The biggest threat to keeping a 13B on the road in the future is...
 

What mechanical parts are or will be unobtanium that you feel will threaten the ability to continue to enjoy our 12A ( or in my case, a 1985 13B )

me thinks its the actual housings as I have been informed that they are no longer available? I thought it was just the 12A that wasn't but I have heard that its also the 13B?

Anything else?
Thanks
Peter

Buy spare motors while you can. I'm getting a good spare for my SE in the next few weeks. I'm keeping this baby on the road for a long time to come!

housings for the GSL-SE are available, but get em while they last.

agreed. Housings and irons are/will be THE unobtainium. 12a's disappeared a few years ago. I had to source 2 spare sets for my 80 in Japan and Europe. minor internals, not so much...yet

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

interior parts have been NLA for a long time

I agree with J9, after the housings, the interior parts are hardest to find, rarest and therefore usually most costly.

Peter, what color is your interior anyway? Red, brown, black, gray? Leather or cloth?

its grey cloth :)

with the rear seat!

als you should just buy a pair of fenders, they are cheap new, even from the dealership. Mazda has plenty, but its a 30 year old car!

that sounds like a good idea

I'm not sure about the FI compatablity, but if you don't mind a carb. You can slide a s4 or s5 N/A keg in your car super eazy. And FC's are hella plentiful.

"The biggest threat to keeping a 13B on the road in the future is... "

Drifters.

i see all kinds off motors listed on diffrent site are you guys talking about original engines and parts that or not aropund im just wondering i dont no alot about the diffrent engines but i see lots of places that do rebuilds i just wonder if i dont care if the motor is original is there ways to get new ones that are close to stock?? thanks

They could also help the 13b market by wrapping their cars around telephone poles due to inexperience and stupidity - leaving their engines intact for a part out :egrin:

Haha... You'd be hard pressed to find any actual drift cars with a 13b inside. Most rx7s set up for drift lose the "rx" early in the process

parting cars out just makes fewer survivors... its a big threat to keeping these cars on the road, look at the Rx2/3's, they all got parted out, and now there aren't any.

as of yet there isn't much worry for the future for the 13B engines, the 12A has lost it's support numerous years ago(in fact i believe they were discontinued before i even started with these engines, that was over 10 years ago) and finding good parts to build any 12A is already quite difficult.

Atkins has come up with a solution which is narrowed out worn 13B housings(the wear is almost always localized to the edge of the housings so even a worn out 13B housing would be nearly like new to a 12A width), but if you want stock exhaust ports... they wont meet that criteria.

rotors, eshafts, gears, bearings and seals are plentiful. irons can be cut and nitrided so they are reusable almost without limit. the housings are the only thing that people have to worry about.

even once the 13B/BT/RE/REWs are gone there will always be the 13B-MSP renesis to swap in, and the RX8 was almost as plentiful as the FC was in sales so the rotary is far from dead.

i only rebuild 12As on a case by case basis, and the cost can vary rather widely.

Rotors. In my experience, when the rotor housings are worn out, so are the rotors.

Actually, you still find quite a few.

But I didn't say anything about "actual drift cars," I said "drifters." Or more precisely, the Drift Kiddies who THINK they're skilled, yet invariably end up folding wheels under the car on the curb of the corner down the block. Or rocketing off the side of a mountain.

Those "drifters."

I've no beef with actual, qualified, skilled professional or amateur track drifters.

But you find maybe 1 of them for every 100 wannabes, and the wannabes are burning through a fair share of the remaining chassis.

/rant off

I couldn't agree more. The old-timers on this board have seen so many "drifters" come on here with issues because they removed the rats next, AC, took off the unnecessary stuff from the carb, only the be asking for help. The car that is left is a nightmare. I see these cars on craigslist and I get embarrassed. Maybe these cars can only really be appreciated by those of us that know and have lived with them in the 1980's. For the kids of today, these are just inexpensive cars to experiment with. I say if they want to make a drift car, please stick with the Honda's and leave the rest of us some RX-7 for the future.

uhhh what? you talk like these "drifters" are morons, but you also sound idiotic.

Says the person who can't find the "shift" key, and 'hears' how people 'talk' on a text forum... :blush:

You might want to re-examine your premises, friend.

Do you have anything constructive say? We're here to help those that can appreciate the experience of those that have lived with and around Mazda rotary vehicles.

I was alive for 8 months in the 80's. I've owned 5 1st gen rx7's, and will be attending DGRR this year for the second time. Compared to most of you old farts ;), I'm just a kid.. but that doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm doing. The rx7 is an inexpensive car now a days (was back then too compared to other cars in it's class) but that's not the only reason I like them. For someone to say that since "kids of today" weren't alive when they were new can't appreciate them is ridiculous and offensive. My car doesn't have ac, or a rats nest, or anything on the carb. Ac was removed when I got it, rats nest I deleted and Sterling "ruined" my carb (LOL). Also, it's hard to drift a FWD honda and S2K's dont exactly make the best drift car either. And one last thing, I'm not a "Drifter" I just love my rx7. I dropped it off at the tire shop last night for new meats and an alignment, I had to drive by to check on it this morning before work. I don't have actual kids but I'm sure that's how I'd feel if I did and they stayed at a friends house.

Rotaries will be around for a long time, Goopy performance I think also cuts down 13b housings to 12a size but they dont cut the grooves for the seals in them so they say you have to use 13b irons (not sure how that would work with intakes lining up). I think they're still in test mode but I'm not sure.

^^^ Na, you just gotta be a pro driver to drift a civic.... Slam that thing in REVERSE!!!

Dunno, former drift cars aren't so bad... Look at my new DD. The PO lost intrest before he had a chance to screw it up. All I had to do was peel the stupid drift stickers off. :D

Too bad we can't just peel the stupid off the wannabe drifters... :egrin: