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Secrets to 13B longevity - newbie question

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Old 02-13-02, 12:53 AM
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Secrets to 13B longevity - newbie question

how do you make your 13bs last 200K miles?

1. how often should one run injector cleaners? what is your fav brand?
I run chevron techron in my honda

2. how often should you drive it if it is not your daily driving car, what is the minimum time it should be driven each time?

3. What oil and filter?
10W30 - winter
20W50 - summer
castrol gtx with purlator pureone filter ok?

4. is it bad to idle the 13bs for long time say 20 min?
in winter when the streets are iced up, I wonder if it is ok to run the car every weekend for sometime..

5. which redline fluids (non slip rear)
MT90 - for manual tranny?
75W90 - GL5 - for Diffy?

6. what else (other than collant change every yr) should I be doing to keep my rexs running for ever....

my rexs:
90 GSL (74K miles) stock, orig engine, tranny, clutch
88 vert (90K miles) stock, new clutch and/or transmission (dunno, looks like someone worked on it), orig engine
both driven occasionally, vert stored in winter in parking lot (covered)
Old 02-13-02, 02:45 AM
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how do you make your 13bs last 200K miles
Be the original owner and do all the maintenance.

. how often should one run injector cleaners? what is your fav brand?
I havent found any of that stuff that works at all IMO. There's no substitute for removing them entirely and having them cleaned and blueprinted by a injector shop.


2. how often should you drive it if it is not your daily driving car, what is the minimum time it should be driven each time
As often as possible, Id say at least once a month, if not every week.

3. What oil and filter?
I prefer to run 20-50 in all my engines. It doesnt get cold here, plus it offers better protection especiallyat high rpms, and offers a bit higher oil pressure on some engines.

I run the cheap stuff, as long as you do it *often* it works just as well.

4. is it bad to idle the 13bs for long time say 20 min?
Not at all. Let it idle all day if you want.

5. which redline fluids (non slip rear)
You got it, mt90 for tranny, 75/90 or 80-90 for rear.


what else (other than collant change every yr) should I be doing to keep my rexs running for ever
For that 90 I recommend running premix 2 cycle in the gas every fillup about 1/2 qt. The 89-91s went to electronic oil injection, which are known to fail often and without warning sometimes, leaving you running with nolubrication to the apex seals. I had a friend who lost 2 engines due to this with no error codes. Its cheap insurance, and wont hurt anything. 2 cycle burns clean, so you dont have to worry about buildup. For that matter, it doesnt hurt to run it in ANY rotary, but its not real necessary on the pre-89 models IMO.

New plug every 10,000 miles and belts every 25,000 miles.
Old 02-13-02, 03:50 AM
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i think this would be needs to be archived...
Old 02-13-02, 03:59 AM
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Well, I'm not THE expert, so I'll only reply to part of this...

How often to drive minimum - once per week, at least until fully warmed up (of course, if you do this, it will take an awfully long time to reach 200k...

Oil - Standard is 20/50 Castrol GTX, all year (unless your winters are in Alaska) - but if you really want to do this right, check out:

http://www.rotaryaviation.com/oil_in...p_adaptors.htm

for a way to use a separate reservoir or 2-cycle oil for the oil metering pump and leave the crankcase oil out of it, in which case you can use synthetic (Royal Purple?) in the crankcase. The big problem with synthetics is that they don't burn well, so if you do this, you avoid that problem. Synthetics are better for protecting the moving parts.

If you have an electronic pump, hypntyz7 is right, you either need to premix, swap in a mechanical pump, or find a way to rig a warning light if the pump fails.

Idling - The main problem with a lot of idling is carbon buildup, which isn't an issue if the oil you're burning is 2-cycle oil. One of the reasons for running the car frequently, however, is to avoid everything else getting crusty (wheel bearings, diff, tranny, steeri9ng gear, etc.).

Coolant - still trying to decide myself, but check out Evans coolant at:

http://www.pineappleracing.com

-- it still needs to be checked, but it should last a lot longer. Not that it requires a purge of your system first - remember the heater core.

Remember frequent tuneups. One lady on the big RX7 list a couple of years ago had her 88 NA up to 230K before a rebuild, driving the heck out of it. She did say that she changed spark plug wires at every tune-up - which makes a certain sense, they do degrade with use, and they see a lot of spark events at high RPM in a rotary.
Old 02-13-02, 06:22 AM
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Re: Secrets to 13B longevity - newbie question

Originally posted by stockrex
how do you make your 13bs last 200K miles?

1. how often should one run injector cleaners? what is your fav brand?
2. how often should you drive it if it is not your daily driving car, 3. What oil and filter?
10W30 - winter
20W50 - summer
4. is it bad to idle the 13bs for long time say 20 min?
5. which redline fluids (non slip rear)
6. what else (other than collant change every yr) should I be doing to keep my rexs running for ever....
1) If you KNOW that your injectors are clogged, then first drop two bottles of a good cleaner on a full tank and thrash the car for the duration of this tank (to clean the secondaries as well). If this does nothing, then only choice is to take them out and clean them thoroughly.
2) My mechanic said "if you can, start it up and drive for 10 minutes EVERY day". If not, at least every 3-4 days. That way nothing has time to fail, and if it does, you know about it instantly.
3) All Mazda dealers use 20/50 here in Greece. Since this is the most popular for turbos, then I guess this is good all-around...
4) Idle for too long ? No, nothing bad, except that if you are running rich even at idle, you'll notice a significant drop in your fuel tank
5) Above posts have it down correctly.
6) Perform meticulous and careful services, do a general tune-up every 20K, immediately replace everything you even suspect has failed, and watch that oil constantly !!

That'll see you through to 200K, by which time the natural wear of the seals will have reduced the CR quite a bit...
Old 02-13-02, 11:42 AM
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Never overheat it or run it without oil! Not even once.

You would be suprized how many car owners do.
Old 02-13-02, 08:28 PM
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will the 2 cycle oil foul up my plugs? or the cat?

is redlining the engine good? I read on another thread the redlining the engine cleans it up, is this true?

on my 88 I want to check for the fuel damper leak, could someone pls post a pic of a good one and/or a leaky one.

thanks to everyone for their input.
Old 02-13-02, 09:24 PM
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the 2 cycle oil burns clean. Shouldn't foul your plugs or clog the cats at all if you're running the right mix, so be sure.

Redlining the engine once in awhile is a good thing. Keeps carbon from building up on the rotor housing and around the seals.

As far as the pulsation damper, you'll know if it's bad. If you EVER smell gas when the engine is running, IMMEDIATELY stop the car, shut off the engine and make that the first thing you check. Don't restart it until you fix it. Period.
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