MontegoRX-7

Hey there-

I've had my FD since 2007, a '93 Montego blue base model. For various reasons I haven't been able to drive it much. I had a radiator leak early on, actually a very slight leak-I noticed wisps of steam before any temperature increase happened, so I parked it in my garage and slowly acquired the parts necessary to fix it. I replaced the radiator with a Koyo, pretty much a bolt it but for the geometry problems due to increased thickness, used a bunch of Marvel Mystery oil (NOT the top cylinder oil-the lubricating oil, which is kinda like 3-in-1 but MUCH better. I used to use it for engine assembly when I built air-cooled hotrod VW motors a long time ago because of it's amazing film strength) in the combustion chambers and allowed it to soak before first turning the engine over by hand, then starting it as it had been sitting for a while in my garage. I wanted to take precautions that nothing was stuck-nothing was. Anyway, I got it going, new radiator, and drove it for a couple thousand very fun miles. The car has just 52k original.

Well, the other night the unthinkable happened. I had just changed the oil again, using Castrol 10-30, and was driving around, not flogging it, just cruising, and all of a sudden there was a nasty stumble, smoke coming out the tailpipe (night time-couldn't see exactly how much smoke, but what I could see was significant), rough running, no power, etc. So I am about 98.9% sure that it ate an apex seal. I was several miles from home but fortunately only a couple from a friend's house. I limped the car there and borrowed a vehicle to get home. And there it sits.

I intend to keep it-I really love the car. When the FD3 came out in '92, it struck me as being one of the most beautiful coupes ever. I even lurked around the Mazda dealerships here in Seattle to see the first one-which I saw being taken off the truck at 2:30 AM in West Seattle. It was silver and as I remember had red interior. I was smitten. Still am.
So, who are the best rebuilders of these? I have built a fair number of engines but never a rotary-and at this point in my life I figure it would be money very well spent to get someone to do it that's done a bunch of 'em. And seeing that this engine is blown, would I be better off to buy a used Japanese import motor and have it shipped directly to the rebuilder? I know that those aren't great, but I figure that any kind of a "runner" would be a more viable core than what I'm sitting on. And maybe I'd get lucky and get the later turbo...Any and all thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance. -Jon Goforth, Seattle

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Perform a compression test first. Could be as simple as a bad injector.

Marvell Mystery Oil = wax mud (check the datasheet). Generally NOT an appropriate assembly lube when actual assembly lubricants exist for the purpose (and they are designed to clink to surfaces). Not really sure what MMO is useful for really other than taking money from the wallet.

If you have rebuilt a lot of engines then I don't see a reason why you couldn't do a rotary. It is considerably less complicated than even the most simple piston engine.

Have a look at this video and then decide:

Bracketguy

iTrader: (1)

If you have an injector thats stuck open - which is possible but unlikely - you might want to pull the fuel pump relay or fuse when you do the compression test so you don't pump lots of fuel into the engine.

Also, a stuck open injector would make it run run rough and belch black (fuel) smoke. A bad seal would probably make blue (oil) smoke.

-Chuck