Rotary Race Engine Builder
 

Hey guys, I recently came into a “vintage” prepped fb racecar. It’s basically a SCCA e prod car but it has a 12a peripheral port engine. I also have an older 13b 4 port engine with large street port and 48IDA. I’d like to have one or both engines refreshed before next season and am looking for a reputable engine builder with SCCA experience somewhere in the south. I’m located in central Arkansas and don’t mind driving a few states over if I need to. I figured it was likely there was a reputable builder who might have SCCA experience somewhere in Texas, maybe Tennessee. If you know of a better place in surrounding states I’m open to those too.

If you know of a place I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for any help.

Sooooo, there’s no rotary engine builders in the South? C’mon guys, help me out here.

Rotary Performance is in Texas but probably has a backlog of customers, worth checking with them. I believe BNR Supercars is in/around Tennessee.

This isn't a super active forum so expecting quick answers will yield disappointment every time. Also, try googling as I found several shops within distance of you so you could have had a head start on who can help you or not.

As for an answer, Rotary Performance is great but likely have a backlog and do not specialize in raceprep. I would try giving https://goteammer.com/ a look to see if they could help since they build spec cars and are located at a track in TX. Honestly, the race prep and the engine build/maintenance could be different shops so you might find someone closer to help with the scca prep.

From Google:
Jose Rotary Performance in Louisiana
Rotary Resurrection in TN
Pettit in FL

Thanks for the suggestions. While MER is an amazing race prep and fabrication shop, they’re not a rotary engine builder. Jose has been out of business for awhile now I believe. I once sold him a 13b GSL-SE engine a loooong time ago. Rotary Resurrection has no race experience and doesn’t do 1st gen builds. I’ve sold them rx-8 engine cores in the past. Pettit is/was a great shop (Haven’t talked to them in years) but I’m trying not to make a trip all the way to Florida. Texas, Tenn, St.Louis area, Oklahoma would be my preferred areas but I’m all ears. I’ve done some Google-work before posting this but no doubt I’ve missed some things. Was hoping to find a well known or liked Texas shop but hasn’t come up yet. The engine was built by Jesse Prather Motorsports in Kansas, while he’s still building race cars and engines he’s not doing rotary engines anymore. I’ll hit up the race prep sections and see if I have any luck.

I know you dont want to do Fl but we have two of the best in the business. Kilo Racing and Pettit Racing. I trust no one else in Fl. Out of Fl I heard great things about pineapple engines. I have these tow gush so I have never used pineapple motors. I do lean a little more towards Kilo Racing but Pettit is great also. Kilo is into drag racing and the motors he builds are very reliable. Pettit is into the road racing scene so his engines are also very reliable

#1 (imo) would be in Oregon and now semi-retired, might be an option if you’re willing to ship it.

feel free to pm me

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I would consider shipping it to someone. I'm doing that now with my Spec Miata engine. Much less time spent and the shipping costs are cheaper than fuel plus my time. Pettit, Mazdatrix, Pineapple, Defined Autoworks are the people that I'm aware of but I know there will be smaller racer oriented shops semi-local that you only know about from your fellow racers or local race prep shops.

If you're on facebook, check the local SCCA pages for your region and/or find a FB group for the class you race and ask recommendations. Also check for forums for the class of racing.

Maybe I could plan a trip to Pettt to coordinate with the Rolex 24…..

That sounds like a great idea. I will be at the Rolex Race also