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So the time has come to where I am finally creating a build thread for my 7 for me to follow mostly, but also for more experienced owners to throw in their 2 cents.
A little background:
I have been a follower of the rotary since highschool, and I am little late to the party, but I am a bit of a calculated person. It took me up until 2016 (almost 8 years later than my interest/obsession began), but I finally took the plunge after finding myself financially stable and able to spend a little bit on a toy in hopes that a passion would grow from that seed.
In comes my find; a good deal on a local 10AE with lower compression and completely imperfect in almost every way. Perfect place to start? Debatable, but off I went, down the rabbit hole. I can post the 2 full pages of imperfections that the local ATL shop gave me when I had her inspected if people are interested, but here are a couple of pictures from where Arya (practiced in the arts of multiple faces..GOT nerd..okay anyway..) and I began:
Even though the low compression was an issue among many other imperfections, I drover her around after work everyday and on the weekends. She came completely stock with S5 tails, RB exhaust, after aftermarket wheels/coil-overs. The seller sold with her all of the original parts as well.
So I decided after a few months..she was something worth investing some dough into. First thing I did was remove emissions.. I wanted to learn my way around the engine, and this seemed like a good place to start. Meanwhile, I gave her a tune-up. Now, some may think this is a waste of $$$ on a low-compression engine, but she still had a bit of life and it was my way of "taking a class" in these engines. I got comfortable taking off the UIM, throttle body, changing the tranny fluid, etc..
Fast-forward to now.. I had some extra cash lying around, so I picked up a rebuilt engine from Lucky 7 Racing, coincidentally from another 10AE that was never picked up from the owner. Got it shipped here, and I have been getting things ready since to swap the engine for a fresh one.
Items I have changed/touched:
Emissions Removed
Original owner had air pump removed, but stock pulleys, so I added a dual alt. pulley
SS Oil Cooler Lines for stock oil cooler
New Fuel Lines (non SS)
New brake lines all around
New brake booster and master cylinder (brakes were squishy)
New Shifter bushings
OMP Blocked Off/Removed
Plastic radiator plug replaced with metal bolt (broke off the plastic plug on first rad drain)
New vac lines all around
New spark plugs
Cleaned/flow tested fuel injectors (one weak-ish secondary, but within spec)
Things to be done when rebuilt engine gets installed:
S5 Turbo/Manifold (Maybe after the engine gets started and running well..having troubles. See below.)
OEM Battery Box was broken and surrounding metal is a bit in shambles, so I am planning on a relocation to rear bin until I can get a solution to fix up the sheet metal under original battery location. It'll probably stay relocated though..
Re-Wrapping Engine Harness
Oil Pan Brace (owned)
SS Clutch Line (need to purchase)
Reverse Switch (at some point)
Possible future upgrades:
Thinking of going hybrid/Rtek build, but I am on the street and do not need boat loads of power. We shall see..many things to fix up before thinking of more power. I want to get her running and looking right. I will decide then.
A quick thanks to all that have sold me items to help me along the way, and of course the OPs that have had the problems that I ran into that helped me through all of the above and continue to do so. This community is amazing. I just want to make it DGRR this year, so I am on my grind!!!
Okay, so I know this has been done 1,000+ times, but I cannot get the (s4) oil drain to mate, and the (S4) coolant line on the UIM manifold side is in the way of me mounting the turbo. I am clearly missing something here, and I am sure it will be obvious when someone corrects my stupidity, but I am slow and uneducated. Worse comes to worst I will just stick to the S4 until later down the line. But here i am, almost ready to mount the rebuilt engine on the tranny, and I cannot figure this bit out. Re-wrapping my harness next weekend most likely, and then everything will go back in the bay. Maybe a couple/few weeks until I have the first start-up.
I also forgot to mention, the rebuilt engine is a mild streetport, but anyway.. thanks for any input. I will see you next post
1. Clean ride! Don't feel bad about being late to the party, it took me 17+ years to buy my first FC. (I'm also a 10ae owner)
2. Post the imperfections list please.
3. Why did you feel the car was worth investing in?
4. I can't help you with your problem but I look forward to more updates.
gride, thank you for words of encouragement. The below is the pre-purchase inspection list. Everything that has to do with driveability has been taken care of with the exception of the control arm bushings and oil o-rings. This has been a good reminder to replace both, and they have been added to my to-do list. The sunroof opens fine now as well.
