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A good engine shop can put it together better than you, they have the equipment & experience. What you pay to have it assembled will usually pale in comparison to what you spend on parts & machining.

Comparing shops (check out how pro there equipement is) and what kind of prices they offer for parts (compared to you buying online & shopping ect..,) may prove to be a good plan.

the young bull said, let run down and get a cow, old bull said lets WALK down and get em all!!

RX8SE3P wrote:

mazdags94 wrote:I've rebuilt my K8 (head gaskets, etc.) and learned a TON. Now I'm looking forward to doing the DE swap because it will be soooo much easier . I also rebuilt the DE (out of the engine) and my knuckles are in great shape. When I rebuilt the K8 it was in the car..... bloody knuckles .

Hey did you go to a shop for most of the stuff or did you do almost all of the rebuild yourself. Because I am considering rebuilding my ZE but dunno if I should get a shop to do my heads and hone the block, then I put it back together?

Howd your rebuilds go - did the engines run real nice afterwards?

I took my heads to a shop nearby and had them resurfaced. As far as the timing, pulleys, cams, seals, etc. I did all of those myself. When it comes to balancing and machining, that's not for me. But when it comes to seals and timing, I can handle it.

After I put everything back together and filled up my fluids, she started right up, no problems. It did blow quite a bit of smoke because my distributer timing was a bit off. A few of my vaccuum lines broke in the process so the idle jumped a bit after reaching standard operating temperature. If you are considering new head gaskets, have the head resurfaced. It only cost me 90 bucks. It's one of those "just in case" type of measures. You'll have the peace of mind knowing that the heads will seat well. As far as honing the cylinders, are you looking for a bigger bore? If you're looking to do any honing (or even polishing up the cylinder walls) then I would definitely have a shop do it because if you disrupt the weight balance, then you might experience some issues later.

Now, on the KLDE that I just bought, the pistons and rings were replaced for me and I replaced the head gaskets, timing belt, etc myself.

Basically, for purposes of machining and balancing, take advantage of a machine shop, they have all the right equipment to ensure it is done correctly (and if it's not, guess who is liable ).

Thanks for that info mazdags. I can do all the other stuff like timing, seals etc but not the machining.

I just want my engine to have nice compression (as new from factory lol), not blow anymore smoke/foul spark plugs and have a nice new long lasting engine.

Good luck with your rings, RX8.

I did them in my B6 with the engine still in the car.

It was actually quite easy.

I dunno what it entails for you, but good luck.

Thanks

I am still wondering if I should rebuild this or get a free replacement engine.

Basically my deal is that my engine is burning oil bad/smoking so the importers will either:

- Give me another engine when I return this
- Chip in towards rebuild for me

If they had a real nice condition one I could rebuild that or just take my chances and use it. The engine I got was not so great. Looked crap under the valve covers, I should have checked it thoroughly before buying.

I would suggest getting a replacement one.

If the engine is abused there's no telling what you can find.


Swap it out for one in great condition...

... then rebuild that one

I noted that the OP said he wanted to sell the car. I would abolutely drop that DE straight in there. Even if it's not cherry, it probably won't burn a quart of oil a week. I would even tell prospective buyers what I did. It's got a decent engine in it. Nuf said.

Use the MX-3 flyewheel, clutch and tranny. Use the MX-3 stock exhaust manifolds. Use the MX-3 distributor. Use the DE MAF and ECU. You're golden. Should be able to do it in two days with a knowledgable helper.

how the hell do you rebuild a engine while it's in.(kinda hard to get the crank out) also kinda hard to line bore it when you got to lift your car up on the machine.

Well, when I was forced to do a rebuild in my apartment parking lot, the cylinder walls were so perfect, it didn't need a bore. There wasn't even a lip on the "dead space"
Twas clean as a whistle.
I took the head into a machine shop to have it vacuum tested, cleaned and surface tested.

However you can always rent a cylinder bore if so needed.

put some tape on the oil squirter, and wet rags (not with water) on the crank, bore away, clean the walls, remove the rags, and reclean everything a few times.... if so needed.
It was easy as pie to do on a RS, I dunno bout the GS though.