After a tough fight over the past few months trying multiple avenues to revive our T2, it's time for a rebuild....
I appreciate all the advice and pointers but now I may be asking a lot more questions. Engine hoist is built (looking at modifying my engine stand) the hood's off and now it's time to pull the motor to see what's really going on.
Suspected bad seal(s) in the front rotor giving 30-30-90 compression, won't idle, terrible hesitation accelerating (when its running); pretty sure we've done everything we can to identify our issue with the exception of pulling it apart.

We've done a bunch of research on the process so now it's time to pull the trigger. Everyone is saying to wait until we have the motor apart to order seals but I can't help but assume that I'm going to be replacing most if not all of them once we have it apart seeing how I'm probably not going to want to do this again any time soon.
I've been in contact with Dan at Atkins but I've also been looking at Racingbeat for seal kits, does anyone have any advice on where to purchase from? Atkins has the Cryo seals, are they really any better? Any pointers that would make this as smooth as possible would be great!

Thanks!

 

I also strongly endorse waiting until it is apart, inspected, and understood what has happened with the failure. Fingers crossed that your housings and plates are within spec and reusable. You also might save some serious money if the oil control rings are in spec and don't need to be replaced. Those can get pretty expensive.

As far as seals go, unless you're going for a power build, I tend to always lean on OEM. The quality and consistency are there, and there's no second guessing. Be aware that even some of the Atkins kits will substitute their own seals out for OEM, usually the water seals.

 

+1 on waiting until you get it apart. you never quite know what you're going to find in there, so its helpful to wait.
i'd also look at places like Amayama and Blackhawk Japan, some stuff is a lot cheaper from Japan.

 

Thank you, I'll definitely keep that in mind!

 

I've had good luck with rebuild parts from Mazdatrix as well.

 

I ordered my rebuild kit from Racing Beat. This was a few years ago, but I remember it being very competitive from a price standpoint and they were able to swap out FD corner seal springs with no issues for me. This was the best option at the time to stick with all OEM parts for me.

 

Okay,
Well after a piecemealing the past hand full of weekends and cold nights, we've completed the rebuild and have a running 13b! Definitely some stressful moments here and there but after lots of reading, research and YouTube videos it's done. We had some trouble with the Timing; I initially thought maybe somehow the rotors were out of phase, but we were able to finally find TDC on the rear rotor then the front rotor and now we're dialed in. However, we're having a issue with the idle...
Cold starts seem to be ok, but once she warms up and the idle drops - she dies out... It starts back up ok but doesn't want to keep running on her own. Not without help, I've had to adjust the throttle cable to increase the idle to around 1100-1200 to keep it running after its warmed up.

Things I'm thinking:
The compression is ~60 psi across the front and rear rotor (using a piston compression tester/ I did see higher numbers on the initial test before we had it running) But I've also read that it takes a little time and heat to seat the seals to build compression.
We have new plugs/wires and we're getting plenty of spark
I don't think we have any vacuum leaks, but I've built a smoke tester to confirm this (I do know the plastic inlet pipe to the turbo has a few cracks, but would that cause it to idle out?)
We have new 550cc injectors and we cleaned the whole fuel system including the tank - so I'm pretty sure we're getting fuel
We did a street port... intake and exhaust with the racing beat templates
We did the emissions delete prior to the rebuild (maybe the vacuum lines are incorrect? But I'm pretty sure we have them where they need to be)
Maybe the UITM and throttle body adjustments are out of whack?
Could any of the sensors cause this? (I had to solder a leg onto the air intake temp sensor to reestablish a connection there, bought a new one on Facebook, just waiting for it to arrive) The connection at the oil pan sensor has boke off, the sensor next to the oil level sensor - I think it's the oil temp sensor? (could that cause our issue?)
I have a fuel pump switch installed to prevent flooding.

This is where I'm at.... I feel like we're close and I'm trying to rule everything out before the inevitable.....
I can upload video clips or images if that would help.
Thank you!

 

Without being there and seeing where everything is I cant help much.. what I CAN say is that they get a little cold natured when you start deleting rats-nest shenanigans and coolant passages (fyi). 60psi is a little low.. BUT.. I'll stay on the glass half full side and hope things are still seating to each other. Get a can of starting fluid.. that's a decent "quick and dirty" way to test for vacuum leaks. Start there.

 

Thanks, I have used starting fluid to detect leaks - that's how I found the cracks around the turbo inlet piping. Until we figure this out and go to stand alone I'll need to use the stock plastic pipe, but I found one on eBay that's in better condition. Hopefully that will help, but something tells me that's not the only culprit.

Thank you for the reply!

 

I think this is the best mod for any OE RX7.

 

So, I found some info regarding the set coupler and Bypass Air Control Valve to dial in the idle. Basic instructions are jumper wire the driver side up front green plug (2 prong) to disengage the ECU, start the engine and with the throttle cable secured adjust the BACV to an appropriate idle (700-850) ours however will die out if below 1000 and pull the jumper wire to reset the ECU. The process makes sense, but we still need to adjust the BACV a little to keep the idle from creeping up. Might need to add a bracket or two to the throttle cable to keep it from wobbling.
Has anyone played with this process to dial in the idle? I seem to have had more luck with this method rather than bashing my head against the wall trying to figure out the UIM/throttle body adjustments...