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Rotary Rebuilder

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Old 11-08-2012 | 12:58 AM
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MD Rotary Rebuilder

First of I searched and searched the forums for MD builders and info on them. I did find some information but not for the specific company I was searching on. Again please don't Flame me if this is in the wrong section as I don't post much, however I figured since this should only go out to the MD area people than post it here.


(Alright here is my statement/question).
Has anyone heard of Unique Precision Rotary LLC. in MD? This is the quote from them it seems reasonable as I've been shopping around for a rebuild and street port for my 04 RX8 what do you all think? I did check out some VA shops but with their prices it would be cheaper for me to buy a re-manned motor and drop it in; however I don't have the time or help any more, so I am stuck with paying shop removal rates.

The seal rebuild kits are $1,450.00
The labor for rebuilding the engine is $1,000.00
The labor for removing and tearing down the engine is $750.00
The labor for putting everything back on the engine and then back in the car is $750.00.

Total is 3,950.00 in and out and rebuilt.
Street port is $400.00 and that includes enlarging the intake runners.


[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Uniqu...ref=ts&fref=ts ]

Please let me know what you think if the price is fair ( I know when it comes to the RX8 motor not much is cheap). THANKS AGAIN
Old 12-02-2012 | 12:17 AM
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I assume there is no one in the MD area that checks this. Alright than I will post later what the results are from the shop and how the car holds up if any of the MD people are in need of a Rotary Mechanic or shop. (Guess I will go in blind)
Old 12-15-2012 | 09:32 PM
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I live in maryland too and i have been looking for a place that bridegeports rx8's or street port(Whatever i can get) so let me know how it goes man
Old 12-24-2012 | 07:44 PM
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@SilverRose25:

Yea I took a chance with the shop and they are working on the car now, I should have it back in a few weeks. I am getting it street ported but no B-Port or Monster porting as I fear for over heating issues while driving to the OC (beach) or shows. I will post a full review and let everyone know how they did.
Old 01-08-2013 | 10:05 AM
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Not bad pricing ... let us know how it works out for you
Old 01-10-2013 | 10:16 PM
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I actually live pretty close to that shop, never heard of it though. let us know how they do, Im pretty interested in getting the same thing done to my 8
Old 01-11-2013 | 10:12 AM
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@ Anyone who is interested:

The car is still in work, it should be done soon. He was waiting for the Pineapple Monster racing street porting templates to get in, again I will keep everyone updated when I have more information and the car is done.


(SIDE NOTE) The shop use to be in Laurel MD, now they are doing a new shop in conjunction with someone else. You can view the pic's on Facebook.

Parts they are using:

Pineapple racing templates
Rotary Aviation Super seal kit
I also ordered a Spec clutch stage to (he will be installing).
Old 01-15-2013 | 09:11 AM
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Also, I didn't mention this before, Painting comes with the price of the motor no additional cost, he is also going to press two Polyurethane bushings into the motor mounts for 125 so pretty good cost. Motor should be finished next weekend and I should have the car back with in the next 2-3 weeks. I will make sure I update with a lot of pictures and as much info as I have for all the MD, VA, DC people in the area.
Old 01-16-2013 | 12:06 AM
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what colors you goin with for the engine?
Old 01-16-2013 | 11:39 AM
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Blue and silver, Blue will be the front facing aka showing color.
Old 01-16-2013 | 11:52 AM
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The price seems fair, don't expect much (if anything at all) from the porting without a tuning solution though. Pressing bushings into the engine mounts? I'd like to see how that works,
Old 01-16-2013 | 06:10 PM
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blue and silver should look pretty sick. yea that was my next question, are they tuning it too? or what are you doing for it tuning wise?
Old 04-17-2013 | 11:43 PM
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you guys get the motor back in and tuned yet???
Old 04-18-2013 | 10:12 PM
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what's the status on this? how did the rebuild go?
Old 04-19-2013 | 10:12 PM
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Prices on RX8 rebuilds with the motor removal and installation are expensive in MD/DC and northern VA area as is the price for everything here. This was the cheapest price around, so in your area's it may cost a lot less but I don't live near "cheap shops" and with out a garage of my own, I am at the mercy of a shop. Contact PFS or other local Rotary shops and you will see this is a fair price around here. Dealer wants 2k for just removal so trust me if I could have found cheaper I would have but this was the best deal in town.

However the build went well, the motor is installed and the car driving. There were some pic's and videos posted the shops facebook site so you can view it there (link on top post). I should be picking my RX-8 up this weekend or next week depends on my work schedule as I've not had any time off to get up there and pick the car up. I will post pics and videos as soon as I can when the rain is gone and weather is nice sorry for the delay but I've not had a free day off in over two weeks.

Last edited by RIWWP; 01-08-2014 at 12:20 PM. Reason: removed vendor link
Old 04-25-2013 | 08:47 AM
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MD

Rotary Rebuilder review:
Disclaimer: This review is my personal experience and opinion!!

