junkyard find...

hey, everytime i go to the local junkyard, i see this Mazda 13B rotary motor stare at me...is it worth my time to grab it?

I hear they're not easy to rebuild. We have three at the shop and nobody wants to touch them.

Take it to a rotor place, 13Bs are popular as drag motors over here (not many in drift but it'll change). I've been told they wear out faster then a normal motor but cost less to get rebuilt. There is at least 4 rotor workshops within 3 hours of my house i reckon.

I'd say pull it if you have room to store it somewhere. A dark corner of your garage, a crate in your basement. You never know when you might come across a Miata with a blown engine for $500, just screaming "Please get rid of my pistons!" :)

Or get a peripheral port and stick it in your S12 ;)

Or get a peripheral port and stick it in your S12 ;)
ooooo evilness, my rotary buddy laughs but I curse you for such nonsense.

ooooo evilness, my rotary buddy laughs but I curse you for such nonsense.

then you need to see videos of the 600ps 3 rotor AE86

I hear they're not easy to rebuild. We have three at the shop and nobody wants to touch them.

NONSENSE!! A mere misconception made by those who don't understand its concept! :-P Actually they are cake to rebuild, that is why a lot of rotary enthusiast do their own rebuilding. I'd be rebuilding my own if I could afford a core to work on. Its really not that difficult to work on a engine that essentially has only three moving parts.

With engine life, that all depends on which application your talking about. if your dealing with a 12A engine (1st gen Rx-7's 79-85) the engine is about as durable as a sherman tank, I had a friend who had a 80' with 220K miles on it, and ran fine. Now throw a turbo in to the equation, then your engine life is less, you could squeeze 100-150k mi. out of a 13bt. The primary reason for a rebuild on a rotary is from seal fatigue, usually the apex seals that reside on the three corners of the rotor. THe rest of the parts, eccentric shaft, rotors and all the housings are still good, so for under 500 dollars you can get a rebuild kit that covers all the seals, gaskets, washers and such. Once rebuilt, it will work as if it was new.

If you guys have any questions at all about rotaries, just let me know I'll be glad to answer anything you want to know.

oh he's seen the vid, I showed it to him!! I think its just out of principle that he sais that. its Like watching someone drop a v-8 in a FC Rx-7, of course its gonna have more power but that car is no longer an Rx-7, it just looks like one. Rotaries have been put in almost everything, there is a DeLorean that has a 3 rotor mounted to a porsche 6-speed that actually does that car justice instead of the piece of crap they put in that car. Chances are though that engine is a NA which much more common than the turbo. At most you without some serious effort and money, you can squeez about +/- 200hp. If your serious about doing any jungle fever swap with a rotary, then my advice is to do it with a turbo block. Stock 13b's from 87-88 push 187hp and 89-91 are at 200hp. Theres the FD's as well but much more expensive and you can get the same power easily out of the FC's engine.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, it may not be a conventional swap, but it sure as hell would be one damn cool one!! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/teamfrost/pimpflash.gif

no swapping it into nissan...im thinkin more custom, like a hella fast go cart, or sand buggy (not that theres sand in ohio or anything...)..or something else completely off the wall...

i had a custom made dune buggy for the trails and fire roads in upstate NY with a turbo rotorary and it was helluva good time, until i rolled and wripped off the 2 right side wheels oopsies ;)

"oopsies"

HAHA!

:headbang: