Hey guys,

So last month i Saw an FC in the canadian classifieds for sale, I had been looking for a roller with a suspension, to drop my fully built turbo engine into. This guy wanted $1000, for his base model 86, that had a blown s4 TII engine, as well as full tein coilovers, s5 Turbo brakes, and a "torsen" diff.

When i went to check it out it looked pretty good, The guy said he bought it for 6000, off someone who was building it as a drift car. He also said he drove it for 2 months and blew the engine. I ended up paying the guy $700, and took it home to be dismantled.

Today i took the engine out, and noticed that part of the fram rail had been bent, looks like he hit a curb or something. the frame was bent so that it touched the terminal on the starter, so that everytime you would try to start it, nothing would happen and it would just ground to the body.

When I got the engine out and the turbo off, I checked for blown apex's and all 6 looked Mint! One rotor makes stong compression, and the other feels weak when turning it over by hand. Now i'm used to 12a's, i've blown 3 12a's, and when they blow, the apex's bust, and trash the housings. Do 13b's fail in other ways? could the side seals or corner seals cause this problem? The guy also said that the engine and tranny had 20,000Kms on it, And from the look, i believe him, Very clean engine!

So my question, I gotta sell all the goodies to fund my project. I also found a 12lb aluminum flywheel and centerforce 3 puck clutch on the engine, and a short throw shifter on the tranny. What would I be better off doing, Selling the engine as a short block, and sell tranny and all goodies seperately, or sell it all as one piece?
Or take the engine apart and sell the individual components(assuming they are in the good shape i imagine them to be in?

Also How do i tell if there actually is a torsen in the diff, and whether or not its a quality unit, not just some ebay pos?

Thanks, Matt

 

Nope 13Bs blow in the same way. Maybe one of the seals is stuck? You could try putting some seafoam or ATF into the motor and let it sit for a couple days to break up some carbon build-up?

 

I can push all seals in, and they spring out easily, doesn't look stuck.

Any other ideas. can I sell the engine for a good price with all seal intact? even if one side doesn't make compression by hand?

 

sometimes the seals crack at the end far enough that it can't be seen by peering into the exhaust chamber.

 

The engine sat for a few months, I added a little prestroke oil in there and both rotors are now making healthy compression pulses!

Is there a way to identify a torsen Diff without taking off the cover?

Thanks Guys

 

I don't know how to identify a torsion diff, but presumably it's a miata diff, as RX-7 came with clutch packs for S4s and viscous units in S5s. Perhaps that will lead you in a direction to narrow it down...

 

This sentence struck me yesterday when I first read the post and this morning I went out and looked at my car...all I can say is WTF?
I can hardly imagine how mangled the body would have to be for the sheetmetal to contact the starter terminal.
Have a picture of this area?

 

^^^^^ I know.....right. I just put a clutch in 2 weeks ago, and remember a significant amount of space between the starter wires and any body metal.

good call on the picture post channel lokker.

john ny