j beeman

Greetings,
I am John from the Chicago suburbs and I admit I am powerless over my recent rotary addiction. I previously posted this on another web site, but I will post it here as I have just discovered this one.

In early 1978 I drove my friend, Mark, to Dixon Illinois from his suburban home to pick up his new RX-7.

It all started early that year when the RX-7 was announced, and we were anticipating it's arrival. Mark had considered buying an RX-3, but thought it wasn't sporty enough. Mark had been calling dealers around the area for months trying to secure one on the first day, (but he would have settled for the first week) they were available to the public. He was unable to score one even after offering a deposit to the dealers to hold one for him. It seems the cars were so hot that the first ones were promised to people with a connection to Mazda beyond their wallet, and Mark didn't have the juice to get one. We called all around the state (Illinois) trying to find one. Mark finally located a dealer in the farming town of Dixon Illinois, about 90 miles West of Chicago who was getting one in and agreed to make Mark the owner (out there they probably had a John Deere tractor that was just as hot as the RX-7). On the day it was delivered to the dealer I drove Mark out there in my 78 Pinto and picked it up. It was a beautiful red one.

Mark found that the car had a serious flaw, it loved to crash into things! Mark used the body and bumpers to navigate around town for about 5 years, meeting most of the local body shop owners in the process, until he had a very bad crash and was seriously injured when a Cutlass ran a red light and struck it in the drivers door. After the crash the car was half it's original width. I don't know how Mark managed not to become part of the car, but he made it through. Everyone who rode in the car loved it, and it had no significant problems other than a clutch replacement.

I have loved the rotary engines ever since, and have followed them in aircraft and boat use, but have never owned one until recently. I am in the process of installing a supercharged marinized 13B in a 15' Mark Twain runabout. The engine was made by Rotary Power Marine, a company that went out of business about 7 years ago after completing very few examples. The engine has been sitting for about 8 years and I have decided to send the keg into a local rotary shop, A-Spec Tuning, and have them disassemble it, inspect it and install any parts that may not have survived the long storage period. In addition I will have them install a new Microtech EMS to replace the Alpha system that came on it. As long as it is apart I may as well have it street ported for a little extra muscle, not that a 15' boat needs more (it came with 90HP). I have seen that there is a company that offers a conversion for the oil metering pump that allows it to operate independently of the engine oil, injecting 2 stroke oil from a tank. Does anyone here have any experience with these. Any suggestions on my project would be appreciated. I have include a couple of photos for your entertainment.
One day I would love to have an RX of my own.

Thanks for listening to my dribble.

I found an old post from a guy who has the same engine as I do, although not supercharged, in his 1934 Gar Wood. I would love to make contact with him, but he hasn't posted since 2007. I hope he will check in some day and find this.

j beeman

I took the plunge and stripped down my 13B boat motor and sent it in to A-Spec tuning for an inspection and possible overhaul. Although I have a lot of experience with gas and diesel reciprocating engines I fell it's better to let a pro do the work. Even working with a shop manual and a video I do not feel comfortable attempting it myself, I want to know it's right. It seems that it has some water damage, but I am hoping for the best. That may be foolish, but I have to hold out hope. I suppose I can always buy a different one if all else fails, but I would really like to avoid the expense. I will know more when Sean gets it torn down and inspected, until that I will be holding my breath. I hope to get it installed and running before the snow flies this coming winter. My mistake was letting it sit too long.