in over my head?
 

i have a naturally aspirated '88 with 87k original miles. actually just bought it today. It was located 1 1/2 hrs from my home. I have looked at it 3 different times, on three different days before i decided to buy. ran excellent on test drives, engine sounded great. Could see no fluids leaking, so i decided to buy. After driving it home, i ran in the house and was going to take it to put gas in. when i started the car, there was a buzzer that stayed on with the oil level light on. The guy said he filled it up with oil right before i got there and i checked the dip stick, and it was full. get home, it is at the bottom of the dipstick. went to the gas station, got gas, and then it wouldnt start. called him to see what was going on. he said to remove the two spark plugs, clean them and put them back in. he said it only does that when the car is warm. cleaned them, put them back in, and it fired right up. car also smells like it is burning oil. It is immaculate though. no rust, dings, or dents. perfect paint. on mods is the exhaust. anybody have any clue what is going on or any advice? I am looking through all threads and putting google to work as i type this. this is my first mazda, and have wanted a FC for a long time.

time to break out the search function for "hot starts"

Yeah. Oil on the plugs has me worried

Did you happen to find oil on the plugs?

Yeah. The two that he told me to pull out had oil on them. Once I cleaned the oil off and put them back in it started right up

another thing i noticed that i do not like is the shifter is very loose and wobbly. Maybe a bad bushing?

The oil control rings could be problematic. Just a possibilty though.

That is what ive read. I am thinking about getting a jdm engine to swap in and then take this engine and do a complete rebuild.

yeah.... bout that.... Don't do it. Or, if you do, plan on rebuilding it immediately. Why am i being negative? Search and you will find pretty much all imported rotaries are poo poo boat anchors at this point

Wow I did not know that!

well it is a engine from the 80's for all you know it could have sat in a warehouse since the 90's.
Jdm engines or any used engine can always be a gamble. Just because it ran before it was pulled does not mean it will do so for a extended period of time, Or have housings/sideplates that are in good condition, and able to be reused for a rebuild. If you have the funds I would look into finding an already rebuilt engine that was already checked out, Or be ready to replace some of the major components on a used engine. The 1300$ engine and trans seems like a good price for what you get but, you may spend double that to make it more then a huge paperweight. This applies to any used engine be it rotary or not.

... not to mention, your JDM-plan is actually an honest-to-God engine swap, as there were no 6-ports in the JDM. just putting that out there, but Archaphil is right about the boat anchor thing, too.

once i realized that I basically have no choice but to rebuild the engine currently in it, my plan was to get a JDM engine/tranny, hopefully make the engine that is currently in last awhile longer, and completely rebuild the JDM before doing the swap. then once it is rebuilt and swapped in, i would do a complete rebuild of the other engine. Problem..i know zero about the rotary engine although i do know quite a bit about regular piston engines. have rebuilt quite a few honda H22 engines for my preludes. Every JDM i have ordered i have always rebuilt before putting them in and at the same time it can be a learning experience rebuilding it. If i can find a good, rebuilt engine for sale, i will probably hop on that instead of going the JDM route and then just rebuild the engine that is in it myself.

If you have rebuilt pistons engines then you will be fine with a rotary, use a video tutorial as a guide and you should be fine for the differences between the style. Worked great for me coming from mustang/mr2 turbo engine experience when I first got into rotary money pits :)

LOL every one keeps throwing around the words money pits....starting to scare me :lol:

R X ... Real expensive!! Lol

If I didn't enjoy building things I would just buy one completed.

HEED MY WORDS TRAVELER!!! "Buy one that someone already dumped a ton of money into, And save yourself a TON of money"

LoL ok. I will just look for a engine that is been completely rebuilt