[B]Help[/B] - Rebuilding My Own Motor
 

I am wanting to rebuild my own spare motor and need some experienced advise (besides "don't do it"). I have Built two of Honda motors before and when I had the opportunity to get a full 13b motor and transmission in good condition for free I jumped on it. I love taking on projects like this, but since I've never done it before I don't really know what is best. I have seen a few places were to get rebuild kits, but not sure the best place to get it from.

I'm looking at staying with standard seals, but I would like to raise my RPM capability to a reliable 10k. I've done it with my 4-cyclinder motors and have seem it online with rotary motors, but not sure if its only bearing upgrades.

If anyone can provide any and all quality information for my new project I would really appreciate it.

Thank you

kudos for wanting to get your feet wet, building a rotary; however, there are a few points to mention.

first, as far as rebuild kits go, just search around for the best price on a complete kit. i know these days they are listed over $1,000, but as for specific figures, i don't really know because i haven't bought a "complete" kit in ages (i haven't used OEM apex seals in many, many years, so i usually buy all the seals individually from Mazdatrix and get my apex seals from either RA or Atkins)

second, i'd probably recommend letting go of the 10,000 RPM goal - at least, for now. to achieve that goal and actually still make power, major porting will be involved and you're going to have to get other parts to take advantage of the ports (intake, exhaust, possibly ignition), not to mention balancing, appropriate flywheel/clutch assemblies and a ballistic blanket/scattershield. it's a lot of time and money to invest in a "spare" motor and first rebuild.

i'd recommend just keeping it simple. get a workshop manual, tools and dedicated space to work. disasemble and study the parts. measure everything thoroughly. clean everything thoroughly. take your time. it's really not as hard as most people say or think.

good luck.

unless this is a full time race car, there's no need to spin it to 10k. but i agree, 2 thumbs up for wanting to build it urself. u plan to port it too? i built mine using oem parts. mileage so far is in the 50k range, driven 365 days a yr.

Thanks for the imput,

I will shy away from my high RPM goal, since my mods are currently giving me the power I want and I don't have tons of extra cash to spare (trying to buy a house).

I will look into Mazdatrix for parts. I have done a number leads through my friends shop, but he doesn't deal with rotaries so Its good to get a lead from someone on here.

I am planing on staying stock with the build, not porting on this go around; however, I've done some further reaserch on going with 3 mm apex seals, but does it allow the rotors to be used again if the apex seal blows?

more often than not, apex seals take out the rotor and, at least, the rotor housing when they go. as for going with 3 mm seals, i wouldn't bother unless your rotor's apex slots are out of spec for the stock 2 mm seals, but still within spec for 3 mm seals - especially if you're not running forced induction or using a standalone. it's a waste of resources.

I don't actually own a 7 but I've been shopping for a bit and now I see what appears to be a clean white FC for cheap that runs but needs a rebuild. I'm just wondering if there a way to guess how much of a rebuild it will need, it only has 133k kms on it so I'm hoping it just needs a cheaper kit. So anyone know if theres a way to try and guess?

the simple answer is no. i mean, sure you could guess at what's wrong, but your guesses are still irrelevant since you already know the engine has to come apart. basically, if you're going to do the rebuild according to needs, you'll have to pull the engine apart and see what you need first. also, as far as a cheaper "kit", i don't think such a thing exists. you can buy engine parts in piecemeal.

Hmmmm, I just checked atkins rotary and they had one kit for like 300 then the next up for 900. It seems like a good deal so I suppose I'll go take a look anyway.

Does doing a compression check on a rotary differ much form on a piston engine and would it atleast be able to tell me enough to know if the apex seal or something might have scored the housings or destroyed a rotor?

okay, it sounded like you were sure it needs a rebuild. yes, a compression test can help you determine what shape the engine is in. does the car start easily, but is just low on power or is it hard to start with a real crappy, smoky idle?

also, we've already deviated from the original poster's topic, so maybe start a thread if/when you buy the car. there are many threads around here that can help you with determining whether or not you have a blown engine.

Alright then thanks, Ill make one once i know more.