Hi All,
Thank you so much for the information so far. Mercy, I'm
going to have to write up a check list before my next visit
to a wrecking yard.
Rusty wrote:
> >I would probably skip the pre-86. The 87 is fine, as is the
> >89. The 89-91 had lighter rotors, and higher compression, though it
> >won't matter that much. The bigger question would be whether either
> >of these was a turbo engine. It would also be nice to know why the
> >cars were in the yard. For example, a totaled rear end of the car
> >would probably indicate that the engine was OK at the time. A good
> >body would probably mean the engine was toast. Either way, you'd
> >want to rebuild it, but it will likely be cheaper if the engine was
> >good when it was scrapped.
I should have taken the time to have a closer look at the
rest of each car. In all three cases, the front ends had no
particular damage (other than possible "parking-lot rash"),
and I forgot to look for whether or not any had an auto
trans. I may have to pay more in the end, but I think I may
let this one pass by.
There may be another of us in the Phoenix area - the '91
already had the engine sold when I got there. But he'd
already told me that he'd want "a lot more" money for it
than the '87. I'm going up to Prescott next week, and there
are a lot of wrecking yards along the way. So I'll check up
there too.
Ken Welter wrote:
> I disagree skipping the pre-86 as they are good engines.
> They have 3mm apex seals and the o rings are in the aluminum rotor
> housing so you don't have the problem of the ring groove rusting and
> braking away, also the side and center housings are interchangeable
> with the 12A which are a dime a dozen in the case you need one
> someday.
> There are two types of pre-86 13B's, a 4 port with carb and a 6 port
> with injection and the porting is better in the 12A center housing
> than in the 6 port so it would be an advantage to pull a switch if
> you had a 12A center housing.
Well, that's a whole lot more stuff to consider. I'm
aware that 3mm seals are supposed to better; and machining
the newer rotors for a larger seal would add to the cost
(even if only time, if that turns out to be within the
capabilities of my equipment.)
Realistically, if I'm running 50/50 coolant, how likely
is it that the o-ring groove will rust out? Or are you
talking about what someone else may have already done to the
engine?
One of the reasons I asked for "an '86 or later" was that
they'd all have FI. I don't want to run carburation. I
know, I'm going to have to get, or make, a different intake
manifold anyway, but I'd rather adapt the stock throttle
body than have to buy a whole new one. Cost is definitely a factor at this point. The $350 price was a major attraction.
But that might still be too high, if all it turns out to be is a rebuildable (?) core.
Thank you for the help so far, and please keep asking
those questions. I obviously need to know more questions to
ask, myself.
With warm regard,
Dale R.
[FlyRotary] Re: Need quick help - found 3 different
13
but I just found a
place that has three RX-7s - a
pre-'86, an '87 and a post-'89. I can get the 87 engine
(complete with ECU,
he says) for $350 USD. I didn't ask a price for the newer
unit.
Is there anything in particular that would make the
post-'89 more useful
than the '87?
Dale R.
I
would probably skip the pre-86. The 87 is fine, as is the
89. The 89-91 had lighter rotors, and higher compression,
though it won't matter that much. The bigger question would be
whether either of these was a turbo engine. It would also be
nice to know why the cars were in the yard. For example, a
totaled rear end of the car would probably indicate that the engine
was OK at the time. A good body would probably mean the engine
was toast. Either way, you'd want to rebuild it, but it will
likely be cheaper if the engine was good when it was
scrapped.
Give
us more info, and we can help you make a better
decision. Good luck.
Rusty
I disagree skipping the pre-86 as they are good
engines.
They have 3mm apex seals and the o rings are in the
aluminum rotor housing so you don't have the problem of the ring
groove rusting and braking away, also the side and center housings are
interchangeable with the 12A which are a dime a dozen in the case you
need one someday.
There are two types of pre-86 13B's, a 4 port with carb and
a 6 port with injection and the porting is better in the 12A center
housing than in the 6 port so it would be an advantage to pull a
switch if you had a 12A center housing.
Ken
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