Hey everybody, I plan on buying an RX7 very soon. It will come with a MAZDA remanufactured rotary 13b still in the crate. Should I expect quality parts used in the rebuild? Its directly from mazda but who knows.. Would sitting in a crate for a few years affect the engine at all? When I take the old engine out and put the crate engine in, what would I need to carry over? intercooler etc.. Is it as easy as dropping motor in and hooking up hoses and all the electrical? Anything else I should know? Thanks in advance!

 

Its most likely just the short block, you will need to pull the whole engine out and strip it down and put those parts on the new block, then reinstall. the teardown is like this
http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n..._teardown.html
And the removal
http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...e_removal.html

 

I believe it is actually the entire engine. This will be from a good friend who has worked specificlly on mazdas for many years. Weve talked about it a bit seeing as I wont be purchasing for a few months at least. I am just trying to gather all the information I can from as many sources as I can. Its quite a large crate with a tag saying Mazda Remanufactured Rotary Engine.. he has said nothing about it being just the short block. I will double check with him on that though!

 

So it is just the block, maybe that was silly thinking on my part. So basically the intake manifold, exhaust manifold, turbo, oil filler and sensor and pully accessories need to be swapped? All the internals will be taken care of?

 

Yes

 

mazda doesn't sell long blocks

 

I've heard bad things about the Mazda reman spec's, as in they have been known to reuse parts whose condition is questionable. Do a search on it. I'll never personally order a Mazda reman for other reasons as well. I like to build my own ****, I know exactly what's there and know it's done right, and if it's not I have only myself to blame but I can still fix it.

I don't think sitting in a crate for a while would be much of an issue as long as it was assembled properly, which hopefully would be the case, especially if it was a motor assembled only to sit on the shelf waiting to be sold. Without any lubrication or anything else to seal the surfaces from moisture the motor could rust. If it's a sweet deal even without the motor maybe you should consider tearing down the short block, inspecting it, then reassembling. If anything looks amiss (and do your research thoroughly so you know what to look for) then you can replace it. Since it sounds like this motor has never been started you might be able to tear it down then reuse all the seals. Typically with a rebuild of a motor that's run at all you should at a minimum replace the coolant seals and the other soft seals (there are a number of smaller soft seals throughout the block), so I don't know if you'd need to replace anything if nothing was broken. When I built my motor I replaced all the seals using a full kit from Atkins rotary (except I used Mazda apex seals and I think two old oil control rings because two new ones BROKE upon installation... I was a bit miffed about that, but I've put like 10,000 miles on my motor and it doesn't seem to suffer at all from that. Those can usually be reused anyway, just the actual seals need replaced).

 

Hmm yes it may be a good idea to tear it down and inspect it. Its much better to know whats goin on inside than to just cross my fingers and hope for the best.. I will have about a year until I can get it on the road which is when I plan to put in the motor, suspension, and remove emission components. after a car is 25 years old emissions are no longer required so the timing will be good.

I am not to familiar with rotary which is why I am trying to learn all I can right now, but I plan on replacing just about every hose while the motor is being put in. Is there anything else I should replace while the motor is out even if it doesnt NEED to be replaced? I would like to replace all the suspension components..then with a fresh motor and hoses I feel I should be good to go for a long while. Any information is welcome, I am a sponge right now

 

It sounds like your headed in the right direction but one thing you should know is its only good untill the next time it breaks.... not for a ¨long while¨. Your would be wasting money replacing parts that, like you said, might not even need to. Your better off grabbing a manual and testing the parts and replacing as needed. It will get very expensive if you choose to just replace everything. A nice touch may be some stainless lines but really it all depends if your going for tonnes of power or just looks or whatever it may be, different for every situation. I would get the body in good shape and spray engine bay while my motor was out and making sure everything is in good condition and clean.

 

That actually makes the most sense, as appealing as replacing EVERYTHING sounds, well I will be on a budget and that is not practical. I am going for completely STOCK. No extra power, nothing. I eventually want a mint condition, stock RX7. Replacing all hoses is a must, and suspension. Now that you mention it everything will be cleaned. The body only has 90,000 on it and there is not a bit of rust. Body will be last, first I would like everything mechanically sound and functioning properly. A nice black paint job is in the future for sure..I will be doing this the correct way from the beginning. No half a$$ anything! Would it be worth it to buy new fuel injectors? Does that come with the Reman? Would just having them cleaned be enough you think?

My next situation is figuring out all the fluids. Everything is going to be flushed and replaced obviously, even down to the diff. fluid. I want to use the highest quality fluids.. I have read about mixing two stroke oil with regular oil? I know I will use synthetic oil as I have read enough to see it will not harm the engine if HIGH quality is used. Would royal purple be ok? What fluids are recommended for everything else?

I will be buying a Haynes Manual as well. It will be a little while before I have this car but I want to have things as planned out as possible. Fortunatly the car isn't going anywhere just for me so I have some time. I am no mechanic unfortunatly and my goal is to have ALL the parts I plan on putting into the RX and have it all installed in one shot. There are a few very reputable auto shops around here, specifally for performance cars. I am going to have to pay some serious loot I'm sure but I do not have the skill or knowledge to do the work.. This may be a worthless question but hopefully has done something similar. What do you think a shop would charge to put a new motor in?

 

If you have your fuel injectors cleaned at a reputable place they will test the injectors before and after and supply a flow chart depicting the change if any. This should give you a good handle on whether they are usable or not.

 

Good to know! Thanks

 

it all depends what shop does it for you but you would be better off doing it yourself as any shop charges too much imo its not hard just keep track of what you do... like a paint by numbers if you have to... just colour and number coat, or take lots of photos.. and clean up your f-ing grounds while your at it.... check aaroncake.net for the grounding, he has a great writeup everyone who owns a seven should read... if you search users like HAILERS, Icemark, aaroncake and Karack they always have something wise to say about the car... really you need to read about it more then work on it. Sevens can be very depressing at times

 

Yes indeed, I have certainly read alot of stories filled with frustration haha fortunatly my friend who I am buying the car from is a very skilled, experienced mechanic who knows everything about mazda.. I plan on having him assist, or er well do most of the odd things. Ill stand in the background and pretend I know what he is doing

I have been on aaroncake's website, its very helpful. I am feeling much more prepared for the potention problems. There seems to be a TON of information on this site, and there is also 20+ years of knowledge. Its not like I am buying a 7 with 140,000 miles on it, so I am not tooo worried. I am not stupid however, and I do plan for, well, unplanned problems.

I am excited about owning an rx7!! Ill be taking a loss with the power I am used to, but cmon, an RX is one bad *** car