Maple Racing is a rotary focused shop located in Houston TX. I'm curious if any members here have had any first hand experiences with their work and/or service that they would be willing to share some comments on. I'm considering them for an engine build.

 

I'm curious to hear about this as well. I've heard pretty good things here in Houston but no direct experience.

 

way back then, I’d have likely been offended if some older guy said I looked too young for the job … today I’d agree.

I’m assuming you already scoured the anti-social media sites …
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I don't understand that first sentence.

And yes, I've searched around the internetisphere. Maple Racing doesn't have much of an online presence outside of their IG account. I've emailed and spoken on the phone with the owner. I like what I've seen and heard. But I'm just curious if anyone here has any actual first hand experience that they'd be willing to share.

 

you didn’t see the vid clip on teh insta-ham account? If it’s still too oblique of a reference then send me a pm.

why not try to tackle it yourself along with using some outside services of longer-standing, established reputation/experience?
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Honestly, I would really like to tackle it myself. The two things stopping me from doing that are a handful of tools and an ample supply of confidence. Obviously there are numerous resources out there to use as a guide and while the general instruction is pretty straight forward, it really seems like the devil is in the details with quality engine assembly and I don't know of a resource that really goes into the nuance. Reinforcing that idea, I've never heard of someone who's gone down the path of engine assembly and still does it the same way as when they started. Everyone seems to learn something invaluable in the process that apparently doesn't translate well into instructional material. And I really want to confidently push this motor because enjoying the car is really the end goal.

But since we're on the topic, a few questions for you..
• Do you know of/have a resource you'd recommend for instruction on engine disassembly and reassembly?
• Can you say which of the longer standing vendors/service providers you would recommend for engine modifications such as balancing and side clearancing rotors and making oiling modifications? In theory I guess I could just use Maple Racing for this part if I confidently felt I could handle the rest. I don't really want to be shipping engine parts across the country if I can avoid it.

 

@TeamRX8 curious if you've got some wisdom you can share on the above?

 

4-part vid series rebuilding an S6 engine here that does a good job going over the basics imo

https://www.youtube.com/@FreakyGamerOfficial/videos
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Will take a look, thank you!

 

Back in 2023 a Houston FD owner came to me to tune his RX-7. He had owned the car for a very short time and did not know much about it..
He told me Maple Racing did a control hose simplification for his stock twins. It had a bad idle and poor injector transition.
Ran the map through FC-Edit and I adjusted the TB and fixed the idle problem. Went for a wide-band and knock log.

It had the most noisy rear suspension and would not go over about 7 psi boost. The car was in bad condition.
Checking the control system, no hoses were going to the turbo control solenoid which is the large actuator for the #2 rotor control gate.
Either Maple messed it up or they did not fix it or he lied.
We stopped right there. I gave him the web location for the manuals and printed out the the stock and simplified seq hose diagrams.

He was a very busy doctor or intern (?) and I never heard back from him.

 

^ That's disappointing to hear. It seems like a lot of shops specialize in highly modified custom builds, but are lost when it comes to troubleshooting the factory setup.

 

The sequential system is very complex and with age many solenoids can be stuck or clogged with oil.
Many Mazda dealerships could not handle stock FDs,
Single turbo or non-seq are so simple in comparison.

 

That would be false information. The client likely didnt inform you that he pulled his intake off 3 times as well as the turbo control solenoid hoses which i mentioned to him thru a phone call after seeing it thru pictures he sent (after his removing the intake). Don't assume I lied and didnt replace the hoses? Silicone vacuum line doesn't come factory. Just making clear.

 

In your anger you glassed over part of my statement.

Read again here: Either Maple messed it up or they did not fix it "or he lied."
I will accept your apology!

 

good afternoon, I'm not upset what so ever. My apologies if the way i typed my response appears anger. I just wanted to clarify that the car had been touched after I initially worked on it.

 

I didn't read any anger in maple's original statement either.
Welcome maple.