Hello all. I'm new to the forum having just purchased a '81 GSl. The motor in the car is dead so I'll be looking to either rebuild the current motor or find a replacement motor. The car will not be driven much, mainly used as a weekend toy. Can anyone recommend where to find a good used motor in the Washington DC metro area? How difficult is it to rebuild a rotary? I do have some engine building skills as I have built small block V8s in the past, but I've never worked on a rotary. Thanks for any advice or information that can be provided!

 

Well, I took one apart once, but never put it together again (yet). I ended up just buying a parts car and swapping a running engine in. It honestly doesnt look too hard to put one back together. A lot of seals and stuff, but other than that, no biggie. Just make sure everything is within specs (all of the specs are in the manual). Or, if you want a rebuilt engine, here are two places I can think of off the top of my head:

www.mazdatrix.com
www.pineappleracing.com

If youre gonna have the engine built, I would suggest porting it while its being built. That way, if you want the power later, you dont have to take the whole engine apart again to do it . Besdies that, it will free up quite a bit of HP trapped in that stock restrictive system, and make the engine more happy....Or something .

~T.J.

 

You also need to worry about emissions, if you need to worry about emissions, uh huh. Isn't VA one of those anti radar detector states?

Oh yeah, try http://www.atkinsrotary.com too.

 

I can garage the car at a friends house, in a VA county that doesn't require emissions. So, I'm not worried about that. However, the car only cost $300 so I'd really rather find a used engine if possible. I haven't actually picked the car up yet, I bought it off of ebay. But, now I'm reluctant as the seller informed me after the fact that the car was a parts car and he isn't sure about the rest of the car.

Thanks for the information!

 

Yes, that's right. You can't use radar detectors in VA either!

 

I don't use one myself, but Jissis!