uRizen

iTrader: (2)

My uncle loaned the flywheel socket to me this afternoon so I finally got a chance to rip this block apart. A buddy from work and myself yanked it from a SE at the local junker that had died by engine fire for a mere $65 so I expected it to be pretty corroded inside, but from initial inspection I had decent hopes.

This is also my first time tearing into an engine of any type.

Ok, at this point the excitement is killing me (thanks to said excitement I turned the wrench the wrong way on the number one tension bolt and snapped it before I realized my stupid mistake, lol):


Hmm, not too bad, all the seals are there and everything rotates smoothly:


Here's another look. You notice a bit of corrosion on the rotor faces and it's pretty gunky looking:


I began pulling seals, all the apex's look to be in good shape. One on the front rotor was sticking a little but checked out good. none of them are warped and have no chips or anything like that. The rest of the hard seals were in the same sort of condition, except 4 side seals which were stuck and I ended up snapping them:

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

Here's some pics of the front rotor after less then 5 minutes of cleaning. The major carbon build-up mostly wiped right of (I circulated some Royal Purple through last week so I could spin it and giggle until my arm got sore):





All the sides and corners of both rotors are in excellent shape.

The bearings on both rotors look like they have a decent amount of meat left:


Here's the rear housing. There is only one spot that my fingernail bumps on a bit (just enough that you can feel it's not perfectly smooth), but there's nothing anywhere that catches, sweet:

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

I worry a bit about the front, rear, and int. housings. They all have a bit of discoloration on the bottom like the rear here. It's probably from the coolant that had been sitting in there when I got it. I don't know if that water seal had been broken when I pulled it apart or not (the housing did slip a bit when pulling it off and felt like it might have squished it), but that's definatly shot. The surface of all the side housing is still smooth though, and the light surface corrosion could probably be polished off if I spent a bit more time on it:


Here's the seals from one rotor. Notice that some side seals are missing. I have now learned the secret to getting the stuck ones out.... won't happen again.


Here's the final pic of the night, which is all the crap I have yanked apart:


So what do you guys think? If you think the front/back/int. housings are gonna be ok, I definatly want to do a decent street port and replace my current engine (which is in excellent shape and compresses well) for some more juice.

KatakanaKarl

That's an awesome deal. It would have been worth $65 even if it only had a single good component.

Wish I could find stuff like that more often.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

lol, i like the added touch to this one.

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

Hehe, my pretend port job rocks. What do you think of the housing itself?

gotrotors?

I would suggest lapping those housings. When i worked at rx7specialties...we avoided using housings that were discolored like that.

slpin

iTrader: (9)

much bette rcondtiion than mine

YearsOfDecay

ba da deer der deer der deer der.... "squeal for me boy"

Syonyk

It looks like the housings & rotors (the expensive parts) are in good shape. If you're unsure about the condition of the irons, I'd say use your current ones for practice porting (the discoloration is kind of weird), and pick up a set from someone - you can probably get a set for pretty much the cost of shipping.

And congrats on the teardown! Rotary engines are nifty - I host "rotary engine teardown parties" every so often when I have an engine to dismantle - being at an engineering school, a lot of people want to see how they work.

-=Russ=-

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

That appears to have been a reman, pre-97. Still had a decent number of miles from what I can see, though.

Everything looks like it's useable, though.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

it really depends what condition the surface is like under the rust, gotta clean them up and take a look.

TwEaK

iTrader: (6)

if your willing to sell the housings pm me very intrested...
TwEaK

BigMike85

looks really nice, good luck with it!

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

Really? What's the tip-off that it might be? The car had a little over 100k miles on it, so this puppy can't be that old.

I'm sorry to announce that I won't be parting this engine out either. It's definatly going to be a street ported motor to either drop in my current FC or wait until one with a nice chassis but blown motor comes along.

I have begun my reasearch on ports as well, but it seems that these 6-port housings can be a pain to find good templates for. I did check out the Mazdatrix templates, and from what I have seen so far they'll probably be my best bet.

