I have a friend who is looking at a 94 rx7 twin turbo touring edition and I was wondering if anyone knew how much it is to get the apex seal replaced when it goes out. The car only has 80,000 miles on it and no signs of anything being bad yet, but I was just wanting him to be prepared for when it goes.

 

It requires a complete teardown and rebuild, while you COULD just rebuild the one rotor and save some cash like I've seen some people do it'd be a better investment to do both if longevity means anything. It'd probably be cheaper to get a remanufactured motor. I'm not sure on the cost of the rebuild, but I've seen reman'd motors for about $2000 - $2500

 

be careful with "only" 80,000 miles. you should take it to a rotary mechanic before final purchase just to get an expert look at everything.

 

Maybe he will sell it before it even blows

 

80,000 miles on a 3rd gen motor is pretty far. I'd be on the lookout for coolant leaks internally in the engine as wel as oil leaking from the turbos. That car sacrificed cooling for style and it showed in engine longevity. It was just a design flaw. The cheapest option is to get a remanufactured motor from Mazda and install it yourself. Have fun. Those cars are a pain in the butt. It might cost just as much and possibly even ore to pull that engine apart and rebuild it yourself. May as well save one step and just buy a reman. If you want to port it, that's a different story altogether.

 

Cheapest option would be to do a minium rebuild yourself. Is that best? No. Is a Mazda reman best? Not necessarily. Mazda acceptable specs for a reman are lower than some people, and some high quality/well known shops, would like a "new" engine to be. And last I checked remans weren't that cheap, unless prices dropped recently? And an adequate rebuild isn't THAT expensive, plus you have the joy of knowing what parts were and weren't replaced and what the specs were of everything.

If you have the the basic knowledge of a rotary, know how to follow the instructions in the FSM, and are competent, a rebuild on your own really isn't hard. Just take your time, use quality parts, don't skimp, and follow the steps in the engine assembly section of the FSM precisely. Rotaries are so simple it's laughable, especially when you have one apart and realize there really isn't much to them.

 

My logic is that you almost never have usable rotor housings when you pull apart an engine. You need to pull apart 10 of them to find 1 usable housing on average. Each rotor housings will cost you abot $500 apiece which is $1000 right there. Then you need all the seals. Anyone smart will use only Mazda seals instead of Atkins or RA so you can plan on about another $1000 or so right there. Remans are about $2500 and they are already assembled to spec. Many people don't assemble to spec. There is no such thing as a "budget rebuild" that is done properly. There is a person on the 7 forum who claims to specialize in this but I won't name him. I will say I wouldn't even let him touch an engine for a person I don't even like. Most people don't want to rebuild their own engine so a reman is the best route for them. I personally rebuild my own engine but I know how and have done several of them.

 

As of late and information I keep coming across, I actually now agree with you about that person. Although I am still willing to admit he DOES help out a lot of people with what he does. While his work is definitely for people on a budget, it can be good for people that truly cannot afford better. How long everything of his will last will be more apparent in a couple years, though.

Good rotor housings CAN be found for cheaper, but it's not always easy. Somehow, seriously don't ask me how because I'm still baffled, I obtained a rotor housing that is almost perfect. It looks to have about 10-20k on it at very most, and I got away with only paying 100 shipped for it. But this is only 1, I still would need another

I was just saying that a good rebuild with good housings and new other parts is definitely possible for under the cost of a reman. I personally don't trust remans because I've seen and heard about too many abnormalities. Example would be an FD reman that was torn down that had one 9.0:1 rotor, and one 9.7:1 rotor... I've also seen pictures of fresh remans torn down with less than desireable housings (for the price that was paid). I just prefer a situation where I know exactly what is going into my engine, but others are fine with trusting Mazda. On average remans are good and usually have good parts, I'm just scared of those abnormalities.

I don't trust Atkins seals at all either. RA I'm still unsure about. I want to see how they work in the long run. Longest I've seen someone use them for is at about 75-80k miles right now in an s5 n/a engine. Still well over 100 compression and going strong. Of course he used brand new housings as well, used/good housings might be a different story.