My motor staring having low compression in February 2012 but the Stealership keep telling me it was my plugs, wires and coils that were bad (all brand new) and I needed to use Mazda Zoom Zoom cleaner in the car. (This wasn’t the case and it turned out to be completely wrong!) The Cat was going bad and clogged finally killing the motor, unfortunately for me because the motor died a few months later Mazda wouldn’t warranty the motor (still fighting this one).

After coming to the realization I was going to pay for this out of pocket I called around to a few local shops to see if they could install a new motor and who could rebuild them. I found three that would rebuild them one near Summit point raceway, another in Va, and one in MD. As the Va shop is the most known I called them for a quote totaling 6500 for just a rebuild! That didn’t cover if any of the housings were bad or rotors etc. So I figured I would call the other shop (Unique Precision Rotary), since the one near the raceway was too far.

Unique is a one man shop run by a pretty good rotary mechanic Michael Quinn, who mainly does 3rd and 2nd generation RX7. After getting a quote I decided to give him a try. I dropped the car off in November near thanksgiving, for a rebuild that was to begin in the 2nd or 3rd week of December. I was a little worried dropping it off at first as I didn’t know the guy and I was taking a large gable. I gave him a deposited down and waited for him to call me. During the 2nd week of January Mike said he was going to be rebuilding the rotary’s together to make it a bit easier on him and faster turnaround time, but little did we know that I would need two new housings and one new rotor, as they were completely demolished. Mike gave me the option to shop around and find the best price I could on the parts (as he was not and did not make any money off the sale of them). I found them from Adkins rotary; now it was the beginning of February time frame and were waiting on parts! Due to an error on their part it was not till almost the last week of February that the parts arrived.

[Adkins did apologize for it and shipped them over night as soon as they figured out the mistake at no cost; they were very accommodating to us]. Once Mike received the parts he got underway to finish up the porting and to rebuild the motor which was accomplished in the 1st week of April 2013. He did a transmission flush and notice that the car was leaking fluid from the tranny. He called me up and we ordered the part however, it was delayed so he moved my car out to work on another. I feel he should have waited for the part to come in and just get the RX8 done and back to me, but I do understand that he is running a business and if one car holds your shop up the next guy is now waiting twice as long. The car was finished on the weekend of the 19th and I picked it up on the 21st, so far I have logged about 250 miles on the car as I only drive it on the weekends.

All and all I am pretty happy with the build and the time frame wasn't too bad considering all the issues my car ran into. I’ve seen other cars in his shop move out much fast (since they are a quick rebuild with all good parts). As for the motor it sound really good, and spins up well with no hesitations. Since I ran out of car funds for now I cannot get the motor tuned till June when I have the money to buy a Cobb Access Port from MM. I was going to go with a racing beat tune or a have a local shop do it but from what Mike says and everyone else a Cobb really is the way to go, so I should be bringing the RX8 back for that. And the first oil change and inspection.

Parts used:
Rotary Aviation's Super seal kit
Pineapple Street port templates
Spec Stage 2 clutch
Adkins Rotary Housings two (used) and one (new) Rotor
Mazda OEM gasket (new from Mazda)

(Review of the car)
The fuel MPG is a little better then what I got when I originally purchased the car, as I do waste a LOT of fuel idling and warming up before I take her out, with that being said I am still getting 16mpg. So if I let it idle less and drove it cold without hitting any gas I could maybe hit 18-19mpg. Most of my driving is mixed city/hwy/country roads. Without the tune I am not getting the full potential of the car, however I did hit a bit of gas coming off the line on Tuesday evening in Annapolis MD and I was a good car length a head of the other RX8 that was next to me (manual as well). He could have been a bad driver but I do feel there is a noticeable gain in power but again this could be from the rebuild and not the port. I will add a car running vid, and driving soon as it sounds very nice, for a mid pipe and stock muffler. After I drive the car more I will post a full review on the car itself.

Last edited by Zero11534; 04-25-2013 at 08:58 AM. Reason: spacing and wording
Old 04-25-2013 | 07:34 PM
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Again I understand not all Delays were of anyone control and I am happy with the build. I would have liked it back a little sooner but the bang for the buck and customer service I received more then out weighed any issues. Again I will be seeing you for tuning soon and for that first oil change and inspection.

I will also try to get some more pic's and vids up this weekend. Again MD guys try him out and see if you like him, call around to other shops and get pricing and you will see he's still cheaper than most in the area. I will give a further review as I get more mileage.

These pics are in my album for the rebuild process: https://www.rx8club.com/members/zero...-process-5441/

Last edited by Zero11534; 04-26-2013 at 03:58 AM.
Old 01-08-2014 | 12:21 PM
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I have deleted several dozen posts in this thread since it was started, where non-paying vendors keep advertising their services. Since the thread seems to attract them, I'm also closing the thread.

Sorry Zero, people aren't playing by the rules, which is rather unfair to the people that ARE.
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