS HELL!!

sorry to go off on a tangent there, but... the point is the same. Don't do it unless you are ready for you car to be down for a long time and I'm sure your parents aren't wanting your car to occupy the garage/driveway for months at a time.

BigJim

well ive rebuilt quite a few "regular" engines in my time, and my parents know im capable of it, i understand agbout hte not knowing about rotarys thou. as for not wanting oil or watnot, our garage is a work garage and we always have somhthing getting worked on, its a 2 car garage so they could fix their cars in one half(currently rebuilding 93 Thunderbird) and i could use the other half, but they just say no and wont give reasons, maybe if they gfave me reasons i would understand

Beorex

65 mph in 2nd gear!!!!!???? what i meant to say was how can you get goin that fast in 2nd? i can't get past 30 something in my gsl-se...

The_7

im 17 and my car has been sitting in my garage for several months while im working on it. ive pulled the engine tore it apart, have pieces everywhere, pulled transmission, now getting ready to port the engine, etc.. my mom hasnt got mad yet, infact, she has encouraged me more than once. she likes the fact that im doing something i like that is constructive and learning so much. we have a 2 garage but due to the messes i make she doesnt park in there to much, but she doesnt seem to mind to much. but she has told me she wants to be able to park in there during winter so im gonna clean up my mess on that side and keep it clean so she can use it.

i would try to talk to them and lean their reasoning as to why they dont want you to rebuild it. its possible they misunderstand something that makes them not want you to do it and you could correct them and hopefully they would let u, but be respectful or you will just make it worse

WackyRotary

What is your definition of A LONG time to pull a 12a or 13b, what have you, and dissassemble it and put it back together with new apex seals and new control 0-rings and the gasket set on your engine(if thats all it needs) 1week, 2weeks?

Maybe because I've done it multiple times now, I can say that its all related to how prepared you are, what you aim to get from it power and lookwise.

I guess, assuming all parts are good, and you have less then 120,000miles on your 12a(good rotor housings), you could get away with just new apex seals, and new oil control inner and outer 0-rings and your 12a gasket set. But I'd replace the corner seals and springs for them and the apex seals springs. Porting can take a while or not long at all if you have ample air supply and good dye grinding abilitiy. I've done a single intake port in a 1/2hour X4= 2hrs. And then the exhuast ports both take 1/2hour too. So 3hrs total, if you're good.

Don't forget about cleaning everything, oil, grime, crude, etc all takes time too. If you are committed like I am to work on it constantly from morning till dusk, it can take less then one week from when you pull the car into the garage and pull the engine, and put it back in and start it with a fresh rebuild ready to go.