From: "Marvin Kaye" <marv@lancaironline.net>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: [3]Apex seal fracture....and other minutia
 on engine improvements.....
To: flyrotary
Date: Fri, 04 Oct 2002 19:18:12 -0400
Message-ID: <web-1798065@logan.com>
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Posted for "Marc Wiese" <cardmarc@midsouth.rr.com>:

> before 80k miles.  I've spent years telling people how the bad
reputation
> for rotary engines wasn't deserved anymore, and now I find myself
trying
> to
> explain why my car got a new engine at 75k miles due to an apex seal
> breaking.  Is it just the extra power?  I really wish someone would
> explain
> what seems to have gone wrong with the 3rd gen engines.

Rusty,
I have heard of that mortality myself, especially on the 93s. However, I
have also encountered FD owners who have over 120,000 miles on the
original engine and turbos. I think some ecu tables were changed in the
94 computers, etc, so maybe what we have there is "first year
introduction troubles", which I HOPE the rx8 does not have or Mazda will
suffer the consequences. 
I have over 80,000 on my stick 94 FD, and good compression too. They
have a very complicated control system and need an eye and ear to the
nuances that can affect performance. There are so many solenoids one is
bound to go bad sooner or later, and the dealer has NO idea how to find
and fix it, and usually makes matters worse rather than better. So I do
my own diagnostics and repair.
However, I replaced my wife's auto tranny 94 FD engine due to low
compression at about 65,000 miles-a job in itself. In stripping the
factory oem engine down, I noticed factory miss-assembly errors that
lead me to suspect that her engine is not representative of most of the
engines (like over-squished o rings and a spacer missing on the main
housing fuel injectors! How's that for quality?), but it was also full
of carbon. There has been discussion that the auto tranny FD engines are
more stressed due to being on boost so often (the tranny computer and
ecu talk to each other, and the boost is used a lot), and the load of
the torque converter dragging the idle down with ac on. But her turbos
were like new (they are inconel by the way, even the manifold AND all
the bolts! Try and burn one off!!!). 
All this being said, I am almost certain that many who buy FDs
(especially the "boy racers" and some of those who join the rx7 and
forum email lists) push the hell out of them, race them, and punish them
unlike most cars, and then modify them ham-fistedly and in general make
a mess of a finely tuned assembly (most by overleaning the mixture at
high boost and busting something like an apex seal, cause they didn't
increase the fuel supply or upgrade the injectors) or else by
overstressing something like the oil or water cooling system by not
maintaining them regularly with new hoses, thermostat and flushing.
Upgrades to the FD must consider all the ramifications to the ENTIRE
system.
BTW, you will love that book!! I keep it on my coffee table in the
living room-it has that kind of quality to it. And my wife doesn't
object! (How could she, she had an FD before I did!).
   [Marc Wiese]