Morning all, it's been a while since I’ve posted anything, but I’ve found myself in a pickle, so I’m here again for some help.

I haven’t driven my 8 much since the wonderful winter came barreling through, but I did have to drive it for the last two weeks, this Tuesday, the engine popped on me and now I have some decision.

How it popped and its symptoms:
Pulling out of the restaurant for lunch on Tuesday, the car was driving fine, warming up and I was keeping the rpm's well below 4K. All of a sudden, drastic losses of power, backfires, rough idle and a flashing CEL.
The car is still 'drivable' but when I say that, only for a few miles. Still holds an idle and can accelerate, however it's very weak and very lumpy with constant backfires.
I took it to the dealership and they said the motor has lost a 'cylinder'. The car has 92500 on it but denied the claim on the motor due to modifications.

Modifications:
SAI removed and blocked off. Cats replaced with resonators. VFAD removed and a vacuum connection rerouted. They say all this will kill the motor, I’ve been driving the car in the exact same state for 8 months, never had a problem.

Options:
So where do I go from here?
Do I fight the warranty claim, or in people's experience with the mods I’ve listed, is this a waste of time?
I have a budget of $2500 for the rebuild. I'll pull the motor out myself and reinstall it.
I need some guidance on where to go. I'm located north of Philly and would like to keep it within driving distance to drop off and pick up the motor (~250 miles each way) Personally I’d prefer to have it rebuilt for me. I can rebuild it myself with the help of friends, but my work schedule would make it difficult.

Are there any good shops in my area that people can vouch for when it comes to rebuilding a motor?
What should I be doing inside the motor if I want to make it last?
I originally had plans for F.I. but with my future plans, that's off the table. Is there any point to porting these motors? Nothing too aggressive. I've had a bridgeport and loved it, but it's not practical now that I’m older.
Mild to aggressive street port?
What kind of seals are recommended for longevity?

If I need to rebuild it myself, where is a good place to look for a full kit for the motor?
I don't know what the damage is, but if I’m going in there, I should replace all the seals and bearings while I’m in there correct?

I know these are a lot of questions, I also understand I may not have given all the information needed to people and will be checking back and can supply answers if needed.
It's going to take about a week to get the car back to my house. (I am travelling for work for the next 3 months so it's located nearly 3 hours away) so I’m not in a huge rush, but spring is approaching so I’d like to get started as soon as I can.

Thanks in advance for the help, much appreciated.

Kevin.

 

1. What's SAI ? and if you removed VFAD you should CAP the vacuum, not "Reroute" it somewhere.
2. You're stupid enough to pull your car like that into the dealership. of course they will deny your warranty claims even tho the stuff you did shouldn't kill your engine (or not? who knows)
3. Contact Mazmart see what they can do. but it sounds like at least 1/2 ur engine is trash so you might not get the core charge back.
4. You said you can "afford "2500" only so don't even bother with seals for longevity, Cuz those Apex seals alone will cost you at LEAST 1.2 K. Mazda seals are already "ok", thats if you keep your car running properly. Premix is a must.
5. Porting the exhaust will give you around 10-20 hp increase but you need someone to tune your computer with stuff like Cobb Access Port or RB's Level 3 Flash or Pettit Racing's tuning service. it will affect your idle somewhat (solve via tuning service)
6. There is no way to know what you need for your engine (for rebuild), you have to crack it open to first, but if you said one of the rotor(WHAT CYLINDER!) is "gone" then most like more than 1/2 your engine is "finished", meaning 1 rotor, 1 housing, 1 side housing, the intermediate housing, stationary gear, all seals related.

 

in other words your ****** until u see how much u need to work with..
I been thru this now before u try to put money in your 8 you need to ask your self this do i want to spend $10,000+ on my rx8 to go FI engine rebuild what not . or do i just say f-it and get anothet ride. Belive me i thought about this all the time but im already gave my car my right had so now im invested and there is no turing back. how much do u love your 8??

 

1. What's SAI ? and if you removed VFAD you should CAP the vacuum, not "Reroute" it somewhere.

Secondary Air Injection. The Vacuum line on there is capped, the rerouted one is on the manifold, it still draws vac from the same part of the manifold, just a different T.

2. You're stupid enough to pull your car like that into the dealership. of course they will deny your warranty claims even tho the stuff you did shouldn't kill your engine (or not? who knows)

No, not stupid. Unfortuntally i am 3 hours away from home, on a project, living out of a hotel with no where to look at the car or swap it back to stock. I did what i had to at that point in time. It's awfully uncomfrtable being in the middle of no where knowing you have no close contacts or a way out of dodge.

4. You said you can "afford "2500" only so don't even bother with seals for longevity, Cuz those Apex seals alone will cost you at LEAST 1.2 K. Mazda seals are already "ok", thats if you keep your car running properly. Premix is a must.

$2500 is for rebuilding the motor, be it sending it off to someone, or doing it myself. IF $2500 gets me everything i need having it rebuilt by someone else, awesome, if not, i'll perform the labor meaning $2500 for parts.
6. There is no way to know what you need for your engine (for rebuild), you have to crack it open to first, but if you said one of the rotor(WHAT CYLINDER!) is "gone" then most like more than 1/2 your engine is "finished", meaning 1 rotor, 1 housing, 1 side housing, the intermediate housing, stationary gear, all seals related.

