Injun raped FB

Alright Veeky Forums

I have found a 1983 Mazda rx7 with a 12a for $250CAD decently close to home. Interior and exterior are kind of shit, but I would be using it as a track/hoon/drift car. It needs a new ignition and starter, because some injun tried stealing it a while back and tore it all to hell.

I can get a new starter and ignition in 3 days for $150. Of course, I'm going to Vin check it to make sure it wasn't successfully stolen.

Should I?

Yup

More photos

You really can't go wrong for $250.

...

What state op

You should be worried about rust but for 250 you should be able to make your money back on parting it out

> $250
You could sell the wheels and scrap the rest and make your money back. Makes for a very low risk investment until you start pouring money in it.

It looks like it's been sitting for a while but if you've got the patience and money to keep it going that's a good buy for $250

I'm worried about it becoming one of those snowball situations where it seems to be one part wrong and then another thing pops up and another until the whole car is just a lemon. But, I mean, for $250 it's really not that bad of a gamble

See, rotaries are rare in rural Saskatchewan, and rust definitely is an issue because lolwinter. But I wouldn't want to part it out or scrap it unless the thing was totally unusable. I drive an 80hp 4 banger right now and want something I can play with so I stop beating on my econobox. Plus it makes me feel like a special snowflake, it being a rotary and all.

To add, I understand that this is not a $250 and brap off into the sunset type deal. This will require lots of work and care to get this rolling right, but I have the time and budget to do it.

>But I wouldn't want to part it out or scrap it unless the thing was totally unusable.
That's why I brought up the fact you could recoup your money, like a back up plan.

>I'm worried about it becoming one of those snowball situations
it will very likely be this but if $250 isn't going to mean the difference between you and your family going hungry, and you have time and space to work on it, who cares?

If you have the space and time to work on it then yes.

You can do great things, but you have to have alot of time or money. Without at least one your not going to make it very far.

Also I would like to point out that the 12A is pretty dead aftermarket wise. Rotors and Rotor Housings are hard to find and therefore expensive so consider swapping to a 13B in the future, assuming you stay rotary.

Also if it's been wrecked, just stay away. There's plenty of straight project FB's out there. Minor rust and decay is one thing and can be fixed but have a body warping impact and the car is never right again.

Give em 200 an a bottle of mouthwash bud.

Yeah, the fact that I could make back what I dumped into it just parting it out is pushing me towards buy it. Just need to get a truck and trailer to head out there and get it.
$250 is the amount I would spend on junk food, booze, and useless shit in a two week period. The biggest impact this will have is on my sanity and the patch of grass it will be sitting on til it braps to life.
I was excited about it being a 12a because I heard great things about their reliability and dead simpleness. Is it impossible to get parts or just annoying frustrating? If I am going rotary I'd rather keep it as stock and bullet proof as possible, but a 13b or turbo swap would be nice when I know what I'm doing, dorito wise.

Put an ls1 in it.

Faaaawk bud, I need the mouth wash for myself. Maybe I'll see if they'll take a can or two of listerine.
No u.

In regards to the 12a being reliable, that's incorrect thinking on your part. It doesn't matter if an engine was the most reliable in the entire world, if it has been abused and misused then it's going to be shitty and unreliable. That goes for any engine and applies even more to rotaries. The 12a in that particular car your looking at is most likely going to die within 500 miles of you getting it running, assuming it doesn't just fail to crank in the first place. A rebuild or replacement is definitely going to be part of the equation.

I don't know how expensive it would be to rebuild the 12a but from what I have heard it is cheaper and more sustainable to swap in a 13B. This is going to especially hold true if your planning to track the car. Why thrash a delicate and antiquated engine that is hard to find parts for? I would suggest learning how to weld and begin making a custom subframe to mount a 13B. Make it so that it's removable and non permanent to the frame of the FB, so that you can swap in the 12a if you ever want to turn it into a classic restored example.

I would also like to add that it's most likely going to be above $6000 to get the car to a basic state where you want it.

Yeah, I'm fully prepared for this thing to cost upwards of $5k for what I want. In regards for spare parts for the 12a being hard to find, the seller has an extra motor/tranny combo and an assortment of parts to come with it. Comes with stock wheels and tires too, so I could make $200-$250 on those nasty as wheels before I even touch the car. I do have experience welding and access to a professional welding shop, so swaps and modifications may be feasible. I'd rather get this car running on the stock guts so I could learn about rotaries and how it should be before I start changing things.

Thanks for the input by the way.

Well shit that changes things. If you have two motors then you may have a chance. Start by taking both motors apart and measuring the rotor, housing, seal valley gap, and seals on both motors. Find out which motor is closest to spec and use that one. I would HIGHLY advise taking them apart and cleaning them anyway since they have sat for so long. The springs for the apex and side seals are probably not functioning to their fullest pressure because of gunk from sitting and therefore require you cleaning that area manually. It's also worth mentioning that rotors and housings are interchangeable. Rotor seals and apex seals are NOT interchangeable between rotors. Those should go back in the rotor they came from in the same side and or apex they were originally. Be sure to label.

Once you do all that, THEN do a warm compression test with rotary specific compression tester. Then you will know which motor to use.

By the way I think all the data for the rotor housing and rotor clearances is available somewhere online. There's alot of information available on rebuilding rotaries. Far more than I could ever give you, so start there.

Also I forgot to say that you should just put the two together and make a 20B 4 rotor :))

jk