ZeroBanger

My Rotary, an RX-7. A Car barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's best Rx-7. My Rotary will be that Rx-7. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster.

Ok, seriously....should I go with 3mm seals and/or street port? it will add 425 for the seals, 500 for the street port to the price of the rebuild. What does everyone suggest and why?

PS: please dont ask me to search I have enough drama goin' on now, thanks!

artguy

you will get a streetport if you want to keep up with the rest of the crew.




you have decent tuners so you can get away with stock seals.


j

mazdaspeed00

iTrader: (6)

if your gonna run huge amounts of boost get the 3mm seals if not just stick with the 2mm seals

bploz RX7

when I was researching for my rebuild most of the people I trust my car's life with said stick w/ the stock seals because they perform just fine... even some drag guys who run a good amount of boost. Also, go w/ the steetport now instead of wishing you did later .

Street King

Stick with the 2mm seals and OF COURSE do a streetport, that shouldn't even be a question.

ZeroBanger

I've decided on the 2mm seals. I did some research and dont think they will be necessary.

Im doin research on the streetport, I realize that the average street port is like 20 30 HP on top, and you lose low end.

I would assume that under moderate driving conditions the street port should not shorten the engine life, am I correct?

Im 90 pct sure on a street port.

Thanks.

scratchjunkie

the 7 cant lose! better! stronger! faster! street port!


this should be the blown motors theme song

SPOautos

Stick with good'ol mazda 2mm seals. As for the street port, I dont think its going to make a huge different untill you start adding a lot of mods but its one of those things you "have to do while your there" so you might as well.

STEPHEN

wonder1and

The 3mm seals will do some damage to whatever they pass by usually if the motor lets go... 2mm is a good choice.

apneablue

Wow dude, that RX-7 Braveheart speach gave me goose bumps!

Personally I would go with the 3mm seals...But that's just cuz I'm a "more is better" kinda guy.

ZeroBanger

Actually Its the "Six Million Dollar -7-" speach...errr..nevermind.

ZeroBanger

well I have the mods in my sig, dynoed at 316 HP before, so the street port should help . Thanks for the advice I"ll stick with 2mm seals.

Domestic513

Why not a bridgeport from pineapple? Or is a bridgeport just out of the question.

ZeroBanger

why not just get a 787B transplant? IT has just as good of a chance of passing the peoples republik of Kalifornia's **** patrol smog censors.

rynberg

Hey David, I'll give you a call tonight about your car.

Is Rick rebuilding it or are you having him open up a Mazda reman?

I'd stick with the 2mm seals (if the rotors can still handle them) and get a MILD streetport. You may be able to still pass smog if you stick your pre-cat and main cat back on.....

ZeroBanger

He is rebuilding the engine, all new seals, orings, etc. Uses the same shaft. If the housing is usable its sent out to racing beat to get re-surfaced. If not, I get another housing. He said if he opens the reman to inspect the quality, Mazda will not warranty the engine. The engine in my car was a re-man and after 3,000 miles the oil pan started leaking and the bill was $2500 to fix, this was in the year 2000 (i have the original receipts).

I feel that this way I can be *MORE* sure of what I am getting.

Oh yea and I got a price list a mile long of things that can get done while the engine is out.

I called all the dealers, I can get a stock reman installed for about $1000 less than what Im paying Rick, with the same warranty. The service manager at the dealer said "Labor is about 1600-1700 depending on how many Valves your engine needs".

I'll leave you with that.


What do you think?

Yea feel free to call me anytime.

ZeroBanger

oh yea Tyler, I forgot to mention. I will be visiting my car this week and next week in its various stages, you are welcome to join me.

I guess I will finally get to see what my 162,000 mile OEM turbos look like.

Snook

iTrader: (12)

I disagree with not getting a motor from pineapple since they have the very long warranty.

You could get the motor from them and put it in yourself it's really not that hard at all. If you got 2-3 guys together and 1 of them knew what they were doing it's easily a 1 day job to pull and another 1 day to put in the new engine. And that's doing everything right. I was worried too and didn't know **** but now I feel comfortable. It's basically unscrewing a bunch of things and then putting them back.

Optional things to do while the motor is out. Clutch, flywheel, silicone hoses, polishing, port wastegate, paint engine bay, fix 5th gear grind, dashpot, various sensors, streetport


Nobody listens to me any way!! blah blah !
Pay someone shitloads of money to do it wrong!!!

rynberg

Snook: I agree with you that you can save money if you do things yourself -- IF everything goes perfectly. And IF you have all the tools yourself...etc. I really have to disagree that you can do this in one day -- the right way. During the deal, you are going to find other things wrong or you may break something else and then it turns into many, many days. Check out Alex's (alwan16) website about his motor pull....too much for me to deal with.

David and I are mostly of the philosophy that we bought these cars to drive them, not work on them.

I would probably have Rick rebuild my motor too instead of Pineapple because both David and I have been going to him for a long time and he's a class act. It's always nice to have someone locally that provides support and good service.

ZeroBanger

I always like your posts! I just dis-agree with EVERYTHING you say j/k. If I lived near pinapple racing, I would take my car there. But as it stands, the engine has to come out of my car, go to pineapple, they rebuild it, then send me it back, then it goes to rick to do the install. Either way when you add in the shipping, it costs the same or more. Its really a PIA. IMHO. I happy with Rick doing the work. Rick has been rebuilding rotary cars for 18 years, I am sure he will do it right! I have decided on the following:

All new water hoses

upgraded vaccum lines (these are BMW vaccum lines that are more flexible than the silicon and don't crack). Mine are gonna be bright blue.

Street port
Magnecor Plug Wires


Everything else in my car is brand new. Actually, I even had my rats nest done 6 months ago, but used OEM hoses. My clutch, radiator, etc are brand new.

cpa7man

iTrader: (2)

You get an A+ for the great lead in.

SPOautos

I agree, if you have someone local that REALLY KNOWS what they are doing you need to support them. Lord knows the local rotary shops need all the business people can give them. Plus if ANYTHING goes wrong and he did everything including building the engine there is no way out...its on his back to fix it. The other way if something goes wrong with the engine, sure its under warrenty but your paying this guy again to pull that **** a 2nd time.

If you can get one guy that knows what he is doing and the cost is reasonable, then that is what you need to do

STEPHEN

ZeroBanger

well my mechanic just called. They got the engine out of the car already, The front rotor lost about 1/4 of one of its apex seals, it destroyed the first turbo (I had the world record 162,000 miles on it). The rotor is also toast. So I either need to buy a new rotor , or go with 3mm seals, the cost is about the same. Now I need new turbos.

It just keeps getting better and better.

Johnny

Rick is a good man..good mechanic...
Personally I would go for a new rotor and forget the 3mm seals...

If you see a Silver FD over there soon rolling on Kinesis, that would be me.. Tossing in some Jspec turbos real soon here..and some other crapage..

DeNguyen

wow, you are my hero.


give me another year or so, and that record will be smashed! j/k *crosses fingers+knocks on wood*