She told me there was about 3,000 miles on the rebuilt engine but I found a receipt that shows it was done 5,000 miles ago (the car has 136,000 on the odometer and the receipt shows 131,000). She gave me all her receipts and EVERYTHING is in there. She took good care of the car.

The engine ran when I parked it 6 years ago but it was having trouble running without the choke. Last time I drove it, I had to hold the choke (which is why I removed the rat's nest, air pump, etc - but everything I did is reversible if I need to put it all back) I don't know how exactly, but I feel like I'm responsible for the condition of those seals. Maybe it was me pouring Mystery Oil in it then forgetting the car for 5 more years. DOH!

I'll do a little more cleaning and try to get better pictures of any possible corrosion. The gunk in there is a combination of rust, oil, dirt.

My daughter (almost 3yo) wants to go to the science museum, soooo - not sure I'll get anything done today. Trying to get my future "wrench turner/reach places with your small hands" helper trained up!

The side seals could be stuck for all kinds of reasons.

You may want to get a soaking tank they'll fit in and let them soak in some solvent or carb cleaner for a few days before trying to get the seals unstuck, at 5000 miles they should still be in good shape and they are currently all properly fitted to their corresponding spot on the rotor.

I'm a science teacher so I vote take the kid to the Science Museum!

Any updates!?

I bought a new parts washer and I'm getting all the accouterments addressed with that (petcock, filtering system etc installed). Then I was contacted by a fellow rx7club member who lives a little over an hour from me and close to my work. He has offered to help me rebuild and make a few reliability improvements. Very excited about that. Just want to do it right. I hope to get over to see him within the next two weeks. Otherwise, the motor sits. I really appreciate the interest. I will post when things change.

Mr. Barry (I mean Barry) let me spend some time in his garage yesterday trying to get my seals out and cleaning up the plates, etc. Looks like my middle plate has a gouge of about 0.004 and there is another spot on one of the other plates that's 0.002. He thinks its from the rebuild (or he's just telling me that so I don't blame myself.) He thinks the 0;004 might be too much to work with, so I'm now either looking for new plates or a new engine. The housing and rotors look great. Anybody know of any plates available for a 12A?

It was nice to see that all the seals were of the newer variety, so they didn't skimp on the rebuild. So far they appear to be reusable.

The irons are generally available but most will have at least some wear just like what you are describing, so careful micrometer readings would be needed to be sure you're going in the right direction. You can find the acceptable tolerances for the irons in the FSM. While not as precious as 12A rotor housings, irons in good to excellent condition could be a bit pricey and shipping would add considerably to their cost, so the first thing to do is look locally.

An alternative is to have the irons lapped at a machine shop to within tolerance. I know the professional racers who rebuild race engines do this but you lose some or all of the nitride coating in the process, so durability and other surface properties might not be as good. Reapplying the nitride surface to some freshly lapped irons would be a terrific solution but I've never heard of this being done. I'm sure you can get some better expert information and opinions here on the forum and other places about iron options.

Did you get all those side seals out of the rotors without breaking them? Did you remember to mark them with their address so you can be sure they get back to the same place in the same orientation?

At the time that I left Barry's, we hadn't gotten one out yet. He was going to keep working on it for me. He rebuilds these and 13bs for people, so I trust his abilities.

Quick update
 

Those side seals are in a small heap of bits. Not one came out. So I'll buy some new ones. Does anyone have any thoughts on the atkins apex seals and the elongated tip design in contrast to the oem design? I got all my apex seals out but lost two tips. $8 (for two tips) vs $200 for the atkins seals. But I'm willing to spend the money if it's worth it.

After a lengthy battle to find a center plate, we decided to just try to work my original plate. No one seems to be able to measure their plates. Had a guy willing to send me one to measure if I paid shipping. It was just like mine - same 0.004 dip at the edge. So I'm going to send it back to him.

I was also held up by a biking accident. Broke my collarbone. Hard to work on anything with one arm.

Sorry to hear about the bike wreck, hope all is fixed soon.

On your apex seals, be sure to measure them for specs, both width and thickness. Same on the rotors, be sure the grooves pass muster. If the side seals were all stuck it's a good indication of lots of miles on the rotors, so the apex seals might be getting old too, even the rotors.

I may have a center plate I can spare that's within rebuild tolerances. If you're interested I'll borrow my neighbor's step micrometer and take the measurements. If it looks good I can send you pictures along with the full specs on the unit.