Once i get it home, i'm planning on pulling the motor apart. and going from there with what's needed. Is it automatically expected that the housing or sandwhich plates will be damaged?

Thanks for the quick response nycgps.

There's no way to say this without getting some backlash from the forums, but i'll say it anyway.
I have a fair amount of experince with rotaries. I know the theory very well, wrenched on them alot in the past and have been around them since I was born. (My mum's water broke while my dad was racing laps around phillip island in an RX-2)
Treat me like i know a bit more than the average rotary wrench turner, but not as much as an expert or someone who works on them everyday. I'd give myself a 6.5 out of 10 for rotary specific knowledge.

 

Why don't you put it back to stock and take it to another dealership?

Edit: I see you're out of town. Look into a shipping service. It might be cheaper in the long run to get it back home anyway. Another option is to check with some local guys. Maybe some of the will be kind enough to loan you stock parts until so you can take it in somewhere else.

 

I'm not getting rid of the car, i know this much. But i'm not dropping a ton of money into it.
I'm not looking at turbo for this 'repair' or for a while.
There are more important things in my life at the moment.

Here's my problem, i've looked at ALOT of threads and can't understand why a simple rebuild people are saying roun $5K.
Is this including labor? Or is it just that expensive to rebuild a rotary? I remeber having my old 12A rebuilt and ported for less than that, closer to 3500 after taxes and shipping..

 

Yeah that's good plan, i do have all the stock parts at home.

 

Since it's relatively small stuff minus your cat, have that stuff shipped to you. Or, if you're gonna be heading home from your project soon, have the car shipped back home. It's probably worth the expense if it gives you better chances at a warranty engine. From the sounds of it, you'll be shipping it home anyway.

 

most of the money is for the parts like my housing were gone, just to buy new housing that $1200 and my motor is still not running, then a rebuild kit is $1500 give or take or more now thats $2700 not doing ****. see it just adds up quick. i have a receipt for mazda reman replacement cost $7800 for them to take out and drop a reman in under warr, but then the reman u get may be ok till now but when you hit $28,000miles u wonder if you can take your car out of town or not or will it make. most of the part are $100 here $400 there $1600. that why when some people ask how much was a rebuild and such they wont get into price i didnt understand it at first but now i do is because when its a work of art to each person in there own way.

 

the last motor i got bolts were loose on the block which a little kid could untighten. some reman work for others but to have some thing done right is going to cost.

 

Awesome input guys.
I'm hooking up the AAA free tow for this one.
This is what i get for praising how reliable the car is!!!

Keep the suggestions and input coming.
What about swaps? A buddy of mine has an RX-7 FD front clip he bought two months ago before his ride got stolen.
It's an idea right? Then i could rebuild the renesis at my finacial and time leisure right?

 

it can be very reliable car when it running good.
I was like in the same position as u a swap still is going to run depending 3grand+, since have a rotary u start to have two or three of a lot of thing like transmission engines. if u just wana get up and running i would search for reman i keep the engine u have and rebuild that one . depending on your mech skill u can have the engine out and in the same day and riding around on sunday again

 

you would need custom motor mounts, ems, and so on to get it going,

 

An REW swap is an idea, but more difficult that you would think. Different mount points, accessories and engine management are your biggest concerns. You'll spend your budget or more just to work out any one of those three things.

AAA tow ftw!. Good luck man.

 

Hmm, ok.

Well if you are in middle of nowhere then ...

You can always try what sauce suggested (go another dealer and act stupid lol)

Mind you most shop will not take your engine if you crack it open yourself, its just due to liability.

and forget about swaps, it will cost WAY more than 2500 and its not for people with weak hearts

What kind of Housing you got that cost 1200 bux ? lol

 

i ment to say 2 brand new Rx8 New Rotor Housing
were $600 each

 

you have a PM my friend

 

phew, I was about to say wtf where u got ur housing from lol.

cuz that price is almost enough to buy an aluminum side housing.

 

lol i know i was like wtf when i found out they were that much

 

Alright guys, thank you for all your input.
I've looked at my options and would like to know the difficulties in putting an N/A 20B into the vechile.
What needs to change aside from the mounts? will the P/S and lower subframe need to be modified?
I looked into bridgeporting the rensis, no dice.
Looked into swapping a 13BTT in, it's a good possibility however i'm not ready to step to a single turbo set-up.
I'm interested in the 20B swap, but it all depends on effects to the rest of the systems in the car.
Thanks in advance guys!

 

You said you have a 2500$ budget for the rebuild. A complete 20b swap is going to cost around 15-20k depending on what kind of work\fabrication you can do on your own.
Contact Mazmart to get a good rebuilt engine, that's all you can do with your budget and is the wisest choice.

 

You'll have to modify the crossmember and/or firewall, new mounts. relocate or redo the whole power steering. You'll need all new engine management. A different tranny, a different drive shaft to go along with the tranny, and a lot of fabrication.

 

I'm not sure how far you are from these guys, but they are probably your bet for a local shop...http://www.kdrotary.com/

 

Your less than 30 minutes from, JPR Imports When I needed an engine I ordered it from Mazmart and they sent it to JPR. Jim ( Owner ) is very qualified and others here can vouch for him. I do not know if he is doing rebuilds but take a ride over there and ask and check out the stuff he is working on. By the way call him, he isn't big on reading email.

 

Fair enough. It's starting to sound like this motor is a bitch to get anything decent from power wise without sinking half your salary into.