thomthoms3

iTrader: (1)

Kevin at Rotary Resurrection is rebuilding my 8 as we speak. It's at 88,400 miles and so far it seems the only main engine components needing a replacement are the rotor housings, seals, and the main front bearing. Motor mounts are old as well. Clutch was at the end of its life, so upgraded to exedy stage 1. I've attached a link to some photos that Kevin sent me of the tear down, if you are interested.

Pictures!

She'll be back on the road hopefully within the next few weeks.

WranglerFan

Been nearly two years but if you're still around could ya share the time frame for me? I was wondering roughly how long a full job like this takes him from start to finish. Also where'd you get the exedy stage one and how does it compare to stock? I ask where because I had one priced at $350 but I've been told they can be gotten for far cheaper.

NotAPreppie

Just call or e-mail Kevin at Rotary Resurrection and talk to him.

WranglerFan

I have been, and he's been very good to deal with, but lately he seems very busy, the last 3 emails I've sent him have taken 3-5 days for each response and rather than bother him again for an answer I'm sure he'll be vague about (not his fault, there are many variables here) I thought I'd check in on some threads to get an average. Upon doing so the old trend persists that no one ever comes back to finish a thread saying all went well, they only continue to post as long as there's a complaint therefore all the threads I can find about rebuilds or swaps (I'm buying Kevin's shelf engine and giving him my core) die after the "just dropped it off" post. No one comes back to brag about the speed of his work.

I don't mind if it takes him a while, but I'd like to hear about what to expect from a third party and I've got a few days to kill waiting for word back/the rest of the parts I'm going to drop off with the car to ship so I can setup an appointment to deliver my car. Are we talking weeks or months? I have no idea what to expect (other than a quality job, there's no shortage of praise, just a shortage of details)

NotAPreppie

Yah, it's tax refund season so his business probably kicks into high gear right around now.

I just removed the engine on my '8 and it took me and a buddy 6 hours (taking it real slow since we'd never done that before). I think Kevin once posted that he could do it in 3. Once the engine is out, replacing motor mounts and clutch are trivial. Figure similar time getting it back in. The rebuild itself is probably 3 days.

Of course, none of this considers any other work for any other customers. I think he quotes 4-5 weeks turnaround on a rebuild. If time is a factor, you could try pulling the engine yourself and ship it to Banzai Racing or OJ Imports.

WranglerFan

Thanks for the info, I'll probably stick with Kevin. He's had to deal with my annoying emails asking 1000 questions for months now, I started talking to him while the engine was still failing and continued to pick his brain after it failed. He deserves some loyalty for putting up with me if nothing else :p Time isn't tooo big of a deal, I just wanted to know how much time we're talking because I'm borrowing cars and rides and I want to be able to tell people "(X) more weeks and you can have your car back for good"

but while I've got you're attention, is it worth it to skip the clutch and just do the throwout bearing? When the bearing started squealing in my jeep I just bought a clutch kit because there wasn't much difference in price and I had to pull the tranny anyways but theres a major difference in price for the 8 clutch VS. just a bearing, Kevin said to use gripforce clutch on eBay and get a cheaper one but their store is kinda confusing. I'm no mechanic... I've done a good bit with proper guidance, however when it comes to clutches I don't know much. Ive only over bought/installed one and looking at their site I have no idea how to tell the quality.

I like my softer stock clutch, and I won't be ramping up the power so I don't need a stiffer clutch, the only problem with mine is the bearing squeal. $50 for a bearing, 370 for an auto zone clutch, and kevin says about 200 for one off grip force. my prob with grip force is every listing looks basically the same to me.Seems like they all say exedy oem plates but the plates in every pic very quite a bit different and price gaps are huge from one to the next. What would you do?

acroy

Trust Kevin and do what he says

Emails may get slow if he is busy. As far as I'm aware he's a one-man show.
My rebuild process was excellent. I think he is one of the guys who 'underpromises and overdelivers'.

Clutch: figure out how to measure the stock clutch; there should be a measurement. If you need a clutch, get one and follow directions.... Not rocket science

NotAPreppie

With respect to clutches in the RX-8: unless you're making big power, you can't go wrong with OEM. It's a very good clutch.

If you have a MazdaSpeed Motorsports membership (submit two autocross results per year) you can get a clutch friction disk for $150 and a release bearing for $60. A pressure plate is another $185.

As for whether to replace it, it's going to be hard to say. When I replaced my failing S1 tranny for an S2 at 48k miles, I went ahead and replaced it because I was going to have access to it so I might as well. After inspecting it, I decided I really didn't need to but did anyway because I had the parts and space to do it. I probably would have just saved the parts if I had easy access to a garage to work in (I was borrowing my buddy's garage but he's 130 miles away).