Today I bought an 87 non-turbo for $250. The body is good, only 1 dent, and the front and rear bumper covers need to be replaced. The interior is half apart, but its all there. With 170k I'm not even going to attempt starting it. Its got some damn nice rims on it, one of them has a nasty dent but overall pretty good shape.

After I had already paid for the car, and got there to tow it away, I had a real scare. We were rolling it back, and after about 2 feet it was like someone slammed on the brakes. It wouldn't budge another inch. So then I jacked up the back end to see if the rear end was blown out, but everything was turning smoothly. So then my thoughts turned to the tranny, so I had my bud hold on to a wheel while I turned the other one, and the driveshaft turned nice and easily. I was totally puzzled. So I said f it, backed the truck up, hooked up the rope, and tried pullin her. HAHA! Front brakes were so rusted they were completely siezed. It was just draggin the front wheels. What a relief!

Anyway, getting to the point. My first objective for the car is getting a fresh engine in her, plus a clutch kit. After that I can drive it to find out about any other problems, or I might just discover some while doing the swap. I used to own an 86, and I removed the whole tranny to replace the clutch so I'm fairly familiar with where things are. The tranny was so light I didn't even need a jack, did it with my bare hands, and I'm only a 150lb guy!

Here's the Q's:

1. Can ya snake out the engine and tranny all in one without too much trouble?

2. Will I need any special tools to do it? (torque wrench is a given)

3. What other things, besides motor mounts, do I really need to think about replacing while its out?

4. Whats a good cleaning agent that is safe to use on engine parts and the engine bay? (Link if you can plz)

5. *****WHERE DID YOU BUY YOUR ENGINE ONLINE AND WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE SELLER?*****

Have any of you bought from Atkins Rotary? If so, how'd it go? Their prices are just what I had in mind, but I could go more if they're no good. I'd love to hear any tips from you guys out there who've been through all this. I want to be totally prepared when it comes time to do the job next month. Even things like the socket sizes I'll need would be greatly appreciated. ANYTHING If ya answer to those questions above, please just number the answer accordingly. Many thanks.


P.S. Pics very soon! I'm going to setup both a forum thread and a site with plenty of pics showing the progress of the project.

 

<A href="www.revolutionrotary.com">RevolutionRotary</A> has some for about the same as Atkins too if you're looking for reman engines. if you're looking for used <A href='www.fc3s.org">FC3S</A> has some at a good deal...that's where i got mine....

 

HTML is doesn't work here bro, I've fixed the links for others if needed. You had no trouble with getting yours from FC3S? Prompt delivery? How long ago did you buy it?

Links:
RevolutionRotary

FC3S

 

i had no prob...and got it back in dec. of 2001...ordered it right before x-mas and it got here about 4 days later (then again i only live like 400 miles from where it was coming from). if you're interested, i'd recommend you talking to joe at fc3s...he was a great help...

 

Great thanks man, I'll call him up. Now how's about some info on the install eh?

 

my dad and i recently did an engine swap on my car...recently being less than 2 weeks. here's a list of the things i replaced while the engine an trans were out (yes, we pulled them out together...it wasn't too hard with a cherry picker):

- motor mounts
- trans mounts
- oil injector lines
- all coolant hoses
- all vacuum hoses replaced with silicone
- sent injectors out to be cleaned
- alt belt
- clutch
- some of the fuel lines
- primary fuel rail (pulsation dampner's built in to the 91's)

i think that was it...some stuff didn't need replacing, but i figured with the motor/trans out, why not do it now where it's easy to reach everything instead of waiting for it to fail down the road.

for special tools, we needed a clutch alignment tool.

have fun, it was definately a worth while experience to swap the engine (i'd never done it, my dad's pulled several before).

i also bought my engine from pineapple racing (www.pineappleracing.com). i recomend them and when it comes time to replace my engine in the future, i'll definately look to them again.

john

 

Hey thanks selanne. This is great stuff guys, but keep it comin!

 

Yeah I got my cosmo jspec from Dave at www.fc3s.org I shopped around EVERYWHERE and they were by far the best bang for the buck, with a freaking 30 day warranty even. NO ONE gives a warranty on a used rotary

 

Man it all depends on what your looking for.If your on a budget then those guys are great.I've talked to all of them and they seem to know their ****.The only problem is that most use old rotors and housing.If you want all new parts you can either get one from the dealership which you can't get street ported .When my engine goes south I'm going with pineappleracing.com this guy is great.He replaces everything and also upgrades the oil lines and best of all he gives you a 3-5 year warr.

 

Thanks for the link, bit pricey but could be worth it? Keep the info comin on the installing end of it too guys, really need the help here.

 

^

 

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