My 86 non-turbo blew up @ 245K. Need this car back for trans. Will get a rebuilt rotay in the summer. QUEST: Have found a junkyard with about 6 2nd gens. They are not there because of body damage. How can I tell if the "bottom" ends are good? Plan on only swapping my rotor housing sealed type section. My engine runs, but leaks compression into the cooling system. They quoted me 150$ complete at the yard. For this price...I'm gonna attempt to pick a "good" one that'll make it a couple of months. Any way to tell which is better. Lowest milage on cars was around 117K...bo automatic cars go easier on the engine itself? Am looking for any hints that can help me choose a good one. Also I know the induction changed around 88 or so. Did the rotor housing sections change also? Can I use one of those? Am not new to cars...but new to rotaries. Any assistance would B appreciated. Thank You...

 

The engines are basically the same, the only real differences between 86/87 and 88-91 are lighter rotors and flywheel, and a different intake which includes VDI. If you are dropping into your car, you will just need to use your intake. I have very recently done this.

 

my experience with junkyard rotaries is that if the body is good then the engine is junk. people junk RX7's because they get quoted outrageous prices to have them repaired or rebuilt. I broke down three engines at the junk yard and found all of them were badly worn. try to search for a car which has heavy accident damage as the engine is more likely to be OK. low mileage and a body in good condition means that the car was junked because the engine was no good.