azndisgrace

i raced a s4 and almost right after i engaged 3rd gear i heard a boom and i watch my tach go to 0 as the car starts to rumble and bog down.

90k miles on original engine.


i guess this is my chance to add a street port but my mechanic told me that its better to get a mazda reman engine w/o one. i've been planning on makin the car a road//circuit car.. so i dont know what to do.. any advice?

btw: i plan on upgrading the twins later.

ttb

so what exactly happened? who's your mechanic and why did he recommend a reman...i thought remans weren't that great

c00lduke

I've never heard any one say to get a mazda reman unless you are on a tight budget

93redFD

tight budget?? all it is , is rebiult motor.. Sence its from mazda, I think there $4500-$5500. You can have yours rebiult for less.You cant get a "new" motor anymore, unless you live in japan or if somebody just so happen to have a new one laying around somewhere(I doubt that) .. Go with a streetport. You can make alot more power than a stockport. To tell you the truth, I would find another mechanic Find you a mechanic that works on rx7s..btw, does your mechanic work at mazda???

Bucrx7

You can get a reman from Malloy mazda for $1950 not including shipping. I would get a reman and port it.

RX7Elmo

i'd get a reman, return your core and then rebuild/port your reman motor. It'll end up being around 4K or so. WHy exactly did your motor blow? Too little fuel? cold night?

Danny

cafe

for the record warranty voided if you rebuild your reman

azndisgrace

ivan of sunnyvale aka ivan's auto palace is working on my car.... yes he works at mazda and yeah.. he knows a lot about rx-7s

why my engine blew? i have no clue. seal went out... but what do you expect from a 90k mile engine. my suspicion is my it may have ran too lean. dont know.

i donno why he suggested the reman.. i'm guessing he's bein lazy.

BrianK

what do I expect out of a 90K engine? about a 100K more.... oh wait, this is a rotary - nevermind.

damn these engines. I'm going to sell mine before it hits 65K.

Good luck on your rebuild.

JONSKI

Is the core the old engine? Does Mazda give you something like a deposit for returning your old engine?

Also, when you are rebuilding the Mazda reman, I assume you can re-use all the seals and stuff?

rynberg

azindizgrace: what mods do you have? I would be very concerned about WHY the motor blew. What will stop the new one from blowing?

93redFD: Please don't talk out of your ***. You can get a Mazda re-man from Malloy for $2k. Most dealers will charge around $2200-$2300.

Jonski: Mazda charges you a core charge if you don't return your blown engine to them, I believe the charge is around $1000.

To all those who say the re-man is a bad deal:

Get a re-man from Malloy Mazda. I have heard Ray Crowe only accepts motors with new rotor housings. Have it ported or "rebuilt" if you want. Most rebuild price quotes do NOT include new rotor housings, which are $500 EACH. I would never go through getting an engine rebuild without new rotor housings. Even KD Rotary says it is often cheaper to get a re-man and then have that rebuilt if you want.

ttpowerd

remans are not that expensive. Mine was $2100 after shipping and it ran another 3k to get it installed with new hoses, etc. Get a reman, port it, and don't expect to be able to trade it in when it goes.

azndisgrace

i only have a downpipe and catback right now... i did the bov thing but that wouldnt affect it... i know what my limits are supposed to be.. i was going to install a boost gauge this week but too late for that now.

after the gauge i was going to install a radiator then start saving for a rebuild.. but too late for that also.. i hope my mechanic can figure it out

ttb

hmm...did you tell him you were on a budget or just looking for a quick replacement? i've talked to him before about what to do when my engine goes and he gave me the option of either getting new rotors, new housing, etc., if i was willing to spend some serious $$$ or going with the reman if i just wanted another engine to drive around. careful to call people lazy....

mjw

iTrader: (1)

Good chance you may have overboosted, install a boost gauge first thing! If you had one on the car at least you could have known to get out of the throttle when you saw anything past 10psi. Just my .02

Matt

ttb

yup, i had the same, dp and cb and saw my boost go up to 14psi, so i quickly got a pfc...

vudoodoodoo

Get a reman and street port it.

azndisgrace

hahaha. i was just messin when i said ivan's lazy.. i know he's not.

he's assuming that i'm using the FD as a daily driver and that i'm on a budget. at any rate, he's gonna tell me my options soon and i'll figure something out


but nobodys answered my question.. is street porting worth it if i'm gonna be upgrading the TT, but not going to go single

rynberg

I'm not street-ported but I think the "average" is probably a 20-25 rwhp gain from streetporting. You will lose a little power on the low end. Those numbers are subject to a WIDE range I'm sure, depending on the size of the port.

