Thanks man,
What a great Video, and superb job by Charles (how is your back! sore) In just 3 days.
Your old engine looked in great condition and well cared for.
Gee that side seal in the old engine was very short/loose!
Did you replace the rotor housings for any specific reason (mileage)?.
I for one agree, if you can afford to you are better off replacing them as now you virtually have a complete brand new motor and no chance of having warped rotor housings in the rebuild because you renewed them.
Side housings (irons) were also in terrific condition (the 2 good ones), clean and mirrored surface...well the video shows that.

Fantastic job Charles , here is a man that is a do-er and has the experience and knowledge, a man of similar age to myself...great job again guys...

Merry Christmas too...I have just got home from our family dinner/turkey.

 

Forgot to ask,
I take it the rotor and stationary gear bearings were all OK, as the eccentric shaft also looked brand new with no wear marks...

 

Started new thred to stop my re-post which I unconsciously love to do.

 

2004 (2003) is the first "generation".
2005 is the first minor change.
2006 - 2008 is the second "generation".
2009 is the third "generation", but since it is the first re-tooling, it would probably be considered the second "generation" by most.

If you use past models as an indicator, we are really still in the first "generation" since the design really hasn't changed and the production code is still SE3P (VIN FE).
The next "generation" RX-8 would be FF.

 

...so if I had an engine change in the summer of 2006 on my 2004 RX does that mean that the engine is a bit upgraded ?

 

nope.

beers

 

That's how they come from Mazda, and why some people like to cut them to fit instead of using precut.

No reason. I already had the parts. There was a 20% restocking fee @ $650 per housing. So I used them rather than return them.


Yes, it's like a mirror. The photos don't show the condition nearly as well as the video.

 

I'm just a prospective RX-8 owner. I've never owned a rotary, which is why I asked. Still learning.

 

Where can one find this "REmedy water pump"?

 

You're joking, Gil..... aren't you?

 

Just in case you weren't joking MazMart.

I still have mine to fit 4 months later :|

Cheers

Andrew

 

How much increased omp flow rates are you using with the accessport? I am using +20% NA. Just curious how much you are using for a FI car.

 

question for Rotary Resurrection about side seal clearance: you said the Renesis uses coded side seals that do not need to be clearanced by hand (although you have done it before using extra long ones).

What is the range of side seal clearances in thousanths of an inch that you have been seeing on motors you tear down? Are we talking 6-7 thou here? I believe the max acceptable clearance on the older 13B's was 6 thou. And what did you clearance the side seals to on the 6 port you built for your own car? 2-3 thou ?

Does everyone else here who builds these motors (and I know there are only a few) just use the factory coded seals?

 

Nope.

 

I have not actually measured clearance on the engines I have torn down, half the time the side seals fall out of the rotor before you can even get it out of the engine anyway. The ones I have checked by hand, feel about 5-10 thousandths to me.

I was in a little hurry when I built my own engine so I just threw it together with the longest used oem side seals I had on hand (I saved the ones from the cores I tore down). My engine is basically 100% bone stock, built with the best parts out of all the core parts I had at the time.

 

random somewhat offtopic question here, just wondering something.

how long does it take to pull the motor out from the top? dropping the subframe with the trans and engine is how i do it and it takes almost no time (i do it almost twice weekly), so i was just wondering the amount of time the other side of the coin takes.

kevin.

 

I'd say a couple hours out the top, give or take depending on how hard you are working.

For those of us without lifts it is really the only option...how else are you going to elevate the body 4 feet off the ground to clear the engine/subframe assembly?

 

LOL, not hating on you (BTW i'm the same teknics form rx7club, dealt with you a few times, had a big problem with those canada guys doing the ceramic coating a few years ago etc). I was honestly just wondering for my own reference.

you should just invest in a lift, sell your denali, if you still have it , you'll save yourself tons of time pulling motors.

see ya,
kevin.

 

I dont have room for a lift...my work area only has a 10 foot ceiling. Plus it would take up valuable room. I have no problem doing it the way I do now, I am quite efficient at it. If I can get an rx7 engine out in 2 hours and an rx8 in 2-3 then I dont think I'd gain too much using a lift, especially since I am only doing about 1 install per month these days.

