How do you tell the exact type and year of an engine, I have a 85' but the engine was swapped, the guy told me it was a 94' 13B....but I have doubts about that as it's not a turbo.

 

I would think that there would be a vin number or some other code on the engine itself. Might not though. I know newer cars have a number on the tranny, etc.

 

my engines got a little metal plate attached to it saying when and where it was made (or rebuilt)

got one of those?

 

Did he say it was taken directly from a 94 car, and was it a US model? It is possible to find out from Mazda what car an engine came from, by the number. How is it mounted in the car? If it uses the rear mount, he is probably correct. Otherwise looking at the ports would be a good way to guess. If it is a reman or the like, it could be anything or any combination..

 

Well, I looked last night and could not find ANY identifying marks on her. No tags, engravings, etc... anywhere! What do you mean, by looking at the ports? It's a 6 port motor I believe.

 

Six port 13B engines were only built for a few years, 85-91. Would need to look at rotors and housings to determine what year they are.

 

Please see:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/smoking-i-know-not-again-348876/

 

well the 3rd gen engine has a knock sensor on top of the trailing plug on the first rotor and it would have the oil feed for the turbo on the front cast plate and non of the older stock intake manifolds would fit with out adapter plates.
hope that helps

 

84-91

 

i dont thinf thats a 94 engine...it looks like it could be an even olkder engine(like an RX-5 13B or sumtin...)

 

Thanks everyone for the info....
Census says 84-91?......How can I narrow that down to one year.....?

 

well its not out of an rx-5 if its a 6 port...

im guessing it has the 84-85 front cover so it goes right on to the stock motor mounts...so there is no telling from that

there are way to tell if you tear the engine apart, or if you can get a picture of the actual ports you may be able to narrow it down more...

Good luck with the search, i finally gave up on my identification, its just a 74-78 engine now!

 

Yep, i think i have to give up on this quest for now, but, my best guess is an 85' 13B 6-Port.....I'm going with that, and well, hopefully everything works...