It was a Baaaaaad night @ Hullie's House Last Night.Went out to the garage to start up my 73 RX2 Twin Dizzee.............. SMOKE EVERYWHERE!!!! Goodbye Apex Seals!!!

Now I have to make a big decision.Do I..................
A) Rebuild the original Twin Dizzee & leave the car stock.

B) Drop a 13B with a 5spd or 13b with the original 4spd


But these decisions leave me with a lot of questions....

A) If I rebuild the Twin Dizzee what kind of seals will work with this block? are the 12A seals all standard? What are the best seals to use?

B) If I go with a 13B will my stock 4spd bolt up?

Would like to hear opinions from everyone.

 

I love the old bodies, but it makes a lot more sense for me to update the drivetrain. I'm running a bastardized 13B with old 12A irons (so it has old markings) but can still pull ignitors and seals from all the normal places. I've got a 1980 5-spd with an early 83 LSD, so everything bolts in without mods but is much more readily available.

It's up to you, man.

 

Broken apex seals do not cause smoke.
I have a 79 tranny and a streetported 85 12a engine in my Rx-2 and I love it.
I did not have to cut or weld anywhere on the body so all mods were bolt-on.
I can always go back to the original setup when needed.

You have no apex seal choices when rebuilding a twin dizzy engine. Only 6mm carbon Mazda seals fit.

 

Go the 13B Hullie!! You'll never look back. Mine was all bolt-on, no probs anywhere, had to cut some metal for the tranny for the SE version, but the '79-'80 trannys fit perfectly.

 

I've got an MG Midget that had a '71-'73 12A in it when I got it. It didn't run. I put a '74 13B and tranny in it. It runs.

I've been debating putting the 12A back in with '83-'85 rotors (with 3mm carbon apex seals), aftermarket flywheel and a slotted top-mounted starter to fit the different ring gear location of '74 and later flywheels. Or I could simply leave it 13B with a rebuild and maybe a port job.

 

i say rebuild, i am sure you cold find some carbon apex seal somewhere.
I have acutally been thinking of sell ing my 12a twin dizzy setup. thought
i would throw that out there. and go with a 13b setup. but that would
make my car undrivable and i am not sure if i want that until i have all the
parts needed to complete a swap. stay stock on your sedan though.

 

Thank's for the help Guy's!!! Check this **** out.Lasy nite i go out to the garage.I have my Nephew there with me.I said **** it let me try & start it again.I start it up.......... Not one little Puff a smoke and the car ran for about an hour like a god damn Swiss Watch!!! What Gives??? How the Hell Does it smoke out the neighborhood the night before and then the next day Nothing?
BTW.... As I'm standing there Dumdfounded staring at the car not smoking My nephew say's to me..... What's the matter Hullie? i say.... "I thought I Blew A Seal" my nephew say's.... "I didn't know you Blew Seal's???

 

how long had it been sitting? it's not unusual for a rotary to smoke at startup when it's been sitting for awhile. it's when they wont stop smoking is when u should become worried.

 

The engine's seals are tired. The oil o-rings do this sometimes on engines that have old soft seals in them. It's pretty much normal behavior. It's funny because I was going to suggest firing it up today to see if it smoked again but you beat me to it. Just do a basic seal freshening up and I'm sure it will continue to run like a Swatch, or whatever was popular in the '80s, for many years to come.

 

13b turbo...mmmm