I recently bought a REW motor, and I plan to keep the turbos sequential and drop it in my 1st gen Rx7. Because its hard to know the exact condition of a motor from the outside, I started taking it down. I have the intake and exhaust completely off. when I looked at the rotor through the exhaust port, it looked like there was some rust. However I wiped it with a rag, and it came right off, so perhaps thats just surface rust or even really old oil. I got the rotors pretty clean with some parts cleaner and a couple rags. It has been sitting for a couple years apparantly with only 18k on it.

My question is what should happen when you spin the flywheel by hand?

Should it hiss out of the spark plug holes every time an apex seal passes it?
Im only getting a hissing sound on the front rotor only some of the time. I hooked up a compression gauge and it stayed on 0. I am definately spinning the engine the correct way.

What I think is happening is that the apex springs arent pushing the seals out far enough, causing them to not seal. Im thinking about spraying them with some penetrant and seeing if I cant work them loose.

Any Ideas? What do you thinks going on?

 

And does anyone know the factory spec for the turbo shaft runout (axial play) I cant imagine it be over .003" As long as the blades dont scrape the housing it should be ok right?

 

as far as compression goes you wont notice the motor making any compression at all because you need to spin the motor fast enough for it to make compression...around 250rpms...rig an electric starter to the motor and you will get compression...if not then there is the possibility of the seals being stuck

 

the motor must have gotten water in it somehow

 

This is not true, by hand you should be able to hear all three compression chambers at least hiss out the leading spark plug hole while you have the trailing in. However, you will not be able to get a correct compression measurement with the gauge.

Penetrating libricant is not such a good idea; the chemicals in some are corrosive.

A nice little trick to try to loosen up the seals is to use automatic transmission fluid. Pour about a cap-ful in each intake port while slowly turning the engine until you see the ATF coming out of the spark plug holes. You will want to rotate it for a couple minutes if you are doing it by hand in order to spread out the ATF. After you see the ATF coming out of the spark plug holes, stop, and let the motor sit for 24 hours, then do it again and let it sit for another 24. If the seals are only stuck, this may free them up, otherwise you are looking at a teardown. i don't know the freeplay specs for the turbos offhand. A small amount of shaft play up and down is acceptable, it is the in and out play that you do not want. A tiny bit is okay, but if it is "excessive" to your feel, they are junk.

 

You may also want to rub the inside of the housings with your finger, through the exhausts ports. Hopefully they both feel smooth with no grooves.

 

lol, he'll need some of those japanese small fingers for that! You can also try using a mirror to see in the housings

 

Inside of the housings are like brand new
Other than the stuck seals its in really good condition.
I tried the dex (tranny fluid) method as you'd said. After the 1st 24 hours, they were just as stuck, and I havent gotten a chance to try the dex a 2nd time. But I hope itll work.... This will be a miracle if it does they were so stuck.

If not, are any of the seals on the REW reusuable? Such as the side seals? I probally should know better, but why not ask if anythings reusuable? Or am I going to have to find a gasget set if I decide to replace the apex seals? Hopefully someone knows.

Im also debating going for massive power sinse Im tearing the motor apart anyway... As is with the exhaust that came with it, Im thinking it will make 300 at the flywheel. The thing is though I dont have too much $$$... Like better injectors?