Any Good Rotary Shops Around NYC
 

Title says it all, my car is in a shop right now and they are looking at it like it is from another planet lol. I need a shop that is a fair distance because i have so many parts to install, a rebuild to be done on the renny and I want it done right. I would do it myself but I have no tools, no place where I can do the work, nothing.

I live in Manhattan. In over 10 years of RX-8 ownership, I've never required major rotary work. But I've done a little research and, should that day ever come, I'll be going down here:
About Us | IRPerformance

Well, I just called them up for a quote on a reman because they don't rebuild the renny and they just gave me an estimate for 7 grand!! 3400 for the reman and 3000 for the installation

That's nuts. But it's NYC. Contact NYCdriftking, I bet he can refer you to someone. But really I would just get the rebuild done at a reputable builder out of state. Rotary Resurrection and OJ's Imports have great reputations and offer "budget" rebuilds typically under 3k and I would go that route over a Mazda reman.

I also found this post in a thread from 2012, maybe it'll help:

I don't know of any rx-8 specific shops in New England, but I do know of a couple rotary shops and people that know what they're doing in the NE.

IRP is in Metuchen, NJ and they aren't too bad. They have a pretty decent reputation in the FD rx-7 community.

Speed1 is in Lenhartsville, PA. I'm a big fan of Speed1, they work on all generationof rx-7's and rx-8's and really know their shit.

There is also a guy living in CT who is a badass fabricator, tuner, mechanic, electrician and engine builder. He used to work at Speed1 as their fabricator and one of the engine builders/tuners. You can contact him (Brian) over on Rotary Car Club where he's one of the moderators (username: TitaniumTT).

Not true at all and I apologize if anything wasn't clear. We can rebuild any engine, however it is generally not cost effective to rebuild the renesis as 9 times out of 10 on higher mileage motors the rotor housings will be worn out of spec. Add the cost of the seals, springs, gaskets, bearings, etc and the rotor housings and you are over the price of a reman. This is WITHOUT a new oil pump, water pump, flywheel, etc that you get with a reman. The Reman is the best deal to get the most new parts. The rotor housings are always brand new ($850 each) and often the irons are new as well.

Say your motor has all good hard parts. A complete gasket and seal kit is over $1600 (mazda oem). We NEVER reuse any internal seal, spring, gasket, or bearing. Our labor to rebuild a renesis motor to stock specifications is $999. Add incidentals and you are at approximately $2700-2800 to for a rebuild parts and labor. Need new rotor housings? Add another $1700. That brings the price to properly rebuild your motor to $4400 with new rotor housings. A Reman is over $1000 less expensive.

Installation is not $3000. Our labor to remove and replace a renesis is $1499. This includes stripping down and building up the long block, replacing vacuum hoses, testing solenoids, and cleaning/testing the oil injectors. There is an engine installation gasket kit that is around $100 bucks.

The mazda solenoids are notorious for going bad and throwing check engine lights. Solenoids are expensive, around $140 from Mazda. If you have 3 bad solenoids it can add up quick. They are a huge pain to change with the motor in the car. Free labor when the motor is out.

These cars have a lot of coolant hoses. Most of the ones we see are original and should be replaced when the motor is out. A full set of coolant hoses is about $284. Labor to replace them is about an hour and a half and includes cleaning the corrosion off all the nipples and blowing out the lines. This is extremely time consuming to do with the motor in the car so we recommend it during motor replacement.

Spark plugs run 100-140 depending where you buy them from. They foul quickly, especially on cars that are neglected and out of tune. Wires run about $30-50 depending on brand. We recommend new spark plugs and wires with every motor. Again, free labor.

The original ignition coils on these cars always fail. We go with the R3 oem replacements. Coils run about $70 each and again free to replace when the motor is out.

Fuel injectors on these cars are often dirty/clogged. They run $30-35 each to clean depending who you use. You have 4 or 6 injectors depending on year/ model.


Add coolant, oil, belts, etc and stuff adds up.

The ideal scenario would be to purchase a reman, then have it disassembled, clearanced to my specs with upgraded seals, oil and coolant mods, etc. Unfortunately this is quite expensive so we recommend a reman for most applications.

Anyone can quote you a cheap rebuild price, get the car running, only to have it break down again prematurely. There's a lot that goes into getting one of these cars back on the road and running so they last. We do easily 3-4 rx8s a month. Generally they do not come back unless the customer wants further upgrades or routine maintenance. We have cars that are daily driven for 100,000 miles + and counting that have not come back for anything short of maintenance. Either we do the job in such a way than I know the car will come out satisfactory, or we don't do it at all. Otherwise the customer is not happy and we are not happy. Unfortunately there is no cheap long term fix for these cars. I lost count of how many cars I have seen come in over the years that were "rebuilt" elsewhere. The customer purchases the car thinking it was just rebuild only to have the car break down shortly after because it wasn't done properly. Do it right, do it once.

I've used all 3.

IRP is probably going to be where you're going. Ihor knows his stuff, is trustworthy and I think he's right. Especially if you're car has a decent amount of mileage on it, you probably do have to do everything he says and it's preventative maintenance anyway.

Brian is super busy and he might take a while. He's super competent but he's one man and he rejects work if he doesn't want to do it. He's definitely worth giving a PM. Really great fella. I think he prefers doing crazy balls to the walls work rather than just rebuilds though.

Speed1...I think Dave and crew are great. Unfortunately, I don't think much of the owner of the shop. If you look, you'll find that many people aren't very happy with him as of late, including me. I'd feel safe taking my car to a Dave owned shop though but unfortunately, right now, that isn't so.

I know it's tempting to skip out on stuff but it's not worth it man. I understand how cautious you would be about dumping more money on an 8 because of the resale. If you really love your 8, buy a beater temporarily and save up to have the work done at IRP if you don't have the cash right now. Many shops will do the work for cheap but in the end, you might as well just throw your money away if you get the motor rebuilt by a shop that isn't very good. If you hunt around, I'm sure you can find other reputable shops but this has been my experiences with those 3.

Just sharing some info with you guys who are in NYC, I have a lightly used set of BHR coils and wires for sale (no more than 100km on them), I am in Elmont New York , in case you guys are interested! Price is $350!

I was quoted $4500 for a reman from Palasades Mazda in Nyack NY. Plus $3000 for labor plus if I had the motor installed somewhere else that the warranty would be voided.

I can beat the price of the reman they quoted you by like $1100. My labor to remove/replace a renesis is $1499. See my post above. If the $3000 labor quote includes all that stuff it is a good deal but most mazda dealerships will take the old motor out, put in the reman with fresh oil and coolant, and do nothing else. Often there is an underlying problem such as a clogged oil injector or dirty fuel injector that is overlooked and the new motor will fail again prematurely. I've even seen dealerships reuse spark plugs that were completely shot. I offer a 1 year/12,000 mile warranty on all my work including the reman and everything associated with its installation. Contact me at the shop and I would be more than happy to go over the engine replacement process with you and try to put together something for your specific needs and budget.