Strange marking on the front rotor housing? 79 12A
 

Completely stripped a severely rusted 79 this past Saturday. This is a 100% good motor :) Motor and trans $100 LOL Compression upper 90's all 6 sides of rotor...

Has what I believe to be a Mazda rebuild stamp on the front rotor housing... 37th week of 1988?

BTW: I have tons of 79 parts. Speedo , combination switch, front and rear bumpers etc. SA 5 speed that I can't use :(

yep, mazda used to stamp them like that until about 97-98

Wonder how I'd know when it was rebuilt for sure. This thing has kick butt compression.

Really don't know the story with this engine. Weird. I got it for $50!! I was expecting junk but I got lucky. The oil was even clean in it. This car was a rusted out piece of crap!

sometimes you actually get lucky. its rare, but when it happens, it makes your day. its the feeling i get when i find an original window sticker in the glove box or folded up in the owners manual. i found the original sticker folded up in the owners manual booklet in the glove box in my 85 Porsche 944. couldn't believe it was in there. totally made my day the night i brought it home!

I didn't exactly get 'super' lucky... It smokes a bit, I'm really hoping it comes out with being 'driven' a little. I'd say its been sitting a while. Not sure how long but it smokes on initial start up and when you rev it up. It smells WAY WAY rich too. But the 'oil' smell worries me :(