You will probably not be able to pass emissions with a streetport. I read that Max Cooper passed but he had to put the pre-cat back on to do so.

JONSKI

Alright, so let's say my o-rings are failing.

Would it be resonable to get a Mazda reman, send them my bad engine, then rebuild the Mazda reman with a little DIY porting and viton o-rings?
Can I also get viton oil seals?
What other things would you do while the engine is apart?
What about better apex seals? If I drive my car often, but I want to be able to handle 12-13psi of boost on stock twins in the future, would you recommend aftermarket ones? Is that too much boost for 2mm?

-Jon

rynberg

Sounds good to me, order the re-man from Malloy Mazda. You can then rebuild it to your liking. I don't think anybody makes viton coolant seals, KD Rotary uses silicone seals as an upgrade.

The 2mm apex seals are more than adequate for a street driven car. The only upgrade there would be the Hurley 2mm seals. The only real reason to upgrade to 3mm seals is if your rotors will no longer work with 2mm. Well, there is the argument that they will survive detonation a little better but that's not been conclusively proven.

artguy

rynberg....reman mazda motors here in cali go from 3800-4800 dollars at the dealer. I priced half dozen dealers in orange county and LA last year and that is what the prices stated were. I told every one of them to shove it up their...... so thats NOT talkin out his ***...thats what they can go for out here. simple as that

at the advice of the engine guys I know I had it rebuilt by nick van nugteren and went with the 3mm ianetti ceramics because of the amount of tuning i planned on doing and because of the high rpm abuse my car goes through.

now on to my next point..................

also...remans are notoriously unreliable. Many motors have had to be replaced just a few months into their use. The shop that built my motor wont even put a reman in as they have had to pull and replace three out of the last five...all within a six month time period.

so...there ya have it. screw a reman...they are junk....get one built by a reliable engine builder here in the states...like rotary reliablity and racing or pineapple racing or kdr rotary.

anything else is a waste of money in my mind....that way you have a shop that will warrantee it...including the labor if you are close to a shop like that...and you know its done right..plus you can port it...and do an apex seal upgrade....you could even get it dowl pinned.


just my two cents.


jason

FD Racer

I must agree with artguy, even though I've been running with my reman for over a year now with no problems. I do feel *lucky*

artguy

one more thing....contrary to rynberg's statement I am positive that the only reason i still have a motor is because of the 3mm ceramics. when i first had my ecu programmed (LMAO) by xs i got so much detonation that the guy who built my motor was curled up like a fetus in my passenger seat. his exact words "that was A LOT of detonation...good thing you went with the ceramics". He told me he has seen stock motors go on half that amount of detonation.

my motor survived. that shop has been building race motors for more than 20 years. I trust their judgement and I have seen it with my own eyes.

Ive also seen someone blow their ceramics clear out their exhaust...but they were idiots. boost boost and more boost...and clumsy tuning.

as long as you keep a PRECISE eye on your afr's and boost you can get by with stock or hurley.

if you plan on doing A LOT of upgrades and will need to tune from scratch then I would go with the 3mm set.

the one piece set will handle high rpm abuse to a higher degree.

mazda claims the ceramics are good for 24 lbs of boost on the 3mm and 20lbs on the 2mm. though I know there are guys running singles and high boost on the stockers....but as i said..they keep a precise eye on their afr readings and on their boost.


jason

artguy

fd racer...you arent lucky...you are the most meticulous fd driver around. your car is always maintained perfectly ...you keep an eye on all your temps always...you know your afrs by heart and your timing is nice and conservative....what can one expect but a nice running machine.

even though youve got a lot more power to be had in those turbo upgrades....you still do the smart thing and wait til you get every known reliability mod known to man.


j