^Will do!! Next year, I'll be coming from Asheville NC so it will be an easier drive for me to get to Deals Gap.

 

Have a great trip David!

 

DON'T LET ANYONE DRIVE THAT CAR. ARE YOU CRAZY. After what you have been through. My car is stock and I don't even like anyone in the passenger seat. Thank you very much.

 

Well, we're off to Dallas. Will post updates over the next few days.

 

Best of luck!

 

The car is safe and sound. Spent some quality time with it yesterday, going over an inspection list. Still waiting on George to figure out when he is returning to Dallas. He's in Detroit and is expected back Thursday. I think this will turn into Friday.

 

Tune in for scenes from Friday's exciting espisode of As The Wankel Turns...

 

Haha it took me a minute to understand it, but I see what you did there haha

David, while you're waiting for George to return, how about doing a mini-photoshoot and posting up some pics? haha

Hope all is running well

 

Why not just have Steve tune it rather than wait for George?

 

^ yeah, what he said?

 

^George built the engine and did all of the electricals on the car. He knows the car best. Steve was a bit uncomfortable stepping in now but did offer to do the tune if George didn't pan out.

I'll try to post up some pics tomorrow.

 

Would the mariner shoot the albatross if he had it to do all over again? I think not!

 

bad sign

 

Update: The car looks great and has been thoroughly mechanically tested by the shop where it is at in Dallas. Found several issues that needed to be fixed and all is good with the car.

On the bad side, George the tuner is not back from Detroit so we're stuck here waiting for him. Worst case scenario is the car will be tuned on Monday and we'll hit the road on Tuesday. Steve Kan is out of town so he's not available and Arie sp? from Rotary Extreme is also out so we'll wait on George.

All is okay so have faith.

 

Several issues? WTF!!! They keep your car for over a year and it still has issues?

 

Dave- you must be racking up some good Karma with the patience on this project . . .

G/L,

:-) neil

 

You are one patiente man I saw this thread in like 05. Id be killing people by now

 

Thanks for the "good thoughts". The car is at a non-rotary shop now waiting for George to tune the car. He's now confirmed he'll be back Sunday which means a Monday tune and a Tuesday departure for back home.

Yes, I was disappointed the car had issues but am very happy the car was given a once over by the current shop, Jotech. Can't say enough about these guys. They're just what I needed. Customer service is beyond excellent and they are true professionals. If the car wasn't there, I would have probably left Dallas with the following issues:

- Big throttle body boost leak due to using a 13B throttle body matched to a 20B UIM. The 13B metal gasket did not completely cover the groove cut into the 20B UIM, resulting in a lot of air leaking under the throttle body/20B UIM connection. Jotech cut a new gasket and used Toyota bond to fix the issue.
- Methanol/water injection system leak.
- Clutch tranny window missing.
- Fraying alternator belt.
- Fog lights not working. Just had a new OEM toggle switch installed and it doesn't work.
- Cruise control not working. The cable needed to be modified to correctly work.

The boost leak would have not allowed tuning to proceed but I probably wouldn't have found the other issues until later. The brand new tranny not to mention the triple disc carbon clutch would have taken a beating from who knows what could have gotten into the tranny with the window left off.

In addition to the above, I had the shop redo the Gotham battery location kit. The battery was just too weak for the car. It powered the car but wouldn't hold up if I didn't drive the car everyday. Also, the way the battery was installed resulted in one having to pull out all the back plastics and passenger's seat to remove the battery. Jotech fixed this by building a battery platform so now the battery easily comes out. Thye also replaced the Odyssey battery with an Acura Integra battery - same size but able to retain much more amp power. I joked with them they were trying one piece at a time to take the "rotary" out of the car and put in piston stuff

As something for myself, I had Jotech install LED bulbs in my 99 spec lights and had them rig up some custom LED lighting strips for the bottom of the doors and for the inside foot wells. Now when you open the doors, the interior is gently flooded with light, kind of like the Aston Martin if you've been inside of one. Not ricey at all but nice and updated OEM look.

I've been taking pics but I forgot my Canon USB cord and have been too lazy to buy another one. Maybe tomorrow.

 

Waiting on pics...Also can I get more more info on the battery used?

 

I'll get the details for you tomorrow. I know i is an Acura Intergra RS battery but I'll post up the model number.

 

Really, there's not many excuses to make for not having replaced that belt.
A trip to NAPA would have fixed that.

Re the clutch: is that a Tilton clutch?

 

Thanks. The issue I have is that I have to use a battery tender. If not I can't start my car if it sits for 4 or more days. Also I am using a 13B TB on my 20B UIM. Gonna check for leaks also. Good info.

 

This is exactly the problem I was having with the battery so if Jotech is right, it's now fixed. At the very least I can now easily get to the battery. Before, I had to remove the passenger seat and all of the back plastics. Not a good solution. Now, the battery slides right out.

The issue with the 13B TB and the 20B UIM is the shapes of the two parts are not exactly the same. The 13B TB is square with a square gasket and the 20B UIM has a square top with a rounded bottom. In the rounded bottom, the 20B UIM has a moon shaped groove cut into it that allows air to leak out of the bottom of the 13B TB gasket. The bad solution to this was to put silicone sealant into the groove and then use a metal 13B gasket. This works temporarily until the silicone degrades as it did in my case.

The better solution is what I have now. Jotech cut a moon shaped rubber gasket to fit into the moon shaped groove and 'glued" it in with Toyota bond. They then made another rubber gasket to replace the metal 13B gasket and glued the new gasket on with Toyota bond. The result? No boost leak, even under much higher boost levels than the 20 lbs. I'll be running.

Can't say enough how impressed I am with the Jotech guys.

 

You are correct although it is replaced with an OEM one now. The belt issue that I called fraying was really the inside groove on the belt was worn off/completely gone. Noticed it because it was squeaking. The Jotech guys felt this was caused by using non-OEM belts. Said they had seen it a bunch of times before so I replaced it with an OEM one.

The clutch is a triple-disc Carbonetics clutch. Selected this one because it doesn't chatter much and it has a very nice OEM level of pressure when you depress the clutch. My ACT 6 puck clutch was much harder to depress.

 

I don't know Gordon. Know of anyone else who has done this?