Ooh yeah. Just recieved my manual in the mail today. Only $6 bucks. And let me tell yeah, I don't know much about this kind of stuff and I'm already amazed on how much this book goes into details on everything about this car. Very Nice. Haynes manual BTW.

Anyway .. as I was waiting for this book, I called Rotary Performance in Garland the other day and asked them about the work and cost on a rebuild for the 12A motor, rebuild on the transmission, new clutch and flywheel, and also the rebuild on the carburator.

The lady over the phone gave me a total estimate including labor, which would be around $5000. Just wondering if you guys think this is a good deal. I know someone here has already told me that they are closely priced to mazda, so I'm just wondering if this is best way to go, because he also said that this shop does good work.

She also told me that most of these parts to rebuild the motor and transmission are still being manufactured by Mazda, and also that they buy them from Mazda. So it's nice to hear that you can still get parts for these motors, but she did say some of the parts are not being made anymore.

Til then, next thing I'm gonna do is replace the battery, spark plugs, plug wires, change the oil, empty the fuel tank, and replace that freakin' donut on the passenger side and I should be ready to go!

 

$5000!!!!!You could buy an all original 1st generation with like 20,000 miles on it. If your going to pay that much it shouldn't be rebuilt, everything should be new.

 

New motor? new tranny? a 13B swap? I mean I did just call one place and all. I just wanna make sure it gets done right, don't wanna stall on the way to work and stuff like that.

But it would be nice to get those things new, would be very nice.

 

For $5k you should be in the performance parts. A good rebuilt engine with install should be around $2k but can go lower if you do your homework. The other $3k for a tranny and clutch I don't understand unless you are talking for special application purposes. Used trannys can be had cheap, like $100 cheap if you look. I have two spares to chose from if I run into tranny problems. Both of my 7s are into 200k miles and no tranny problems yet. You need to wear those pages out on the Haynes manual and get some contacts going, because for $5k you can have one sweet/sick/phat/nice/bad ride.

 

Geez man...5k? With 5k i'd have one hell of a nice turbo swap by now...gripes man! Forget the 12a, get a freakin' Cosmo engie for less than 2k!! You get a very decent 230-40 hp stock!

 

Well, $5,000 is how much a brand new 12a motor (all new parts and everything) from Mazdatrix costs.

so maybe they just high balled... but if I was you, call back and stress to them you want just a basic rebuild and no performance anything and see what there price would be then.

 

Cosmo engine .. ya say? Sounds like a 20B project to me. But I don't know. I am just asking for a basic rebuild of the motor and the transmission including replacing the clutch and flywheel, and last but not least rebuilding the carburator.

But the cosmo engine sounds kind of tastey .. don't know much about that ....

 

It is called wrench time. The only person that will work on your car to your satisfaction is you. Oh, you will stall on your way to work, on your way to the doctor, on your way out of the driveway, we are dealing with 20 year old cars. It is called cell phones and towing insurance. It has become a quest for me to find the issue when one of my Sevens go down. I want to be the one to nurse it back to health, that and the amount of money saved that would have been shelled out to a dealership or garage.

 

"If you want it done right, do it yourself." or so the saying goes.

But sometimes it is nice to now that things where done to the maximum and not have to worry about if you measured something wrong... and not to mention having a warranty from a reputable builder.

 

yeah, but the thing is that I don't know how to do any of that stuff. I guess I could learn by tweaking with it .. but I'll probably mess something up. It all depends how fast I learn all this new stuff. Otherwise I would have to take it to someone.

 

With your Hayne's in hand, and us at your side, I'm sure ANYONE here could get ANYTHING done to their cars. Fo' Sho

 

It was a general statement that has no absolute limits to its meaning. So your statement is 100% true for many people. Rebuilding an engine is not practical or is out of the realm for many. If you bought a 7 it was not just to get you from point A to point B or that it was practical. You bought it to be a memeber of the family and to do everything you can for it before you let someone else nurse your baby back to health.

 

Hence the term "just messing with it" (actually I made that up, suprised huh?). Just be practical and know your limits. Have a backup plan before you tackle someithing incase you fubar it. So on and so on.......

 

Yeah I know what you mean. I just don't want to disassemble a motor and have a question mark on my forward once I say "Oook, now let's put it back together". That kind of thing going. I was willing to work with anything else though.