Ok So I bought the car and it was running a little rough. I thought it just needed a tuneup. The car sat for a few days and now it won't start at all. It cranks, When I pulled the plugs I get 3 good hisses. It may be the battery, Right now its running at 11 volts, I jumped it with another car "too poor to buy a battery charger" and all I got was a couple pops and chugs out of it. Still won't start. When I pulled my plugs they are black, not sure if its getting enough spark, I used another plug and hooked it up and All I got was weak spark. It smells like its flooding after a few tries, Maybe too much fuel, Tried to check that but there is too much fun in owning a 79 body with am 81-82 engine and carb. I tried to adjust the fuel and can't find the screws that are in the book. I have some pics of my engine if anyone can help. The fuel pump sound kinda funny sometimes, Probly needs to be replaced, maybe batt if its not holding, Coils? I would really like to switch to electronic ignition if anyone knows about how much that would cost, Im not looking for performance yet, Just a drivable car for now, Turbo later. Also notice in the last picture the lack of the second vacuum advance, Is this normal? Im about ready to drive this F#$%ing thing off a cliff. I really don't have the money to dump into the car right now.

 

left screw is idle mix (turn in all the way and back out 2.5 turns)
right screw is idle speed (iirc, turn in all the way and turn out 7 turns)

if the plugs are wet, its probably flooded, put a little oil in each housing(also pull all the plugs and dry them, take a wire brush to the electrodes and clean some of the carbon off), and floor it when u try to start it again

 

also, i would suggest getting rid of the rats nest and emmissions, it'll be one less thing that can go wrong

 

Conversion to the 2nd gen directfire ignition costs about 20 bucks in parts. Much better than stock and pretty easy to do. Link is in the FAQ section. For an additional 30 bucks you can order a blackbox gizmo (see transistor trick thread) which makes it even more powerful and easier to install.

 

I've read the rats nest removal and I don't understand it for my year of engine. I don't know what is needed and what is not. I can post pics if anyone can help me, If not thats understandable, It would be alot easier if someone here in wenatchee has done this, there are about 5-6 ppl on the forums here that are local.

 

verify spark by cranking by removing the plugs, connecting them to the plug wires, grounding the plugs against the fron struts' bolts and cranking the engine. You should see sparks! Blue sparks!!

If that is good, then remove the oiler lines from the carburator, pour 1/3 cup of fast start (100% methanol or isopropanol) down the carb and crank the engine. This removes excess oil from the compression chambers.

Then install the plugs, careful not to overtighten, install the spark plug wires, and attempt to start.

If all is good, connect the oiler lines back to the carb. And then order some new plugs, and check dimensions against your old plugs before installing. If you get them from the dealer, be sure to check the thread and electrode length. Mazda dealers (like the one in Santa Monica Ca.) will intentionally give you the wrong plugs and you'll ruin the rotor when cranking!

Good luck.

ps..rotors (apex seals) will go bad, there will be a compression loss, you can hear it and feel it when cranking the engine with the plugs removed. Usually it is the rear.

 

Its Alive, muahahahahahah!!!!!! Well got it started and running again. New spark plugs, the ngk's that don't need a thin-wall socket, And since I don't have a thin-wall socket the old ones were a bitch to take out. I had to put rubber on the ceramic and wrench on them with vice grips, The last one was a real pain in the ***. I don't know if it actually helped but I took a can of compressed air and held it upside down and froze the spark plug without getting it in the other holes. After I did that the spark plug came right out. After That I did the cheap compression test, 3 good pst's from each chamber, All good here. Put a little Mmo in the housing, cranked with the leading plugs out. Put all spark plugs back in, hooked up distributer wires, the PO had them hooked up wrong, amazing it ran at all. Still wouldn't start. Adjusted the idle mixture and idle speed, Put a little starting fluid in, jumped the car as I was getting low on power. After about 5 tries it fired right up and smoked a blue for a few minutes, I think to burn off the MMO. Now it runs fine, better then it did before. The only problem now is it wants to die when I put it in gear, It idles fine at 750 rpms when in gear but it sputters a little, I had it die once on me. Any Ideas. PS Thanks all for the ideas on getting it started, Ill learn this rotary stuff yet.

 

Well, it sounds like you have an automatic tranny. I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that to set the idle, you put it in drive and set it to 850 rpms. Since you are down to 750, maybe that's your problem. Good luck.