I own a 93 FD with bad engine coolant seals, so I am looking for reference/guidance to find a rotary shop or mechanic here or around the area to have my engine rebuilt. I recently relocated to San Antonio, TX and have not met any other 7's owners. Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Thank You

 

Call here: http://www.rx7.com/

 

Welcome... glad there's a new FD in town, not very many around.

First thing get on the local RX forum... http://alamomotoring.com/

SA - http://re-tuning.net/

Austin - http://www.mzmperformance.com/services.phtml

I've had some work done at both and the service has been outstanding. Josh(RETuning) will take a lot of time to answer questions, explain things and help any way he can, awesome. MZM built my engine and has been around for years.

 

+1 for Josh at RE-Tuning, A very honest and trustworthy dude, he's always level with you on any problems or anything he see's so no need to worry about him BSing you and does great work.

 

Thanks to all for the quick replies;

Some of the guys replied to a thread I started on the forum. Yesterday I called MZM Performance.com & RE Tuning.com . I should say that MZM suggested for me to get a new reman engine from Mazda ($5K+ which I dont have...) and when I asked about his prices for a rebuild he said it will be much more than that. He was never able to give me a straight price or even an aproximate. So I just said "Thank You very much & good day" and hung up. They are probably good but man that was not a good first impression.

Called RE-Tuning (Josh) realy nice guy, he was very helpful over the phone with any question I threw at him. I just visited his shop today to check it out and looked really good (a few FC's around=good sign). I will most likely end up taking my car to him this weekend or next. his prices were much better than the other guys. I'll let you guys know how it went.

Again, thank you for your help so far.

 

Me think, this is a way of saying, "we don't know how to rebuild an engine, we only know how to replace them and in the end, it will cost you more money due to problems, compared to buying new and having it installed by us".

 

Actually... they are some of the best builders/tuners in the state I would say, MZM has found/fixed screw ups on my car which other 'big rotary shops/tuners' have made. That plus they really take care of their customers... they always get work done in a timely manner and keep customers updated w/ calls/emails. They've got a really nice/clean shop, in-house dyno, etc

While you do pay a little more of a premium, they suggest a reman because in the long run it can be much less hassle for both them and you. They built my engine, ordered a reman which had ALL brand new housings/rotors/irons, they tore the reman apart and race ported it, cut it for 3mm seals, etc... still running strong after 5-6yrs of abuse.

 

Be that as it may, it doesn't matter what I think or what you think of them, what matters is, what the OP (a possible NEW customer) thinks of them and he didn't get a good impression.

posted by ChromeThunder:
"So I just said "Thank You very much & good day" and hung up. They are probably good but man that was not a good first impression."

 

RedBaronII you are 100% correct. Being new to the area and a possible new customer I was expecting a bit more from them. Please don't get me wrong wReX I am with you, of course going with a reman engine from Mazda is the way to go. If I had $6K to spend on my car it would have been fixed as soon as the issues started but unfortunately I am on a budget and my only option is to rebuild right now. MZM seems to be a reputable/quality shop and I may do buissiness with them some day but right now thay are out of my reach. I just wanted to at least get an aproximate price for their rebuild services instead of a "It will be much more than that".

Thanks for all your opinions, please keep em going. Anyone else with experience with RE-Tuning?

 

check with Donnie Ahr!!

 

Guys...
Beleive it or not I droped off my car at RE-Tuning on 29 January. Among bad turbos and after getting new housings, till this day the car is still at the shop. I was told the goal is to be done by the end of this week. Will see! Cant wait

 

Hope all goes well, that is one beautiful looking FD.

 

I had a very good experience with Josh and RE. My 3rd gen had a badly leaking two bolt flange on its T04S and he and his crew swapped to a new turbine housing, also modified it and the down pipe to a V-band flange. The price for the work was more than fair... Great communications and updates on progress. Highly recommended. Hope your work turns out to be worth the wait. My car was only in the shop for two weeks (one of which I was out of town on vacation.)

 

I have built a few engines for people in the SA Austin area, most of the time they bring the short block to me, but on one occasion I came from Houston picked up the car brought it back to my place, pulled the motor, ported it, reinstalled it, and delivered the car back in less then 2 weeks.

I have many happy customers on her.

 

wow there is actually a shop for rotaries in san antonio?

 

if you are willing to come to houston there is a few good guys down here

 

<--------

Just pulling my own chain

 

Chuck (RX7_Nut13B) is the man!! He does really nice work.
-John

 

yea, chuck can get it done

 

Yup, Chuck's done a few engines for me AND our badass 24 hour of lemon's car motor.

If its just the coolant seals it shouldn't be a huge deal as all your hard parts should be OK.

 

Ok guys here is the latest...

Today (Monday) just got back from RE-Tuning and talked to Josh. To my surprise there was another FD in there being worked on while my car is still collecting dust and my short block is still on the stand without any peripherals on it. Am I being impatient or is this OK? I really don’t know want to think.
Money is not an issue and Josh has always taken the time to explain everything for me but I am feeling left out.

I has been 3 mths and they received the last seal needed on the 16th Apr.This means that in 10 days my engine was sandwiched back together and the time chain was installed, thats it. I work a full time job with a family of 4 and my 7 is my daily driver to and from work. Imagine how painful it has been to rely on my co-workers for the past 3mths to get to work and back...

The last promised day is and I quote Josh "No later than Thursday or Friday". So, I hope it is ready this time for real. Cant wait to drive my 7 again...

BTW, Thanks for all the input guys

 

Time wise, your engine could be installed and running in less than a day, so give him till Thursday.
Remind him of his verbal agreement with you and state your issue about your daily transportation situation.
I hope you haven't paid him in full yet and do so via CC, so you have some recourse.
GL

 

Time chain???????????????????

 

See my post from Jan, exactly why some recommend remans. Don't have to worry about wasting time breaking down the old engine to find out what parts are good or not, plus the time of having to hunt down seals, housings, rotors, etc. My car is the other FD over there and has been in and out for awhile getting ready for track events so he definitely did not just drop your project to work on another.

Most shops take time, always try and work with them before dropping off the car to get all the needed parts and then schedule a block of time that they can dedicate to your car. I've spent practically a year trying to plan things out and gather everything; I'm the same way as you, hate having the car sit around the shop while waiting on parts.

It's alright to come on here to vent but be sure to let Josh know about your situation if you haven't already. Also ANYONE on this forum will tell you having an FD as a daily driver is not ideal. Really the first mod anyone should do to their FD is buy an additional vehicle/beater, lol.

 

sounds all to familiar.... did you already pay him?