ok so to make a very long story short i bought a fd with a blown motor and got it rebuilt and drove it for 3 months and then one day out of no where when i first started it it was smoking really bad out the tail pipe. took it to ricks rotary and he told me that he thought it was a bad rear rotor oil control seal or the rear rotor. i didnt have the money to pay him to tear it down and inspect ($3500) so i just took it back home and here it has sat. i recently got enough money saved (3000) i was wondering if it was just this seal or rotor. should i attempt a rebuild? and how much would it cost?

previous background of myself.
i am mechanically inclined, i completely rebuilt my 85 corolla gts (AE86) engine myself and did all the head work. i also swapped a 88 supercharged mr2 in it also and fabed up the stuff for that to be possible and did all the wiring.
i work on hondas and mk4 supras

i have never worked on a rotary before and i have all the 94 factory service manuals and a rotary rebuild dvd from mazdatrix.

can i rebuild this engine with this knowledge?


thanks in advance =)

 

if u have to count money like that, you can't afford it.

nor you will have to skills, FD is WAY more complicated than you can imagine. a 85 corolla is NOWHERE close to it, not even any Honda (yep, even S2K is NOT as complicated as FD)

 

as my first build i just wanted to know what i would have to spend. i think its funny how on this forum people just automatically say "if your asking how much you dont have enough". that wasnt what i was asking.
ive been told by other rx7 owners at car meets that rotarys are very simple engines but they just look intimidating.
and if your talking about the fd being complicated because of the vacuum like on every other post ive read ive done that before to mine. it was time consuming but wasnt difficult imo.

i appreciate your response but to me that your post sounded disrespectful. simply stating that if i am "counting money means you cant afford" is a presumptuous statement. and while talking like that give users on this forum a bad name as that does seem to be the trend on this site.

anyone else want to give there .02?

 

a lot of people thought "i got this" cuz im blahblah blah, but hey u know better right? so why bother posting

the engine is simple in design, but not simple to get it right, try it, but dont blame the car when u fail like a fool

 

welcome.

while your background is not totally irrelevant, it is not quite relevant enough. the relevant part is that you're meticulous (and patient) enough to build a head, so you should be able to get it done. the key to much of the rotary is cleaning and clearancing.

first of all, the engine needs to come apart to be assessed. that it the ONLY way to know what is needed. the part of your question that is a bit suspect is that it sounds like you plan to go in and just repair/replace the issues with the rear rotor. with the engine apart, you should actually "rebuild" the thing. go through everything!

there are more than enough resources available to tap to help you through a rebuild. in addition to what you have, there are also the videos posted by Aaron Cake. I think they are brilliantly done. just take your time. perhaps even do a dry run or two.


oh ... and i'm glad you didn't give that guy $3500 because as you wrote it, it sounds like that was just for him to "disassemble and inspect" and that sounds a tad ridiculous to me. that's rebuild money. however, if I misunderstood what you said, then disregard my comment.

 

thank you =)
and yes i was planing on just fixing the issue with the rear rotor since the engine was rebuilt and just had that failure 3 months after installation. but again i dont know if that is all that is wrong. =/
i do want it done right however and woud like to get into rotarys. but i dont want to spend 5k in the end on a rebuild. lol
and no you understood correctly. he was just going to charge 3500 for the "inspection" and if i needed the rear replaced id would be 4500. if i did a whole overhaul it was 9500 lol you would think i owned a Ferrari or something lol.

so just to be safe i should rebuild and inspect the whole thing right? and get all new seals? from my research thats automatically 1000 right there correct?

thanks for the info you have provided also =) good to see there are polite people here.