Awesome! Thank you!

Yeah I dont know a lot of technical behind using cleaners in it at all I was just going off of personal opinion, personally I would just take it apart and clean it up now that I found out how to build one, its so easy now to me. And we will be rebuilding rx7 engines down the road also. I can build the short block in about 45mins, thats all the housings(front housing/rotor housings/intermediate/rear) and new everything on the rotors add another 45mn-1hr for the complete motor but thats with my notes. All in all its a fun motor to play with.

And yes, there is also a technical training center for the mid-atlantic region being added there, the hotline for the east coast mechanics is now centered there also. From what I understand they may allow the mechanics who visit to come out and view the assembly line for the 13B rebuilds since they dont allow them to touch them, just a small tour. The local news came out the other day and I managed a few minutes of camera time:)

Ya know if you guys/girls wanted to put a meet together within the next month in Richmond/chesterfield VA I can probably get Yoshii to come out. He speaks a little english but I honestly have been meaning to buy him lunch or dinner sometime for all the training he did for us, if you come up with something let me know. I am actually new to the area from northern california so I dont know how many owners are running around here anyways. Shoot me a PM whenever.

Those of us with engines installed in the cars have a little more difficulty taking apart the engines to clean them.

great to see you here.

where in the richmond area are you???

and cant wait to hear the other answers!!

beers :beer:

i will fly or drive in for that..

send me a pm on where in richmond the plant is. i have an idea or two for you..

beers :beer:

Thanks

Plant is in colonial heights, as of now we are in the start up still, the technical training for mechanics isn't even up yet. For now there are no tours or anything so bother making a trip there, you wont see anything special or be allowed in right now. I see a few rx8s on my commute and was wondering if its anyone on here. Either way I will probably end up with a rx7 one day, junk yard one that I could rebuild, I loved that car but never understood the motor as a youngster.

Extremely nice, thanks for sharing! I'm glad to see that Mazda is taking pride in everything they do, and ensuring that all parts put out with their name on them, used or new, are up to only the highest standards. You can't do everything perfect the first time, but they sure are trying hard, and that's the reason I will always drive Mazda! :)

very cool..

LOL...so true

Great thread, great pics.

I really appreciate the pics of the facility. Very nice color on that new 8, too.

I am surprised that nobody has yet asked if they are hiring at your plant!

Hey, maybe I could retire from the NJ rat race and do that as a hobby. What a great idea! I hate my job anyway.

Ha, believe me people walk in everyday and ask. When I applied they didn't say what it was for and had 400 applicants for it, they picked 11 people for it, honestly I think I got in since I had a parts background and that I was from california like 2 of my boss's who came from the luguna beach offices but when they taught us the steps to building the block I did very well to the point that they wanted me on the line. They will probably hire next year for sure when it goes to transmissions, slight chance of them hiring someone in the next few months to assist but no promises there and I still think they will pull me out to keep parts organized, maybe make me a alternate for when people are on vacation or something.

Sorry guys I am rambling on your board, just figured I would share a little bit of info for you and let you see who built that motor in your car, he is a awesome guy to learn from.
BTW small note, for some odd reason they wont convert the tools to ft/lbs, we were trained to use Nm(nueton meters), kinda sad that I know the torque for every bolt in Nm.

Don't apologize, just buy that 7 and when you have a family get an 8 and stick around.

The whole auto industry is in Newtons. More accurate.
Have they taught you Kaizen yet? If not, PM me and we can discuss it.

Cool of you to post this. Do you guys take visitors? :)

He said not yet, but I'd be interested in touring the place too if/when they start allowing tours. Richmond's just a hair over an hour from where I live, so I'd definitely be up for a road trip!

Very cool and Welcome. Hope you are able to stay around. Once you get everything up and running, I'd be in for a tour as well......even though it may be small. Would really like to see you share the knowledge on carbon build up as you learn more and more and as you see more engines. :)

If your a mechanic for a mazda dealer and they send to tech school for mazda then you have a shot for a tour when you come in for training, other then that I doubt they would allow it for insurance reasons, ya know thank lawyers for that.

Most factories are media/public-friendly and they tend to have tours available. If your doesn't now, it may in the near future. Public access areas will be limited, though.

Nice to hear from someone behind the scenes. The reman plants have always been a kind of mystery, glad to hear that they are restructuring how things are done with the new one! :)

True but the only catch is they had to go through the top of mazda japan just to video tape the assembly line there to show us how they do it. Bosses said it was the first video ever allowed in the rotary section of mazda japan so I was surprised that they did let the media come in last week when they showed it on local news. Who knows, this is mazda north america not japans plant.

The accessibility has a little to do with the public but a LOT to do with asshole politicians and other local "suits" who like to take credit for the fact that the plant is located in their own jurisdictions. Politicians like to play Big Wheel with their financial backers and all that nonsense. I saw hundreds of tours in the three plants I worked in over an 8-year career with Ford.

Damn Ray.....................you just hit 5k posts! :lol:


Yeah.....most of it is politics.........could be cool to see the reman plant, but can understand somewhat why they would limit access.