junito1

Originaly, I was planning to rebuild my blown up motor.
WHen i Opened her up she had a bad rear and center plates. And also bad rear rotor and housing.

ALl that crap plus a rebuild kit is way more than a JDM engine.

I found a place on the net that sell JDM engines. They are located in california.
Not a bad deal on the s4 engine shipped.

I was thinking of rebuilding it simpply because, it had 3 peice seals. Thats is what failed on my last engine. The apex seal chipped and ruined more than half of my motor.

WOuld it be smart to freshen up the jdm engine or leave it as is?

IF i rebuilt it i would only do apex seals, corner plug, oil o-rings, and front and rear main seals. MAybe upgrade the oil pressure for reliability.

I need this engine to be reliable as it can be.

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

If you're gonna run a JDM engine without rebuilding it, might as well get it with guaranteed good compression from Japan2LA.

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

QFT.

junito1

The place i found says they comp check their engines more than once and I think it has a 3 month warranty.

But i did call them and they would not provide a info sheet with the compression results. A few years ago my friend got his rotary with a info sheet that provided the compression results.

Does Japan2LA provide the results?

Boosted11

iTrader: (11)

Without a doubt rebuild it, they're notorious for breaking down within a year. A rotary engine sitting in a storage container for a couple years doesn't exactly work out so well.

junito1

Thats what i thought...

Well, this place im looking into has free shipping in the U.S. and the engine is only 1000$ plus free shipping=D

Few rebuild seals... = about 1400 +-

SO i have 2 choices. WHich would be more reliable? They would both end up about the same price.

JApan2LA w/ no rebuild or
Rebuilt cheaper JDM. I could streetport it too with cheapo 35$ pineapple template.

duo2999

iTrader: (1)

i definitely would if i had the money to.

Smokems

iTrader: (1)

Well here is my two cents....the only wait to be sure and have a Great quality motor that will last..is have the thing rebuilt properly by a reputable shop....This is what most people on the forum will say. If you dont have the money....dont waste your time nor your energy...cause you dig yourself a hole in which you will end up selling your car. I say do this...get the motor where ever you decide to get it...and have it rebuilt to last. Dont half *** it...you'll be grateful in the end.

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

First off, what place are you getting the engine from? Seems like you think all the core parts will be good. WRONG, what if the motor has a bad rotor and housing? Or even if it has worn housings they are still expensive to replace with used parts. Japan2LA sells good running motors(100+ compression), I have bought from him in the past and the experience was very positive.

coolmike711

iTrader: (7)

I bought a JDM with the plan to rebuild it. I never had the thought that the JDM would be good. So I did it and now the engine is fine. I changed the apex seals and springs, oil rings and front and rear seals.

87 t-66

iTrader: (133)

if you already have a blown core why not send it to someone and have it rebuilt?

WingsofWar

+1 for Japan2LA JDM engines

- If you plan on buying a imported engine from anyone else, i do recommend a rebuild.

- If you believe your current engine is rebuildable id consider that first before looking to get another engine.
....BUT since that is not the case because of the bad rotor housings you speak of..

- Go with Japan2LA's engine and do a drop in with no rebuild. I am pretty sure that you will be pretty pleased with results without spending to much green.

Alex Rodriguez

iTrader: (137)

I love threads like this,

ok, when i used to live in japan , i use to rip and rag on all my cars i mean i blew motors,tires,suspension, and lots of aero parts

when you get one of these cool JDM motors that say 35k miles what do you think the owner who had it before you was doing with it

daily driving her and taking care of all the parts, NOOOOOOOO man i used to buy motors for my 180sx 200-350 bux and thats engine ,tranny, and ecu

rotary engines the same price , i bought a rb20 with "low" miles that was ragged on by a local drifter for my friend and it lasted a month

So i suggest get yourself that JDM motor, also buy a rebuild kit, you already have the motor out and use this to your advantage.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

My old JDM swap motor was a good motor that lasted 2 or 3 years. I ended up rebuilding it just because I wanted more compression (a mistake). I say get the one from Japan2la and have fun with it. Rebuilding a JDM motor is always preferable but not always necessary.

88rx7gxlturbo

iTrader: (2)

Japan2LA man, my S5 has run solid. Both rotors were registering ~120 on a compression gauge. Mine fired up the first time I cranked it over after getting it in, can't beat that.

Banzai-Racing

iTrader: (11)

I would never consider installing a j-spec without rebuilding it first. We get then shipped to us all the time, 9 out of 10 need replacement parts. Sometimes it is obvious, like a blown apex seal destroying a rotor and housing, other times it is rusted coolant seal retaining walls that may last a day or a month before they give out.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

I guess I'd take Banzai-Racings advise being that he does this for a living. Maybe I just had good luck with mine. I do know however that Japan2la knows his stuff about rotaries and checks them out first (as a rotor head). Most of the Jspec dealers don't know enough, if anything, about a rotary to even give it a correct compression test. Banzai is right and he has the most experiance with them I'm sure, but I'm not sure where he gets his jspec engines.

Rob XX 7

iTrader: (8)

definitly, definitly rebuild if you want a engine that will run like new and your going to keep the car.

I bought my engine from a friend and his car seemed to run absolutely perfect. When we took the engine apart the housings had some scores in them and one rotor had a slight chip- I might have been able to get away with it but I chose not to because I wanted a car that would run like it was brand new.

Point is that engine I KNOW ran good. Compression tests dont always tell the story, between the 2 motors you have im sure you can salvage one awesome motor and keep the rest of the parts for spares or even sell some of them to offset the costs.

BTW- I sold 3 dozen or so JPEC motors, they were either good right away or bad, there was really no in between with them. Later down the road its always hard to say how long a engine would last because most people start modifying them and dont have a proper tune or set up anyhow.

finishline

iTrader: (13)

yes. why? cuz my motor blew when i got it.

otherwise, i'd take maczpayne's advice.

junito1

****. This is hard. THe price coming to my head seems close enough to do a vg30et swap.

NinjaGUYdan

I would be down to run a JDM motor (no rebuild) if it had a good comp check from a MAZDA compression tester only!!! Need to check each pulse, not just he chamber. #'s like 100 or 120 don't mean a damn thing. I want 9.5:1 per side of the rotor. You can't really tell if a side seal or apex is gone with piston type testers.

junito1

japan2la might use a mazda comp tester.

WingsofWar

oh please don't tell me you were serious about considering that swap.

junito1

I used to own a 86 turbo z. It ran like a champ and never let me down.

NinjaGUYdan

Then you got lucky! I hate VG motors, dual or single cam. Sorry just personal opinion.