As of 4:30 this morning, the car was semi-drivable. I drove her into work today, and all is well, as long as you don't have a lot of expectations.

The blower motor is still out from running the wiring harness, but will go back in.
The radio bezel is out, but who really cares until I've got the right radio.
The speedo cable has lost its guts - looks like it slid out of the sheath while on the trailer home. No speedo.
Airbox brackets and coolant brackets are still needed badly, but hoping to find some.
Coolant overflow bottle has been located, and I remember the white ring around the top of the filler neck. Somewhere in my garage, it exists, but my overflow setting is currently on "asphalt"
I'm missing exhaust gaskets and a good fuel filter, but the local dealer should have them tomorrow.

And yet I couldn't be happier. I joked that it's the closest thing to being a B-17 waist gunner that I could imagine. Crazy noises from the exhaust and suspension, no cloth anywhere in the back, ice-cold air shooting up through the shifter, and lots of blue smoke.

Thanks to all who have helped, and it's time for me to get my idle and just-off-idle settings right.

 

Congrats Crit, time to head out on 85 and slay some mustangs.

 

glad to see youre on the road. i got the diff swapped in my SA monday. i should be applying the finishing touches friday/saturday and shell be coming down here saturday.

 

Great thread! Just bought a SE myself (Christmas present to myself) and going over it to make sure everything works like it should. I been on hear reading posts and trying to collect as much info as I can before I start asking noob questions. This is not my first 7, just first 13b. My other 7's ran so good never had to do much to them other than routine maint. I plan on doing alot more with this one though.

 

get the hayne's manual

 

Still have the haynes manual from years back but the car came with a library to include FSM and many other books. The guy wasn't planning on getting another 7 so he threw in everything.

 

Crit, I worked in ATL when I had one of my SA,s and I would buy stuff from Atlanta RX-7. He had alot of parts and alot of parts cars. He was located on the Buford Hwy. It's been a few years but so I don't know if he's still there but it might be worth checking out.

 

http://www.atlantarx7.com/

Yep still there. Here's the link. Might be worth checking out. I'm going to swing by there next time I go to Augusta.

 

He moved from the Buford highway location.

-billy

 

Well, I'm back in town from an extended business trip, and all the comped weekends and holidays finally paid off. I've been told to bill 8 hours a day all week and not come in, so the SE will finally get all the sensors adjusted right, the airbox properly supported, honest-to-god real Mazda exhaust gaskets (sounds like crap now) and a repaird fuel sender.

Hopefully I won't have but a few more questions this week, but should have the car sorted and documented here for the next GSL-SE noob

Advice - don't buy your first -SE in boxes.....

 

Alright, quick question. I found THIS link about setting the idle, but the car currently runs rough when you feed it some throttle, and the idle's very high, which I can adjust.

I've checked the electrical response of the AFM and it's temp sensor, I've checked the coolant sender on the waterpump, and I've tested the TPS. Everything's cool so far. As I understand it, I've got the following things to play with:

Thermowax linkage (more an accessory right now, but needs to be checked)
Throttle Stop
Throttle Cable Tension (How tight it too tight, by the way)
TPS adjustment (Determines whether the engine's at idle or not, and used to set the mixture at low speeds)
Variable Resistor (In series with AFM - adjusts its response curve which sets the injector duty cycle)
Air Adjust Screw (Idle Speed)
BAC Operation (AC and PS are removed, but both will be reinstalled eventually)

The fuel filter got replaced yesterday (Mazda part - the AutoZone one had wrong fittings) as well as the exhaust gaskets. I've tapped a 1/8 NPT line from the input to the second precat for the Aux ports. I tried to watch the ports rotate, and it stumbles and pops as it gets near 4000 revs in neutral, so I need to get my RE-EGI settings right before I cause any real damage.

Is there a good post on setting up an SE from scratch? The FSM assumes that everything else is running right and dead stock (I've removed the ACV to the cat, that's all) and the other referenced linked to at the top of my post is concerned only with the idle. I'm waiting on a UPS delivery today that includes the airbox brackets so that my AFM will finally be level and reliable, so I'd like to finally tackle this thing today.

Thanks guys,
Crit

 

any news with the car Crit?

 

Well, the cruise actuator arrived the other day, so I've dropped that in the car, placed a used speedo cable in the sheath on the car (original snaked out of the sheath and fell on the open interstate while on the trailer). The idle's down to 800 warm, 1500 on the thermowax. I have an Air/Fuel meter sampling the stock O2 sensor and I've swapped ignitors and coils with the RX-2 hardware which is known to be good.

