well hear goes, my 1988 gtu has broke a apex seal and locked up is what i am guessing . our one mazda tech at the dealership has never been in to one {motor} should i try to rebuild this one and hope the roter and housing are in good shape or find a used one ? that will turn over to rebuild ? also how hard is the 13b to rebuild . thanks in advance ashley

 

I'm guessing the only way to know whether or not the rotor housings are good, is to take apart the motor and look at them. Since you'd already have to pull out the motor (whether swapping or rebuilding), you might as well open it up and find out. If the housings look good to use (post pics up if you're not sure), buy a rebuild kit from Atkins (I'd highly suggest their video too) get the parts cleaned, change out all of the seals that need to be replaced and then put it back together. It might take a while if it's your first time, but it's definitely doable. GOod luck.

 

The only way to be certain is to take it apart.

 

Replace or rebuild depends mostly on if you have the desire to do it yourself, and if you have the time to have your car down that long. If you want to and it's ok if your car doesn't run for a while they are not too bad to rebuild. Buy a rebuild video, get the service manual and do searches here for stuff you run into.

Otherwise get a rebuilt core from someone, (Kevin at rotary resurection comes to mind) and replace it yourself or have a mechanic do the swap. It will cost a little more but probably save a bunch of time to have a mechanic do everything.

I just finished my first rebuild and it took 2-3 times as long as I thought it would. But it was just an extra car so it didn't matter.