Just read through your de-powering thread, TitaniumTT... thanks for the insight. Looks a bit beyond my comfort level but I will show the info to a few friends and see if any of them are willing to help. Very cool thread...
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...ead.php?t=7900
The coolant seals have been leaky for at least a couple of years, and the original engine has about 88k miles on it... I'm afraid that I'll need to replace at least one rotor housing and two irons, which would bring the cost of a rebuild higher than what I want to pay at the moment.
Blurry photo, but one face of the front rotor looks pretty rusty, and there was a significant amount of water coming out of both F & R spark plug holes when the eccentric shaft pulley was turned backwards by hand. That's why I'm thinking the old engine is in pretty rough shape.
I've already purchased the used JDM engine, and the seller offered a 30-day startup warranty so I'm going to hustle to get everything together (and hopefully onto a dyno) before those 30 days are up.
My plan is to tear the original engine apart once the car is back up and running, then decide to either rebuild it without rushing to get the car back on the road (and then remove & sell the JDM engine) or sell what core parts aren't trashed. I agree that rebuilding will be the best solution, but was afraid the core wouldn't contain enough re-usable parts.
Update 2010-07-20: I'm not sure the exact year and mileage of the Japanese engine (96 or newer because it includes the 16-bit ECU harness and updated rat's nest), but the turbos look to be in good shape, not a crack to be found:
07-17-2010, 12:24 PM
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