Hal's82gs

I'm the new owner of an 1982 GS 5sp with 42k original miles. I had an 83 same model 30 years ago. I'm excited to drive this car! I'd love to get feedback about what issues/problems I should look out for. The car is completely stock and I plan to keep it that way, but are there common problems with this model that I should anticipate? Thanks in advance and I look forward to conversing with fellow rotary lovers. Hal

GSLSEforme

Welcome to the site. Post up pics of your car,we love pics here. Regarding your car,it is like any other 37 year old survivor. It has very low miles for its age. If you don't have comprehensive maintenance records from prior owner,start with changing all fluids.
Engine oil and filter. Use good quality filter: Wix,Napa Gold,Mobil1,K&N. Oil,use conventional,Castrol GTX in 10w30 for winter months and 20w50 for summer months. Change it every 3k miles or once a year. Conventional oil is preferred to synthetic oil in your rotary engine.

Transmission and rear axle. Both take 80w90 hypoid oilGL4 oil. Conventional can be used or synthetic can be used which may give better quality shifting for the transmission. Mobil 1 is a good quality hypoid oil that can be used in gearbox and differential and is available at any auto parts store. Change interval,30k miles or two years.

Brake fluid,clutch hydraulic fluid. Both take DOT3 fluid that is available at all parts stores. Flush and bleed every 30k or two years.

Air,fuel filters,Distributor cap,rotor Plugs and wires should be inspected and replaced if any question and age is unknown.

Inspect brake linings,hoses, calipers,wheel cylinders for signs of leakage. Look at flex brake hoses and manipulate looking for cracks in external layers. Again if age not known,replace as they break down internally with age,same for hydraulic flex hose for clutch slave cylinder.
Look underdash of car at clutch pedal and linkage going to clutch master cylinder. Look for signs of moisture or seepage of brake fluid. When piston stop seal begins to fail,it allows brake fluid to seep out and weep down inside of firewall and under carpet unseen and begins to lift paint and allow corrosion of firewall and floorpan and rotting of carpet.
Look closely at back of brake master cylinder where it bolts to brake booster for signs of paint lifting on booster surface underneath master cylinder.This is indicative of brake master cylinder seals allowing fluid to seep out and down booster and possibly firewall/frame rail.

Inspect battery tray for corrosion/rust/rot. Battery gassing and electrolyte leakage is very corrosive and can lead to paint lifting and corrosion of body parts below battery box. Originally battery sat in a plastic tray on top of battery platform.

Inspect frame rails,floorpans for rust. Inspect inner rear fenderwells at upper link body mount reinforcing plate for paint bubbling,lifting,metal bulging,rust or holes. This is an area of frequent rust as moisture can get between reinforcing plate and body of car and start corrosion process and if left unchecked can lead to near unrepairable damage.If you see something like this,remove both bins behind seats and inspect floor and innner sides of panel that correspond to reinforcing plate area on outside.

Some pics of my car that i thought had no rust. It was bought from original owner and has been garaged by them and me all its life. I happened to notice some bulging in this reinforcement plate while restoring/upgrading suspension and brakes and began probing it with a small pick and the hole"appeared". I drilled out all the spot welds(all the other holes you see) and removed reinforcement plate and discovered what you see here.

Hal's82gs

Thank you!

LongDuck

As the resident expert (*above) recommends, once you baseline all critical systems on the car, you're back to driving and enjoying it u til you find something that causes a problem that needs to be addressed. Typically, these are repair / rebuild of the brake calipers, replacement of clutch master & slave cylinders (always replace both at same time), and checking your fuel filter for sediment building up. Fuel systems are overlooked all the time, and these gas tanks weren't designed for oxygenated fuels, so some get corroded and this builds up in the filter or the float bowls affecting driveability.

Back when I was driving a carb'd RX7, I remember problems with float needle valves getting overpowered by the fuel pump requiring an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator, but if yours is running well, enjoy it. With low miles of your car, I'd be looking for problems due to disuse rather than use; age of these parts when unused could become an issue. Inspect front wheel bearings in the rotors and races for smooth rotation, make sure the spindles are smooth and shiny, and replace with fresh grease. At the rear, check axle seals for security and to prevent leakage of gear oil into the drum area during hard cornering. Apart from these, plugs, cap, rotor, and spark plug wires should be an adequate tune-up.

Hal's82gs

Thanks! I need to find a "go-to-mechanic" in the Denver area.

LongDuck

Hoping you find a good recommendation, as there are very few places that know how to work on these cars, anymore. Most of us here are DIY mechanics to keep them on the road, and I DD my 84SE, which means lots of routine maintenance to keep it reliable enough for 244k miles.

