what should i do with my rx7?

background: i bought it from a friend of mine back in january 2002 as a decent 91 NA for 1700 dollars. it had hail damage and had actually been given a salvage title for the cost of repairs to fix all the hail damage. not a big deal, my first turboII caught on fire and totalled so i figured i'd buy this nice 91 brave blue one that had some hail dings for a good price.
anyways, the 91 coupe had 140k miles, great compression, all stock, FD wheels w/spacers. just a cracked tail light, 2 dents, and hail dings (not noticeable unless up close) i bought the car, drove it around for a year, it ran a 15.5@88 so it wasn't bad. it was a great car, started every time i turned the key, got better gas mileage than my first turboII, etc... anyways, late last winter, it blew the front rotor while cranking after i got out of work and tried to start it.
i ended up having some extra cash while living at home and working during winter break, so i decided to buy a jspec from fc3s.org and an entire turboII driveline from people on the forum. i got a nice spec stageII kevlar disc clutch, greddy BOV, full 3" custom exhaust, homemade TID, walbro fuel pump, FCD, safc, manual boost controller, etc. and the car was pretty quick. it ran an 8.48@84mph in the 1/8th mile (about a 12.8-12.9 pass in the 1/4) @ 12 lbs on racegas (dont run 12 lbs on pumpgas with stock injectors and stock ECU even with a piggy back, i watched my AFR's with a wideband several times) Well, after a "spirited" drive out with a couple of friends with pretty fast cars (a turbo miata that runs mid 12's, a turbo supra that runs 10's, a slow mr2 turbo , and a slow fwd turbo eclipse) i had drastically low compression numbers on my rear rotor (~40's psi) and low 110's psi on the front rotor all this low compression action with no signs of detonation

so after alot of shitting my pants uncontrollably, crying myself to sleep, blaming myself for buying a used engine, etc. i decided that instead of sending my engine off to have it rebuilt (too much downtime, this is my only car) i decided that i would just go ahead and buy a remanufactured stock ports block. so after ANOTHER engine install, we got the thing running and it had low compression from day 1. i got up to about 1000 miles and it had about 90psi on the front rotor, 85psi rear rotor so i started raising the revs, boosting 3-4 lbs and eventually worked up to 5psi of boost and redlining by 1500 miles. As the car is today, it has about 80psi on the front rotor, 80psi on the rear rotor. the BARE minumum for "acceptable" compression numbers... i paid 1300 dollars for this engine from rotaryworks (it was supposedly an atkins reman) it had a series5 front cover, series5 rotors, series4 rear iron, series4 flywheel (explain that one) and a series4 oil pan...

i just spent 1300 dollars on this engine (that was apparently assembled from spare parts that were lying around the shop) i'm still paying it off btw.. the car runs, it just takes like 6-7 seconds of cranking to get it started in the mornings, and its IMPOSSIBLE to start it when the engine is hot. but nevertheless, it runs and gets me to and from work with 80psi on both rotors.

the car is fine. kinda crappy paint (but acceptable) nice black FD wheels, about to get new tires, tokico illuminas w/eibach prokit springs, etc... i've just been kinda devastated about this whole low compression thing because i thought i was actually spending money on something QUALITY for once buying a reman instead of having my motor rebuilt, and it ended up being twice as shitty.

so what the hell do i do now? sell the car? i cant get anything for it because it has a salvage title and low compression... pay to have the engine rebuilt? i can afford a seal kit, but i probably need higher quality housings, need all new fluids, go through the break in again, etc... i cant afford all of that man. park the car until i get enough money for a QUALITY engine? nope, dont have another daily driver to let the car sit for a month straight... i wish i could just sell this thing and get a nice low mileage s5 turboII, but we all know how rare those are, and how expensive they are when we do find one...

sorry if this post sounds sarcastic and rude or whatever, but the whole rotary thing has just kinda gotten me down lately. all my friends are trying to get me to get a piston car and i keep telling them that rotaries built correctly are strong reliable engines, that i've just kinda had bad luck, but everybody says that. i've just been depressed about my car lately and i need some kind of input as to what i could do... i dont want to give up home on the rx7 yet. help...

 

Cliff notes?

 

LOL!!


Well, without reading it and just recalling his other threads... Recently got a reman engine, was breaking it in and compression never built up very high, its at like 90 something now with the break-in period done. Not running all that great either, I think. He also asked if he should rebuild it again, new rotor housings (too expensive tho), etc.

Now should he sell it, rebuild, or what?

I think that should sum it up well enough, if I'm wrong then he'll correct me.

 

cliff notes:
blew jspec engine
installed "atkins reman" engine
engine was shitty
low compression after break-in
no monies to get a REAL rebuild since i already got ripped off...

 

Return the motor to Atkins!

 

damn man that really sucks, suggest you just keep the car for now, save up some money, dont push the car too much and when you can, start parting the car out and get a new one or something dunno though, just my 2cents

 

Rotary Works give you any type of warranty or something. Dude! you haven't even payed it off and it's running like that, take that **** back or give rotary works a really really pissed of phone call. They probably knew that engine was messed up before they sold it to you, you could have just gotten a rebuild for those 1300 man...TAKE THAT **** BACK!.

