Hey guys,
I have a friend that bought a spare 12A, and transmission off of me a year or so back. His plan was to put it into one of his Chevette's, and he did get it in there and running, but wasn't really thrilled with it. Around the same time he found an 89+ RX-7 cheap that he was thinking about using the engine from to give the rotary Chevette moar powar!! Well it turns out he made a race car out of it before taking the engine out, and putting it into the Chevy. His friend was driving it in a race at a local track this spring,and wrecked it really badly. Here is video of the wreck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0trzQ7HzMO4
I have been offered the 13B engine from the wrecked car as well as the 12A and trans I sold to him for the same price I got for the 12A originally, but I am wondering if the 13B is worth trying to save. I took some pics of the engine, and as you can see the front of it took some damage including the main pulley, oil injection pump, and lord knows what else. Do you guys think the block survived this without damage? The car is wrapped around the engine really well, but maybe it is okay. What say you oh wise GRM lords?
i hate when people do that to engines leave them out in the weather with no protection it takes 10 minutes to close off all the openings like the intake and water ports. it will need torn down either way now
It might be salvageable, but like cutter67 says it will definitely need to be torn down. The front cover being open like that means the needle thrust bearing etc has been exposed to the elements. See if you can talk him down a little more.
It's probably FUBAR. I'm looking at how the crank seal is twisted. What does that?
It has to come apart at least to getting the front cover off so that the thrust bearing spacer can be reset. You NEVER remove the front pulley from a Mazda rotary unless you have something forcing the shaft forward, like a block of wood depressing the clutch. Bad things ensue.
Also, the MOP is broken off (goodbye $1500 part) and it looks like it took part of the front cover with it. So the front cover has to come off regardless.
Get the engine out and salvage what you can. Series 5 N/A rotating assemblies are the best ones ever made, and if the rotor housings are okay, they're also hard-to-find items. Waste nothing! Rebuilding around core parts is surprisingly inexpensive if you DIY some things instead of tithing to Mazda.
sergio
New Reader
10/22/12 10:10 p.m.
I'm thinking that eccentric shaft took a major ass whipping. Has to have put the hurt on the iron housings too.
If that crank was punched hard enough, perhaps the main caps are tweaked aft. If not tweaked, at least stressed to an uncomfortable position propigating cracks later.
If you can take it apart before plunking down money, then all you lose is a bit of time.
You can't know until you take it apart. Given how hard the eccentric shaft was punched, it might have destroyed the rotors. That said, it is worth looking at- the irons are tough and good, used rotor housings are hard to find, and there is a chance they survived.
take it apart! if anything its a fun learning experience.
Im not even sure you have to tear it all the way down. I would take the front cover off and see what is messed up. I would think you would be able to tell if anything is majorly wrong just by removing the front cover.
I realize I am in the minority here. I will say that the "proper" thing to do is fully tear it down.
Rob R.
You never know what you might find. Both of the rotor housings in this engine were fine once they were cleaned up.
I'm gonna guess the rotors and rotor housings are probably OK. The chrme should clean up nicely. The eccentric shaft is probably bent, the middle and rear irons are probably OK. The front iron I would not trust because the thrust bearing transmits all its load there via a plate and that impact may have cracked it.
I know about the inner workings of the engine, and what possibly may have happened, but was looking for opinions. My thought was a total tear down as well, but didn't want to waste my time if you guys said no berkeleying way that thing survived. The guy said the main pulley bolt was removed on its own, not by him.
I have torn down many a rotary, so it won't be a learning experience for me at all. I just got a call today from the guy who has it.and he said he got it out of the carcass as well as the 12A, and trans that I sold him. Looks like the REPU will be getting a workout picking up some of its brethren powerplants.
wheelsmithy wrote:
WALK AWAY.
... to the REPU and go get those engines!
