Hey guys my fds been out for quite awhile and I've been thinking about rebuilding it soon. Besides rotor sports and ricks rotary are there any other reputable rebuilders in the bay area? Do rebuilds go in the price range of 3-5k? I was thinking about a rebuild, possibly porting since i have a dd, and maybe catless. I read that for catless you need to port your wastegate for stock twins or put restrictor plates in the exhaust. Would I also need like a pfc and something to control boost with? I think my fd blew because it spiked to 15psi, but I was also not getting any oil to my front rotor from omp. Would you guys recommend a street port? I want to do a bridge port, but i know i am probably going to regret it since I just want that brap sound haha. I heard its super hard to drive on lower rpms. Would a street port give noticeable gains? Thanks!

 

Have you put any consideration into Cali laws regarding vehicle emissions and inspection "standards"?

Porting out the WG on twins is advisable regardless of what kind of engine porting you're looking at. I would do a LOT of research before randomly changing your setup, everything is designed to work together and if you just start pulling stuff out *****-nilly, with no regard for what does what, than you're running the risk of just blowing up your engine all over again.. Overboosting can/will def kill an engine, the broken OMP line/nozzle wouldn't immediately lead to engine death, but it sure as hell won't be good for the engine (that's your ONLY source of combustion chamber lubrication unless you premix. No lube = ugly/scary internals). Research, research, research


I don't know about any shops in the Bay area, but I do know that if I were to get my car rebuilt in California than I would take it down to Illicit Performance, in 29 Palms/Desert Hot Springs. I don't know much about the other shops in the state, but I know that I would absolutely trust Glenn (owner of Illicit) to do anything with my car.

 

Yeah I know the cali laws and emissions. I'll do more research about the catless stuff because i was already iffy about it. But yeah I was thinking about porting when I get the engine rebuilt.

 

I'm moving this to the west section. I also can tell you that based on your first post (and depending on the mileage of your FD) I'd budget at least double what you're expecting for a proper quality professional rebuild. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news......my opinion of course, I'm sure you'll get many others

 

Oh okay thanks rich(sorry if i'm wrong but I remember that name from other threads I think). I had 121-122k mileage on my fd when it blew. I did a compression test on it the rear rotor is very strong/healthy. But from what I can see the front rotor has 0 compression or at least under 20psi since my compression tester capped at 20psi minimum. Would i be looking at 6-10k instead of 3-5k for a rebuild?

 

Honesty you shouldn't be paying much more than $3k-$4k for a rebuild, unless you have a bunch of junked engine parts that need replacing. A rebuild can quickly escalate in costs if you want to go all Gucci on it (I spent about $8k on my rebuild that I just did, in my garage), however what I think Rich (you guessed his name correctly) was referring to is that you should budget much more into it in order to cover any additional work/parts needed.

If the shop you take your car to does it right than chances are they will find many little things that need replacing/updating, and it can be surprisingly time consuming to do the work right. Think of it as an investment though, you can pay extra to do it right, once, and not need to wiry about it. Or you can get it done on the cheap, and you'll need to redo it later on (possibly multiple times) for even more money. Not to mention that unfucking subsidies shoddy work is just frustrating for the guy that's trying to do it right.

 

Oh Okay i'm saving up right now. It's okay Rich, i'm fine with bad news. I got so many while working on my car and getting help on this forum. But everyone is very helpful which helps. So with that bad of a compression in my front rotor fendamonkey do you think it would still be in the 3-4k range? I think I might need a lot of replacing. While doing the rats nest last year I messed up a lot with screws... i lost a lot. If i have parts for them to install that could be new/ performance would a shop install it for no additional costs since they are already tearing apart the engine and have to put stuff back anyway?

 

Honestly there is no way to know what all will need replacing in your engine until you break it open. As for adding the new parts at no additional cost, that would be completely between you and the person doing the work. Again, there is no way to definitively tell you "yes" or "no"

Also, depending on how badly worn your hard parts are you could also consider fixing the parts (chips Motorworks can lap/nitrate your irons, and goopy can resurface rotor housings) if they are still salvageable.

 

So for bare minimum it would be around 3-4k? How was rebuilding it yourself? I've been bashing myself about it for quite awhile. I want to tackle a rebuild, but I lack the tools and space for it. Being a college student I don't think I'd have enough money to have a go at it again if I screw up. Should this task be left to a shop? I've pretty much dissembled and reassembled everything up to where I could see the engine itself. Are you running a single turbo set up? I think I read that would cost 7k for all the fuel management and stuff required to run it.

 

My FD I bought was from a guy that tried to do it himself, he gave up and sold it to me for $7,000. Problem was it ended up being a $22,000(including car) rebuild. He hacked up the harness and OMP, rebuilt it wrong, had bearing failure, ended up replacing parts that didn't normally need to be replaced (e-shaft, rotor, front/rear irons). Then again, I didn't have to buy new rotor housings and Iannetti ceramic apex seals to add more to the epense but hey, I wanted to use parts that I saw fit. I'd recommend taking it to a shop if you don't have the tools and space. If you're comfortable with pulling the engine out yourself, you can always ship it to Rotary Resurrection.

 

I think I can take it out myself if I bring it to my high school and talk to the auto teacher to use his shop. I am confortable with taking it out but defininetely not comfortable with putting it back in because thats when things go wrong. I was considering shipping it out. I'd save labor right? Would it be weird if I took everything out, shipped it out, and got a closer shop to reinstall? Would that be way more expensive? Have you guys heard of Geoff Roark? My friend went to a rotary meet and met him. I guess he rebuilds engines for 500 for labor and seals are included. It sounds super sketchy. I don't trust myself rebuilding it let alone some stranger I never heard of before, not even on this forum. Right now I am considering rebuild at rotor sports or take engine out and ship it and get i guess rotorsport to put it back in? Do you know if Ben still rebuild motors? I pmed him awhile back but never got a reply.

 

I have heard good things about ben @ Rotary Evolution

 

Yeah me too. Have you heard of Geoff Roark?

 

Here are Rotary Resurrection's prices:
Rotary Resurrection home of the budget rebuild.

They have a step by step guide to removing engine on their site. I'm not sure how much it would be for shipping from your area. They can help you with the details too. You're looking at $1,600 for gaskets and rebuild of the engine. Another $300 if you want to ship it to them in longblock form. I do not know them at all but the forum guys have a ton of good feedback for them.

In my case, I had my engine rebuilt at RRR Motorsports. I ended up replacing a lot more than just the standard rebuild and some.

I don't think $500 for labor and parts sounds right at all.

I've never heard of Geoff Roark.

 

when the apex seals alone cost $300+ and the gaskets for the engine short block alone another $125... not counting anything else that should be replaced, there is no way that is accurate. now this isn't the first time i've heard of these $500 rebuilders either, but by the sound of it you have a blown rotor which is going to set you back an additional $400 approximately, so there is no way in hell you are getting by doing this for even a fraction of his quote. expect it to be in the $2k+ range as a starting point. i can only assume these guys are just disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the engines, which is not a rebuild.

 

Yeah that's what I thought. too good to be true. I rather get it done right the first time then skimp out. I'll check rotary resurrection and rrr motorsports out. Ben are you are you still doing rebuilds?

 

i am, prices are still very similar to what i have listed on my website linked in my signature.

only difference is on modified turbo engines goopy seals are included in the price but the basic prices are a little bit higher than i have listed.

 

Oh Can I pm you for more information?

 

yes, if i don't get back to you right away try again. sometimes i don't get to my PMs in a timely manner. (i do get a lot and sometimes i need a break)