hey guys, this will be kind of lengthy
im a new owner of a pretty clean and stock 06 9mr with fast approaching 110k miles ( full TBE and k&n typhoon intake ) i plan to keep it that way. with all oem engine block components and a good tuned
the entire car is pretty good id say 7/10 only reason i rated it so low is because the motor/chassis does have high mileage. and with age/mileage, comes worn out parts

maybe im nip picking but the ride seems pretty rough. numerous rattles. from engine vibrations and tired motor etcetc ( ive been a RX7-FD owner all my adult life for a good part of 17 years. and I've dealt with it all, from all kinds of angles)

so. here i am. almost time for a timing belt service and im wondering if i should pull the head and inspect it at the same time also a head-gasket job ? is there a such thing like full block refresh ? ( its rather common with rotary's )
planning on sending the stock injectors out to have it test/clean and install a new fuel pump with new lines/rings/grommets

i am going to order these from STM

also this for the timing service

what are the other " while im in there i should probably take a look at " thing to do thats not going to keep driving up the already costly parts list?
i also ordered 4 new oem engine mounts because who dont like fresh mounts am i right? that should keep the rattle and vibrations down a bit. keep things smooth

thanks for looking

 

i forgot to mention i do plan on keeping it stock. ( motor wise ) and a moderately good tune that can pass CA emissions
( going to be installing the stock intake and stock CAT back in. currently its got all Invidia o2 housing and downpipe test-pipe and HKS exhaust )

any suggestions on coils (this i wont mind aftermarket at all) ? other than oem, something that fits under the coil pack cover

 

Looks like a great buy and very clean, good work and this is your first evo and you joined in 2009?

Ok So forget about the FD, you're in whole new territory now. You say your aim is to keep it stock but want to order an engine rebuild kit and pull the head for what reason? Does it have good compression and passes a leak down test? if yes, leave it alone. Do your cam belt and pully change, thats the lower pic, make sure your belt tensioner is setup correctly, if youre going to do it yourself dont blunder into it without knowing what youre doing. Are there issues with the injectors? if not, leave them alone. Get the tune checked if you think it needs it. COP kit? why is it missing? For a stock low power setup leave it alone unless theres a problem.

So it rattles, yeh they do that, its the car talking to you to stop you going to sleep. If you want to change the stance you can play with coil overs and lowering, pulling, spacers rabbit hole process.

Check all the suspension bushes and replace what's needed.

These cars go well with a pipe, intake and a good tune setup. If you must blow money look at suspension and brakes if you want to track setup.

 

Don't touch the head unless you have to. Do a compression and leak-down test. If it all passes, don't touch the head.

Do the timing belt. Make sure you use someone that TRULY knows 4G63's as it's easy to mess up if you don't know what you are doing.

 

Congratulations on the new evo, it looks like a very clean example! I've driven a drift FD RX7 and it was a fun car.

With this particular evo I would say less is more. If the car is not burning oil or coolant, has no leaks, and has good leakdown/compression then I would not bother pulling the head. I think it's a good idea to go with the stock cat if you plan to add no more performance parts and are staying on 91 octane. You could go with a spoolin up COP ignition system, however, you may not see any benefits with it especially at stockish boost levels. I think that replacing the motor mounts with fresh oem ones was a great move. It will cut down on vibration, noise, and not add unnecessary harshness to your ride. It appears the car has been lowered on something. If you get swift springs with oem struts, it will give you decent ride quality and look good. If you want OEM or better ride quality with track performance when needed, i would say don't waste your time with anything else and save for the Ohlins which are much more affordable these days. Take your time tracking down all the rattles, there really should not be that many in a car that clean. Hopefully there are no missing nuts or bolts inside the cabin that have to do with dash pieces. Take pictures of all your parts that need replacing to keep track of what you've done. It's nice to reflect on afterwards.

Anyway, sweet ride man and always come back here if you need any help. Some might answer your questions more aggressively than others, but don't get offended it is just how it is here.

 

Congrats on the clean ride. Having come from an FD RX-7 myself to an Evo back in the day, I can say that you are going to be relieved ant not having to worry about the Evo overheating or detonating every time you drive it down the street. Pal215 has been down the painful road of opening up an engine so I second all his advice. Don't open up the engine unless absolutely necessary. Compression and leakdown tests are your best friend. Oh yeah, go easy on the 6 sp especially road racing it. The 6sp is weaker than the 5 sp and is notorious for failing. Recommend Road Race Engineering for a pretty good and safe tune. What part of SoCal are you in?