As far as the investing question, I drove her around, had long conversation with several other 7 owners, saw all of the pics the community posts about DGRR and other events (the west coast seems to always be poppin, but I want to make a trip down to Orlando at some point as the Central Florida guys look like their having a good time as well), and I just could not imagine a future where I don't have Arya to give me a pick-me-up drive if I am bored or just need to blow off some steam. I want to get to a point where she is driving reliably and I can hop in at a moments notice to go for a drive. Another reason why upgrading power is questionable because it's painful when she's not in service.
hkp, thank you for the link. I have spent hours re-reading it over the past week as it is that thread that led me to believe it would be an easy perk to add to the new engine, but I am still at a loss to where I mucked it up..Again, the S4 will bolt right up if I can't get it work before the big day.
Quick Update:
Got my engine harness re-wrapped. Found a broken connection (plug to the water pump..Water Temp Sensor I think based off the wiring diagram.)
I had lost a single bolt to the front pulley, so I grabbed 4 new ones and an extra set from Ace Hardware (M6 - Pitch 1.00)
New Secondary Fuel Rail bolts from Ace (M8 - Pitch 1.25) - Lengths vary, so I grabbed a bag-full. Head sizes ended up being 13mm, but no big deal.
Have a new trans mount I need to install, but need the 2 mounts on either side before installation.
Re-Installed S4 Turbo because things are getting close to put back in, and I am a slow boy
Picture of broken connection Trying to find the correct connector, or just solder on new pieces of wire and terminations to use old plastic.
Picture of re-wrapped harness (all solenoids except boost tucked):
Everything is coming along though! See ya next time
After a weekend of dealing with insurance and contractors (slab leak..never buy a house with sub-slab water lines..PITA), I finally got some time to install the oil pan brace. Also, I went to Ace and picked up some nuts and bolts to replace the transmission mount pieces that were old and decrepit. (For those ever wondering, or for future me.. Rubber mount nuts - M8, 1.25 Pitch, Y-Bracket Bolts - M8 (20), 1.25 Pitch, and Middle Nut - M12, 1.25 Pitch).
I have some more work to do this afternoon on the house, but engine and tranny will be one again soon. I hunted down a connector for the water temp, so that will have to be soldered on. I plan to drain the diff, gas tank, and clutch reservoir (also put the SS clutch line on while I'm there). I am going to clean up the engine bay paint as well as I can. Then I will place the battery on the bare metal once everything is hooked back up again to make sure she runs well at idle, and then the relocation will take place as well as control arm bushings and whatever other odds and ends I find in the meantime.
Well.. I have been busy, a bit of a recluse from family and friends for the past few weekends, but the start-up day is right around the corner. New oil cooler lines in the mail should be here Tuesday as I could not get the thick-*** AN lines to fit with the stock set-up. Today's to-do list: bleed/flush brakes as I put new lines in, install exhaust, get TMIC installed, reinstall the water pump harness mount, install the spark plug wires, and button some other small things back up. I am waiting to install the fan and shroud to have better access to install the oil cooler banjo bolts.
But as she sits (will do start-up video on the day. Also..ignore the broken AC line mount :/ ):
Nice build thread and nice work. I've literally just embarked on the same journey = Bought a 10AE that I was told "only" had injector or vacuum issue. Shipped it to Lucky7 and it turned out to be a seriously deep rabbit hole, but the engine had been rebuilt and the body is good, so i too made the plunge. I've had to double my investment to get her on the road and I've not even seen or driven the car yet! This will be my 3rd FC across 3 countries and 2 continents now!
I'll keep a watch on your build with great interest, welcome to the unique, addictive and occasionally very costly malstrom that's rotary ownership!
if you haven't found the issue with the turbo, its clocked wrong, rotate the CHRA so the oil feed and drain should be 12 and 6 o clock and water feed and return at 9 and 3 and then reclock the compressor housing
BenRX - Thanks for the kind words man. Sorry to hear that your car ended up in worse shape than you were informed. But if you're anything like me, it'll be the journey that your car will take you through that will be the most memorable. Good luck on FC #3!
TerryD - You have no clue how good your timing is.. I just spent the last few hours putting on the S5, and clocked it right on the first go. You are the freakin' man as tomorrow SHOULD be the day I get to start her up..
Update: So after two weeks of telling myself "Tomorrow is the day"..I think that tomorrow is actually the day this rebuild will get her first start. In the meantime I have relocated the battery to the rear bin, and just today put on the S5 turbo.
There have been a couple of hold-ups the past few weeks:
I broke an -AN fitting (mentioned above), so I order some CorkSport oil cooler lines. Those came in, and I was all geared up to install the oil cooler..well it turns out either when I was removing or installing the -AN fittings, I had stripped the oil cooler thread somehow. Maybe it was a blessing that the -AN fitting broke. I may have had an oil leak from that thread after start-up. So..I ordered a used oil cooler, got it cleaned, flushed, and pressure tested. I was all ready to start the car up Wednesday when I got the "new" cooler back from the radiator shop when, well, I forgot I never ordered the crush washer for the front cover oil cooler fitting.. So I ordered the crush washer online after failing to find a comparable one at the hardware store.
