Yup, was headed to work and got about a block away. No real noise or anything but had a sudden loss of power. Turned off the road to a side street as the engine stalled out. Pulled to the side and tried to start it all I got was a click. My Mom and Dad were out for a visit so Dad drove over to try to jump start it. Still only a click. Pulled it home and tried to turn the engine with a wrench, no go. Pulled out the spark plugs and number 4 had the ceramic insulator busted and the electrodes smashed up into where the insulator used to be... Yay!

Did some searching and found a used motor with 67K on it. Ordered it and about a week later it showed up from Canada. They must use salt on the roads up there I guess because it had a lot of surface rust on it? So I got the engine up on a stand and started cleaning it up. I started swapping parts from the old engine over to the replacement. I'm now at the point that I can pull the old engine out with the tractor and set the replacement back down in. Hopefully I have time to get that part done after work tomorrow. I also pulled the radiator out to put the new one I had bought for it in since the tank had a small leak (not big enough to be a problem, just top off the fluid every 6 months or so). I did have one stumbling block because I didn't want to evacuate the AC system and have to have it recharged, but then I though... "Well, nothing says I have to mount it to the replacement before I drop the engine back in". So I took the mounting bolts out and zip tied it off to the side out of the way until the replacement is in there and I can put it back on the block.

This is where I'm at now.













Hopefully I can have it all back together and on the road by the end of this coming weekend. We had planned to hand this one down to our daughter who will be taking drivers ed this year because it was getting up there in miles (182k). Now though, we aren't so sure. I was looking for something more sporty for the wife and I to get around in. We figured Autumn could drive this and we could take it when the whole family needed to go somewhere but the other car would be fun for her and I with enough trunk space for my tool boxes I need for work. With the lower mileage engine though, we can look for something a bit cheaper for our daughter to drive rather than the costlier vehicles we were looking at for us. Maybe even get something for her and get something a bit older for us that's sporty to like a first or second gen Laser/Talon/Eclipse. Ah well.... decisions, decisions.

Edit: Bah! I need to find a better photo storage site. Photobucket resized them automatically but I can't go there without getting bogged down with ads and pop ups anymore not to mention some new malware infection... Any suggestions?

Edit 2: I was able to get the pictures resized, so they aren't huge anymore.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 08-04-2015).]

I was actually kinda "worried" about that when my wife expressed interest in it. With all the "you have to replace a rotary around every 50k miles" I heard over the years, I was weary on ever owning a rotary even though now that I know more about it. I'm not as weary now. Anywho, I wasn't at home where I could look it up on wiki or anything so when we popped the hood on it I was happy it wasn't a rotary.

Bad thing though, it's not a "zoom zoom zoom" currently .

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 08-06-2015).]

Well, it's basically done .







I took it on a test drive after checking/filling all fluids. It is running good but... I need to adjust the throttle cable. Once it warms up the idle drops a bit low. Not low enough to stall out but lower than I want it. I'll raise it to 750-850 RPM, right now it's only about 550.

Edit: I'm going to strip parts off the old block and save the parts I may need in the future. When I do, I'll pull the oil pan and the head and pop the loose piston out. I'll post some pic's of that when I get it done.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 08-17-2015).]