The search for a working engine

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Jeags
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The search for a working engine

Post by Jeags »

Hi all,

Currently looking for a working engine for my shell. Had a look at a car today, was a PZ version (eBay auction). The car is a cat s write off and was bought by the mechanic I spoke to today, he said he bought the car for the engine and gearbox for a chevette he was swapping it into, but he's bought a different car and now selling both the 8 and the chevette now separately. Took it for a test drive and pulls really well, the main damage is to the sill on one side and a door. Looks like someone's hit a curb at a fair speed. However, the car did have a CEL (see photos) and I'm not sure if the engine is good, and for how long. No comp test, but started cold, warmed up, started again. Tool it for a drive and started again perfect 5 mins after driving (fairly hard).

What do we think about this engine? My thoughts would be to buy the car, swap the engine over as well as suspension and exhaust with it being a PZ? Would like to restore the car, but it's a cat s, high tax and I'm not sure whether it's worth doing. Let me know on thoughts!

Cheers,

JoeImageImage

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Ollie
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Re: The search for a working engine

Post by Ollie »

Without a comp test it's a bit of a risk. Also depending on the angle of the impact to the car its also a risk. As rotary engines don't deal well with direct frontal or rear collisions! Though if the engine had taken a shunt I doubt it would be running happily.
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Re: The search for a working engine

Post by warpc0il »

All those CEL codes relate to the Secondary Air System, which only effect emissions on very cold starts and have no impact on performance.

They could all be because a single connector is loose.
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Jeags (Wed Jul 08, 2020 6:59 pm)
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Jeags
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Re: The search for a working engine

Post by Jeags »

Yorindesarin wrote:Without a comp test it's a bit of a risk. Also depending on the angle of the impact to the car its also a risk. As rotary engines don't deal well with direct frontal or rear collisions! Though if the engine had taken a shunt I doubt it would be running happily.
I think it's a risk I'll have to take. Just not sure whether to buy the car and restore it, or just break it for the engine, suspension and exhaust. I don't really want to reduce the PZ numbers even more, but as it's a cat s and high tax, makes me wonder whether it's worth it. Would need a new sill as well as repairs to the driver's door.

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Re: The search for a working engine

Post by goodeggbob »

Joe, you will probably find yourself bidding against some one who wants a pz,and not just an engine.have you tried big pete on here.
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Boston Rotary (Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:28 pm)
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Jeags
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Re: The search for a working engine

Post by Jeags »

goodeggbob wrote:Joe, you will probably find yourself bidding against some one who wants a pz,and not just an engine.have you tried big pete on here.
Did try bigpete when my engine first failed to no avail. Will check again soon. Was hoping that with it being a cat s, there would be less interest anyway. Just a thought, will probably just end up waiting for a standard S1 to pop up somewhere local that I can test drive and is more affordable.

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Re: The search for a working engine

Post by 350matt »

I'd say to get back there with regular / normal compression tester and take some readings

as you can either just take a composite reading with it as an indication
or you can go a step further by unscrewing the 1 way valve in the hose end and watch the needle bounces to check they are all the same to see if all chambers are the same, and ideally also use a scan tool to read the cranking speed so you can normalise it for rpm ( use this site http://foxed.ca/index.php?page=rotarycalc)

either way its a lot better than no info

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Jeags (Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:55 pm)
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Re: The search for a working engine

Post by Jeags »

Yeah, could do. Think it's going to go for more than I'd like to pay for a cat s though. Found another PZ 20 mins from me so going to look at that tomorrow night. He said he's looking to get a compression test done so if I'm happy with the car, may go halves with him for a comp test as he is 5 minutes away from Dwayne at silver fern performance.

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