I'm approaching the final stages of my build and I'm trying to figure out which machine shop to send the block (13b-rew) to. I've gotten different suggestions from each shop and wanted some clarification. I'm going for 500hp and the original plan was to buy new housings while lapping & renitrating my original irons. its going to be mostly a street car with a few weekend track events. The machine shop I was planning on going with told me that they do no suggest lapping and renitrating irons because they have not had any success with it. Once I did all the math for new housings and irons it pretty much almost added up to a new oem crate engine. Do you guys have any recommendations on how I should go about doing this? would really appreciate some guidance.

 

did you add up the cost to lap and re-nitride the old ones?

its hard to not end up with a new engine in the US, its the price performer

 

It was around $800 for Lapping and renitrating

 

i am also not a fan of the re-lapping/re-nitriding of the irons. I would buy a brand new set and go from there. Buying a new crate motor makes more sense financially though .

 

whats the best route/fastest way to get a crate engine? Just ordering directly from Ray Crowe?

i called my local mazda dealership and I asked about pricing for a brand new oem 13b-rew (N3G1-02-200) they quoted me $7000.

 

Ray Crowe, @tomsn16 i think has them in stock ? @FDAUTO ?

No professional affiliation with the mentioned names but i have used all of 3 them with good success

 

Thank you very much. Yes we have ONE available right now ready to go.

 

Yup, just call Ray. Don't know where in PA you are, but if you're within road trip distance of New Castle, DE, you can probably arrange with Ray to pick it up at the NuCar GM/Mazda dealership there and save yourself a bunch of cash on shipping. Also DE is a no sales tax state, so you don't pay that either.

 

that is list price, they obviously didn't want to sell it.

 

How bad are your irons currently? If they are decent just run them.

Compression is mainly made from good apex seals, good rotor housings, and a good side seal fit. Messing with the irons really isn't going to get you much compression-wise.

Lapping and re-nitridiing is the best way to re-finish them but it's a BIG job. You have to ship heavy, brittle irons somewhere and hope they don't get broken, the shop has to remove EVERYTHING from the iron and re-install (things like coolant nipples and freeze plugs that you normally wouldn't remove) and hope they get installed back properly and not lost. Then you have return shipping.

Also if you are seriously looking for 500hp (which is WAY too much in a street car) you'll probably break something in the learning process of getting your setup dialed in then you are into the engine AGAIN.

Dale

 

you haven’t really seen the true meaning of mixed inputs yet given this thread is less than a day old …
.

 

For reference......we "install " new crate motors (have one on-hand) for $7500.
Regarding a 500 rwhp street car.......our experience with our dedicated autoX car is that once over 400 you start finding all the drivetrain "weak points" and start breaking things. In our opinion 400 is a better target for a street car.

 

Yep. My car is around 350 to the wheels on twins. On a 70 degree day I can lose traction on 255's in the rear at 5000 RPM in 2nd.

500hp just means you boil tires. Remember, the FD has no traction control.

I agree, 350-400hp is the sweet spot on a street car. You can drive that all day for YEARS and have a blast.

Dale

 

Faced with the same scenario years ago when I pulled my motor out, I went with a new OEM Keg purchased from Ray and picked up in DE in the end . Well worth it looking back to start fresh from there. Like you, I wanted some "extra power" and built the keg up (street port plus/ lightened / balanced / dowel /studded etc) and have been sitting at 400whp since then. Things break and makes the car less enjoyable when you step over said range. Your call but like others have said, it's another big step

 

Thank you for all the responses everyone. I'm about 1 hour from New Castle, DE so I'm able to pick up the crate engine. I currently have all the supporting mods ready for 500hp at the garage waiting to be installed. I did it this way so as soon as I receive the engine back from the machine shop I will be able to assemble it the same day. I even ordered special assembly tools from Australia (probably over priced to be completely honest) but I'm planning on building another 13b in 4 months, and more in the future, so I think I will use my old irons for that build since it will be a 350hp car, my only concern with my old irons is that there are some oil marks that look like they have been burned into the irons. I will take pictures once I'm home but irons seem smooth when I pass my nail over the surface; I will check with my end play dial. Think I'm just going to contact Ray Crowe, order the crate engine, and schedule pick up in DE, and use old irons for the 350hp build. Again thank you all for the help. I was getting frustrated contacting multiple shops and getting different responses and not having a clear answer.

 

Post some pics of the irons and what you are concerned with.

Dale

 

What you really probably have are delaying mods.

 

these are the original irons from the motor @Dale

 

How many miles are on the irons? That front iron has definitely seen better days.

 

About 95,000 miles

 

well it’s not like anyone here wasn’t ever already in over their head up the creek without a boat, let alone a paddle, having not even been able to afford swimming lessons, but we made it through some how. Others weren’t so lucky though.

hope it works out ok for you.
.

 

"will use my old irons for that build since it will be a 350hp car, my only concern with my old irons is that there are some oil marks that look like they have been burned into the irons."

it is difficult to get a representative pic of irons... that said, they look fine to me and the carbon on the irons is normal coming from a car w 90K. most of it will clean off w a modest amount of effort. i agree w many on this thread re lapping irons. don't do it. for so many reasons.

good luck on your build.

 

Thanks Howard! I will be taking everyone's advice and not lapping them.