Crush washer should be here tomorrow (Monday), and if the cooler line installation goes smoothly, I may have the time to start her up tomorrow evening.
Well.. spent the afternoon installing the Corksport lines. Installed the upper rad hose and began filling the coolant...and a leak from the bottom of the water pump. Looks like this one had a bad seal. No big deal. Something else that will be new on the engine. Everything should be ready to go when water pump arrives.
It is time - I started my car for the first time in almost two years tonight..And everything went great.
I turned the car over with EGI fuse unplugged at first to build up oil pressure to check for oil cooler line leaks, but found none so off I went. Plugged up the fuse, and she tried to start and sputtered for a few tries. After that she purred like a kitten and sat around 1500RPM steady until warm. Some smoking from the exhaust manifold ensued as well has a couple plumes of white smoke from the exhaust.
After she got hot, I turned her off and tried a hot start. She was slow to hot start, and sputtered out a good few more times. Then she idled rough from 700-500, but did not die. I took a video (below) at this point. From what I read, some seem to think that's normal on a rebuild, others not so I am not sure what to think. I have to get up early, so I am off to bed soon, but i wanted to post this and hear people's thoughts. Btw, as you can tell, the manifold smoking went away before I started filming.
It hasn't left the garage yet (did a bad job bleeding brakes on the first go), but I wanted a base reading on the TPS since the setup is new. I got 1.54 ohms throttle closed, and 5.26 wide open. I made no adjustments. If I need to later, it is easy to get to.
Well I will bleed the brakes tomorrow and install the hood with help from my brother, and then take it around the neighborhood. Maybe on the road..we'll see..
Working out of town, but while I had some downtime I figured I would share the latest from the weekend.
I bled my brakes again and went to drive around the neighborhood. Still squishy brakes. Takes forever to stop while only going ~20mph. I checked for leaks anywhere which I could not find. The system (booster and cylinder) was replaced 100mi before the previous engine was pulled and worked fine with no issues. The system has not been touched since except for a replacement front driver's side brake line. So I am clearly messing this up somehow, or something went bad from sitting for over a year. I will bleed one more time this weekend before I start replacing brake parts again.
If the brake issue is resolved, I will daily her until the break-in period is over. I have decided to go with the 500mi after reading for hours on people's experiences. I do not have the funds for any internals to take a dump on me, so I am going the safe-than-sorry route.
It may be time to service the calipers and brackets. The front brakes may have sticking pins that will require removal to be cleaned, lubed and reinstalled. You will also want to service the pads as well to ensure that there is no rust buildup on the contact points where the pads meet the caliper. A little silicone brake grease will help keep them free. For the rear, you may have a sticking slide pin or stuck pads. Clean and lube the slide pins, again with silicone brake grease, clean the contact points on the pads, and clean the fitting kit on the caliper bracket and check for rust buildup under the fitting kit.
Hey, mazdaverx713b, thanks for the tip man. So I actually got it fixed and feel a little dumb about it too. That front driver's side brake line I replaced? Yeah.. it was only halfway threaded into the MC
I got it bled late Sunday evening after finding that line wet after a previous bleed, but didn't get to drive it around to see if it worked until yesterday afternoon. And..low and behold..I can stop now. I also ended up adjusting my TPS to .999 after 2 1/4 turns clockwise and the idle has smoothed out a bit though not perfect. I fixed a loose-ish pulley after hearing some clanking while taking her around the neighborhood. I will start daily driving her now (gotta get the hood back on today so the pollen doesn't cover my engine in this GA spring). The last issue I can tell is that steering is making some noise. I cannot remember how the steering felt from over a year ago, but I will look/read more into that next.
Other than that, she took her first trip to the gas station yesterday, and I feel good. I am not done here though... Til next time.
Found a leaky/cracked power steering return line. I am gone for a week again, but I will install when I get back at the end of the week. Also, I found a dripping rad hose from the rad to the heater hose pipe. Another thing I will install at the end of the week.
Otherwise, I upgraded the interior a little bit with some bling :
Everything that has to do with fluids is buttoned up and looking nice. The car is running strong. The last thing I need to do before I start fixing some cosmetic stuff and re-installing the bits and pieces on the interior is find a seemingly large, audible, vacuum leak on the passenger's side of the engine. My only attempt to track down the leak has been just some water misting with no luck. It has been difficult with the stock fan running as the mist kind of disperses everywhere. I replaced some stock wire hose clamps with the screw-on type to no avail. I am going to look into the BAC and its hoses this afternoon, but I may have to step up my leak finding game. I need to check with a buddy of mine to see if his shop owns a smoke machine. That would be ideal, but if not I may go the portable propane route, or figure out how to make the turbo-attachable PVC fitting to use with my compressor. Anyway, things are almost where I want them to be for the time being.
