Buddy, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with the road you're going down, there are no guarantees in life. I don't care WHO builds your engine, WHO engineers your setup, and WHO tunes it. Turbo rotaries are pretty sensitive once you start pushing them quite hard, and even a very experienced guy can get bitten in the ***. There aren't a lot of high-power guys in this section of the boards, but you can ask the modified FD crew (of whom there are probably more of than us)...it's not uncommon, when you're pushing 350+, to replace engines yearly or bi-yearly.

I've even done a few rebuilds of such setups. A 425rwhp FD was brought to me, previously built and setup by rick's rotary in CA (a very respected shop out west). Had 7,000 miles on the new engine, and needed a rebuild. No blown seals(detonation), just flattened/worn seals leading to low compression all around.

I just took in a core from a guy over in Charlotte who made 400+ (I think) on a mild sp'd block with 3mm seals, lasted about 4000 miles before he broke the rear iron dowel landing and 2 side seals.

There was even a local guy a while back with a 350rwhp FC that went through something like 6 engines in 4 or 5 years I think..he was running the haltech, large single turbo, you name it, he did everything "right". HE was shipping the car to various tuners for engine build/installation/tuning, and it would never hold together, sometimes blowing up on teh dyno (RP), sometimes right after it returned, or just a few thousand miles later. HE finally got so pissed when his last motor (marvelspeed) let go after 4000 miles that he sold all the aftermarket goodies and parted the car out.

I'm not trying to scare you off from this, nor am I saying it can't be done. I am saying that regardless of money spent or who does the build, you can and probably will have problems. IF you think you have issues now, just WAIT until you get highly modded. I will say that most builders will not offer a warranty on any engine built to highly modded/race specs. Pineapple was the only builder I knew of with an exceptional warranty, but they won't even honor it properly 2 months/1500 miles after the sale, much less a year or 2 of hard abuse (see the "waiting on a motor from pineapple" thread in the FD section or search posts here from banzaitoyota).

Oh, and I'm not saying all this to try and lure your business in. IF you want me to build you an engine, fine, if you want my recommendation on where to go, I can do that too. I can build just about anything you want within reason, but with parts cost being what it is these days (new housings and such) you won't save a whole lot...I can still probably beat most other prices for the same thing though. I just wanted to let you know that it is a big misconception that if you spend the money and take the time to "do it right" you wont have any problems and will have a bulletproof setup...it just doesnt happen that way most of the time.

 

BDC is his forum name, PM him. HE does EXCELLENT port work, and I could only imagine he does excellent engine builds too. He has several 350+rwhp FC's floating around that he can take credit for.

Check out some pics and stuff on his page...

bdc.cyberosity.com

 

hey man yeah thats me thats been posting about engine problems with the "atkins reman" however i bought the engine through rotaryworks at a discounted price. they only had the engine through some deal they had worked out with a customer several months prior so the engine sat there for a while before i got it. i'm nto even entirely sure that it REALLY came from atkins in the first place..

so please dont think bad things of atkins just because of what i posted. i bought this engine 3rd party so they really have nothing to do with it. i have heard nothing but great things about atkins and i'd have them rebuild my engine if i had the money

 

Thanks Kevin and Jacob for your input. I will probably give ya a call Kevin or send ya a Email after a bit. I still need to round the $ up for a build which honestly probably wont be for a few months. The reason I posted this thread is because at the moment I do not have the $ needed right now for a build. I won't have it for a few months. So I figured I would see what people are running for motos and where they had em built. I hate to waste peoples time so I figure why start hasseling the builders themselves right now. I will contact them when I have the $, and am serious. Another reason I need new housings is because my core motor I will be sending is not the motor currently in my car. The motor I will be sending in is a motor that had water freeze in it. So I m positive the housings are shot. If you have a rough idea on a motor with new housings and 3mm seals I would be interested in estimate Kevin. Like I said though I am a few months out from comming up with the funds.
Also I know that the current motor going was my fault, I did not retard the timing and had some detonation issues, but damn did it go. LOL

 

I can vouch for Kevin doing A+ work and keeps you well informed on the state of the engine Plus he stands by his work.

From when I first contacted BDC he seems to have some what of guidelines for his porting. I'm sure he doesn't want to tarnish his reputation by putting out high performance motors but the owner not being able to probably support the motors need and blowing hense giving him a bad name.

 

Brian does good honest work, im not sure any engine builder can actually, warranty a race engine besides the failure on build-up, and starting and such, beyond break-in and tuning, its all your responsibility i think, heres a fine example of a BDC engine, which is mine,

 

Dang that is a nice motor! and turbo . Ya I don't blame any motor for blowing when being highly modded. I do not even really expect it to be warranted. What I do expect is what I pay for. For example if I order 3mm seals I expect them, if I order a street port I expect it. I expect the engine to run good and strong until its been pushed beyond it's limits. If I buy a motor with 3mm seals and etc and it lasts 1 yr I will go back to J-specs as they are dirt cheap. The engine I belive I just ruined is a Jspec and it was a great motor until I started putting some decent mods on and F'd up a bit on the tuning. I should have retarded the timing and did not. Oh well lesson learned. Ya I am gonna race the car and it is gonna see some Rs and boost. To me thats what the 7 is about. If I did not wanna do this I would buy a Miata or NA RX. So if I cannot buy a built motor to last a few years especially since I only drive it in the summer, then I see Jspecs as the way to go. For one they are already broke in . I see the Jspecs get such negative remarks but mine was great it did not leak or smoke and ran like a top. So if I cannot get a built motor to give me better longevity than a Jspec I see no advantage. I bought my last one from Rotary Works and was very pleased. The motor was what he said for it to be. He also told me I would have no coolant/oil seal issues which it did not. I just thought I would try a built motor once to see how it compares to a J-spec. If it does no better for my application than in my eyes the Jspec really is a Junk Yard Jewel! I will just keep buying them from Rotary Works since they have treated me fair so far. It is funny how I always hear how Jspecs are nothing more than a core and so on, but now lately I have not been hearing to much more promising things about built motors. Well anyway I will try a built motor so I can see for myself and then can make future decisions based on what happens with the built motor.