The misfire still exists at high load, maybe about the time that I come off the TPS, and I can't explain it. Fuel filter is new, injectors are clean and flowed within 0.5% of one another, and fuel pressure is 27psi at idle, kicks up to 40 on the throttle, and the pressure regulator checks out. I sampled fuel pressure on the return as well, hoping to find some pressure there which would mean I'd have good pressure but bad flow (restriction on the return) but had no luck. Fuel pressure on the return is zero.

If I get in 2nd and give it full throttle, it'll run to about 3000 rpm, then start to miss, but the A/F gauge shows no change in mixture. It doesn't look like it's running lean like I'd expect, so I'm suspecting the ignition. Plugs are new, cap and rotor are new, coils and ignitors are swapped, and I have plug wires coming from the dealer next week.

I'm totally confused. The frustrating thing is that the rear wheels scrub on bumps because of the offset, and the interior still needs to be swapped with another car here to give me a grey interior, but I can't really justify working on these little things that will make the car so much more enjoyable, as long as it runs like absolute ****.

 

Here we are in late April, and I've only now gotten to where I hoped to be around New Year's. For the first time, I got to blow the dust out of the over-rev buzzer and listen to its sweet bitching.

The problem was the timing pulley. The fella that I bought the engine from said that it came from a running car and the chrome and seals were all great, from looking in the exhaust ports. Unfortunately, the pulley was clocked 90-deg off.

As we all know, the dizzy turns at 1/2 engine speed, and it's a 28-tooth. That meant that in order to make time with a pulley that's 90 out, the distributor has to be 45-deg (3 1/2 teeth) out. That explains why the engine timed all the way to the left in the slot - it was 3 teeth out, and all the way to the left. Surprisingly, the engine actually ran with the ignition retarded by 90-deg.

I'm embarrassed to say that I couldn't find TDC on the rotating assembly. I tried the wire trick, but couldn't feel the apex seal in the trailing hole. The side inspection plate wasn't gonna happen because it was behind a stock exhaust manifold and heat shield. Figuring it couldn't hurt, Billy retarded the dizzy by 3 teeth - no fire. Advanced by 4 teeth - BINGO.

I couldn't be happier. Many, many thanks are in order to bwaits, cletus, RX3SP, MattG, mazdaverx713B, RussTypeS, gsl-se addict, and ray green. Thanks also to the North Carolina crew of Jeezus, bad 83 and robs_seven. I'm not sure I would have gone to NC to get the car without talking to the locals who knew the car and owner and could tell me just what I was looking at.

If I had a tail, it'd be 'waggin. Even now, 3 hours later, I can't stop smiling. Thanks guys.

By the way, I also tracked down a PDF of the Bosch L Jet-tronic fuel injection that Nippon Denso licensed to run the GSL-SE. There's lots of good info, so y'all PM me if interested.

 

Dang Crit. Glad to hear you got that thing figured out. Now you just need to get the rest of OGTA guys up here for a big summer bash.

 

That's great, Crit! Good to hear.

I'd be interested in seeing that .pdf. Perhaps you could email it to "Sgt Fox" on the forum and he can add it to his website with the rest of his manual collection. If the file is small enough, you could stat a new thread, attach the file to the post, and then I can archive it.

 

I'll likely host it over at www.vintagerotaries.org today or tomorrow.

 

Oh yes, the SE is finally going to be real. All those computers and fuel injection **** and stuff and it turns out to be the dizzy in wrong. Go figure. Maybe that's what's wrong with the White One?

When you gonna let me drive it Crit?

Ray

 

glad to hear that the SE is running well for you!!! i'd love to see some current pics of the car!!!

 

What can I say, I rule. Had a feeling that is what you would find. At least you didn't ping the motor to death in the mean time.

 

Then why didn't you fix it when you were there?


BTW, what time does the morning session start Sunday?

-billy

 

I think this happens to a lot of cars. Careless mechanics removing parts without assuring index marks where timing might be an issue. A year ago I watched a mechanic carelessly removing the the lower pulley to make room for a waterpump replacement without assuring proper alignment upon re-assembly. "Oh, I'll figure it out later when I get there" he said. Why not just do it right and spend 30 seconds to save 2 hours of screwing around later?

 

Cough.. or three months.... cough...

 

I'm gonna claim we didn't fix it on wednesday because it was 11pm when we started discussing it.

As for the previous 3 months......I work slowly.


For sunday:
http://www.soloatlanta.com/forum/vie....php?f=2&t=493

Tech and check in open at 7:30, close at 8:30. You have to register in advance nowadays.

 

I wonder if I could run and be back in Loganville by 1PM.

-billy