Damn!!

You make it seem so easy Aaron!

Great job with the vids. I'm taking in alot of pointers.

Can't wait to see the next installment.

good work so far Aaron.
that engine is pretty damn clean for its age!!!
hopefully the internals look the same
whats the mileage on the chassis???

you should check out Ocean Metallic Blue. I had my mx3 painted that colour. it was really sweet in the sunlight it would glow bright blue but in the shade it looked darker. I loved that colour
its almost a pepsi blue

Well, it was on the third transmission by then.

Awesome. It's nice to see you making some progress.

It is easy! The mechanicals are no big deal to me, but it has been a long time since I have done body work. That will be an adventure.

You'll be amazed at the engine internals when the next video is posted. "New" would describe them adequately, which is awesome, because finding old 13B housings is a real problem. There is 70K (miles) on the chassis.

Who makes that colour?

Weird. We had ours for many years and I can't remember any major mechanical problems. It was scrapped when it literally began to fall apart.

As always, this write-up (or Video-up?) is very interesting/entertaining.

And you only got started...

Duplicolor they use to sell it in the big gallon cans at crappy tire but you could get it from any paint shop that can mix it
heres a pic of my old mx3 in the rain, Friggen awesome colour
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...omsrx7/car.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...7/000_0189.jpg

Hmmm...Not dark enough. I'm going with an almost metallic navy blue, with likely a pearl on top. The most important thing for me with paint is depth, which can only be achieved through metallics and multiple layers.

i painted that car myself for like $150 hahaha I had never painted a car before

wheres the engine video? :)

I agree, not dark enough. You should make it iridescent dark blue and black.

This is the only picture that I can find that looks relatively close to what I'm thinking of. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OyiL_WvF1AE/0.jpg

That's about the right colour, just a little darker is needed.

I'm editing the next video now but it may be a few days. I'm in the shop today to try and finish cleaning engine parts and then may be busy for the next few days.

so did the condition of the engine change your plans at all for under the hood?
oldschool 13b turbo with custom fabbed intake would be pretty cool :D
the OEM 3mm seals would last forever at 300whp 300ft-lbs.

I have the part number for the 3mm solid corner seals,1011-11-321 . but after seeing how they break though, I came up with my own theory why mazda switch to the corner seals with the plug insert. i figure its the same reason why airplane windows aren't square. all the pressure is concentrated in the corner of the 90 degree angle instead of spreading out evenly across the face of the circle. when I disassembled my engine, I had 3 that were completely broken and 1-2 with cracks that broke with slight pressure all in the exact same spot.
HAHAHA like I said thats just my theory
I still ended up using new oem solid 3mm corner seals, new GSL-SE apex springs, and RA 3mm superseals

Dark Blue Metallic.
 

My G35x has a nice dark blue w/metallic in it.

Here is some pictures that actually illustrate the colour. (not my car, mine i stock looking)

Paint Code : BW5

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/c...d3/sick1-1.jpg

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/c...d3/sick3-1.jpg

Project looks like it is coming along well..

RT

You'll see the condition of the engine internals in the next video, and I think everyone will be shocked at what they see.

There isn't much of an appreciable strength difference in 3MM vs. 2MM seals, which makes sense if you consider the pressures involved. But 300HP is trivial for any 13B and I'd expect to get 150K at least out of this engine.

Mazda uses the rubber plugs in the corner seals to prevent chatter in certain circumstances. This is something I have never heard any aftermarket seal vendor discuss when referring to solid corner seals. As with many seal choices, you trade one thing for another. Personally I have never had any issues with stock corner seals nor have I heard of someone damaging one that wasn't the fault of porting. So you can bet that even though I am ordering the rebuild kit from Atkins, I'll pay the extra $10 for stock corner seals. :)

The colour is pretty close, but there isn't any depth. Of course it is hard to take pictures of metallic paint, and a little bit of pearl easily adds depth.

Part 3 - Engine Disassembly and Cleaning
 

Part 3 covering engine disassembly and cleaning has now been posted. When I initially started tearing down the engine and looked through the exhaust ports, I was worried about the condition of the housings. But as soon as I got into the engine, I was pleasantly surprised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1MXfs_Srs4

Now, what to do next? I think I'll start plugging some holes (antenna, door handles, etc.) in the body. A little bit of light body work to get those juices flowing again.

