So I recently moved back to California. But instead of LA I am in the bay area. My FD was tuned by Tripoint but they are 5 hours away and I think my Apex seals are blown. The FD idles really rough and there is a significant loss of power. Also it happened when i was driving it and fire ***** were shooting out the back. Makes me think blown seals since there would be no compression and unburnt gas/air being blown out the back would eventually ignite.

Are there any reputable rotary shops in the Bay Area, Contra Costa County if possible, that can fix it?

 

Call Rick's Performance in Pleasanton.

 

Mr Mazda in Cupertino might be able to help. You can try asking Paul at Rotorsport but odds are currently 2:1 that he wont do it. But you wont know until you try.

 

Solscud007,

My FD's motor was rebuilt at Palm Tree Rotary in Porterville, CA. It will be a haul from the Bay Area but Moe (the owner) is up front, honest, and makes you feel like a VIP.

As a side note, you may want to change your location from PA to CA.

 

The 3 main guys are mentioned above. I'd probably try Rick's at this point since Rotorsports seems to be tired of FDs

 

Rotorsports and Mr Mazda no longer work on RX-7s. Rick's rotary only take factory stock cars with no mods. If you need tuning and diagnostics, Sakebomb garage is in Fremont. If you need a rebuild or mechanical help, give Ivan a call or text on his cell. 1-408-823-2744 , he's a rotary expert in Sunnyvale recommended by Mr Mazda.

 

Jump on Northern California Rotary Group and ask around. You could also try Bay Area Rotary (BAR).

 

 

When did Rick start taking only stock cars? I've had mine serviced by him since 1996 and his motor is in it now. I haven't spoken to him in 10 years though. Is he just focusing on regular service these days?

 

I called them up a month and inquired about rebuilding my motor. They rejected because the car was modded. They wouldn't even take a BNIB OEM motor unless they sourced the engine themselves.

 

Sakebomb Garage guys are the only game in town. All the others either quit working on FDs, won't work on a modified car or both.
The guys at SakeBomb treated me really well though...Finally got my FD on the road after 2 years of headaches. I was so stoked I bought a car cover, fire extinguisher and a set of headlights from them too.

EDIT: That guy, Ivan burned me pretty bad on my FC. Swapped the engine in my near perfect 91 with an S4 engine. He also didn't come back and finish until I threatened to call the cops. I wanted to be 100% stock but he didn't put the OMP back in, then told me I was an idiot for not premixing. I was an idiot alright; for trusting some guy off of craigslist.
On the plus side, he came to my house, swapped the engine right in front of me and did the work pretty quickly once I managed to get him back here..
That was also 10 years ago, so maybe he's stepped it up. Just pay attention if he works on your car. I didn't find out about the S4 engine until I went to sell the car about a year later.

 

Well, that's discouraging. I always liked how he was a true mechanic and shop first and a tuner second and didn't have any race cars. He just worked on the cars and did excellent work.

 

Ship it out to either:

Chips Motorsports
CLR Motorsports
Freelance Motorsports

There's no one in the Bay Area that I'd trust with my engine, balancing, overbuilding, etc.

 

SakeBomb Garage here, reporting from Fremont from our new (bigger) location . We have an in house dyno, tuning services, build services, etc. however we do not do any internal engine work. We R/R motors every other week, but have external companies build motors for us. We stock NEW Mazda motors from Japan as well for the more mild builds. info@sakebombgarage.com

P.S. Thanks for the kind words Natey!

 

Ivan can be interesting to work with... I can't comment further at the moment. SakeBomb is very trustworthy in my book.

 

That's because your car is devoid of emissions equipment and heavily modified. It's not remotely road-legal in state. It's a matter of serviceability and liability.

Rick does great work for me. Just give him a call. If your car is mostly stock and plausibly legal, he'll take it.

 

He did all the work on my car dating back to 1996 when I bought it. It's his motor in it now too. It is not remotely CA legal but it is registered at our Montana residence. I'll email him and see if he remembers the car and wants to do any work to it. I have a pretty bad leak that has been dumping oil pretty much since the motor was replaced.

 

I spoke to Ricks' today. They are 2 months out as Rick is the only guy working on cars again but he WILL accept my car. They will work on modified cars all day but they will not ADD any illegal parts to the car as they have a smog license to protect now. There is the distinction.

 

In this day and age you can ship a motor almost anywhere reasonably. We ship all over the world. Do your research and go with someone you feel comfortable with. There's a big difference between a professional and backyard mechanic. You can't go wrong with Sakebomb Garage if you want to stay local. I also have a few customers in the area that use Lucky 7.

 

^^Lucky 7 is in LA area last time I checked...

 

I understand that. I have several customers from California, Nevada, and Arizona that make the trek to Lucky 7.