Maybe you'll get lucky and there's a good rotary specific shop in Denver or thereabouts,

midnight mechanic

Hal, don't go to a pro mechanic. They think cars shouldn't last longer than 3 years and do 1/2 *** work. "Well your car is old it is going so it makes all kinds of noises", after the idiot transmission shop didn't install the transmission right, and the driveshaft was hitting the body!!

only GL-4 for the transmission. don't use gl-4/gl-5 !! AMSOIL is worth the extra cost. Some here swear by Royal Purple.
GL-5 has sulfur in it which will eat up your trans synco rings.
GL4 or Gl-5 can be used for the differential

Fram oil filters suck. You are better off paying more for a Mobil 1 or Bosch or Wix filter and change it every 6 months. I change my oil every other month.(1) Almost everyone here uses Castrol GTX.

Check the wheel wells behind the storage bins. See pic's above.

Check flow of the OMP (oiler), clear lines going to the carb. it drips oil into the carburetor under load, or run 2 cycle pre mix.

Do all that, and you will snicker as you cruise by Chevy's, Ford's, Nissan's, and Hyundai's broken down by the roadside.

Oh, and rotary engines LOVE TO REV!!! don't lug the engine like a middle aged dried up man hating feminist librarian school teacher. And if you really want to keep your car, NEVER take it to those cheap express oil change places.

Chilton and Clymer's is worth their weight in gold (but you already knew that)


(1) I live in an apartment, and they forbid auto maintenance. I fell like such a badass by breaking their asinine rules by changing the motor oil.

LongDuck

Redline a day keeps the carbon at bay! Also, dont EVER think you're doing the engine a favor by running ATF down the intake to "clean out the carbon"; this does clean out the carbon, but also on the tracks of the oil control rings in the middle of the rotors and then they allow oil to bypass into the inake side, resulting in smoking for the next 10-20k miles. Carbon in the riht places helps to seal older engines for better compression.

Seafoam in the fuel tank is your best friend.

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

These guys have really covered everything I wanted to say... so at this point I'll just ask to see some pictures of the car and say welcome to the forum! You came to the right place. As you have read above, there are some very knowledgeable people here and we appreciate their input! Again, welcome!

lwrobins

Hey, that's cool.. My first car was a 79 rx7, now 30 years later I too have another, an 85 GSL. They are easy to work on and quite reliable. The rotary engine is different and there are limited resources far as repair shops. Check local clubs here, or on Facebook for possible recommendations in Denver.

LongDuck

One other consideration for our older cars; one of the worst things you can do (*apart from running it out of engine oil...) is to start it up, pull it out of the garage and then shut it down. This has resulted in more 'seized engine' posts on the board than you can imagine, and usually during the spring months when people are moving cars around.

Doing this doesn't let the engine get up to temperature when you start it and then shut it down after only a few minutes of running. The end result is that the carbon on the rotor face is allowed to flake off in it's hardened state, which quickly falls into the Apex Seal gap and gets encrusted there, forming a wedge against the Rotor Housing wall, locking up the engine from rotation. This can usually be remedied by turning the Eccentric Shaft in the opposite direction of normal rotation and then rocking it back and forth, but understand that this puts a lot of load on your Apex Seals risking a fracture or undue wear against the chromed interiors of the Rotor Housings. Really bad cases may require solvents to be squirted into the combustion chambers and then giving the carbon time to soften up before starting the rotation and rocking procedure.

Easy fix: if you're moving the car - drive it around the block and let the engine get up to temperature. You get an extra drive in it, and it will thank you for that by not carbon locking the engine.

7aull

iTrader: (2)

Welcome Hal. Sounds like you have stumbled on a nice RX7 and maybe captured a bit of your youth in the process (It's 1980 all over again every time I jump in mine!). Lots (and lots!) of great advice here, and there are really no dumb questions.

I will add this about rust:
ANY where on the chassis there is drain channels, these are supplemented with drain holes. Specifically, 4 on the corners of the sunroof (if equipped) and 2 at the bottom corners of the read hatch. Make sure the hoses attached to those drain points are clear of debris! Esp a prob if cars are parked outside regularly. Plugged drains are a quick way to have standing water in these channels, and rust will follow.

Suggest on roof and read hatch you LIFT OFF the rubber weatherstrip and inspect the metal frameworks underneath! If rusty-but-not-gone, treat with POR15 rust paint per their directions. Great stuff to stop rust dead. Drain lines should be checked for blockage with a pipe-cleaner and or wire (coat hanger too thick) line.

Cooling System: unless you have documentation from the previous owner that claims otherwise, I would assume the radiator is tired and likely partially plugged. WELL worth pulling it, getting it chem-dunked/cleaned at a qualified Rad shop. Rotaries are V-E-R-Y dependent on a proper cooling system! This is one of the main causes of failures (next to oil loss) of these engines. Likewise if no proof of recent replacement of ALL the cooling hoses (including those to the interior heater!), these should be refreshed now too.

Pix of your new Toy when you can-

Stu A
80GS
AZ

WJM ROTARIES

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