I just bought an '83 Limited manual trans car which the previous owner had removed the starter. He finally gave me the old starter that "supposedly" came out of it. It has an 8 tooth pinion and my searches for a new starter all specify an 11 tooth pinion. Any ideas if they ever came with an 8 tooth starter in the 12A?

 

I finally figured out some of the confusion only to add a different problem. The starter I have is for an '82 RX7, not an '83. yep, they're different. I double checked the door sticker and it has a production date of February 1983. So now I'm not sure if somebody put an '82 motor in it or what? Is it possible Mazda used the 1982 starter into early 1983, or did someone swap in a 1982 motor? Is there any definate way to tell what year the motor is besides the starter design? By the way, the number on the starter is M3T26081. The #2 in the part number indicates the model year.

 

early 12a had 8 tooth

 

10 yr old thread. that member hasn't been on here since posting this.

 

Thread closed. No need to keep this open.