I may also have a full set of apex seals that meet rebuild specs, let me know if you want the information on these.

FB's are like fine wine, they need to age just right to reach full potential. My current daily driver, an 83 LE, took 2 years of careful rebuilding to get it back on the road, worth every minute!

The rebuilt engine only has 6,000 miles and it shows. The seals are in good shape. The problem wasn't the wear - it was the sitting up to too long. Everything was rusted. The apex seals look to be in great shape once cleaned. I just lost two of the tips. Side seals were too stuck to remove without breaking. but someone also implied that replacing the seals with atikins seals was a good idea (while you already have it broken down.) The atkins seals have elongated tips which moved the pressure point further into the housing - away from the edge. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. You can see some wear on the outer edge of the housing because of these apex seals tips. So is it worth $200 to go with the Atkins seals or should I just go with the stock seals.

If you have a center plate in good shape, I would be very interested.

Hey Ray - were you able to find a plate?

Any other thoughts on those Atkins seals? I'll shell out $200 if the different design is better. I'll spend $8 on some new tips if it isn't. I'm ready to start buying parts. I'm ready to get this car on the road!

define better? the Atkins seals use the older factory design, and it is a little easier on the rotor housing, but it does not seal as well.

the Atkins seals do not have the same QC as the factory seals, so they need to measured

Better - as in it will make the car be more reliaable / run smoother / more power / better efficiency. Sounds to me like the answer is - the OEM seals run better but are harder on the housings. So reliability / longevity might be better with the atkins seals while the car will run better with the OEM seals. Does that sounds right?

I have the engine apart, so I want to get it right. I don't want to regret not doing something.

Hey Ray! How about that plate? Any luck?

Still going
 

I'm finally getting back to this project.

Due to the gouged center plate, I decided to buy a used engine from southern rotary. Nice fella. I am hoping to quickly get the car on the road and then have a spare engine to rebuild. But the new engine is an '84. I now understand that is has a different flywheel. It came with a two piece flywheel that needed attention, but my 82 flywheel appears to be thinner so you cannot tighten the nut enough - flywheel has slop when the nut if fully tightened.

So the question is, should I try to use this two piece flywheel? If so, I need to get bolts to attach it to the counterweight. Any insight or advice?

Thanks in advance!

Did you rebuild the engine? If so, you have to match the flywheel to the rotating assembly unless you have a lightweight flywheel and corresponding correct year automatic counter weight.

No - I have my original 1982 engine torn down and has a solid one piece flywheel. I bought a working 1984 engine with a two piece flywheel. The guy I bought it from said he would replace the two piece flywheel with my original, but he didn't know it was different. So now I'm wondering if this 2 piece flywheel from 1984 is ok to use. It looks ok - just needs some bolts to connect it to the counterweight. Just wanted y'all's opinion. If it's in ok shape, is a 2 piece flywheel ok to use or should I replace it?

There is a year range that the rotating assembly and flywheel need to match. Here is a good reference for that matching: https://www.mazdatrix.com/identifyin...-of-flywheels/

The 1981-1982 have the most desirable stock flywheel for a 12A at 23 pounds. The 83-85 12A flywheel is 31 pounds.

You don't want to run the 1982 on a 1983-1985 stock engine. It will cause vibration issues. Post a pic for the 1984 flywheel and we can tell you if it's ok to run. The other option would be to get a 1983-1985 flywheel. Their cheap but expensive to ship.

So the first two pictures are of the 2 piece that came with the 84. The last is my 82 flywheel
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...5367b3f3ea.jpg
2 piece from the 84
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a901d2f092.jpg
2 piece from the 84.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f44cd798e2.jpg
Original 1982 flywheel

The "2-piece" flywheel is for an automatic car.

Your choice is to buy a light weight flywheel and use the auto counter weight or buy a factory 84-85 flywheel. An 83 would work. Make sure to use the link I sent to validate the flywheel when getting a new one. They have a number stamped in them.

Awe man.... that's disappointing. Anyone have an old flywheel they want to part with? I'll be driving from Louisiana to North Carolina in a few weeks - maybe somebody in that general direction? I could pick it up and pay in cash. It's a long shot but I bought this engine in an attempt to get this car on the road cheaply and quickly while I took my time rebuilding my 82 engine. This isn't going as planned.

BTW - thank you for the help. I really do appreciate it. Both for the picture id and the website. Huge help.