A friends dad has had a 79 RX-7 sitting at his shop so I asked him if he wanted to sell it. It had been sitting since 1998 without moving very much and only occasional starting. I picked it up and brought it home to see what kind of condition it was in and if it would smog. Well after doing some poking around and lots of reading here I gave it a quick tune up (plugs, air filter, had freash oil, fuel filter) and drove it for a bit to put some miles on the motor and let it clean itself a little. Took it to the shop today and it passed everything below average except for CO& where it was 1.40, and the max is 1.41 Since it has smogged all I have to do is pay him an its mine. Here are some stuf it has which sweeten the deal and make me excited about acquiring it:

13B motor, its still carbed though which doesnt bother me. Any way to tell what kind of 13B it is?

Adjustable sway bars

Bilstein shocks (probably not in great condition considering it sat for a long time)

interior is in good condition with only a couple cracks on the dash and a tear on the side of the drivers seat

Im sure there is some other stuff also that I have not discovered yet. It also had a case of oil, ~20 new spark plugs, a couple air filters, and a few fuel filters along with a haynes manual. Should be a fun car.

 

 

Very Nice. Now hurry up and by it.

All you need now is a good wash and Wax

 

I havent bothered with cleaning it up aesthetically since I didnt know if I would actually be buying it. Now that I am it will get a proper cleaning.

 

are you sure its a 13b can't really tell. Great 7 though

 

Says 13B on it

 

Post a pic of the 13B, that will help with the identification, i.e., the logo on the housing and the exhaust/intake side of the engine. There wiil also be a 2 digit alphanumeric cast into the back of the rear iron, visible if the flywheel is off. I'm not sure if I read you right or not, is the 13B in the car, or a spare?

Congratilations on a good find and passing emissions. Just to be nosy, what was the purchase price? Welcome to the Darkside.

 

It has a 13B in it right now. Ill take some pics of it tomorrow, Id really like to know what specific 13B it has.

I am paying 700 bucks for it. He also has a 'breakerless ignition' that used to be on the car and was removed, and a set of wheels that I think are the originals. And anything else he can find. It was his dads car and he inherited it when his dad passed away, I know the dad was a huge fan of the car and took great care of it.

 

congrats on passing smog in cali. i just did myself. welcome to the forum, im sure u will have lots of fun with ur car. it looks good man! post LOTS more pics please!

 

When I can get parts cleaned up Ill start posting more. I need help identifying anything thats not stock since as of now I have no idea what is and isnt.

 

Sweet Color.


.

 

Good find. Why do you still have to pass emissions?

 

Few more pics... Id like to do the DLIFDIS mod, but it looks like something was already done there and Im not sure where to start. Also I need help identifying what kind of 13B it is

 

CA sucks. Any car 75 and newer has to be smogged

 

congrats

 

Most likely from a repu or Lower RX series.

 

Housings are 84 or newer. Remove the air cleaner and take a pic of the carb. If it's a Hitachi, you may have a frankenstien engine with SE housings and 12A irons.

 

WHere will it say on the carb? Does the way the Mazda 13B look tell what year it is?

 

Take a pic of the venturies, they are differnet between the Hitachi and Nikki. The 74-78 13Bs had a different script on the housing. Your's is 84+. Jeff20B is more up on the 13B carbs than I am. The REPUs can with the Hitachis, I don't know if the early RXs had those or Nikkis.

 

Why do you say 84+ ?

No Ibrows on the Housings and No Oil Pressure Sender. Thought that made it a pre SE engine.

 

In the 2 pics, the first one is a 74-78 housing, 2nd is an SE. Hades, you have brought up an interesting question. I looked at the script in the pics and totally ignored the rest of it. Lack of eyebrows and oil pressure sender would indicate an early housing. The top pic is the only set of early housings I have seen and I don't remember what year they are or if they came from a REPU or an early RX. Maybe there are differences between either the models or years, I don't know. We need Jeff20B to chime in, he seems to know the older ones quite well.

 

Huh?

Wonder if its got a 13B thermal reactor from an old school, or if the PO went with manifold/cats, along with the electronic ignition.

Looks very similar to what I was planning on doing with my old 13B 4-port,before I went EFI.....
Dress it up like a un-modded engine and pass it off as a stock 12A.Very few,if any smog techs would ever notice that its a 13B.

 

It has a thermal reactor. The SMOG guy didnt notice a thing.

 

Post it in the Other forum, They will know.

 

Cool.
Usually,the thermal reactor setup needs the partial operation SA ignition to keep enough raw fuel going in, so that temps stay up.
I guess its possible you have the 1980 ignition system,which has electronic pickups,but retains the trailing spark cutoff needed for the reactor.