I'm trying to find a rebuildable 13bt (turbo) engine , what's the usual price you should pay for a rebuildable engine , and how many miles , what kind of condition should i be looking for?

Ive found a few so far around 300-400.

One junkyard engine has 157,000 miles and comes from a wrecked vehicle, not sure if it comes with accessories or just shortblock, could have been running when it was brought there, if so i would assume the internals are all in okay condition, just the hard seals are worn out, and hopefully it has no coolant seal issues.

Another I've found on here a guy is asking 400 for the shortblock with 130k miles, came out of non running vehicle, reason it didnt run is unknown, if it did run i'd hope everything is still in good condition.

I'm trying to find something good for a first rebuild that will last me a few years after it's put into the car, i'd think it's better to stay away from engine that have blown coolant seals as the engines internals could be very rusted up and warped, but

i could always get lucky or i could get unlucky with what i get because many of the sellers don't know what went wrong with the engine, or the condition of the internals.

I'm trying to do some shopping around to find the best deal for my money.

 

This is a great thread for me, I'm curious too. Im going to be selling the engine out of my parts car soon.

It really depends on condition and mileage. When I sell parts I normally look for comparables and then give prices based on what I've found.
To price an engine, I'd see what it parts out for, then put together a package price since I won't have to break it down.

Another thing is long block or short block, what are you looking at?

 

Always remember to haggle people some on expensive items. You can normally save a little bit, the worst they'll say is no.

 

The car you're parting out and selling a motor from isnt a rebuildable t2 engine is it by chance ? lol im trying to find a shortblock for 150-250 if i can, i can go up as high as like 400.

I really dont think it's worth that much (400) unless its in really good condition (only low compression/nothing blown), as when rebuilding a motor youll end up spending alot of money replacing bad parts (rotor/side housings/rotor housings) and could end up having to replace half the major parts of the engine, and if you've got a good condition rebuildable block the only thing you should have to replace is the apex seals and all the other wearable seals etc, but with a blown one youll probably have to replace a housing and rotor more than likely which will probably run like 200 bucks or more, so theres not much point in paying 400 bucks for something if you're having to spend another $200+ to replace the bad parts.

 

So the one i found at junkyard with 157,000 miles is $250 not sure what it comes with, but it seems like a good deal if it's rebuildable.

 

I bought a complete T2 with a rusty body and a blown engine. Everything was stock and unmolested and the PO said it ran rough when he parked it. I was too ignorant and excited to bother checking it out or looking around for a better deal and ended up spending a couple thousand on engine parts just to build the short block. The only part of the stock engine that I ended up using was the e-shaft.

Moral of the story? Be overly picky and take your time looking for an engine. DO NOT just jump on the first one you find without doing everything you can to guarantee it is a good rebuild candidate (looking in exhaust ports, turning the engine over etc.). good luck!

 

If I had a junk engine... blown, I'd give it away.

I cant stand when I hear someone want 300 dollars for a broken piece of ****. I bought a running one for 125. You can buy a running FC for 1500 bucks. What makes you think the engines are worth that much?!

 

Best condition engine would be low compression, but at that point you're buying a running engine and prices it above what you would pay for a blown one.

Ideal case when buying a blown engine would be one with bad oil control rings. Lots of extra lube and no hard part failure. Most parts will probably be reusable.

Coolant seal O-ring failure is also good if it doesn't sit for too long. But you won't know if it's the soft seal or the iron that has failed until you open it up. Irons are pretty cheap to repair or replace.

Apex seal failure typically damages the housing and rotor. So I'd assume half of the engine isn't usable at that point.

Personally, if it was between buying an unknown blown engine and a junkyard engine, I'd take the junkyard one. I am a gambling man, though. Another way to look at it is to price a good running turbo engine, subtract the normal rebuild components and whatever else you may need to buy based on the condition of the blown block you're buying.

 

I'm going to go there and see if he'll take 200 bucks, of course i'm going to spin it over and see if it sounds like it has decent compression and check the coolant etc (assuming its still in the car).

They said its been sitting there for a while, im hoping whoever brought it there just crashed their car (since they said it was wrecked), and was still in running order..which means everything should be still in good condition...that is unless it was running on blown coolant seals, which is possible.