After the vaccum leak gets fixed I plan on adding my gauge pod and boost gauge to make sure this streetport isn't causing any boost problems on an S5 stocker. Next will be an AFR gauge after that. The future of this car is still hazy at the moment, but I may go hybrid at some point with the matching upgrades. Still up in the air though because of intercooler options and not wanting to go FMIC with cutting the bumper and all that. Modest power upgrade is all I am looking for (maybe close to 300hp or thereabouts), so opinions are always welcome, but of course I will continue reading and looking at this car from all angles.
For the time being though I want to get comfortable going long distances, so I can make it up to the mountains soon. Missed DGRR, but I plan to be there next year without a doubt. See ya next time
So it has been quite awhile since I have been near my car, or near this forum. I wanted to check in after travelling for work, and going out of the country for awhile to explore the stunning country of Colombia. But I'M BACK!
So turns out I did have a significant vac leak coming from the turbo intake duct. It had quite a decent-sized gash in it where someone before my ownership filled it with some RTV which was somewhat still there, but the vac leak was pretty severe. Can't believe I didn't see it before after all the removing and replacing parts that I've done. I just went ahead and bought a new one and installed. The car still has trouble every once-in-awhile idling until warm, so I am looking at other possibilities. Adjusting the TPS helped a little bit, but I am going to look into up-sizing the ground wires (which I should have done before the engine was installed), and look for further vac leaks.
I replaced the screw-in mounts for the fuel filter, and put a new one on as it was old and rusty (again, should have done this before the first start but...I'm learning).
Also, apparently I did a shotty job at RTV-ing the oil pan while the engine was out, so it looks like I will be attempting a removal and re-RTV-ing that. The oil leak isn't too bad, and I can drive it around (haven't even lost a quart of oil, but it is damp around the oil pan rim and no sign of leakage from above). I found that my Corksport lines were leaking, but I tightened those up a bit, and it seems to have stopped.
I think I am ~500 miles or so into the rebuild, I have learned a lot, but this thing is not perfect yet. I still need to add my boost gauge (not embarrassed to say electronics/wiring always makes me nervous - I need to take the plunge), I wanted to get a wideband so that I have a better idea of how my car is running, and like I've mentioned before, get this thing in hop-in-and-drive condition - possibly for longer trips than I have been willing to go so far.
Thinking of having the local shop do the oil pan, and let me know where I stand with all the work I've done - might as well grab a compression test while I am at it. Still debating, but I would like the peace of mind. Going to surf through all that I have missed in these builds threads, too!
Got word late last night - looks like I have a bad corner seal. So it is tear-down time gentlemen! I will post the numbers when I pick up the car today from the shop.
This engine sat for so long, I knew there was a decent chance of something being wrong, but I was praying that was not the case. Oh well, just another part of the journey.
I'm going to pick it up today, and begin removing the engine again. At least this gives me an excuse to do the oil pan myself
Front Rotor: 7.3, 6.9, 6.9
Rear Rotor: 6.9, 7.3, 5.0
Just got the garage cleared out for another pull, and I hope to get done tomorrow so that this week I can get the corner/side seal fixed. Maybe get the engine running again by next weekend pending a Mercruiser Alpha inboard/outboard project I have going on with the pops.
Things I will do upon re-installation:
Upgrade ground wire sizes
At least some suspension bushings installed while the engine is out
Get aftermarket boost gauge and oil gauge installed
Went over to the shop this weekend to check out the internals and discuss the possible fixes. Keep in mind - this engine had less than 300 miles on it before tear-down. I do not know what sitting for a 2 years does to the internals, but I was using MMO to keep it lubricated and rotating the engine regularly.
The findings (notes from re-builder):
Apex seals - Outer edge of 3-4 apex seals already warping and concave. All seals will be replaced with Mazda seals.
Water Jacket Seals - Wrong size (but no failure) - Will be replaced.
Side Seals - Many are fine, but a couple are bent - one really bad one one rear rotor causing the bad compression reading - Replacing ones need replacing
Everything else - Good Condition. Everything else will remain.
A little shot of the engine:
And I got a look of one of ~15 4-Rotor engines out of the Mazda Concept Race cars - freshly re-built. This thing is absolutely gorgeous!!:
Glad that you're getting things sorted out. Sorry to hear though that the engine was in fact not in the best of shape. Odd to hear that the wrong coolant seals were used. When is your projected completion date for the engine?
01-14-18, 04:12 PM
Trying to find the correct connector, or just solder on new pieces of wire and terminations to use old plastic.
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