OK so I am new to this forum. I have an '89 FC with an N/A motor. I bought the car because I have always been in love with RX's. Anyway, about two weeks after I got the car an internal coolant o-ring blew on the motor. So after finding out that most places would charge me around $3500 to do a completel rebuild of the motor, I decided to take it on myself. Now I have done work on piston engines but an relatively clueless about rotaries.



I am wanting to completely rebuild the engine on myself, and completely remove all emissions equipment on the motor as well as the A/C unit. Now, I was wondering if you guys could give me some insight as to the rebuild process, and removal of those items.



The parts I have somewhat decided upon for the rebuild are as follows:



Rotary Aviation:

Classic 13B APEX Seal Set - $208

Gasket Kit - $58



Atkins Rotary:

Thermal Pellet - $7.95

2mm Solid Corner Seal Set - $65

93-95 Corner Seal Aprings - $27.60

Viton Oil Ring Inserts - $39.95 (Would I need new oil rings or will inserts be enough?)

Rear Main Seal - $7.50



Mazdatrix:

Gasket O-ring Kit - $147.02



Pineapple Racing:

Front Main Seal - $3.78

0.7mm Side Seals - $142.32

0.7mm Side Seal Springs - $73.44



Is this stuff pretty standard for a rebuild? This stuff totals up to $780.56 and I want to go as cheap as possible with out sacrificing quality parts. So if any of this is wrong or not needed please let me know.

 

Hi, welcome to the Rx-7 world. First off you have a lot of reading to do...

But I have a couple comments to your parts selection.



#1 I would go with Atkins or OEM Mazda apex seals, instead of Rotary Aviation seals (the material they are made of is hard to the point of being aggressive on the rotor housings) the Atkins ones are in the same price range.



I would suggest you get new apex seal springs (there are 2 on each apex a big and a small one)



you probably dont need to order 12 new side seals (you still need new springs though!) you have to trim them to size and you want to keep the clearance as tight as possible, check the ones you have now for a tight fit.



Those Viton Oil seal Orings are a little sketchy better off with OEM.



I like to order 2 new torrington bearings ( the ones under the front cover ) they wear out and leave to rotating assembly too sloppy.



Atkins sells a rebuild video, buy it, watch it.



While it is apart streetport it, you can buy templates, it is worth it.



The emmisions removal isnt that simple on your car, just pulling that crap off is not the right mentality read the FAQ write-ups for this.



Keep in mind this is my opinion, Im sure there are differing views.

Good luck



-Dan

 

OK, here's a break down of the how's and why's of the emissions equipment on the car. The only part of the emissions system that really affects performance are the cats - everything else is just in the way, and removal helps with simplicity.



MAIN CAT/PRE-CAT - This is always the first step, as all the other components support these guys. Remove and replace with downpipe/presilencer/straight pipe/whatever.



SPLIT AIR PIPE - this is the air pipe that injects air into the cat. With the cat gone, you can remove this sucker. You don't have to cap up the hole if you remove the air pump - with the air pump gone, that hole is just dead space - it's not a vacuum leak or anything. But, capping it can lead to a cleaner look.



AIR CONTROL VALVE - this is on the lower intake manifold, and the air pump feeds air into it. The ACV controls where the air pump's air goes - into the main cat, into the exhaust manifold, or into the silencer that's under the passenger side headlight. The '89-91 NA's have their 6-ports and VDI actuated from air pump pressure, so the ACV is required unless you fab something up. To remove the ACV, pull it off, remove the studs, put in a fresh gasket and a block-off plate. Make sure to cap off the vacuum lines that went to the ACV as well, and secure the wires up that went to it.



AIR PUMP - if you can ditch the ACV, you can ditch the air pump. With the air pump gone, consider getting a dual-belt alternator pulley - with only one belt on the water pump, you can have slipping. A good Dayco belt can run the alternator with one belt and no slipping, but having 2 is good for redundancy. The air pump's only function is to create pressurized air for the cat and manifold for emissions reasons. Removing it frees up little, if any, horsepower - the pump doesn't put much load on the engine at all. But, it is big-time in the way and a royal pain to remove and replace.



EGR VALVE - this valve injects exhaust gasses into the combustion chamber under certain circumstances to lower combustion temperatures to prevent the formation of NOx, which is a greenhouse gas. The EGR valve doesn't really affect performance one way or the other, but a bad one can make for a lousy idle. To remove, install a block-off plate and cap the vacuum line.



AIR RELIEF SILENCER - this is a canister that's under the passenger side headlight. It's just an air muffler for the air pump. It's a bit of a pain to remove, and it's not really in the way, but you can take it out anyhow .

 

since you are going through all of that trouble you should definetily streetport...

 

If he's never rebuilt a rotary before, and he doesn't have a few spares laying around, this would most likely be a bad idea.

 

if he doesn't know what he is doing then he should NOT do it himself, but he should have it done while he's at it