Im going to do the rebuild of the motor by myself for the first time. In the passed, I always pulled the motor and taken it somewhere to get rebuilt. Now intimidated, sacred,to say the least, Im going to attempt this conquest over the next couple of months. I attached some photos of the torn down motor. My question is, I dont know what im looking for in terms of the basic wear of the rotor and side housings. I looked for broken apex seals and side seals, and all of them were intacked. Slight groving on two of the side housings, but other then that im need outside opinion. If you could give me some insight or a link to another thread that I could read would be great!

 

more photos

 

ok ok ok these are the last ones I will post!

 

The look on your face is priceless "I just pulled a giant dorito out of my engine!"
Sorry I can't be of much help. I'd be just as amazed to pull that out.

 

Do you have a rebuild DVD? Or have you at least looked at Aaron Cake's video online?

 

http://www.rotaryaviation.com/overhaul_video.htm

 

+1 on the above video link. It has all the info you need to know!

 

Yeah... i have a video. I got it from mazdatrix. Thanks for the link!

 

Here is the rebuild video from Aaron Cake as previously mentioned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijJeU...el_video_title
He also has the entire tear down process, great videos not to mention for free!

 

^ great video.. always nice killing time at work learning about my baby.

did not know about the Viton oil control rings being difficult to install, I will make sure to stay with OEM ones... though I am thinking about using the RA Super apex seals, but everything else OEM.

does everyone really spend that much time clearing the side seals? grinding and checking, rinse, repeat? do any engine builders have any tips or things you can do ahead of time to prep?

The guy in this video mentioned Mazda factory has "different sizes" available.. so, is there a way to get these?

 

If your old side seals are still in spec with measurement re use them. I never replace mine, and i know of many others that rebuild their engine that re use them. Time and headache saver. Good luck

 

yeah the viton ones aren't metric, so they don't fit very well, use the mazda OEM ones, they fit and they work.

when you replace side seals, they need to be ground to length, used rotors can vary but more than .100" between the shortest groove and the longest. Aarons method of marking the approximate length with a sharpie is actually pretty good. also experience helps, when you have done a few it goes quicker.

there is no way to get different size seals for the pre rx8 engines, the rx8 seals do come sized

 

The above suggested videos are all good. One resource I would like to add is a write up that Kevin Landers sells. Lots of good pictures and good explanations.