 

haha yea I've been a long time lurker and lowkey got the biggest evo envy for their reliability and easy power back in my early rotary days.

and oh yea. i realized im in a entire new ball game with this evo
so the reason i wanted to pull the head and refresh it is because i DID do a compression test and the results were more or less, "meh" 10 psi difference in cylinder 2 compare to the rest, so i went ahead and did a leak-down test to see why.
cylinder 2 does have a 40% leak while the rest 3 remained within spec per service manual. i can hear the leak slightly coming out of the exhaust.
the evo comes with tein flex z coilovers. not the best choice by far but they are rather new and ride decent at full stiff LOL (ill stick with these for now and once i figure out the nature of the beast ill have a better idea on what coils to go with)
as for the ignition coils, i like to beef them up from the start. its somthing easy to do right away vs when you need them thats all. and the injector cleaning is something I've always done at major mileage points 50k/100k. cheap to do and good to know the health of it.

right up top ^ and yes of course i will do my due diligent on research for the right shop if i think i wont be able to handle it.

Thanks pal ! i totally agree on the " more is less" now that im way older. the plan is to keep it stockish and to have stock boost level. with a tune for TBE and intake only. that should pick up a few ponys right? I've had experience with Ohlin's in the pass and they are great. however this time around i like to try out other brands and widen my horizon
and duly noted on the interior advice. will start digging.

thanks, aint that the truth ! i had the longest evo envy lowkey. i will search up Pal215 past post and dig on that thread if there is one to get some insight. i ve gotten a few very good shop selection. RRE , 5150,tuning tech. and last, KT motoring for tuning? 3 local evo owners recommend him.
im in palmsprings rather far from everything unfortunrantly

 

RRE has been doing it longer than all of those shops. I worked at RRE back in the late 90's if that gives you a better perspective.

 

Thank you sir ! Now I know who to ring

 

Let us know how you go

 

Nice looking car! Always wanted an FD or FC. My uncle had RX7s when I was a kid, and I have some good memories as a result. Maybe one day when I have a lot more time and disposable income, haha.

Agreed, don't go any deeper into the motor than necessary and select your shop carefully. These can live really long lives, even at modestly elevated power levels, given careful parts selection, installation and tuning. +1 for RRE. And be patient with them. They can be a little old school sometimes, and they get busy, but when your time comes they'll take good care of you (again- patience is rewarded).

Let us know what the verdict is on Cyl 2. I'm sure you'd love to get your hands on a borescope with an articulating head on it. In any event, RRE should be able to help figure out that mystery.

Ride height looks a little too low.. Having sold and installed a fair amount of Teins at my last job, i'd say that although the Flex Z are a budget damper, just resetting them back to the default settings outlined in the manual and then getting an alignment may go a long way towards improving ride quality. Flex Z's shouldn't ride too badly unless they are shot out. If you don't have a manual call or email Tein, they are generally pretty happy to help.

If you aren't into the Ohlins, I like the Bilstein PSS9s for a street car. Good ride quality, durable, lots of suspension stroke. If you are into the stance thing they aren't really meant to go super low though.
My car is a street car, and I like to do some casual HPDE with it. I have Feal 441+ and i've been really happy with em- valving/ride quality, on track performance, and service costs are very economical.

*IMPORTANT* Gotta be real careful in CA these days. Read through this thread when you have a moment. https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ec...on-cal-id.html
I think there are maybe a few other similar threads. Definitely good to get up to speed on that whole thing.

 

Who knows how old the fluids are in the car? Don't rely on what the previous owner claimed. To be safe, make sure you change ALL the fluids - Oil, Brake, rear diff, center diff, manual transmission oil, steering hydraulic fluid, and coolant. Some will also say change the ACD fluid to be safe.

Check the condition of the radiator and make sure it's not leaking from anywhere.

Good call on doing a new water pump. Mine had never been changed, and my IX only has 28k mi - But when I had the timing, balancer, and accessory belts changed out in summer 2020 (due to age), I reluctantly ordered a brand new water pump too. Glad I did because when we took the factory one off, we saw evidence that the original waterpump was just starting to leak a bit.

Get the car up in the air (or at least on a jack one corner at a time) - and check for play in your suspension and wheel bearings. Visually inspect all the rubber bushings you can get to and look for cracking. The rubber suspension bushings and sway bar bushings will be common sources of noise when they are failing.

 

yup i got the manual for the teins. its 25 all around. maybe it is a bit too low ? the ride quality is "alright" i might raise it to 25.5 all around

and thanks for the forward to the thread. i just read it all! i think my final decision is to return it all back to stock and run the oem rom. i still need to bring it in for a recall on the ecu

 

funny you say that. first thing i did was to flush the trans/diff/Tcase and new oil + plugs
however i did not do the ACD pump. i will be doing that nex. along with brake flush.
ANNNNNND the radiator did sprung a leak. but it was due to my own mistake. i was trying to maneuver around the down pipe to get it off and i slip the wrench. ha.. good thing a oem denso replacement is fairly cheap