I recently bought my 1983 gls rx7, I'm very new to rotarys but i love them. I'm looking for some help the car came with a rebuilt complete 12a but it sat in storage for 5 or 6 years. What should I do to prepare the motor? I'm planning on changing all fluids, draining old gas, putiput some oil or atf in the rotors housings and spining it by hand. Anything else need to be done?
thank you, Devin

 

Welcome to the board, Devin.

For the engine itself, it's really not that complicated. Use oil, not ATF, in the chambers and turn through a few full revolutions. Build up oil pressure before you actually fire it. The car is new to you, so I would suggest doing a full service just so you know what you're starting with. If the car has reliable records and you have reason to believe the previous owner was vigilant with maintenance, then I guess you do whatever is indicated by the records, but I like to start fresh. It's up to you though obviously.

As far as other things to do or look for, it's really just a matter of using (or developing) good judgement and common sense. All fluids should be changed - that never hurts. Depending on how old they are and how hard your climate is on them, you should consider possibly doing the same with vacuum hoses and fuel lines. Filters never hurt either, and I usually suggest adding one just before the carburetor on a Gen 1 car. Don't take chances with tires and brakes, so inspect them and do what makes sense for your situation.

 

Thank you so much! I was planning on doing the brakes and tires any way. I will probably just invest the time and money into replacing the all the fuel and vacuum lines. I have already bought all the fluid and stuff to do an entire flush. How would I go about building up the oil pressure before starting it?
Thank you!

 

Take the coil or plug wires off, then crank it until you see pressure at the gauge.

 

Okay thank you so much for the help

 

Leave all spark plugs out,will let engine spin faster with little load on starter/battery without working against compression.
Disconnect both ignition coil primary negative wires(minus marks on coils) to prevent generation of spark and possible carbon tracking of dist cap/rotor from high KVs jumping around with no ready ground thru plugs OR take all removed spark plugs,stick them back into plug wires and lay on engine to ground them which accomplishes the same thing.

 

my motor was sitting for a while it was pretty nasty inside new rebuild do changed plugs dumped like 4 oz of 2 stroke on into each rotor spined it make sure none of the seals are stuck and you should be good and like the other guy said make sure u have oil pressure before starting and starting fluid works wonders the Valvoline one autozone has it for 5 bucks

 

You can inspect the chambers by looking through the exhaust ports. Push on each apex seal with your finger and make sure it still moves freely.