Can't wait to see the "refreshed" engine back together!

Can't believe how clean those housings were.

Looking pretty good Aaron, but the orientation of the inner coolant seal is correct, anywhere from 12 O'clock to the intake port leading edge is acceptable.

Also your "lovely assistant" sounds a lot like Chris Campitelli from CP Racing...

housing looks mint!!!!!!

Good job on the disassembly...................I learnt something today :)

I guess the wreckers were not lying when they said "Oh, it has a new engine". Of course there is only 70K on the car, so...

Yes, true. It just irked me with this engine that some of the seals were at 12 o'clock, some were near the intake ports and some where in-between. Then again, I guess one cannot complain considering that all of them came out of the grooves in one piece and the black rubber one was even still stretchy.

Guilty.

Cool, I learned a bit. Admired how you move decisively through the teardown (video editing contributes to that appearance, I'm sure, but still..) - I admit to being prone to "analysis paralysis" - thinking too much about the best way to do the job, instead of just fookin' doin' it.

Never seen a thermal reactor before - heard of them, and that they were prone to backfires, and ferocious heat that kills engines, so I'd have to think on a rotary the backfires would be spectacular or frequent, and getting rid of is an excellent choice. Good riddance to bad rubbish, eh? With the age of the car, I assume it's emissions/e-test exempt and you won't have to have a cat to re-cert it?

nice junkyard score!!!
shouldn't that have the solid corner seals?
How were the Irons? do the 12a's have the coolant oring grooves on the rotor housings too?
what engine set up do you have in mind?

Keep up the good work Aaron ... I still need to drop off your transmission.

What makes the housings so nice? The lack of grooving on the surface or is there no flaking around the edges?

Mainly I just edited out hunting for tools and the numerous dead hooker jokes. It actually only took about 15 minutes to disassemble the engine. Once you've done it a few times, it becomes almost automatic.

I personally am fascinated by the thermal reactor exhaust. It worked so well that Mazda back in the day was able to fly through every emissions test that every other manufacturer was struggling to pass and not compromise too much the power of the engine. But of course, it was massively heavy. That thermal reactor manifold probably weighs 50 LBs because it is a HUGE multi-layer assembly with a massive casting. Then the rest of the exhaust, with its dual layer tube and all the associated plumbing certainly doesn't help. But they are reliable, and do the job very well. My old '78 RX-7 beater had a fully working thermal reactor system and smelled far nicer then even modern cars with cats. But yeah, if there is an air leak in the system or a malfunction with the decel valve, they will backfire horrendously. Mazda used a combination of ignition retard, ignition cut (sometimes firing trailings only) and fuel dumping to keep the reactor at temperature and if one of those malfunctions....BOOM!

While the Cosmo will not require an e-test, it will receive a modern high flow catalytic converter. This is to control the stink, quiet down the exhaust and just be in general nicer to the environment.

I think the only factory Mazda non-race engine to use solid corner seals was the 10A and VERY old dual dizzy 12As (with dual side seals). Mazda very quickly went to the superior two piece seals with the rubber plugs to both improve upon sealing and eliminate chatter.

The irons are perfect. You'll see those in the next video. Yes, 12As have the coolant grooves in the housings. All pre-86 rotarys do, which is one of the reasons it is so hard to build those engines. The supply of good housings is dropping quickly. All pre-86 housings are NLA at Mazda. So if you ever find a pre-86 rotary in good shape, those housings are as good as gold.

I've been following your supercharger thread. :) No worries on the the transmissions. Whenever we both have time...

The housings are nice mainly because they are basically new. So that means no grooving or chrome flaking, no scratches, hardly any wear at all. They have very, very few miles on them. Likely well under 1000. I really lucked out with these because if I had needed housings, I probably would have had to drop $1000. In that case I would have just bought a whole j-spec short block and then swapped the Cosmo front cover and oil pan onto it.

my son and i were watching your engine tear down. Very nice and keep it up. As far as paint color goes, try GM Blue I think it was on corvettes and G8