Engine Rebuild

[Rotarator]

Hi,
I'm thinking about buying a rotary engine from a junk yard and rebuilding it to gain some experience with the rotary engine before i buy an RX-7. Anyone know how long it takes to rebuild a rotary and how difficult? It looks easier than a piston engine because it has less parts. Is it? Thanks in advance.

[richrx]

hi

I havent re-built one myself although im told that they are easier to work with, if you know what your doing(as with everything). I e-mailed a rotary tuning company and the told me that they would supply an engine with worn rotor tips for £200 plus £50 postage, as i had that idea too. I dont think you'll have much luck finding one in a scrap yard.

A good idea could be to buy a haynes manual for the TII, the internal engine should be the same exept for capacity, i think that the way to re-build the engine will be the same. Although the parts will be v.expencive, you might be better to just dismantle it and re-assemble it so you know how to do it.

http://www.haynes.co.uk/inc/viewmanual.asp?mt=61036

im sure ill be corected soon enough if any of the above is wrong.:D hope that helped

[Rotarator]

Oh yeah, I meant reassemble. I live in the U.S. and there are a lot of RX-7's here, but most are non turbo, so I dont think finding a rotary would be that hard. Do you think that company ships across the ocean? That's a great price compared to the sites I've seen that sells rotary engines.

[richrx]

i think that they will ship abroad but the price for that will probably not be worth it, as it could get even more damaged, and you could save barley anything. Possibly the sites that youve seen are selling completley re-built engines?

[t2rew]

hi guys. i have just sripped down my t 2 engine and i would say its very easy. the thing that makes it tricky is that each rotor has about 11 tiny parts on each rotor tip. each rotor has three tips and there are two rotors. ive not put it together yet but i can imagine it will be a bit of a balancing act. probably a good idea to assemble useing greese to keep it all in place.

[richrx]

was it difficult to get the engine out?? I also heard that getting the flywheel of is a B**ch. good luck with re-assembling it:D

[t2rew]

rich it took me a day to take the lump out but that was being carefull and putting all the nuts or bolts in the holes they came out of. this should mean putting it back will be qicker though.

the flywheel wasn't hard at all. i bought the 54mm socket in 3/4 inch drive, i think this is the trick, useing a 1/2 inch power bar all that happens is the bar bends. use the 3/4 bar and off it pops no problem. i drilled holes in a 3 or 4 foot flat bar to locate onto the clutch dowls on the flywheel. this stops the flywheel turning when your undoing the nut.
:D

[richrx]

cool, im gonna buy an old engine and rip it apart and get first hand knowledge of how it works, im pretty sick of reading books and internet pages of how it works. Also then i can re-build the engine when i get one and it'll save probably about a grand or somethin. How much did your re-build cost? and what was the buest quote you had from a company?

good luck for gettin it back together

[t2rew]

its not put together yet but the kit costs $1125 or £705 from racing beat. dont know how much shipping is. the thing with mine is the side housings are worn and the rotor housings have marks in them too. i think you can machine a bit off the sides but the housings are going to have to be replaced. there is a spacer on the end of the e-shaft that would need to be changed to take up the slack of the machined sides. all in all to make it a good un will cost loads so i'm keeping it as a spare and have bought a rew lump from a 3rd gen for my car. this will definately cost a bomb to get running but should be a laugth wen done.

[hIGGI]

rebuild kits could be bought from hurleyrotary.com for better price and Eamon is/was willling to give nice (25%) discount for group buys 5 or more kits what should not be problem for club members.....

[t2rew]

i did e-mail some questions to them regarding price and they didnt reply. obviously not in bussiness to make money.

[mmilner]

Originally posted by jason turner
i did e-mail some questions to them regarding price and they didnt reply. obviously not in bussiness to make money.

Hi. They've been going thru some changes of email addresses and web sites recently. But they are good. They built my current gen 2 EGI engine which I've had no probs with. They definately sell rebuild kits, etc. and are well worth a phone call instead of an email:)

Cheers,
Martin.

[t2rew]

i'll try phoning them when im ready to buy and post my findings.

[hIGGI]

before new website / email changes i have got fast answers from Eamon (owner ?) by email regullary......
hope it will work soon.....

[Grizzly]

If you want a tip that will be very Valuble to you in the future Use RX Motors in Dorset for your parts and drive down to pick them up.

I am not winding you up Tim will be happy to show you the basics first hand he is quite a guy and his parts are very cheep.

There are secrets to rebuilding a Rotary and its quite hard to explain on the net. Things like using Vasoline to hold the side seals it the rotor, fitting the center plate when building up and checking oil control rings/Plates and Housings for wear.

Yeh i have done one.

Chris

[mmilner]

Originally posted by jason turner
i'll try phoning them when im ready to buy and post my findings.

I emailed them yesterday about the expected life of the (hurley long life) tip seals they fitted to my engine when they built it in 1999 and got a reply back this morning.

Around 100k normally they reckon. Great, I'm only up to 31k. :)

[Grizzly]

I take it Hurley means Stock 100k, as the Bhp goes up the life goes down.

Chris

[mmilner]

Originally posted by Grizzly
I take it Hurley means Stock 100k, as the Bhp goes up the life goes down.

Chris

Yes, exactly. Dunno whether mine would be 2 or 3mm, it's just a standard engine.

Martin.
:confused:

[Grizzly]

If i had to guess i'd say 2mm's due to the better seal and more suited to NA's.

Chris