Okay so i have been researching this for the past hour and need some advice from some members. I know there are tons of threads on it and i have read a bunch of them. Im looking to buy another s5 t2 short block or long block either or it does not matter. I would even buy a rhd front clip if someone reputable had one.

Im currently running a tigerjapanese engine... i know lol. But it has ran fine for almost 3 years now in my drift car that is under constant abuse without being rebuilt. I must have just gotten lucky as they have the worst history in jdm engines.

I want another motor i can build on the side so i dont have any downtime. There are tons of options but seems people have had bad experiences with all of them. Seems japan2la is over with as the guy screwed people over and left with peoples money.

Does anyone have any advice for me on what is should get? I am planning on rebuilding the engine i get just hoping i get actual usable parts. I know the more time goes on the harder it is to find a usable engine, is it even worth to take the gamble. Any new reliable engine importers pop up recently?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

IS my listing not showing up for some reason?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/mazda-rx-7-rx7-13b-89-91-S5-turbo-rotary-engine-block-w-warranty-REBUILT-REBUILD-/200910212339?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ec72e8cf3&vxp=mtr
I can do a little better off ebay and paypal if you want to save a couple hundred. I doubt you could possibly buy a used/unknown block (or parts thereof) plus all the rebuild parts for what I am selling this one for, and it's already ready to drop in and run. I doubt any other rebuilder can touch my price. The components and seals alone are worth what I am selling for.

I don't understand why, in this day and age, people are more than willing to drop 1500 on a JDM engine rather than putting a few hundred more with it and getting something much better with documentation, but that seems to be the trend among FC owners.

 

That's actually a great price. I've wanted to build my own but it seems like it would be cheaper to go this route. Do you sell them with wiring harness, Ecu, etc.?

 

I normally do not have a source for all the extra stuff for turbo models. Right now I have basically what amounts to an s4 turbo longblock in a box, which could be built to spec, and includes all accessories, wiring, sensors, etc. to run. 2900 for it (stock).

 

Yeah this is a really good price rotary resurrection its like half of what atkins charges for a short block. I really wanted something i could take apart though and rebuild so i could port the housings and stuff. Id hate to crack open that fresh motor.

 

If you want a motor that's built right you're better off paying someone that knows what they're doing.

If you want something to experiment with get a block from a junkyard

just my two cents

Rotary > Pistons

 

I'm not looking for something to "experiment" with I'm looking for something to actually build. Just hoping to find an engine with decent internals is the hard part. I would just part out all the accessories on the long block. I think I may have found a jdm importer who has a complete long block with an auto trans here in Orlando and says I can compression test it on site so i might check it out.

 

Your first build.is always more experimental imo, that's why I had my engine rebuilt by someone else.

If you can afford the tools and have the work space to do it I'm sure you can get it done, I was going to rebuild mine but changed my mind.

Rotary > Pistons

 

Yeah it will be somewhat experimental but I work as an auto technician so I'm not completely clueless on how things should be and I have my own shop with a lift so I'm no stranger to hard work. I'm not going to be able to find a motor how I want built and don't want to pay someone thousands of dollars for stuff that I could do myself. Taking it slow and well researched so it should be no problem. It's just damn hard to find "good" usable parts for a rebuild. If I bought new I wouldn't have all the other odds and ends to build a motor without having to take my current turbo motor apart. I don't want much downtime as I have many track days still planned with my current car. This place says they have a few so I guess il compression test em all and hope luck is with me on the one I pick. Any other deciding factors I should look out for when picking which engine?

 

coolant system pressure test if possible so you know the coolant seals are good.

either way good luck with everything

Rotary > Pistons

 

I was with you until this comment. No offense, but if you say you know so much and would be fully capable of doing your own custom ported build, why do you have to ask? The fact that you don't know signals that you may not be as capable as you think with respect to this engine platform. Food for thought.

With that said, anyone who claims to be able to tell the condition of all the internal components of a rotary engine without disassembling the block, probably doesn't know what they are talking about or is just making stuff up to get a sale. That is why you cannot find anyone willing to sell you a shortblock and guarantee that everything inside is suitable for your requirements.

Unless you've seen it running in a car and can run compression, oil pressure, and coolant system pressure tests, you can't have a good idea of what is inside and what will be reusable vs. not. Even after tearing down HUNDREDS of rotary engine cores for over a decade, I sometimes get fooled as to what I expected to find inside a particular core based on the owner's description.

 

because FC owners are cheap.

even RX8 owners are cheap, i get 8 owners trying to lowball me on engines all the time, even more than the FC owners who tend to at least accept what i say and give me a yes or no answer... some go as far as wanting to spend $2k on a used engine replacement versus $3k for a rebuilt/reman INSTALLED price.

******* flea market.

FD owners are about the only crowd who rarely complain(except one, who seemed to have a few wires crossed at birth).

 

I don't know man, rx8s are job security. There are SO DAMN MANY of them out there, and at least they are a new enough car that the owners are late 20's, or 30's owners who actually have some money to fix it when the need arises. I figure that as of right now, if I wanted to, I could specialize solely in rx8s, and never have to touch another rx7 again in my life if I wanted to go that route. And, with rx7s becoming such piles of steaming crap due to years of neglect and dumb owners rigging them up, it is sometimes a tempting prospect.