 

Jacob, we all go through this stage at some point in our lives, you gotta "tough it out". You've got first hand experience with the thrill of driving a rotary, so you'll only regret it if you sell the car, and you'll be thinking "what if..." for years to come. Some day you'll look back on this as an event that made you stronger. I don't know how much you've conversed with Rotaryworks, but letting them know that you have the "ears" of 45,000+ forum members and could put a hell of a dent in their business might get them off their *** & do something for ya, warranty or not (or not- some businesses just don't care).

I know there are some good people on this forum that will help you any way they can, maybe somebody's got some decent "used" housings they can let go for a fellow "rotorite" (mine are pretty well shot after 186,000 miles- I wouldn't even use 'em on my lawnmower...)

If you're using premix, add a little bit more to each tankful. At about the 90:1 mark & below, there will be "extra" in the housings from the combustion process that might help your compression for now (keep in mind your crankcase oil supply will grow, however ). And, of course, your compression will (should) get better as you drive it more. Take a long road trip this weekend to relax and rejuvinate yourself while enjoying the car, and remember, you've got the best 2nd gen rotary minds in the world a couple of keystrokes away...

 

Tool up and rebuild it yourself.

 

I would definitely talk to the builder of the engine. Theres no point in getting screwed over when you have a chance to make it right.

 

did you say the motor was rebuilt?

was it broken in>? im confused.. anyhow it sounds like youve got alot of motors sitting around.. maybe you should part out housings and rotors for other people? make some bucks//!?

 

Rotaryworks APPARENTLY is no longer around. Shane Smith is no longer a regisetred EBAY user under the name "ROTARYWORKS". There are several threads in Good guy/bad guy about people trying to contact him.

I would sent the JSPEC block down to Kevin at RR and have him build it while you still drive the car.

If you want to drive your car hard (Drag Race) you need to expect this kind of crap. If you cant handle it financially you can:

1. Sell the car and cut your losses. By an accord to drive
2. buy a daily driver and park the 7 until you can fix it

 

Lesson learned: rebuild ur own motors from now on.

 

Was this a brand new Reman for $1300?
I would expect that price for a used reman.

Maybe it had been stored for a while.
Before you hit the point of no return, try the good old ATF trick.

I worked in about 4 oz of MMO two days before I installed in the J-spec I got from Shane.
It starts quick & purrs like a kitten.

 

atf? i thought this only builds compression just for that moment until its burned out...so its not a solution. Also used to get rid of carbon diposits and i hear it destroys seals.

 

I'm not talking about the unflooding issue.

If a rotary has been sitting or stored , the seal springs & seals can get gummed up or stuck.
The deal with ATF or MMO is the the high detergent additive.

 

thats what i said....it gets rid of carbon deposits.

 

the atf treatment restores compression if caused by carbon deposits, so yes it is a solution. It really can't hurt to try anyway.

 

when i said no solution, i was referring to flooding.
the solution to flooding would be to find out why its flooding...but this is not the case so it doesnt matter.

 

Honestly if you get rid of it I think you will 1) lose money and 2) be happy for awhile, with less stress in your life. Then when you get itchy to get another project.. you'll wish you kept it.

 

In my opinion, part it out. You'll make more money, and like it or not, there is no strong reliable rotary, thats pretty much a pipe dream. My car had 85k miles on a stock motor, 100psi on either rotor. It chipped all 3 seals on the rear rotor one day,and the only explination I can come up with is that I was low on fuel and starved the pickup. This was on a TII with a greddy FMIC, a walbro 255, Microtech, 4x720cc injectors and the STOCK turbo at 9psi..... I am very close to parting out my 1989 80k Mile TII, I am going to rebuild the motor this once, on more time and the car will either 1) get parted or 2) get a carbed 383 put into it.

That comes to my second point...don't modify your daily driver. It just becomes a hassle

 

I question the origin here as Atkins cheapest turbo engine is 2100 not 1300. Cheapest NA is 1700.

 

No, it doesn't. ATF does not dissolve carbon. It's been proven. I even tried it myself by putting a rotor face covered in carbon in a pool of ATF. After two weeks, there was no difference...

As to the original post, I soft of a have a hard time believing that it was a true "Atkins" engine. I can't imagine Dave Atkins would build an engine out of spare parts, then sell it.

I like the idea of parting the engine, then putting the money into buying a J-spec from a vendor that will stand behind their product.

 

yeah. i've talked to shane a couple times about this situation and he said that they would do me a "favor" by offering to rebuild it and only charge me for parts. so basically i have no warranty and i'm kinda fucked into paying another 600 dollars for a whole new seal kit...
its been a few days since i talked to him when he said he'd reply back to my email with prices for this rebuild and stuff so i'm not expecting a reply anymore.

i have a local rotary engine builder guy who does quality work (happens to be a good friend) and he said he'd rebuild it for no labor since i needed some help in the rotary world, but i'm still kinda stiffed with having to buy a whole new seal kit after spending 1300 dollars...

 

Aaron, looks like you hit the trifecta in my way of thinking.