I rebuilt my engine last August, because it was siezed after sitting in the previous owners' garage for 5 years+. I made a post about it here, and got a lot of help, and eventually got the car running. However, after about 4000 miles, it has never made proper compression. It runs fine, but doesn't feel as strong as it should and it floods frequently if sitting for a short period of time. I blame it on poor rotor clearancing on my part.



Hopefully within the next 1-2 weeks I will be dropping the transmission to replace a couple of synchros. At the same time, I plan to rebuild the engine again. I would like to do a Judge Ito large street port using his templates, and also rebuild to his exact clearance specs. Since the engine only has 4k miles on it, I think I will probably be able to reuse the apex seals and corner seals. I'm using Atkins apex seals and corner seals with rubber inserts. I know I will have to replace the side seals, because i know the clearance on those it out of whack. Do you guys think this sounds like a good idea? I really don't have the money to do a rebuild with all new hard parts right now. Anyway, I've made a list of the things I will need. If anyone sees anything that I missed or something that I could get cheaper somewhere else, let me know please.



Judge Ito Large street port Template: $45 (Judge Ito)

Dial Indicator: $14 (Harbor Freight)

Magnetic Base: $13 (Harbor Freight)

0-4” micrometer: $45 (Ebay)

Die Grinder: $100 (Harbor Freight)

Carbide Burrs: $25 (Ebay)

Side Seals: $102 (Atkins Rotary)

Gasket Set: $280 (Atkins Rotary)

New wastegate flapper welded: $20?

Heat wrap for downpipe: $20 (I forgot)

Rtek7 ECU chip: $95

Stock 550cc injectors cleaned by RC Engineering: $100 (RC Eng)



I already have feeler gauges, and all the normal tools required for rebuild. Last time I did it, I just inspected the front and rear plates and rotor housings visually and with a metal straight edge. They were all really clean, because the car only had 60k miles on it. I measured end play in a way described in the Hayne's manual using feeler gauges. It seemed pretty crude to me, but it was within spec. I figure I might as well do it all the right way this time though. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.



I forgot to add that i will be replace my stock catback, knocked out precat, and cat with a full turbo-back Greddy PE exhaust that I already have. That's why I added the ECU chip and wastegate flapper. I am going to just run low boost until I have enough money for a cheap EBC(thinking old school HKS EVC), Walbro fuel pump, and a fuel controller like the S-AFC.

 

your list looks good, have you ever done a compression check, what is realyl wrogn with the motor? it could be something else other then the motor.

 

Yeah, I tried a compression check about 2k miles after the rebuild. I don't remember the exact results anymore. I think the rear was around 85psi on all 3 bounces, which is just just within spec I believe? The front never reached 80psi though if I recall. I know 2 of them were way lower as well. I thought it was an apex seal sticking, but I spoke with someone from Atkins rotary recently, and he told me taht it sounded more like a corner seal. One of my rotors did have a sticky corner seal and apex seal as well. I tried to sand it down and get it to move pretty freely, but I don't feel like I did a good enough job of it. Also, I know there was way too much clearance on the side seals. I also had to reuse one of my old ones, because I broke one of the new ones sanding it down.

 

If both the apex and corner seals on one tip were sticking, I would look closely at the rotor. It probably has pinched in at the corner seal bore where it meets the apex. It is possible to use a brass drift and tap it out, but it is probably wiser to find a better rotor.

 

I believe that it was pinched in a little bit. I was going to try to tap and/or sand it out, because it wasn't really that bad. And there were no dents or anything on the rotors otherwise. Buying a new rotor is just spending more money that I don't really have right now. :-/ I might have to look into it though. Thanks for the advice.