Mazda Rebuild VS. Private Rebuild Costs
 

I am just wondering what the cost difference could be between a mazda factory rebuild cost and a private party rebuild cost. thank you.

-jim.

depends what you mean by "mazda factory"

If your talking taking your RX7 to mazda dealership and getting them to rebuild it, the cost will be parts+labour (About $4000 i guess) plus a whole bunch of other parts that they break trying to reinstall the motor, and then a set of turbos and another new motor after it blows up due to their incapacity to rebuild a rotary properly.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR RX7 TO A DEALERSHIP FOR A REBUILD!

Self rebuild costs vary depending on what you replace, but can be as cheap as $1000, although i wouldnt recommend that. You want to at least replace the rotor housings (another $700) and if your really thorough do the rotor bearings, oil pump etc too.

Basically,

Bad self rebuild $1000
Decent self rebuild £2200 (providing all end plates are in good shape)
guarenteed shop rebuild (from reputable RX7 specialist) circa $3500

There is no such a thing as factory rebuilt. If you wan mazda built, you have to get a new engine ($6k+). Most of the so called Mazda remans are acturally contracted rotary shop rebuilt.

My suggestion is to find a good reputable shop to build one for you.

Kevin from http://www.rotaryresurrection.com is known for very reasonable rebuilt. He now has several years of experience and has great track record. I would contact him and see what he could do for you.

^BLING^ herblenny hit it right on the head!

-josh

Guys, he's referring to a "Mazda Reman". While it's not built by "Mazda", it's still backed and sold by Mazda.

The remans are running about $2500 currently (probably due to the price increase of housings and other parts lately). However, most of them have been coming with a lot of "new" parts. Using rebuilders, the price will vary. Some rebuilders will only use new housings (which is not a bad thing at all), that will increase your costs.

You can use the range for a private rebuild of $1700-3000 depending on the shop.

I agree with all those above, if you take your FD to mazda for an engine rebuild you will never see the car run under it's own power again :D.

Here is what my shop charges for a basic rebuild for parts:

http://www.gothamracing.com/catalog/...roducts_id=737

call to check on labor charges, steve or alex will be able to answer any questions you have.

I was visiting a Mazda dealer in another town recently and the service monkey told me that they quoted a customer $12,000 (parts and labor) to replace the engine and turbos!!

WTF!!!!! $12k. i will get myself another FD.

They are going to charge about $3500 for new turbos, about $3000 for a reman, and then the labor to do the switch at about $80/hr. Should come up to around $9k when it all said and done from a dealer (and I probably still have my receipt from '97 with all of that on it).

sounds to me like buying the reman and putting it in is a safe bet or just having another professional shop do it for you.

Yes. The only real advantage to having a motor rebuilt is to have things like porting, ceramic interals coated or anything else "special" that you want done. If all you need is a stock motor, it's really a better deal to get a reman.

I just got my rx7 back on monday. I had Malloy Mazda (Ray Crowe) install a new motor (not a reman) and the damn thing runs like a swiss watch. I have had this car since it had 13000 miles on back in 97, and it has never run this good or smooth.

If you are looking for a replacement motor, get a brand new one from Ray, they run $4000 but he gave me $600 back on my core though.

What gets you is all the little crap like worn motor mounts, new gaskets and such.

Did the new motor from Malloy include the turbos, alternator, etc., or were those transferred from your old one?

The new motors were just like reman (basic short block), waterpump & housing, stock main pully and flywheel.

That's not bad for a "NEW" motor. I thought they were over 6k?? I guess I was wrong... Are you sure it was 3400 w/ core??

I have my original accessories including turbos.

The cost of the motor was $4000 (no core) and then Ray said he would give me $600 for my core which brought the cost down to $3400

my turbos only have 39,000 miles on them.

I have had both a Mazda dealer-installed "new" engine (a short-block re-built by one of the Mazda approved rebuilders) installed when the original engine developed leaking coolant o-rings at 50k miles and a re-built by a private rotary specialist (RotorSports Racing in Kanapolis, NC) Price was comparable- each about $4500. Difference was the reliability of the engine. The dealer- installed engine lasted only about 40K miles before the coolant o-rings started leaking (again). The RotorSports stage II engine was modified to correct some of the design features that cause the o-rings to fail. Installation by the dealer also was poor quality, in that a lot of fasteners and small parts that are difficult to re-install were simply left off by the "mechanic". This type of poor dealer service is typical of nearly all Mazda dealers. Only reason I went to the dealer in the first place was there was no specialty shop closer than 2 hours from where I lived at that time. Later on, I drove the two hours, since it was actually faster than repeated trips to the dealer for them to attempt to fix the problem they failed to fix on the previous trip.
Ron A.

Another good option is to get the reman and then have it torn down and inspected and rebuilt by a qualified rotary engine specialist. This will expose any 'bad' parts in the orginal rebuild and also lets you modify it, such as porting, to your heart's content. ;)

The one thing I will say about Malloy, they allowed me back there to watch and full access to the mechanic. They did a great job, and Ray Crowe supervised the install.

Yep, it's $3400 + core ($600). I called Ray about 2 months ago so if the cost hasn't changed since then, it is correct.

Thats awesome for a "Brand New" Short block. The cost on new parts alone will be more than that...

reman means remanufactured?

i searched through rotary ressurection and i think ill be getting a rebuild done thru them. prices are superb there.

-jim.

What sort of warranty does this come with if it is installed at a local rotary shop?

Malloy mazda will warranty the engine and labor for 12 months 12,000 miles.

None of the shops will do that.

Me myself and I are doing my motor. It's taking forever to get it done since I'm out of town alot. But, the short block is back together. I was hoping to get it done over the holidays but I discovered my oil injectors were bad and that pretty much stopped installation of everything on top of the motor. I had to leave town before I got the new ones so there it sits in the garage waiting for me to get back.

Here's what I spent so far:

Gaskets/all seals (new-stock 2mm): $1200 from mazdacomp. I bought the whole thing as a kit but they sent several gasketso-rings that I didn't use/need. Like an oil pan gasket which no one uses anymore. So I could have saved money ordering everything individually.

New rotor housings: This cost really hurt but mine we're marginal so I bit the bullet- $1050 from Mazdacomp.

Street porting from Karack: $250.

Lapping side housings from RB: $280 plus about 60 bucks for RT shipping.

Miscellaneous crap: $100

New oil injectors: $50

Next up is new turbos. I hope to find some good used ones or rebuilts for around $500-$800.

So add it all up and I'm saving a pretty good chunk of change doing it myself. It's really not that hard to rebuild these motors and you don't need too many special tools. The worse part is cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. Also, buy lots of ziplock bags and sharpie pens. Bag and tag all the small stuff!

....and when it's all done I hope I can pat myself on the back for a job well done and I know exactly what my motor has inside. If something was done wrong I can only blame myself. I hate going after people for rework.