Hi there just joined, I need some quick advice. I had an 81 gsl and loved it. Now I found an 85 GSL SE for $550 - $750 with a decent interior body good looks prety much all stock with 160k miles. heres the problem the guy claims it blows white smoke for about 5-6 minutes once first started, smells like coolant and is white in color. from what i understand it should be the seals. I always wanted to tear down and rebuild a rotor motor but never have. I have rebuilt a regular v8 and a motorcycle motor. anything to fear about tearing down a 13b motor and dropping in a seal kit.
thanks in a advance

 

Welcome to the forum. I love GSL-SEs myself. What color is it? It seems like a good price. Really, rebuilding a rotary is no problem. I find it to be much easier than piston engines. At those miles, you might want to go ahead and replace some of the hard seals and springs while you are in there. If you have the time, the best option is to tear it down, measure each part, and replace just the ones that are near or past their wear limit. Much cheaper than just replacing everything.

Check out the factory service manual here:
http://foxed.ca/foxed/index.php?page=rx7manual

Chapter 1 will give you an idea as to what is required to do a rebuild.

I'm going to go ahead and move this post to the 1st gen non-technical section, but if you get this car, go ahead and post up any questions related to fixing the problems with the car in the technical section. Be sure to check out the 1st gen FAQ on here as well as the archives. Lots of good stuff.

Kent


Edit: Forgot to mention that it does sound like you are burning coolant (white smoke w/ sweet smell). A softseal kit (gasket w/ o-rings) may fix this problem. The other possibility is that one of the housings are warped (usually due to engine being overheated) and this lets coolant past the o-rings and into the combustion chamber.

 

Thank you, thats good info I was wondering how to find a link with the manuals. its grey in color

 

Hello, check out the link in my signature then find the videos at the bottom of the thread... if your exhaust looks similar to that. Then a rebuild is probably in order.

As a helpful hints type of tool this website really helps get familiarized with what to expect and what new/used components should look and measure

http://www.rebuildingrotaryengines.com/

If you watch all these you will at least understand some of the finer points of a rebuild.

Hope this helps, welcome!

Pete

 

Manuals are in my sig

 

just looked at the link with the videos this is a cool link, i cant wiat to start reviewing. thanks

 

Helped me out a lot too, enjoy

 

I feel pretty confident after watching some of the videos, I dont know if thats good or bad. now if I can make the deal work I'll be picking up another project

 

Welcome to the forum Jaysdogjazz! Just do it! Keep us informed of your progress and make plans to attend SevenStock in Irvine to catch-up with all the Rotor heads.

 

Even if it is a seal you can still drive it fine so long as the water / oil isn't mixing. I've heard of people driving their cars with motors like this a lot... almost becoming a trademark. I would get a different FC motor core and rebuild that while keeping this one in the car until the last minute so you can enjoy the vehicle while building your new motor... will even get the upgraded FC intake system with it. GSL-SE rotor housings won't be any good for a rebuild as it will most likely have massive chrome flake etc. Check out http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/1s...ear_guide.html for more details about this.

 

[ ] pics
or
[ ] ban

jk but i want to see this.