I noticed they don't sell 86+ 13b exhaust templates, is there any specific reason that one shouldn't port the exhaust? I know I'll have to grind the diffuser out and make sure to bevel the port edges (so as not to catch the seals) on this motor, but I have heard of people doing it, so is it a matter of benefit vs. effort or am I gonna kill this engine quickly?

felixwankel88

looks good man , not bad for 65 bux... REBUILDDDD IT hheheheheh

capn

i would like to know also

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Anytime you see that anodized red paint looking stuff on tension bolts heads, flywheel nuts, front pulley boss bolts, or on any other fasteners on an engine block it's likely a mazda reman. 97 and up remans had a blue tag on the front cover, which you didnt say was present on this one, so we can assume its older than that. Also, anytime you see writing on anything like rotorhousings, painted or stamped, it's likely a reman or rebuild of some sort. I think nowadays they stamp about 4 or 5 numbers/letters into the top of each rotorhousing, but I dont know what those numbers signify.

Plus, that rotorhousing chrome surface looks entirely too good to be an original 100k+ mile housing.

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

You need to write a book of all these little facts Kevin, you're like a walking rotary dictionary.

I'm heading out to Northern Tool in a minute to grab a micrometer and some other measruing devices so I can start check the condition of everything today. If it turns out well I won't have to drop too much into it to have a nice street ported 13b.

Here's the initial list:



That covers everything that I can think of off the top of my head. I still have to put together a list of supplies I'll need like the hylomar, carbide cutting tools, polishing tools, etc. Oh, I need an industiral sized tub of Vasoline like Aaron has sitting around.

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

I started cleaning today and managed to get the rotors pretty spotless. I had a nice soft brass circular brush that attaches to my drill and scrubbed all the surfaces with it on the low speed setting. It didn't take all that long to get the majority of the gunk out. The worst part was cleaning out the side seal grooves, but I had plenty of broken seal chunks laying around to help me with that.

I used the brush on the housings as well and cleaned the mating surfaces for the water jacket seals really nice. Right now they're very slightly pitted (you can only tell by running your fingernail by) were the seals had been pushed against the housing and I was wondering if it would be beneficial to take some fine grit sandpaper and wet sand the entire side of the housing to make sure I get a real tight seal.

I was flipping through an older Racing Beat catalog and noticed that they offer a service where they groove the water jacket channels to create more surface area. Does doing something like this offer any real benefits and what are the drawbacks? I have all the time in the world to build this engine up, so I thought I might as well look into treatments like that.

Ok, last question of the evening. I purchased a micrometer from Northern Tool and this is the first time I have tried to use one. The packaging says that every number on the barrel = 0.100, every minor line between the numbers is another 0.025, and every other line on the little spinny part is equal to 0.001 (the small lines would be .0005). Here's a measurement of one of my rear rotor side seals:



That would be 0.1215 which means my side seal is in spec, right?

If so, that means the one rear apex I measured was 0.245, which is out of spec... bummer.

RoninX

Hey we use the same sandwich baggies! ...BTW its looks pretty good even tho it was in a fire.

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

Just a bit of an update for this weekend. Most everything is clean except the front iron, and I have decided on what color all the aluminium bits will be. The irons are gonna be a temp. resistant pewter color, but here's the front cover:



I believe this is the same color and metalcast stuff that Mr. Cake is using and it looks excellent.

I did notice while painting that my front cover doesn't look as hot as it did right after cleaning, here's what the rear surface looks like:



None of it actually flakes off, but I swear it wasn't like this when I yanked it from the engine, and I don't think I used any aluminium eating cleaners. I wiped everything right off after I was done too, and my housings look perfectly healthy after being cleaned at the same time. It even shows through to the front side:



Anyone have any ideas on what happened, and would it be advisable to use it in it's current condition? It's not bending and when hit with a rubber mallet it doesn't crack, bend, or sound abnormal...

Anyways, I'm gonna start checking the seals when I finish my new car-puter enclosure and update accordingly.

Syonyk

My front housing looks like that too - I never worried about it. It's holding just fine.

-=Russ=-

Mint87RX7

what exactly is that, is it a coating that is cracking or the actual housing?

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

casting flash, nothing to be concerned with.