 

typically you can buy good condition irons and housings for $100EA so i would say a good condition complete used engine should be worth at least $500

 

it depends on the budget and goals you have.

option1; if you want big HP, you really should be buying rotor housings, and probably irons, and maybe rotors. at that point the core motor just needs an eshaft and front cover....

option 2; if you wanted the cheapest thing ever, i think a JDM/running used engine would be good, pull it apart, measure everything and replace what's needed. JDM engine is $1000+ $500 in parts.

an unknown core is a gamble, it might end up like the option 1 or option 2 there is no good way to tell, but it does take you time to pull it apart and look...

option 4 is a for sure blown apex seal, or oil problem, good chance most of the engine is useless junk.

i've done all three ways, option 1 runs best hands down. option 2 usually works well, #4 is expensive (its basically option 1 plus the cost of the core).

 

I lucked out and purchased a really good t2 s5 core for 250 bucks, It was in perfect condition. I only bought it because I need an eshaft and rotor housing which had very little wear on it. Engine was used as a generator.

 

well if any you guys know anyone with a good core hit me up, ive been searching, turbo rotaries arent easy to find, and most are s4 , s5 is pretty rare to find.

 

Step 1: what's the compression?

By rebuildable, you mean? I'm sketched out about gambles now. An engine with trash irons and housings can make your rebuild pricey. I'd want a used engine with low compression to be disassembled before offering more than little for it.

 

How do you know its rebuildable???

Mine was running,no overheat, no oil usage. It was hard to start hot, but it always was since it was installed in '97, 73,000 miles on this block...only the rotors were re-usable. I ended up with 5 replaced housings and e shaft. I replaced the rotors anyway with S5 units.

$5k later....

 

i guess you just really got unlucky, my last rx7 the engine only needed and iron, it had a small hole in the coolant jacket.

 

im picking up a engine s4 tII for 250 tommorow with 157k miles, wish me luck comes with everything on block other than turbo im pretty sure (doubt comes with wiring or ecu)

 

i just picked it up, looks like it needs a bit of cleaning but it came with all the intake manifolds, flywheel, ,fuel injectors, oil pan, omp, crank angle sensor, and water pump assembly as well as some motor mounts.

157k miles, guess it came out of a vehicle with hail damage that was apparently pink from what they said, lol.

Im hoping most of it is reuseable, i havent really had much of a look at the apex seals from the side or anything, really took most of the day driving and having to take it down to a close-to shortblock.

The exhaust ports both look like they were pretty much burning evenly, havent really looked at much else, one of the rotor look like it had carbon buildup on it.

Im hoping it still has good compression and just needs a good cleaning of all the internal parts.

Wish me luck, i'll post pics of my progress disassembing and rebuilding the motor in a new thread i'll make later.

For now heres a few pics of it in my trunk lol.

 

Most of the junkyard engine internals are not reusable. There is no point in buying the whole engine if it has over 100k. The housings are usually worn beyond use. I take engines apart at the junk yard, inspect the internals, and take what I need....which is usually nothing because it's all garbage and that's why it's sitting in a junkyard.

If there's no visible body damage on a junkyard RX-7 then the engine is probably toast.

I stick a finger in the exhaust ports and feel for deep scratches. If I find some I get excited because half the engine might be within specs.

 

well hopefully mine isnt too bad but we'll see, what i need to do is figure out how to take the block apart the right way, main concern being the flywheel bolt and crank bolt, other than that the studs going through the motor (im not sure if u need to take them out in a certain order or if it doesnt matter. (i'll have to look this up)

i just really want to rebuild a rotary engine, so im hoping this engine has a decent amount of parts i can use for rebuild.

my last engine i had was an n/a it was rebuilt and had 146k on it and everything was reusable other than an other, but i do question the quality of the parts because the engine was overheated (one iron had to be replaced it had a hole in the coolant tract)

 

The price was right in my opinion. Low enough where even if it don't run, you'll have some spare parts. Accessories are probably all good, and if you get housing or any internals that are good...

 

yeah i just need an alternator , i'd like to do away with the power steering, a/c, and air pump, as well as the rats nest/emission rack, none of it is really completely necesssary in my opinion.

The air pump might be needed for emissions but im planning on registering the car in tennesee , where no inspection of any kind is needed(safety or emissions).

My goal is to make the engine as near stock as possible for when its first startup, trying to keep it conservative and modded correctly to handle whatever kind of boost its running, as i know the turbo has a fuel cut mechanism at a certain amount of boost, and bigger exhausts with more flow increasing boost levels will cause this, i'll probably end up buying a fuel cut defender/boost controller and installing that , just because it seems like NEED TO OWN items if u own a turboed rotary, you'd just be stupid not to have them , or at least something with both built into it that is piggybacked onto your ecu, which is probably really pricey.

A decent quality manual boost controller and a hks fuel defender is what i'd probably get.