O.k. Sorry for the Noob question, but I gotta learn somehow...

There is a mechanic near my house that replaced several rotary engines and has the old engines laying around. He told me I can have any of them for $50-$100 each. I had intentions on building the shizz out of a S5 turboII block so I don't care if they have blown seals, etc.

The question is how do I tell if any of the engines he has is a S5 TurboII block?

I haven't seen any of them but I'm assuming they are intact and have intake manifolds, etc because he liked to replace complete engines.

Hondas have engine codes stamped in the front of the block (B16A1, H22A, B18C5, etc) do rotaries?

 

No.


-Ted

 

Ted,

i love your long winded answers.

 

Isn't there some code on the rear plate... Behind the fly wheel? i.e. "S4", "S5"???

 

No.


-Ted

 

12A's have it (12A) casted into the rotor housings at the top. I don't know about 13B's, haven't bothered to look.

 

if it is a long block then there are a few ways to tell. Look for VDI on the intake. Look for an electric OMP. erm... I forget what all is different about the S5's

 

i know the rx8 has 13B stamped on the block

 

i know my TII has 13B stamped on the rotor housings lol

 

Where in TN are you? I'd love to get ahold of some core motors.

All the 13b's look pretty similar to the untrained eye. I could personally tell you exactly what each one is. FWIW, s5 turbo engines are pretty rare, I wouldnt expect to find one just sitting around.

If you need help identifying something, send me some hi-res pics and I'll tell you.

Let me know if your mechanic has any cores he wants to sell...

 

Kevin: I'm in Murfreesboro. I actually talked to you on the phone a few times last year about this same mechanic in LaVergne. he was doing a Automatic-to-manual swap for my friend and I was going to buy the project and finish. I was asking you about the wiring and such for the swap.

He (the mechanic) told me he swapped out 3 turboII engines and the old motors should "be around there somewhere" whether they are S4 or S5 nobody knows...he couldn't remember what years they were.

If it is so hard to identify the right block, I'm probably just going to forget about it and buy one from a reputable dealer.

 

They're not hard to identify...if you know what to look for.

Turbo blocks have 4 intake ports...nonturbo have 6. Turbo blocks also have coolant passeges in the rotor housings between the intake ports...nonturbos do not.

Series 4 blocks have a 2 bolt OMP pattern on the front cover. They have a smooth surface above the T plughole on the rotorhousing, and the rotorhousings usually have the squared off plate on top of each housing in the middle that says "hiroshima japan liscense nsu wankel blah blah".

Series 5 blocks have a 3 bolt OMP pattern on the front cover. They have a threaded hole above the T plughole on each rotorhousing. The tops of the rotorhousings are more smooth, and do not have a square nameplate in the middle.

IF you decide not to get them, see what you can get them all from him for. I could use turbo irons right now...for some reason, the front is always the one to go. Anyway, I'd probably have them shipped, which isn't usually a big deal. Obviously I'd pay you something for doing this for me, provided you can get all the cores real cheap.

I just hope they're not sitting outside, and all the internals stuck/rusted.

 

KEVIN: Unfortunately they are sitting outside. I'll be up there at his shop this weekend. I'll see what he has. If I can swing it, I'll have a dig camera with me.

 

Kevin, the S4 Jspec I just got in has a bolt hole above the T plug on the housings but it has the regular oil metering pump and the harness had the same plug for my S4 NA air mass sensor, it seems to be an S4 but it was supposed to be an '89 engine according to the guy who sent it to me. I am currently installing it in my vert now. Is it possible it has some S5 housings in it?

 

Could be, yes. Could also be an 89 block with 88 front cover already switched. Not really a good way to tell without tearing it down; I wouldnt worry about it.

I have rebuilt s5 jspecs with s4 internals and vice versa...they seem to do a lot of mixing stuff up over there.