The problem of course is that mazda is making all the money, so it really hampers our ability to get a reasonable labor charge on top of the cost of parts needed to do a decent repair job on the car. If rotor housings and apex seals were more reasonably priced, people would not balk at rebuild/install costs as much. Then they think that it is us who are making money hand over fist, when in fact we're just getting by, and it's the cost of parts that all the money goes to.

 

i agree, at this juncture in my life i could not see another RX7 besides my own and be perfectly content.

people wonder why it takes so long to get work done on these cars, because there's always gremlins to sort out in each and every car. some go smoothly, most do not, schedules can never accomodate how long a build can take. the worst are people who toss you a list of **** to fix after it is running, like i want to see a car i spent too long on already for even more time.

the only issue with the 8's is they are very limited in performance upgrades, i would probably eventually get bored building them due to the brick walls designed into the cars. i mean after all there is a 300whp renesis club, which is rather difficult to even get into.... lol.

the front of my shop is looking like a scrap yard with banged up FCs littering the place, unfortunately the cars we wind up to work on are the ones that are the most abused and neglected of all. 1 in 10 are well sorted, owned by individuals who can afford to turn them into their former glory or better.

 

rotaryResurrection PM me.I have a S5 Tii short block core I would like to discuss with you as credit on that S5 Tii short you posted in this thread from your ebay store. Freight dock to my dock at work is no big deal either.

I will get you contact info once I see the PM.

Thanks, Great deal on that engine. Cheaper then rebuilding my keg to go your route by far.

- mike

 

That's depressing.

 

it's depressing that the majority of owners don't even bother washing/waxing their cars, take a rag to the engine bay, get estimates to repair bashed in body panels, replace worn out tires, drive with exhaust falling off the car, sloppy/blown suspension, broken mounts all over the car, broken trim panels, stained carpet, etc, etc, etc.


most of these cost absolutely nothing or next to nothing to keep on top of. body repair being the exception. the issue degrading the FC is in actuality, laziness.

i used to clean up the cars, eventually i got to the point knowing that they would be dirty again in a week that it simply wasn't worth it, even if it did earn me cookies on my reputation. people need to take care of themselves. if i know someone appreciates their car, i still do go to extra lengths, those who don't get their trash can back. and yes, if you ask me what i think of your car i do not sugar coat it, never have.

 

I guess I can't say much because mine was abused by the previous owner and is a little banged up. But they are old cars. I just wish I had the time and money to put into mine!

 

use the white cloth treatment at least, it will give you more incentive to fix the rest and keep it clean.

if your arm comes out looking like a crude oil well after changing plugs or you have to change your clothes after sitting in the seat then you may just fall into that category.

you might be surprised what a bottle of paint restoring polish, a few rags, a steam cleaner and vacuum may get a car to look like. even the shittiest rat boxes can come out looking approachable.

my car has original paint, original interior(besides the seats) and most everything else of note has 212k miles and it is cleaner now than the first time i cleaned it over 10 years ago. because with attention things actually become cleaner instead of filthy(this is also the same car i have had 3 crusty old engines in the hatch of). the same goes for our 8 which i could sell now for 3 times what i paid for it(half of which is attributed simply to some detail to appearance).

being an old car is no excuse.

 

lol, i think actually you have something there. i would have said i've never seen a group of people who have such disdain for their cars, but i think laziness might fit better.

example, you know the triangle vents on the dash? i've got a friend who sells good junkyard ones, for more than they cost new. and everybody is surprised you can get em new, because nobody even bothered to look, because lazy.

that is what FC owners say, but people who own BMW E30's don't say that, and those cars are just as old, and probably more broken than the average FC.

 

i think the younger generation likes to make excuses as reasons to not do something.

ask most people at their job how long they have worked there and most will say 1 month to 2 years. my gf has worked at her job for 14 years and in her field for over 25 years, i worked as a factory tech for 10 years and now as a rotary tech for over another 10.

find a dream and follow it. people's own laziness and pride is destroying mine which is why i am finding a new one.

 

"BUT BRO, BECAUSE DRIFT CAR! What do you think of my sweet plasti-dip murder job? I also painted my wheels baby **** green because it reminds me of the 4 rotor lemans car. "

 

hopefully as those people get older they look back and see how stupid that **** is.

my 8 is that hyper attention ***** color lightning yellow, but it sort of suits the car and i didn't degrade it by painting the wheels another attention whorish color. they were matte black and i left them that color(the car is in that median just before it turns to ugly attention *****-ishness).

lime green/neon orange wheels? seen them and could never quite understand the principle besides sensory assault. my 7 has brushed aluminum wheels and i couldn't think of anything better 7 years ago, i still love the way they accent the car instead of trying to grab my eyes and pull them out of their socket like a bad train wreck or a bloody corpse on the side of the road would.

there's 2 types of appearance: pleasant and gaudy.

 

Sadly, that is the mentality. Not so with my car, but my car also hasn't seen the outside of my garage in four years. Yikes.

 

I agree with evolution, bringing unneeded attention to your car isn't a good idea.

I put a few stickers on my car which were to.cover paint flaws, and added two because it accented well with my black paint...if.it.weren't for.the paint flaws I'd of put none.

I had Kevin rebuild my engine because I know he has years of.experience, rather than me just guessing and assuming on my build, cutting corners etc.







Rotary > Pistons