trakfloater07

Hey guys, man its been a long time since I was on here. Glad to see the rx8 community has been thriving and doing well. I previously had 2004 rx8 during college that I loved but after going through 2 remans, premixing, and over a month with my car in the shop I decided to get out of the rx8 due being a broke college kid and not having any space to work on the car. I loved the rotary engine when it worked properly, and to me the chassis was something just magical. Well now I'm older, have a wife and son(in a car seat), and the days of my 2 seater miata are done. I would love another rx8 and there is a local lady that has a 2004 6sp that is in great shape, only 60k miles...but the motor will not start after it has been running for a while. I understand that that is a definite sign of low compression and that a rebuild is in the future for that rx8. I have the tools and space to do a motor rebuild, and have looked at the two possibilities in either the atkins rebuild kit or the racing beat rebuild kit. I have read through numerous threads on pulling the motor, rebuilding, and re-assembly. I believe I have the mechanical ability to do the rebuild considering i have the time and space. So after all this I have 3 questions.....

1) Which rebuild kit would yall recommend the atkins or racing beat. I know racing beat has a great reputation.(if the atkins kit which kit would you recommend the master kit)

2) Along with a rebuild kit what else would you replace while your already doing everything. BHR ignition kit is a definite, anything else?

3) Most importantly if I rebuild the motor, start with a fresh BHR kit, and make sure the ECU has the updated flash, will the motor be as reliable as say the generation 2 rx8's. Or should I just forget all of it and save up until I can get a generation 2?

trakfloater07

On a side note to the mods if this is in the wrong sub-forum move it where ever it may need to be.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

I would stick with OEM seals if you are staying NA.

(And would definitely not use Atkins seals.....long story on that so not going there )

Other than that either kit would be OK....as long as you use OEM parts

trakfloater07

Gotcha so thats a no on the Atkins kit, ya the racing beat kit is OEM mazda parts so that was definitely appealing to me.

How hard was rebuilding the renesis compared to regular piston motors?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

It is comparable in difficulty...but there are big differences and there is less help in most cases locally. It can be as easy as opening it up, cleaning and checking all the parts...and re-fitting the new seals....but it can also be a minefield of fail if you miss small details

I don't think you are too far from RotaryResurection and I'm sure he could help you out if you decide to go it alone...or you could get him to rebuild it for you...he has good rates and a good reputation as far as I have seen

Nunnya Biness

Ok this is the first thing I've heard about Atkins kits being bad. I've just rebuilt my 13B with an Atkins kit and I'm having problems. I have roughness and binding while turning my engine by hand (actually using a 1/2"drive ratchet and socket on the back nut). I took it apart again thinking maybe a side seal had fallen out somehow at the last instant before being seated completely. All I could find when I took it apart was one of the side seals wasn't floating properly and needed to be filed down a bit more. There was no evidence of anything scraping or gouging. Upon re-assembly of the engine (making sure everything was lubed and perfect before closing each cavity) I'm experiencing the same roughness at the same place on every third revolution. I've turned the engine several times now that I'm not as concerned about damaging anything and it is loosening up a little. Don't know if this is normal or If I should still be concerned. All I know is I don't want to pull this engine again so I'd like to make sure it's good before putting it in. All measurements on rotors and rotor housings were good and I have great compression. I changed all the sleeve bearings too. Talk to me Goose.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

+1 on what Dan said, Kevin at RR is a stand up guy and in all these years I have never heard a bad thing from a customer of his.

The issues I have seen with Atkins (on a couple of occasions now) appears to be from a lack of quality control (seals were scalloped out of the box, out of spec seals, etc.) and to add insult to injury, Atkins himself handled it very poorly from a customer service aspect so I would never order from them.

Doing it yourself comes with substantial risk, I myself decided to let a pro (Rob @ Pineapple Racing) do it. Since you are close to RR, that makes the most sense.