If things dont change in 2009 I will be forced to walk away from the rotary game anyway.

 

Wow, that would suck!

 

wow really? Didnt know you'd been affected so heavily, last I knew your business was pretty busy.

Hope the best and that things pick up for you asap, warm weather (on the east coast) is right around the corner, hope you see a boost.

kevin.

 

I guess Mazda's (US) 8 Year Warranty would not help your business.

Sad, as you appear to be a reliable and trusting repairer.

Has your local economy "switched" off that greatly since the "financial meltdown".

Good luck to you.

 

Dont get me wrong, I am still getting by. But I am not really making anything...just keeping my personal bills paid with enough to eat comfortably and that is about it. Not enough to put anything into savings, cover unexpected issues that arise in life, or splurge on any major toys or projects.

I normally average 44-50 engines per year which breaks down to right at 1 per week, accounting for 2-3 vacation weeks and holidays. We are now in the 6th week of the year and I have done 2 engines thus far.

The only thing keeping me afloat since October has been small part sales on ebay stores which has done well beyond my expectations, thankfully.

mid/late Feb until early summer is usually the very busy season for me, and it looks like a couple of jobs will be incoming in the next 2 weeks so that looks promising. But I still have to be concerned about the 2nd half of the year, if I am unable to save up enough funds from the busy part (first half) like I have in years past.

That, combined with all the BS as of late in the rx7 community and my falling out with 7club, makes me almost ready to just look for something else to hang my hat on, and maybe just do rotaries part time or not at all.

 

Actually the warranty really f'd me pretty hard. I was starting to get a few requests for renesis rebuilds and installs. I spent probably 4-6 grand this year on renesis core engines and internal parts to stock my shelf in anticipation of the coming need for replacement parts. I put a large part of this year's profits back into buying renesis stuff.

Then the warranty came out. Dont get me wrong...it was a great step by mazda for their original owner/customer base. But it was a bitch slap across the face to me...now I have all these parts on my shelf that are nearly useless (and valueless) because everyone is getting free mazda remans so no one is going to need any internals or pay for any private rebuilding service.

I have had no requests for rx8 work since the warranty extension. I actually lost a job right when the letters were mailed. I'd gotten a call from a local used car dealership who sold an rx8 and a few days later the buyer complained of engine failure and threatened to sue his dealership. He inquired about getting me to go through the engine for him, he was going to split the costs with the buyer as a show of good faith, and I can already do the job for half of mazda's cost to begin with, so it was going to help him out a lot. Well, the letter came to me, and the next day the guy called back asking when I could start on it for him. I was too nice of a guy to take advantage of him, so I explained the warranty letter would be coming to him or his buyer any day, and that he can now take the car back to mazda and get all the work done for free. Well, that and, I knew if I took the job and did the rebuild for him and THEN he/his buyer got the warranty letter, they'd bitch about having to pay me and it may cause unnecessary problems. Or if they got the letter right after I finished the job, they would bitch because mazda probably would not reimburse them for the work they paid me for.

I will still be able to recoup my investment from these renesis cores I have bought, but it will just take 2-3 years longer than anticipated because no one needs any of it right now. Just look at the guy with the NEW set of renesis engine rotors in the classifieds for less than half of what ONE new rotor would cost at retail, and no bites.

Most of my work is actually not local...in fact excluding the one "distributor" that I use to sell my engines through (who is local to me), I do 90% of my work for customers outside the state of TN.

But yes, the local economy has taken a hard hit. This is an industrial town and about half of the factories have laid off, the other half have stopped hiring altogether. My wife's aunt works at a Sea-Ray plant where they build boats. She was temporarily laid off between mid October and early January of this year along with about 50% of the work force. When she returned to work in January they told them that they had 90 days of employment before a permanent layoff.

 

Damn...
Building rotaries seems like such an art, it's really sad for me to hear about someone with your experience being on the brink of running an unsustainable business. Good luck to you....