Stick with the 12A or go with a 13B?
 

I'm having trouble deciding what I want to do. So I'd like some input.

Should I stick with my 12A engine and do some performance work on it or should I go with the 13B from mazdatrix.com? How much more horsepower am I looking at if I went with the 13B?

Also, if I went with the 13B 4-port from mazdatrix, should I get the one with the lightened rotors and higher compression or the GSL-SE one?

13B is better if you have the wiring done, and it has a lot more upgrades than the 12A available.

Let's see, the crystal ball says...., oh snap, I forgot it's still out for cleaning and polishing.

If you're buying from Mazdatrix, they can tell you the expected hp. All we can do is guess and confuse the issue even more. As far as lightened rotors, higher compression, etc., we would all be guessing at that too since we have no idea what you want, your expectations, goals, useage, yada yada yada.

You need to help us with more information if you want advice to help you weigh the pros and cons so you can make your decision. Otherwise, mortgage the house, sell your first born and get a 20B.

Then there is the other odd thought Stoner. Put the joint down, do your research and make your own decisions. :weed: lol

Crystall ball.. :rlaugh: hell yeah, its halloween.

Okay and just so we're on the same page, this is the engine that I'm talking about from mazdatrix.com. It's a 13B 4-Port Street Ported engine that is available to fit into the 12A chassis.

http://mazdatrix.com/eng13bsp.htm

My goals for the 7 are to have it be streetable but still be able to race it like at Auto-X events. I'd like to have 150+ HP.

Street porting the exhaust and intake, with the appropriate carburetor will get you the 150+ you want. I have a really hard time paying those prices for an engine, even if it's all new parts. For about 1/3 of thier price with all of the extras, I can easily build a long lasting engine with good quality used parts and have the same results.

That's a lot of money to spend on an engine that will still need a carb, intake, and exhaust. I've been looking at one of these for a while... http://rotaryracing.com/rr_turnkey_street_port.htm . The cost would be considerably less, and you would have a comparable engine (I think). I don't know anything about their "12a chassis readiness" but would still cost less than the mazdatrix motor.

Okay, so are you saying that I should stick with the 12A and do port work, carb, exhaust, ect??

I have been thinking about the same thing but for me it comes down to I just have to much 12A part. Full exhuast intakes and carbs. Along with other misc parts for a 12A.

Get a 13B. I may be hard to pull the triger on, but once you have one you will never look back.

If your looking for around 150 hp then there is definately no reason to spend 6 grand on one of those motors. With just a mild street port i made 158 to the wheels, and i still have a nikki carb, if i had a weber on my car (its begging for one, lol) i could probably put down somewhere in the 175-180 hp range, and i for sure didn't spend 6 thousand dollars. On the other hand, i also have much less torque than a 13B, or actually less than most of the 12a's on here :wallbash:

Put an aggressive streetport, or even a 1/2 bridge on your 12a, get a weber or mikuni, direct fire ignition, racing beat exhaust. You will be good to go with that setup, and if you ever get tired of it, well, theres always turbocharging.

both of those motors are big money,you could do alot more/better if you did it all yourself. Of course, if you want something you could pretty much bolt in, those look like they'd be fairly good.

i think we priced it out once, using all new parts the 13b was $50 more....

A decent low budget do-it-yourself way to get into a 13B is to pick up a failed '88 13B core. They often are in excelent shape inside. Something about the oil control o'rings that year like to fail. When they do you get a well perserved smokey engine posibly with a stuck seal. It is a great wat to get into a 13B for around $100 plus new seal springs, a packing set, GSL-SE oilpan and a few extra days of cleaning. Look for signs of oil in the exhaust ports. Port it, get an intake ,an exhaust,and your in buisness.

I was meaning that instead of dropping 5,6000 for a 4 port 13B he could piece together a turbo kit. Different options that would give similar or more power without having to replace any engines.

i dont see how u pieced up a 5000 engine. like 13b rx3 said. get one from an 88 and buy a rebuild kit. that puts u around 2k at most. wheres the rest of the money go to??

12a turbo ftw

A ported 4-port 13B can easily make 150 hp. Unless one can pick up TII end irons, I would stay away from the 2nd gen engines. FC 6 port engines don't port as well as the 1st and 2nd gen 4-port ones.

You can port a 12A and get 150 hp with supporting mods, but the 13B will be torquier.

Fwiw, for less than 6k, I will have a TII engine in the widebody pushing near 400 hp. But then, I refuse to pay out the ass for labor and all brand new parts when they aren't needed.