Mazda RX-7 FD Spirit R Type B 13B-REW Rotary Engine

The Type B engine application

The 13B-REW powered the Japanese-market RX-7 FD Spirit R Type B, pairing 206 kW (280 PS) with four seats and a five-speed manual transmission. This record covers that application within the FD generation, rather than the entire 13B family. Mazda identifies the engine and output in its Spirit R launch specification table.

Rotary architecture

The 13B-REW combines two rotors with sequential twin turbocharging. Mazda’s technical comparison lists displacement as 654 cc × 2, equivalent to 1,308 cc, with side intake ports, peripheral exhaust ports and a 9.0:1 compression ratio. These are characteristics of the 13B-REW architecture, not evidence of a special Type B engine design. See Table 1 in Mazda’s 2003 RENESIS engineering paper.

That paper distinguishes the turbocharged 13B-REW from the RX-8’s naturally aspirated 13B-MSP RENESIS, which adopted side exhaust ports. Their shared nominal displacement does not make their induction systems or specifications interchangeable.

Development within the FD generation

Mazda’s corporate chronology dates the Japanese introduction of the FD to December 1991 and describes its original 255 PS, twin-rotor engine with sequential turbocharging and a front-midship installation. The Type B belongs to the later development of this powertrain concept. The generation’s original rating should not be substituted for the Type B’s application-specific specification.

Manual and automatic distinctions

The Type A engine application shared the Type B’s published output but served a two-seat car. Type C combined four seats with a four-speed automatic and 188 kW (255 PS). Mazda’s announcement does not establish a Type B-exclusive engine upgrade.

Production period and location

Announced on 25 March 2002, the Spirit R went on sale in Japan on 22 April. The contemporary release anticipated FD production ending that August. These calendar dates do not establish individual engine-build dates or a separate model-year designation.

Classic Register’s Spirit R identification guide, primarily about Type A, describes plaques across the Spirit R series identifying Hiroshima, Japan, as the production location. This supports the vehicle’s production context; it does not establish a particular engine assembly line. Exact Type B engine-production dates and an application-specific engine total remain unverified.

Historical significance

The Type B application preserves the turbocharged rotary concept in a four-seat member of the final Spirit R series. Within the RX-7 model line, it represents the mature FD powertrain in the farewell edition. Mazda’s RX-7 retrospective confirms that RX-7 production ended in 2002, followed by the RX-8 in 2003.