Did some cleaning on the rotors yesterday/last night, going through all the side seal slots with an old seal and WD-40 to get all the carbon and junk out.

Rotors look good, one minor dent/ding on the side of one but I distinctly remember that from when I built the engine - it's been fine, gonna run it

Also rotor weights are A and B, I was surprised to see that. Seems like most time it's a pair of C'd or like a C and a B or D.

Emailed Ray my order, will post that up once I have the breakdown with prices. Basically getting from him all the engine seals/springs, water pump, some intake manifold gaskets, new oil pan, a number of odds and ends.

@Djseto on the RE-Medy pump, I actually won one at Deal's Gap many moons ago and it sat in my attic for ages waiting for an install. One of the guys here needed a water pump so I made him a deal on it. Within 3 months it failed, leaking out of the weep hole. Possible that it didn't like sitting in a hot attic for years but that made me a little sketchy on it.

Also I have NEVER had cooling issues. Good fan control, Koyo rad, ceramic coated down pipe and zero issues. I just don't see what spending the extra money on that pump would get me. BTW I think a new water pump from Ray was like $95.

Oh, I am re-using the side seals. Measured a spare brand-new seal I had, right at 3mm. Measured my used seals......right at 3mm. I organized them when pulling the engine apart so I should be able to easily put them back in their home. I like doing .003" (three thou) on the side seals. Will make sure of that obviously during re-assembly but if any are out I can always conjure up a new one and fit it properly. It's just crazy how little they wear, while apex seals wear way down.

Finally I think I posted I'm going to run the NOCO lithium battery in my car. I've been running a Miata battery for ages with my front mount, battery in the engine bay. Also I worked on a van this weekend and had a chance to weigh its battery which is about the size of a stock RX-7 battery -

- Van battery 45 pounds
- Miata battery 19 pounds 5 oz
- Lithium battery 4 pounds 12 oz

Good gracious!

Dale

 

I recently upgraded from a PC680 I ran for years, to a lithium. Astonishing that I saved 10lbs over a motorcycle battery and got more power on top of it.

 

the Re-medy waterpump is garbage ... stock waterpump works fine

 

I've been running a Remedy water pump since 2008. It has been working well for me but I understand some people didn't have the same luck. Doesn't make a huge difference tbh but the impeller is a better design fwiw.

Anyway, let's not beat that poor horse in Dale's thread.

 

Not much to report, parts are on the way. I'm hoping Saturday I can build up the rotors and have them ready. Also should have porting templates here (Thanks GW!) so I can start in on that.

I'm going out of town for work Sunday through Thursday next week. I'm hoping when I get back I'll have everything here so I can stack the motor.

Dale

 

Dale it is great to hear that you are working on your car. I really appreciate all the laughs and hospitality during DGRR 2024. It was an amazing time and I hope you are getting the Fd ready for 2025 DGRR. I have been working on my car also and can't wait for 2025 DGRR. Dale I use a Antigravity HD30x lithium battery at 7lbs and I am super happy. It has plenty of juice to turn the motor over every time. I also use OEM Mazda apex seals for a better seal. My motor was built by Kilo Racing. I am super happy you are getting the car sorted out.

 

Few updates -

- Atkins Rotary order is here. That all looks good. I have heard people complain about their shipping, it was in a USPS Priority Mail type box and shipping was $45 which seems high. Ray seems like he ships EVERYTHING for $10 which is insanely low.
- Speaking of, the order from Ray should be here any minute.
- HUGE Thanks to @gdub29e for letting me borrow his Pineapple Racing medium street port templates, they showed up and look to be the right amount of what I am looking to do.
- I found that I have a large Pineapple Racing street port template from a buddy, will take some pics so you can see the relative difference between the two.

Here's the new turbo and the old twins -



So with the twins like that - water lines and oil feed, no oil drains, waste gates on - they weigh 31 pounds 15 oz.
The 8374 as it sits there weighs 30 pounds 11 oz.

Stock exhaust manifold is 12 pounds 7 oz
New Turblown manifold is 6 pounds 8 oz

Crazy that there isn't much of a weight difference between the two!

