Need some advice (Engine Rebuild)
 

Hey guy's I'm a first time Rx8 owner who picked up an 06 last month. Its an MT 6port with 72k, blown due to coolant seal failure and the engine was in pieces when I picked it up. After some digging I found that the car was on its 3rd engine.

It's current sitting in the garage while I figure out what to do with her. I WAS keyword WAS going to go for an LS swap but due to electrical, emissions, legal aspects of the swap and the fact that I'll be moving to the west cost around this time next year I decided to put it off for now.

So for now I'm looking to build a RELIABLE engine. I'll be attempting the rebuild myself. So I may have questions here and there also I did pick up the shop manual for the renesis, looking into getting the rebuild video from atkins and will be assisting a friend with his 12a rebuild so I get to know what I'm in for.

From what I've found A Sohn adapter, remedy waterpump/thermostat and bhr coils are recommended for reliabilty purposes but is there anything else I should look into?

Thread title edited:

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There are some additional solutions/ideas in this post in the new owner's thread: https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...4/#post4533740

Seal clearances are critical. Then once it's running, focus on minimizing carbon buildup and ensuring you never overheat.

My mistake won't happen again.

Thanks for the link and I'm guessing you mean go a tad bit tighter then the clearances listed by mazda right?

I don't know if the problem of loose clearances is that Mazda's spec is loose, or that most builds are just poorly measured/clearanced. It's just a pretty important piece of the build that you will need to educate yourself on before you start. They are discussed quite a bit in various places on the forum, so it will take some research to build a full picture.

Thanks man and that was one helluva read haha.

Keep in mind that the clearances in the Renesis are higher because of the side exhaust ports and the thermal expansion of the side seals... if u go too tight they will get stucked....

... a little tighter is ok.

And as RIWWP said ... educate urself a lot before trying. And dont try it if u dont have the right Tools to do it.....

Greetings
Thomas

PS:sorry for my bad english

Don't take this as discouragement, but rather as me being realistic and speaking from experience. If you are asking for a reliable and correct rotary rebuild then you might not want to have a DIY built engine as your first one. There are many hangups not readily apparent and not discussed in factory service manuals, and you have no basis of experience to be able to look at the old parts and judge them for reuse or rejection accurately.

Although many rotary shops prices are 2-3 grand for a build, when you actually look at the parts vs labor price (if the shop will give you the breakdown) you can see that you're only paying them 500-800 to build the engine for you, which seems a fair price for experience and knowledge versus the huge chance you are taking if you DIY.

I completely understand that and I WILL NOT touch anything until I'm well educated on the subject and gather the correct tools. If worse comes to worse and I don't feel confident enough to rebuild it I'll just end up getting a reman and selling what I have. That just depends on the time frame I have since I'll be relocating to Seattle this up coming year.

P.S. Thanks for not being an ass about it.