jilongie

hi!!!
when do most people rebuild their engine??
how come no one offers rotors??
where can u find rotors??
so if engine dies,, is there anyway to make it run again??(as in 200k mile, dead)
i have a 89 n/a that has 68.000 miles.
when should i rebuild??
what's the difference between turbo and n/a in engine/transmission??
is n/a transmission a lot weaker??
completely different engine/transmission??
thanks alot!!!

locketine

A lot of this info can be found in the archives/faq of the FC forum. And most of these questions are directly relevant to just that lifetime of the rx7 so you'd be better off posting those questions in that section.

You can't find rotors easilly because they are the least likely part to become unusable in our engines. The worst I've heard of is an apex seal twisting in it's groove and damaging it. The fix was set the rotor up for 3mm seals.

rebuild ur engine when the compression drops to an undesirable level. Basically if the engine is not doing what you want and you determined it wasn't something else causing the problem. There are many tricks to bring an engine back to life, I'll let you search for them rather than explain them all. Hint: ATF is a major factor in most of them.

tinvestor

rather than worry about rebuilding your engine you should worry about the cooling system flush regularly, maintain all hoses/belts, keep a close eye on that gauge, and DONT PUT YOUR LICENSE PLATE IN FRONT OF THE RADIATOR!!! Always remember the #1 killer of rotarys is overheating.

jilongie

hey btw, what happens when rotary overheats???
is there a way to repair the engine in that situation??

Storm Knight

iTrader: (1)

This is my take on how a rotary overheats. Please correct me if there is an error.

Think of your engine as a 5-layer cake made out of alternating pieces of steel and aluminum laid on its side. as the engine overheats, the two metals expands at different rates because of different thermal expansion coefficients.

This expansion warps the metals layers, which exposes the inner water seal to the full onslaught of the combustion chamber (the seal is rubber.) Eventually, the seal will break/burn, leaks into the combustion chamber, and makes white smoke as you start it up. The leak is manifested as a gradual drop in coolant level, and the cooling system unable to hold pressure. Also, from a cold start, you will blow white smoke. It is a very sinister problem that will eventually bite you big time.

The main thing is to PREVENT the overheating from occuring. Thicker and more reliable radiator with good airflow, a responsive thermostat, good coolant, and regular maintenance is key to this. Once it happens, the only thing that can cure the leak is to replace/rebuild the engine.

The most common place for the leak to occur is the hottest point in the engine, which, if memory serves, is the area around the leading plug.

locketine

I've had my engine overheat two times and then loose compression. It lost compression due to gradual wear on the apex seals so it wasn't the overheating that did it. In fact, the overheating did nothing to my engine; all the internals are fine except for the apex's. I had the overheating exhaust buzzer go off in addition to having the gauge in full red, didn't notice it there till the exhaust buzzer. No smoking or nething.

You can get lucky like me, but just do what everyone says and make sure that gauge never goes above half-way. Like jumping off the golden gate bridge; you will probably die but there's a chance you'll live. Is it really worth the risk?

Oh, I was reading about a fix in the 1st gen section involving some type of coolant additive that makes the coolant more viscous or something, preventing it from going through the small gap made by the overheating.