Good post. Q's: What is different about the gas tank? And I thought the suspension was the same except for the wheels and hubs?

 

We have an anti-slosh tank I think..

 

My conclusion, too.

 

Or bolting up the TII turbo and intake manifolds w/ little mods

 

i don't really prefer the SE but i bought mine in decent running shape for $800 - hard to beat that, even with a GS.

 

i wouldnt ever buy an Se
they cost more
I can get the wheels and brakes from any junkyard for under 300 bucks
and have a lighter sportier car.

I dont care about power windows and mirrors and i hate sunroof's.....

basically i can make an S or a GS model car better than a GSL SE for less money.

 

I could do without the power stuff too, but... the factory sunroof on an FB is awesome. Large, ventable, and removable... gives you the Miata feel with the rattles and extreme loss of rigidity. I passed on a couple awesome FBs because they didn't have the roof. And no, aftermarket isn't an option. They suck.... don't sit flush, look cheezy, and they are too small.

 

i ******* heard that!! its so annoying!

 

The weak motors are kind of their charm... the days when PW was something a bit new and not so routine to engineer! :-)

 

lighter, okay, but 'sportier'? that's relative. I like my SE with it's broad, flat torque curve, something that a 12A won't aquire without serious mods. I also like the bigger brakes - which, to me, are part of 'sportier'. Go fast os no good without stop fast.

 

The improvement to the GSL-SE suspension compared with the 12A models was minor, the mountinng points of the rear trailing arms were lowered 20mm to provide roll understeer, and you had an option of limited slip diff.

Other mods on the GSL-SE which came from the Japanese 12AT [turbo/efi] model were bigger wheels, stronger clutch, bigger brake discs, larger brake master cylinder. and larger fuel tank. However, compared with the Jspec, the brake discs were not as good and the adjustable shocks were not fitted.

The GSL-SE was the US equivalent of the 12AT Limited model. The base 12AT was the GT and the GT-X was slightly more upmarket without the weight gains of the luxury components in the Ltd. The 12AT compared with the 13B had some 5% more power and 15% more torque.

The 13B efi eqipment was a slightly better than the 12AT efi, and gave far better power and economy than the 13B carby throughout the rpm range. However, the 13B efi was 6 port which had some performance modification limitations compared with 4 ports as on the 12ATand earlier 13B engines.

THE GSL-SE was a second quicker than the 12A models over a 1/4 mile, but compared with the 12AT was over a half second slower due to much lower torque.

 

I prefer a SA with frankenstein suspension/drive train

 

I'm perfectly happy with my '83 (GS?). In fact, about the only items that I would have changed had I bought it new, is I would have preferred 4 wheel disc/LSD, and a rear wiper. Otherwise, it is exactly what I would have bought back when it was new, including the exterior and interior colors. (both are Red)
The fact that I found it for $500, and it only needed minor work on the brakes before I started using it as a daily driver makes it that much more to my liking. As a nice bonus, it even has 15" alloy wheels and almost new 205-50/15 tires.
Of course, I would have bought any model that was this clean, at that price.

 

I'm with you, my girls motor 12A (thats what some of my friends with stock 13b's call it ) give them all a run for their money.

We talk about the better gear in the SE, but lets face it if you were putting down some serious HP it would mostly be innadequate anyway, . 81-82 model best base no doubt about it.

Regards Sue

 

I prefer the stock SA's I had a chance to get a free SE at one time it was mint with the exception of a blown rotor but I just didn't like the style. SA have a better look to them. Plus the 12A has enough power blow most rednecks of the road.

 

Just to clear up a minor point. The 12AT engine went into 4 models of the gen 1 RX-7:- the GT[very basic eg wind up windows], the GT-X, the GT-Ltd, and the top of the line SE-Ltd which other than the more powerful engine was the same as the GSL-SE.

The GT was lightweight and with nearly 140hp performed like a 82 S with a GSL-SE 13B engine. The best of both worlds and it had the bigger brakes!

 

I was perfectly happy with my 83 gs with a header, no cats and magnaflow. Sounded awesome and a nice powerband that I was happy with. Then I took a GSL SE for a test drive last year, and "holy crap". Just 35 horses is more like, wow, 35 more horses. This car only has 140,000km (90,000 miles). is well maintained and looking forward to a camden going on in May running 9psi. "35 more hp" is like the difference between a grilfriend with and A size cup and a grilfriend with a C size cup. Well my girl's gonna have a "double D-cup" called the camden bra.

 

Have you ever seen what a girl friend with a doubled D cup now looks like in old age!

 

My wife is a "D" and at 42 they're still fine. It's the ones that never wore a bra and let them sag that are scary.

 

The thing to remeber with the extra 35hp is that it's a 35% increase over the stock 12A...

 

mine has 316xxx on it and still gets 20mpg and 15.1s at the track

 

Nope, it was aimed at more torque, at a lower RPM, since Americans a) are used to the low-end torque of V8s, and b) Americans, especially back then, fear, and don't know how to take care of turbo cars. Look at how few of the nifty turbocharged cars we get here in the US...

FWIW, I have a '79, and two SE (neither running, unfortunately.) One of the SEs will be my daily, which is what the GSL-SE excels at - it's got all the creature comforts, torque, more HP, and the reliability of EFI. The SE 13B will last just as long as any 12A, since they're the same engine , save for the width of the rotors and housings, and those two little holes for the injectors in the center iron.
The other SE will donate it's 13B FB-specific stuff to let me shove an FC engine in my '79, eventually to be turbo'd. The '79 already has GSL-SE suspension, power mirrors (they don't add but a few ounces, and mine had some cheesy afermarket crap on it when I got it), more comfy '84 GSL seats, and a bunch of other little bits from other years - hence the name FrankenRex.
If the factory won't build what you want, build your own!

 

Engine durability with the SE's hasn't been mentioned here, but the 3mm Apex seals have added longevity to this engine, as well as the 2 extra oilers on the Apex side of the intake cycle. With the 4-lead OMP (and larger OMP rotor for more flow), the engine gets more oil for better lubrication and compression, combined with more durable Apex seals.

The Dynamic Effect Intake (DEI) and 6-port induction were the 'VVT' of it's day and age, offering both low end torque improvement with gains in high end horsepower, as well.

The draw to the 84/85 SE's was that they were the culmination of improvements made in the US and Japan throughout the entire production run of RX-7's. Every year added a bit more luxury or convenience, and the SE's were offered with all of these improvements, including the larger engine that was improved up from previous car designs.

As far as 'stock vs. customized' - I think you can do whatever you want to your car - this is America, after all.

188k miles and still running strong,

 

when it comes to 13b's i prefer the old 4-ports. the se's all had shity power windows and sunroofs. i would love them if they didnt have so many damn "options", more stuff to break if ya know what i mean. best part cars ever though!

 

i thought this was done for ALL 1984-85 Rx-7s ...