I'm going out of town tomorrow for a week for work and then my brother-in-law has some issues with his van I'm going to help sort out so that will slow things down a bit. I do hope to at least get the motor stacked and in one piece in the very near future. Got to find some time to sit with a grinder slowly hogging out ports - man porting is just a crap job

Dale

 

OK, some fun with porting templates.

First, stock primary ports with a Pineapple Medium street port and a Pineapple Large on top of that. You can see the progression at the top -



Also the Large opens up the bottom more.

OK, secondary ports. Again Pineapple Medium and Large -



Nice progression up top and the side is opened more with the Large port.

Finally I have some mystery template, not sure who made it or where it came from. It's flippin' HUGE. Here's it on the Primary port -



I think you can park a '63 Buick in that port.

Dale

 

^^^ @DaleClark So, what port are you going with?
I enjoyed my stock port motor more than the large ported on the 8374iwg.
Medium port would be my choice having experience the two with that turbo for a nice driver.



Steve

 

I'm surprised by how the Medium template is still a huge difference compared to the stock ports.
I was assuming the stock to Medium to Large differences would be more gradual, but the medium is actually more closer to the large than I thought.

 

I'm thinking of going with GW's recommendation - doing the primary ports, leaving the secondaries alone, and a very minor port downwards on the exhaust ports.

 

Box o' fun from Ray Crowe arrived yesterday. See below for current pricing. BTW $15 for a large-ish heavy box for shipping and Atkins wants $45 for a USPS medium flat rate box. I like Atkins but I feel their shipping is a bit high.

Anyhow, highlights of what's below:
- New oil pan
- New water pump
- Corner seals and springs
- Side seal springs: good lord how are they $100-ish for set of 12 wavy pieces of metal?
- Apex seal springs, long and short
- Front and rear main seals, I don't trust the ones from Atkins
- Driver's side heater hose quick connect and the heater hose
- Intake manifold gaskets

I think that's like 99% of what I need. Currently out of town for work. I should have time next weekend to work on porting, get the rotors all built, and maybe even stack up the motor.

I also have another side project - brother in law's Odyssey van has a busted radiator and needs some other work, going to do that for some side moneys. Gotta pay for these shiny Mazda parts!

Dale

 

"I'm thinking of going with GW's recommendation - doing the primary ports, leaving the secondaries alone, and a very minor port downwards on the exhaust ports."

good thinking.

my supposition is that Mazda's thinking was exactly 180 degrees on the primary and secondary ports.

they purposely plugged up the primary and did a wonderful job tuning up the secondary.

the primary responds wonderfully to the Pineapple larger template. do remember that as you up the flow on a port you are reducing the resistance causing good things to happen. better VE... better efficiency. obviously most of your cruising is done on just the primary. i routinely get 20 mpg at around 70 on the highway on the Pineappley primaries.

the motor is happier with less charge drag. not only can you make more power everywhere but you make it at less boost.

further, i like the idea of a better balance between the charge air coming from both sides of the rotor. in stock form, the primary port is.... horrible (kind word) maybe emissions?

the secondary is 180 degrees from the primary. you could easily not touch it. or not.

almost ditto for the exhaust. the peripheral exhaust is the entire key to the motor just as the side exhaust port is the dagger in the heart of the Renesis. do not (ever) touch the close/top (overlap) or the sides (apex seal support) but the open/lower can be improved a bit.

the single best mod ports-wise is to the primary. more details on my website in the Section called Port Tech..

BTW, there's a lot more to porting than the outline... but you know that.

good luck and have fun w your build.

 

Thanks for that info, Howard!

Yeah the primary port is just so tiny and also so poorly cut from the factory that at minimum it needs a clean up.

Oh one thing I don't think I've mentioned - I have a set of JDM upper and lower intake manifolds that I bought a VERY VERY long time ago when Paul Yaw had Yawpower. He had them ported and done on a flow bench to optimize airflow. Like this is before Injector Dynamics too They will be going on. I had the lower intake manifold ceramic coated for heat rejection by Jet-Hot.

Also my throttle body I got from a shop AGES ago that took good, clean low mileage JDM throttle bodies and cleaned them up then bored out the secondary throttle and installed larger plates. Can't remember how much larger. So hopefully that will assist in airflow.

