Ok, I bought an 87 RX7 Turbo II with 108k miles. The guy said it had a bad coolant seal and he parked it, that was 8 years ago. It's been sitting in a shop for all of those 8 years.

So I tore it apart expecting the worst, but it turned out to be pretty decent engine wise. The rotors look good, the housings look very good (I'm still not sure if I would want to reuse them), and the e-shaft looks good. But, the irons are very questionable. The center iron is trash for sure, it either overheated or froze which cracked the hell out of the inside part where the oil would sit with coolant below it. And all of the irons have some minor pitting on them. The pitting is hard to spot, but its still there. I can drag a sharp object across the surface of the iron and it will catch on the pit marks.

So what are my options here? Should I try to buy some used irons and do a rebuild or should I just go all out and get a Mazda reman?

Thanks.

 

If the engine was overheated which blew a coolant seal then you need to check the housings and whatever plates look good for warpage. About the sharp edge across the plates and catching, its basically no good, you need to relap it or buy a used one. I personally havent heard to much good news about remans, I would see what parts are deff needed for the rebuild and compare the difference in price for a reman over a rebuild.

 

If it blew a coolant seal and sat for a decade - the motor is junk. The entire thing...

The rust that would have formed after 8 years of sitting with coolant in it would trash everything in there aside from a few front cover items and perhaps the e-shaft.

I would at least replace the irons with used ones and spec everything out if it is as good as you say it is.....

 

I thought the same thing before I tore the motor apart. But there is absolutely no rust at all, not that I can see anyway. The rotors, housings, and e-shaft look perfect.

 

Funny thing ClassicAuto, i was gonna type about that too but 87FCTurboII said everything looked good. So i assumed there wasn't rust somehow.

 

Thw PO must have caught the coolant seal leak early when he had a combustion to water jacket leak, but it hadn't started to seep water into the chamber yet.

Lucky you..