RX7Bum

Short and sweet...Ive been looking into getting a nice project car, and man, Ive sorta always wanted an RX7..well, I found a nice 1988 red one (its gonna need a paint job sooner or later), few dents, darn good interior...$500

The downside...173k miles (not a big deal, again, project car..I will do an engine swap...) Missing the black moldings...and ok, it had a little trouble running. The guy says it has a blown apex seal? (Note: I know nothing about the rotary engine...thus why I want a project car...)

But if you guys could give me some pointers and what not, that would be great. Also, when the new engine comes...what should I look to do in the way of performance upgrades? Can you guys point me in the right direction for that too? Thanks a bunch!!!

88IntegraLS

If it has a blown apex seal, it won't matter when you swap in another engine. I would get a street ported engine (a few hundred $ extra but worth it unless you are worried about passing emissions). You can also do the basics like a cold air intake and cat back exhaust. I wish someone made a replacement composite intake manifold for the FC because it would improve power quite a bit. Maybe I should start making them.

RX7Bum

Ok, thanks. But more importantly....what IS an apex seal....? How hard is it to replace (just so we can get the car running smoothly....)

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Apex seals are the basis of the rotary engine. They basically create most of the engine's compression internally. They're the rotary equivalent of piston rings. They're thin wafers of metal that are spring loaded from underneath, and sit in each of the 6 "tips" of the rotors. Each rotor has 3 faces, each of which acts like a piston/cylinder, but they all rotate inside the same housing. Check out www.rotaryengineillustrated for some good intro reading on the rotary.

You should know that apex seals that blow cause internal damage and the engine requires a full teardown and rebuild to run properly. A blown rotary can and will often start and run, but will lack power, vibrate, and idle poorly or not at all.

You can go with a used stock (nonturbo) engine swap for cheap, and those usually last 3 months to 3 years. You can go with a turbo engine swap (used american spec or used japan spec, the same thing) and again those can last anywhere from 3 months to 3 years. Then you can get a rebuilt nonturbo engine, either stock or ported, which will amost guarantee you 3-6 years of bulletproof hellraising. OR you can go for a rebuilt turbo swap, which generally runs $3k or more.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

this forum is jacked. this is such ******* bullshit.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

....

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

...

RX7Bum

What? What is jacked?

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

what? did I stutter? I said that "this forum is jacked". The **** locks down at random, and then triple posts what you were trying to post once. Then, refuses to let you edit those triple posts back out for another 2 minutes.

RX7Bum

Oh, sorry, man Im new here, I didnt really understand the whole jacked thing...Im not hip with the lingo yet...

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

lmao, you gotta be shittin' me...

Welcome to the boards...