Really looking forward to getting my hands back into it this weekend!

Dale

 

that cut is intentional, it helps get fuel off the port wall.
it also doesn't seem like its a huge deal, you don't see JDM shop putting it back

 

Who is GW regarding porting ?
Would be interesting to read what he says about porting primary only .id there a place to read about it ? Cheers

 

I’m just a fellow enthusiast. This community is a wealth of information about all aspects of this platform. I’ve just been lucky enough to have been around during the hay day, when like-minded enthusiast who were extremely knowledgeable were still around to share their vast knowledge to those who wanted to learn. There still a few of the OG’s around, but they’re not as active as years past. So I guess I’m just like you in a sense, a person who is eager to learn and never stopped being a sponge for knowledge. My suggestions to dale were my thoughts for the direction of his particular set up. I’m but one opinion. I always suggest speaking to others who have experience in the particular subject and then formulate your own opinions based on the information.

Howards info in post #48 can be found here ~ PORT TECH

Since you’re interested in some reading, another suggestion would be Kenshi Yamamoto’s Book “Rotary Engine”




Dale ~ The template comparison is very interesting, it’s a shame you don’t have a small template to add further comparison. Unfortunately, I loaned out a small template years ago and never received it back ( I can’t even remember who I loaned it to). Look forward to seeing the progression of your setup.




~ GW

 

Not a lot done this weekend RX-7 wise. I did another round of cleaning on the rotors and they're pretty much ready to start plugging seals into them.

Got a side project that took a good chunk of the weekend - my wife's stepbrother has an 06 Honda Odyssey that we sold him a while back (it was my wife's van for ages). It got hit in the front just enough to bust the radiator. I'm helping him out for some side money and also saving him a great amount of money in getting it fixed up and reliable again. Will be putting in a new radiator, new AC condenser, replace valve cover gaskets, replace high pressure PS hose, and some other odds and ends.

It's looking mighty took apart at this point

 

@DaleClark Nice work! but stop getting sidetracked and get the FD done for DGRR 2025.... that is all


Steve

 

BIG TIME

I will be there in the FD, one way or another!

Dale

 

Hey buddy! Long time no see!

I might be picking up an FD soon, myself. Glad to see you’re still chugging away!

 

you tube collision certification is here,

 

Got the van project done, made some side moneys to defray the costs of engine parts

Tonight I started fitting seals into grooves, I'm about 90% done with that. Having the seal case and putting the existing side seals back in is SO nice.

Will get some pics up when I have the rotors put together . Then I need to sit down with the ol' Dremel and start grinding out ports.

Dale

 

OK, update time!

Got the van all fixed up and gone, made me some rebuild moneys so there ya go

Current status -

- Rotors are all assembled. Apex seal end pieces glued on, side seals all fitted, all new seals in there, oil control rings installed, etc. Rotors ready to drop in.



- Primary ports are done. Went very well. I used Dykem to mark out the port then layered on some Gorilla Tape to protect the surface from grinder slips. Very pleased with that tape, had 1 incident where it helped and it did a solid job.



- Cleaned and went over all the engine hard parts, the final pass of cleaning. Sharpened screw driver through the coolant seal grooves to get junk out, all old RTV is out, everything clean and nice.

- PAINTED! All the hard parts are painted so I'll have a fun engine color . WAIT AND SEE

- Exhaust ports are marked for porting. The port template I'm using is just what I was hoping for, it brings the bottom of the port down like 1/2" or so, sides and top stay put. Ran out of time today, tomorrow I'm going to try and get that knocked out.

I may actually stack this dude up Friday. Saturday starts Christmas Wacky Time and I will be out of town for about a week. Would be lovely to have an assembled short block sitting ready!

Oh, also had a thought and remembered - I have a set of 99 spec fans in my attic . Got them down, going to run them. I currently have 99 spec blades on 93 fan motors so it will be cool to have the lower amp draw motors as well. NO idea when I got these fans, they've been up there for AGES.

SUPER ready to actually see how that turbo looks hanging off the side!

Dale

 

Which rebuild/gasket kit did you go with?