karken29

Engine tear-down and Cleaning was followed by Irons and housing inspection. Unfortunately, the damage to the rear iron necessiated replacement. The outer coolant channel lip broke away causing the coolant O-Ring to fail. So that Iron had to be replaced. The rear rotor housing was also out of spec and likewise had to be replaced. The intermediate iron, #1 rotor housing and front iron were reusable.

Stock 2mm apex seals and OEM corner seals and side seals and rotor seals were used in the buildup. Pineapple racings Rotary engine mount was purchased, price $55.00 and will adapt any traditional engine stand. Here's the URL http://www.pineappleracing.com/index...PROD&ProdID=10

It's well worth the money.

I used Pineapple's H/D Coolant seals, which are reuseable unlike OEM's. They're $185.00 but well worth the price. http://www.pineappleracing.com/index...PROD&ProdID=99 according to their web-site:

"...Pineapple Racing HD Water Seal Kit - 12A/13B HDWSK This is our exclusive Heavy Duty Water Seal kit. We tested these seals for over 7 years in numerous street and track cars before offering them to our customers. They have proven to be a significant upgrade over the stock water seals. We use them in all our 5-year warranty motors. Also, these seals are re-usable if you need to reopen the motor to freshen it, as long as the mileage is not too high or the engine too overheated. In other words, if you make a mistake and blow up your engine or perhaps improperly clearance the seals or whatever, these seals can be removed, allowed to "rest" for about 30 minutes and be reused when you put the engine back together. Stock water seals must be disposed of when freshening an engine, even with just a couple heat cycles. Kit includes the water jacket o-rings, front cover o-ring (and backup washer, if needed), dowel o-rings, rear stationary gear o-ring and oil pedistal o-rings.


All bearings were also replaced. Removing the old bearings is pretty simple. Installing new bearings however, isn't. You need a special tool to press in the new bearings and it's easy to distort them in the process. The Mazda specialty tool was purchased for this part of the build and is one of those items that's Mazda proprietary. I didn't want to experiment here so the Madza tool was purchased. Also, unless you have a good press or access to one I recommend you have this done by a competent shop.

The springs for the side seals have a specific orientation and is one of the items not covered in enough detail in the Mazda manual IMO.... Unfortunately, I was pretty forcused on get this part of the done and didn't take many closeup photos... but I post what I have.

karken29

here's a pretty good shot of Pinapples engine stand adapter...

karken29

I installed a steel custom made re-enforcement brace over the oil pan. To allow for the braces extra thickness I went with a stud kit. I'll post some pics late.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Here's the stud kit I switched to, to allow for the brace thickness

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Dad, post on your own damn account

We had longer hardware to use with the brace, but have been using the Moroso stud kit because Ihor and I feel it'll lead to less leaks.

goreify

iTrader: (3)

Great thread
We need more like this.

I am in a similar stage on my rebuild and its good to see someone else going the extra mile and picking up all of the small parts that are often overlooked for replacement. I'm interested in seeing the custom oilpan brace. I'll probably be picking one of those up.

Keep the updates coming!

TimmyFD

iTrader: (7)

wow, this thread is amazing. im a new member and this is by far the most helpful post ive seen yet. i just picked up my first FD and it apparently has bad seals, so it looks like I will be doing the same thing on mine. cant wait to see the updates

Snowblind113

Yes very informative, I do have a question. If a car (1994 rx7) has been sitting for a year and has 60k on the engine what is are the chances it will need a rebuild? And how much is the average DIY rebuild of the engine and vacuum lines?

karken29

Well, I guess I can add up my receipts and see where I'm at... Yeah... that's right... I'm back! .. I hadn't posted in a while for lots of reasons... JOB, home stuff and sorted other distractions. But to answer your question. The best place to start is to call Malloy Mazda 888-533-3400 and get some prices. Ray Crowe is the only person you'll want to talk to. The second resource is on this forum, "GoodfellasFD3S". If you want to chat with him, I'm sure he can help you out.

But, given that the car in question only has like 60K on the clock... And, assuming it's bone stock, and also assuming that the previous owners did basic maintenance on the car... the engine should be fine. Of course, if they, say, neglected to change out the coolant periodically ... well, then the internal engines condition becomes iffy. Likely the turbos are still in pretty good shape...as would be the clutch, belts etc.... So, perhaps you're not looking at a rebuild so much as catching up on all the periodic maintenance and doing several basic safety upgrades... like replacing the stock AST... if the OEM one is still present... I don't know... You didn't really give much detail or pictures or describe the cars present condition...

Feel free to PM me or hit my AOL IM... me ... < karken29 > if you want more information.

Good Luck !

rotard_robbie

Nice write up sir!

timothyandygoh

bravo!*

7's in Heaven

suscribing in hopes that updates are coming. This is great. Didn't see it before.

alexdimen

iTrader: (13)

The radiator hose collapsing is not supposed to happen and indicates that the check valve in the cap was clogged or sticking and not allowing coolant from the resevoir/surge tank to enter back into the engine as it cooled and the coolant reduced in volume.

So, at that point you had 2 problems. First, the cap wasn't working properly and second, you were getting combustion gasses in the cooling system.

I remember goodfella mentioning that your engine had started to blow coolant. I'm glad to see you're getting it back together well.

karken29

So, the summer is nearly over :-( and it's time to do some main't and change out a few parts....

1. Coolant.... Even though it's been less than a year... I don't want to experience and coolant seal failures.... so that's on my list of fluids to change out....

2. I'll try and get some mileage numbers on here so you have a frame of reference ..... not that I'm a fanatic... but I'm prone to getting lazy and before ya know it... months can go by.... so, again, I'm mainly doing this to prompt myself.... So, for those looking for guidance on various punch-list tasks to do.... go with the Mazda Manual....

3. Fuel Filter: Just got one from Malloy Mazda and plan to tackle that lovely job likely this weekend... I try to remember to take some shots and post em.... Changing out the fuel filter is recommended like every 30K I think.... anyway... mine is due....

4. Picked up a NEW undertray from Malloy and that'll be changed out at the same time...

5. Will do an oil change too...

Will post more soon....