tsmysak1

Whoa.....what a job!

Being the smart and wise FD owner that I am, I decided to pull the engine before doing progressive damage to my rotors/housings. Symptoms included, but were not limited to:

1) Coolant loss at overflow tank
2) Greasy oily substance in overflow tank
3) Mild overheating
4) Occasional white smoke during warm up
5) Compression in the 80 psi range
6) Front rotor with one higher face - read apex
7) Hard hot start on occassion
8) Suspected vacuum leaks that I could not find
9) Varying idle
10) Stalling under high electrical load

I estimated that the job would take 8 hours to clean parts, 8 hours to assemble engine and a full day to pull and replace. I was clueless. I have hours and hours and hours and hours in this sucker.

It took me a day to pull the engine.

I got a day in disassembly and cleaning, and documenting where everyting goes.

I got a day in building the short block (with cleaning).

I got a another day building the rest of the engine including running for parts I was missing.

I got two days putting the engine in, hooking everything up, starting, and cleaning the car.

I must say, when I looked at all the parts laying over the floor of my garage, I was quite discouraged. I didn't figure I would ever see this thing run again, and I have overhauled quite a few piston engines. I just kept going.

I had a lot of hidden things to deal with. Some studs were not reuseable. The OMP lines were trash. Forgot a few gaskets. The turbo clips were rotted away. You get the idea.

I got her together and turned the key, and nothing happened. What the heck? I noticed the gear selector indicator in the tach was not lit. After taking a break for an hour, I figured that it was the connector from the tranny to the wiring harness, down by the starter. I cleaned that connector and viola! I pushed the car out of the garage, got two fire extinguishers ready (just in case) and turned the key. It cranked for one second and started right up. It just sat there and idled. With 34 miles on the engine, it is pulling 16 inches at 700 rpm. I think that is pretty darn good.

This thing is like having a baby. It sucks during the process, but man is it cool when you are done. She idles so nice, and I drove it to work today, after a week of hell in messing with it...In 100,000 miles I think it will go a lot easier now I know what I am dealing with...

I will give Mazda credit. All the connectors are unique. That really saved me except for one. White on the left, grey on the right..right?

sevensheaven

iTrader: (1)

Congrats! I am a recent successful rebuilder myself. I plan on posting the process and pics soon.

Terry7

alexdimen

iTrader: (13)

yeah, it's all the little things that get you... vac lines, check valves, actuator clips

for reference, it says 28+ hours in a labor estimator

tsmysak1

I have 60+ hours in this one including everything from the build and teardown, all the cleaning and polishing and doing the swap..I guess that isn't too bad...

AIM tuning bills 20 hours to do an engine swap and their guy is really good.

It actually was easy looking back...but frustrating because of all the first time stuff.

dubulup

Welcome to the club!! Great job, sounds like a damn strong motor.



I went with more than a rebuild with my mine...
Custom engine harness that disconnects at the firewall
Haltech E6X
Custom single turbo
Intake and exhaust port work
water/meth inj
etc

she pulls as much vacuum as the day I fired her up...13,000 miles of abuse and counting normally sees 17psi everytime I start her up, and this was the first engine I ever tried to build.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

everyone underestimates how long it takes to rebuild and reinstall these things, including me after dozens of them it seems each car has it's own induvidual quirks that slow you down.

c00lduke

I'm taknig a break from doing mine right now.

edwin-82/rx7

iTrader: (1)

it is all the little things that get you. this morning we finally set the engine back in my friend's 240sx, after about 1.5 months of working on it off and on. we hope it'll start.... had to switch harnesses and ecu, powersteering lines, manifold... e to de conversion.

i've pulled the engine in my fb, but i'm dreading the day this one goes pop. lots more **** in there, hell i can see the ground on 3 sides of the engine in the fb...

edwin-82/rx7

iTrader: (1)

I take comfort in knowing that at any given time someone, somewhere, is rebuilding a rotary engine.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Congrats on the engine build, it's not nearly as easy as people think it is

You are correct on the orientation of the crank angle sensor connectors, which is a good thing. If they're reversed, bad bad things can happen.

alexdimen

iTrader: (13)

the book says 28 hours for replacing the apex seals/springs etc... 20 hours for a swap is probably on the high side (for a stock engine swap), but mechanics need to leave margin for problems that arise so they aren't paying for the customer's repairs.

tsmysak1

NO FREAKING WAY!

28 Hours for APEX Seals and Springs? I have been involved in the "Standard Repair Time" estimation game. It is shaved due to the factory having to pay that rate to the dealer when there is a warranty claim. Usually the first R&I (removal and installation) the dealer looses his butt, and they continue to do so until they figure the process out or get an appeal through the system.

If I had all the right tools, pulled the motor with the tranny, had a car hoist, and access to the parts counter....I MIGHT be able to do it that fast..

I wonder what the cost of repair would be....Let me guess:

$1000 in seals and gaskets
$2600 in labor
$400 in consumables

Good guess?

tsmysak1

Man, I was REALLY surprised. The engine build was super easy, but all my stuff miked out in spec right off the bat. In fact, that was fun.

Pulling it took a long time because I didn't know all what I had to do and I was afraid of taking too many parts off and getting lost.

Assembly took a long time too, because I wanted to keep everything super clean, and that took a lot of attention to detail. I also had to clean the engine bay.

Installation was easy but time consuming. Also I was nervous about all my time and money invested. The time was actually more important than the money.

You are right though, it is way too easy to underestimate the work required (to do it right is the key though).

When it start and ran instantly (thanks for all the good info!!) it was all worth it.