Well ive decided that its time to ditch the 12a and give the rx7 a little more ***** with a 13b turbo 2 engine. this will hopefully be a pretty quick build, because id like to daily drive my car the whole time.

The Car:
82 GSL
Re-speed coilovers (front 275, rears are racing beat springs)
Tokico Illumina adjustables
full energy suspension bushing kit
racing beat sway bar
Konig rewinds (205-55/15 front 225-50/15 rear)
aluminum rad with electric fans
racing beat oil cooler lines





The Plan:
s5 13B turbo engine
T2 trans
running megasquirt ecu

I purchased a pretty complete 13b turbo motor for $350, the harness was cut and it was missing a few small parts and bolts, but the majority of everything was there. it had low compression on the rear rotor. after getting the engine home i stripped it down to a shortblock.



made a big mess in the garage



had to make an engine stand adapter so that i could dissassemble the engine easier



got the engine all torn down, everything looks usable so far, hopefully everything measures out correctly later. this engine seems to have very few miles on it. i have zero water jacket corrosion and the wear on the plates seems to be minimal. the rotor housings have some slip steps on the edges but look to be within spec. now comes all the fun of cleaning parts. gave the rotor housings and the rotors and quick bath.



then i put a lot of effort into the rotors.



i still have alot more cleaning to do, but i figured i show some of you local guys what ive been up to. i should be posting updates on a regular basis. let me know what you guys think.

 

im sooooooo loving how this is starting out. let us know if you need a community jury for win/fail ideas throughout the build k?

 

Fb + t2 swap

 

I like! if you were closer I would offer a hand good luck with your build

 

I plan on doing the same dude except I have no idea what the hell I'm doing haha..

 

thanks! im sure ill have plenty questions or ideas.

thanks for the encouragement everyone!

im trying to stay very motivated on this and get a little bit done everyday. for the next few days ill just be finishing up cleaning & measuring all my engine parts. Ive been heavily debating weather i should port this engine or not. if i do anything it would be a large streetport, but i wonder weather its worth it for me right now. my end hp goal is ~300rwp on pump gas, but i have a feeling ill always want more power. anyone got some advice?

 

my T2 FB made 300 wheels on 92 octane and no porting.

 

Actually your T2 FB made 303 whp on a dynopack dyno,, but you have a slightly larger BNR stage 1 compressor wheel.

300 whp will be hard on the stock snail, best of luck, dont forget to throw in a SE fuel tank and fuel lines.

 

For 300 WHP, I would not bother with porting. That amount of power is trivial for a turbo 13B. But it's probably impossible with the stock compressor wheel.

What are you planning for fuel management?

 

im only using the stock turbo for now to get it running, i plan on building a custom t4 manifold after the swap and switching to a decent sized t4 turbo. fuel will be handled by a megasquirt and some larger injectors. as for the gas tank ill either get another fb tank and weld up a fuel pump hanger and such or ill sump the bottom and run an external fuel pump, havnt decided yet.

would 400hp be out of the question on stock ports? whats the stock port limit?

 

There is no hard limit. It depends on how much boost you're pumping through them. There are plenty of people who have done 400 WHP on stock ports and pump gas, it just requires a bit more boost than it would with a streetport. For my 400 WHP build I'm using REW irons with a "medium" streetport (relatively mild intake port closing, relatively aggressive intake port opening, and stock exhaust ports).

 

thanks for the info as for porting, ive heard from someone (i forgot who) that with turbo engines you can benifit quite a bit with just porting the exhaust. is this true at all?

 

Everyone has their own opinion. Turbo exhaust ports are already fairly big stock, and I'd rather leave them alone to retain the anti-reversion lip.

 

looks like ill be sticking with the stock ports for now. ill post some pics later of some more inspection/cleaning that im doing now.

 

well i just cleaned and inspected my stationary gears and found i have some copper showing through on the bearings.

front bearing


rear bearing


my perfectionist self says i should replace both of these, but from what i read you have better luck with worn bearings then new ones. would i be better off replacing them or reusing them?

im cleaning my irons now, should be done in a few.

 

those bearings are blingin with copper, replace them. I suggest fd 6 window bearings front and rear. massive heat and wear of these bearings should not be put through another build. do it right the first time sir

the fd bearings would lubricate more efficiently but if you dont want to spend the money just get 13bt replacements

As for the porting "army of one" gave my motor a small street port to stay scca legal. He also clean the runners a bit which helps with intake charge flow being pressurized from force induction.

 

Don't forget when using the 6 window bearings that a groove must be made behind it in order to feed all the windows. For a better idea of what I mean take a look at the REW stationary gears.

 

would i be better off just buying the new rx8 stat gears w/bearings and using them? whats all necessary to use them? i know you have to clearance the bearing and modify the oil passage but is that all? also with the multi window bearings do i have to increase the oil pressure to promote more flow at the bearing surfaces?

 

judging by your output you want from the engine I would think new bearings do just fine. Not sure about the rx8 stat gear, that could be something to look into. Dont think you have to modify the oil pressure for 6 window bearings but, an engine builder would know best.

 

alright i talked to a good friend of mine who has rebuilt rotary since the 80s, and got all my bearing questions answered. im moving this weekend so i wont be getting too much done, but ill be back with some good updates soon.

 

he is a rotary engine builder

 

today is my last moving day, i rented a small section of shop in portland to work on my stuff in. ill be setting up shop for a couple days and this weekend im hoping to do lots of work on the 13b. ill post pics soon

btw, does anyone have any reason why i shouldn't get treated atkins apex seal?

 

I've been quite impressed by the amount of abuse Atkins seals will put up with. There have been two separate occasions where my FB's motor probably should have blown, but it somehow survived and still has decent compression. It'll be very interesting to see the condition of the internals when I tear it down.

 

no personal experience with Atkins seals, from talking with knowledgeable people w/ engine building experience all recommend Mazda brand apex seals.

Try the Atkins ones and share your experience!

 

I am running atkins Apex seals in my engine 3k on rebuild so far so good!
Army of one who built my engine recommended them to me and he uses them in Multiple builds he has done