Ok so I am starting my rebuild after my second engine has died. The first engine had suffered a coolant seal failure of some kind and the second engine which i bought used(A Big Mistake) had an apex seal failure due to the SSV getting stuck in a WOT run, I shifted and POW and then some smoke out of the tail pipe. So now I have two engines that do not run and an 8 that is sitting on a trailer, so it is definitely time to get her running again. This rebuild will not be done in the week or two, I am taking my time building and making sure I buy everything I need. I spent this weekend tearing the two engines apart and started cleaning them in my free time, I will post pics that I took this weekend and then updates with pics as I get more done. Feel free to comment or give me any advice or constructive criticism, this is my first rotary rebuild but I've been reading the the Engine Shop Manual like its my bible lately, btw thanks to 9K for sending me another copy.



Damaged Internals

 

everything u have in the pics(and whatever is related to it) can go straight to garbage (or sell it at some junk collector and get a few bucks back)

you better off just buy a good rebuilded engine from one of the well known builder here.

 

More damage to the internals

 

all junk

 

After one small soak and a little cleaning.

 

This is just a project of mine at the moment, I am not hurting from the 8 being down but I sure miss her. The first set of pictures are of all the trashed parts, the only pics I've uploaded of the useable parts are the 2 rotors, I have not gotten around to cleaning the 3 rotor housings, 1 center iron, 1 front iron, and 2 rear irons that may be useable. After I clean them I will measure them to be sure they are useable, I am just taking this slow and one step at a time thing.

 

all the housings are trash

 

The center iron that I have not taken a pic of may be ok, it has some wear on it but I can't tell if its useable or not until I get it cleaned and order a straight edge and check it with my feeler gauges. The 3 rotor housings that might be alright do have some wear on them but not too bad, the wear is mostly at the spark plug holes. I do plan on getting my front, center and rear irons lapped as soon as i get them cleaned and get paid.

 

subscribed. good luck.

 

Good luck. I cannot state this enough:

Measure, measure, and measure. Pinapple Racing sells some great tools for this that you could later resell if you don't think you will lose them again.

 

Oh yes, I will be taking my time. Hopefully I will be done and everything will be alright by the time I have to go down to San Antonio probably around May and then I will just drive down and say hi to all you SARX guys. Oh and pineapple racing is in my favorites, I ordered my engine stand adaptor from them, and have a couple tools I will most likely get from them unless my local Harbor Freight has another big sale after I get paid.

 

Cool man, come on down anytime. Maybe you will be ready in time for the Texas 8. And when i say measure I mean even the new parts you receive. I suggest going with all Mazda stuff for everything except for the heavy duty Pineapple coolant seals.

 

yes I am going to do the heavy duty water seal kit, OEM on everything else. I've been kind of researching solid corner seals using the FD springs but I'm not sure yet on that. the water pump and thermostat will be swapped for the Remedy pump and thermostat and I will do the oil pressure regulator and go back to the Sohn adaptor as well, and if money and time permits I will get the BHR radiator, my stock cooling system didn't like last summer at all and I know you guys battled that too

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ok so I'm waiting to get paid and then this weekend I will get the front, intermediate and rear irons cleaned up and they will be sent off to get lapped. I may be reusing the side seals and corner seals. I will make a decision on the rotor housing after I get them cleaned up and get them measured, but I'm having issues sourcing a 4" micrometer, so hopefully I will find one when I get paid. I will be getting the rotaryaviation overhaul kit with the RA super seals and springs after the irons come back in. Does anyone have a recommendation on what solvent will be best to use for cleaning the irons and housings?

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Cooling is important. i also have a secondary radiator and a dual FAL fan setup (check my build thread on the heater circuit that works very well.

The best solvent you say?

Yellow stuff or purple stuff from Harbor Freight

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9krpmrx8/6195594410/

 

I saw that and am still thinking about it, I did read your build thread and shadycrew's build thread. I used a concentrated degreaser I had laying around with success on the rotors, I think it was called purple power or something like that. I thought about getting some Chemdip but I think that might damage the irons. The owner of a rotary shop in central Oklahoma quoted me $300 to have my irons shipped and lapped so that will be the first thing I do after getting them cleaned up. I have been using a brass wire brush on everything except the chrome facing on the irons but I noticed a lack of chrome on the housings at the spark plug holes but no flaking. Anyways I guess I should start looking for some housings too.

 

I haven't had much time to work on cleaning everything up but I have been able to look over and do a better visual inspection and I may end up with a new e-shaft. One of the is bang up probably from the ring gear off the stock flywheel breaking off and bouncing around and the other has what looks like burn marks or charring probably from lack of oil. I still haven't gotten paid, out clients aren't paying up so paychecks are about 2 weeks late. But once pay comes in I will buy a precision straight edge, v-blocks and a dial indicator and then the irons will probably get cleaned up and sent out for lapping.

 

There is a guy here selling a brand new E shaft in the FS section and it looks like he has a few of them for some reason.

 

Ok great, I will look into that. Thanks 9k

 

Ok so I got the irons cleaned up pretty good and sprayed down with wd-40 so hopefully they wont rust. I'm definitely going to have them lapped.

 

you shouldn't lap ANY 13B-MSP Iron. why? SEARCH.

hell, no ONE should use any lapped housing if Longevity is their concern, not even gonna bother with HP.

 

I thought lapping and then a new nitrite coat would be the way to go. Why is lapping the irons a bad thing?

 

well u never mention anything about re-nitiring.

lots of people do it without nitrite, it could be done and it seems fine for Mazda before 1979, but iron is really soft if u compare it to nitrite. things are a bit different on 13B-MSP. search.

 

If I have them lapped I will get them re-nitrited, the nitrite is there for a reason. If I remember correctly mazdatrix offers re-nitriting, so if the machinist that the rotary shop knows about doesn't do that then I will send them to mazdatrix.

 

then it should be fine. but do some measurements before you send it off.

and Mazdatrix is a bit pricey (READ:OVERPRICED), there are other options out there.