My wife calls me and says our 85 (FB-12a) has overheated and now has water coming out the exhaust. A quick internet search shows that my water jacket seal has melted??? So what all do I need to do? Brief history: We are the original owners, it has approx 190K, never been overhauled, and just did a MAJOR paint job/restoration. Plans were to upgrade the engine next. So.... suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

If this is true, the engine is toast. Replace or rebuild.

There is a reason the car overheated though. Bad fan, clogged rad, burst hose, etc. If the temperature guage had been watched, the problem would have been avoided.

 

I was pretty sure that was going to be the answer. Who makes good rebuild kits? oh, and it was a burst hose (water heater)

 

Water in the exhaust = rebuild engine.

Be very careful, lots of poor rebuilders out there. My first rebuild was toast after a year or so. The problem of water getting into the combustion chambers recurs if the there is a chip out of the edge of the cast iron seal channel; that creates a weak spot where the new seal is not properly supported and it will just fail again. A cheap rebuilder will likely not replace the chipped housing.

My second rebuild was a rebuilt/exchange with a 2 yr warranty, and it has been fine since then (3 yrs?)

 

calpatriot thanks for the insight. If you don't mind, who did you get your rebuilt/exchange from? I'm considering pulling (and replacing) the engine myself. I've done that on other cars but never on the rotary. If I go that route, how complicated will that be and how hard would it to bump up the rwhp to the 175-200 range. Would a13b, street ported, with headers and new weber carb get me in that range? Again, thanks in advance for the imput.

 

My current engine is an Atkins rebuild. I have about 2-3 yrs on it, and it has been bulletproof except for one incident where it literally seized up while sitting. I had to tow it back 320 miles because the local shops where it was said 'new engine.' My local RX7 expert had it running again in a day (Tri Point Engineering). He said I was driving it too gently, that it needed to be tached out more, so that is what I have been doing since, and no further problems.

Mine is street ported, and I have a K&N intake, but that's about all I can get away with here in CA with our smog regs. I have not had mine dynoed, but I estimate it is running about 175-180 hp at the flywheel.

I am not familiar with the manifold and weber carb options, but I understand some of those set-ups can compete with big-block V8 horsepower, but the details are not in my expertise.

The mod I wish I could do is the Camden supercharger. That may be legal in your state, but it is not in mine until the car gets to be 30 yrs old.

Gene

 

hi 'fly

i know nothing about the quality of their work...

but this shop is very close, in the dfw zone.

http://www.rx7.com/index.html

and they apparently do rebuilds, enhancements and so on.

http://www.rx7.com/engine.html

henry

 

With that many miles on the motor, you will probably find that there are no reusable parts. I would recommend finding a low mileage motor to install or rebuild.

A 12a with a street port, free flowing exhaust, and a Sterling carb would probably get you the power you're looking for. You could throw in a 13b, but then you're talking a bit more work and potential for issues. Pulling and replacing these motors is pretty simple, if you've done other motors then you can do a rotary....

.

 

1st gen FAQ is awesome.

+1 for kentetsu replace motor!

 

Thanks to all for the information. It is garaged for now and I will be on the lookout for another engine to have rebuilt. It's not a daily driver so I have time now to do this right. I'll continue to use this forum for help though. It is a great tool!