question about rebuilding 13b
 

hello, im fairly new to the rotory scene and i want to rebuild my 13b in my fd. it has about 75000 miles and is starting to leak oil and smoke out of the exhaust during the fist minute of a cold start up.

my questions are:
1. what would i need to rebuild?(my main concern is reliability, not performance)

2. would it be cheaper to buy a rebuilt block and work from there?

3. general overall cost to rebuild my engine or buy another block?


any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you. oh i have one more, does any one know where i can get the amber front bumper turn signals(not 99spec)? ive seen a few fd's w them on here. thanks.

with only 75k on it, u might be able to get by with just replacing the oil control O rings. but i'd still check the internal metal seals(apex, etc) to make sure they're still in spec. just remember, anything reused goes back in the same place it came out of so make notes and lable everything. cost could possibly be under 1k. as for the turn signal, just check the classifieds section or post a wtb ad. since u didn't list yr and model i should mention that if this is a turbo car the smoke, if oil, could just be a leaky turbo.

alright, thank you for your help. much appreciated. by the way it is a 93 and it is turbo w 99 spec turbos. thanks

uh no, you can't reuse apex seals with that kind of mileage.

well im thinking about buying the rebuild kit from pettit racing. any suggestions on that?

Did you take a look at the 2mm Apex seals from rotary aviation? They might keep the housings from getting worn out too fast...

Wow, lots of bad information in this thread.

First gen n/a guys should not be giving advice to FD turbo owners--- the build parameters are completely different, just like the power levels :)

And the RA seals wear the housings MORE quickly if anything. Maybe you're confused with ceramic seals?

Aticus, IMO you should consider having your engine rebuilt professionally. With the questions you're asking, it's evident that you are not equipped for this task. Just trying to keep it real ;)

If you want a good block that will last you some time I would advise you to let a professional builder do the job. Some times taking on a task you Don't know much about will end up costing you double or even make you sell the whole project out of frustration..

That's it. Sorry, ceramic seals were the ones.

Mine is doing the same thing. I have 85,200 km on it. I'm in the process of pulling the motor for an entire rebuild/seal. Also thinking about getting the turbo rebuilt since it also has 50,000km on it. Mine wasn't a think smoke, but still noticable. Very strong smell of gas too. Then again, previous japanese owner went with a catless exhaust. My compression is at 80psi with 3 equal bounces on each. So its a tired motor.

wel i'm in the same boat, used the Ra super seals and i have a bad feeling these thing wore out my housing very low compression on the rear rotor. under 10.000km

but i have to say they did hold strong on a few occasion lean out knock.

but right now i will go with mazda apex seals/ mazda corner seals. mostly mazda parts.

can't GO wrong with factory parts quality control better