I bought a rhd fd3s and the motor has some issue, the mechanic told me we would have to buy the kit to rebuild and a housing(new to this dont know what that is) however I was thinking of just buying a 13b from an importer the mechanic tells me with rotary engines we will be running on faith to find an engine without an issue.

any advice??

 

your rebuilder speaks the truth, imported wrecking yard engines are a coin flip of good or a complete 300lb and $2k boat anchor. add shipping and the fact most offer zero warranty, your call.

seen some people get lucky, seen some people get a complete pile of junk. speaking personal experience, not just repeating what was said before.

This is an imported engine, was offered no warranty and more than half the engine was a loss. the turbo also needed to be rebuilt, because it too was damaged. so in all this imported engine wound up costing the customer about $4k all said and done. the irons and rotors were toasty, the irons were so rusted they couldn't even be lapped and retreated. the housings cleaned up well, regardless how bad they initially looked.

 

Go LS.

 

THAT'S IT..

Fuhnortoner I am sending you to Reverend Jimmy...you do not have the Faith anymore..Praise the Lord!

 

thanks for the input, a rebuild it is

 

rotor is the way

 

praise his glory.... rotors are the way

 

We need to send you to a Christian camp to straighten you back out...

 

Too late. Almost all my rotary garbage is sold.

 

rebuild it thats the best way to go

 

Since we all now know that Fuhnotoner is going to hell, let me 2nd what RotaryEvolution said. You can spend a lot of money for a used engine, spend more to get it shipped. Then, after paying someone to install it and probably finding out its junk, you have to pay to have it pulled, rebuilt (possibly with more required parts than your original engine) and installed a second time. Sound like a plan to you?




Or you could go LS...lord Jesus forgive me.

 

Don't get me wrong, I've been a rotary enthusiast for 10+ years. I just don't make enough money to keep the dream alive, at my HP goal anyways

.......sending you an application for Man-Ho...!..(hahahahha!)

 

from what i have heard a reliable engine rebuilder is your best bet. Why not go full ham and get one rebuilt in japan ?

 

yep, only japan can build an engine.

this is me rolling my eyes.

 

well how else do you get jdm magic... obvious

But for real unless you are near a shop that does rotary rebuilds more frequently getting a shop regardless of location who is familiar with them would be better no?

 

shipping an engine to and from japan costs more than the engine itself, i actually considered importing rebuilt engines back to japan at one point.

and yes, they do charge enough that it was still almost a feasable option.

which strangely enough, you can buy a new engine without all that and still wind up saving money.

 

lsswap

 

I am spending far too much time prepping my car for an engine I have had kicking about for too long, and yet I still contemplate selling all my rotary bits and just going LS.


I have never found a post ever that said: Went LS, now going back to rotors. The LS guys all say that it "fixes" everything about the issues they had with their cars.

Sigh, looks like I will probably burn in hell for this heresy.

 

I didn't get your wrong. I'm not a purist and ok with any well-done swap. MAZDA doesn't support this engine any longer. IMO if someone doesn't start commercially making some of the major components like housings and irons, there'll be nothing but museum cars in 20 more years.

 

Thank you for all the reviews, inner jokes and LS swap recommendations I will be sure to follow up on progress and my decision

 

lsswap