No smoke at all. Whole lot of smoke after ATF treatment, but after that cleared out, none whatsoever.

Any reason why you're asking?

Don

 

Well, I asked because my car did the same thing after I bought and it gave me a real hard time trying to figure out why, however, mine was also componded by the fact that the temperature ran hotter than it was supposed to ... so it really had me worried.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling. The bottomline is that I was asking because I thought maybe the motor may have overheated at some point before you bought it. Like in my case, it overheated enough to cause hot-start problems, but not enough for the engine to completely die! The smoke is not necessary, but it would have been a sign for you to probe deeper.

However, I had somehow missed that you solved the problems when I read all the threads yesterday. So, just disregard my question.

Congrats! Glad you won this round! Like someone said earlier ... be prepared to be frustrated with this car, but when things are running right, it's gonna be fun ... and it will make the problems seem all worth it.

 

Oh by the way ... oil and and antifreeze are important for any engine ... but rotaries NEED them to be right in order to live healthy lives, so just bear that in mind.

For example ... the overheating problem that I told you about. It turns out that that guy before me had used some cheap-*** radiator cap that didn't have the right pressure rating. Before my 12A finally gave up the ghost, the reservoir tank blew up in my face one night (by the way, hot antifreeze hurts ) ... and after I put my 13B in it, it took months for me to figure out why the motor was running so hot and it made wheezing noises, like your carb was making)

I happened to read the cooling tips on the mazdatrix site ... and that's when it dawned on me to check the pressure of the cooling system. BINGO! Now my 13B runs all day long with no problems. So a 12A died for a problem that could have been fixed for less than $5.00.

Okay ... here endeth the sermon ... my brotha!!!!!

 

Yippee skippy!

 

Diabolical 1, I appreciate the advice...

I hate to beat a dead horse, but back to the subject of power, how fast, slow should the car be? It is greatly improved with a good idle now, but IMO its still pretty damn slow. I know this is all relative, but how slow? It feels like a 20 sec car! (1/4 mile).

Don't get mad, when I said I was a newbie I was referring to the 12a (and carb), not rx7's or cars for that matter, one of my other cars is a gsl-se, should it be SIGNIFICANTLY slower than it? My purpose for the 12a(it's cheap and this car is the perfect "teacher") is to learn how to drive on the track. (I am learning, if you can't go fast with 99 hp, 299hp won't help you, my FD and Cobra have taught me that much)

Don

 

A 12A car is pretty damn slow indeed in its stock form...

Here are the numbers according to a book I have called "Mazda RX-7: the first generation" by John Ball :

0-60 acceleration: 9-10 seconds (12A)
8-9 seconds (SE)

1/4 mile: 17-18 seconds @ 80-83 mph (12A)
16-17 seconds @ 84-85 mph (SE)

The numbers are vague because he takes into account the different numbers published by different road tests, ie. car and driver, etc.

Don't be discouraged though, because these numbers are not too hard to remedy.

A good exhaust system like the Racing Beat (header, presilencer, muffler, no cats) will allow you to run about a 16 flat in my experience. Remove all emissions and other unnecessary equipment, install an electric fan, dial in a little timing advance, rejet the carb, and you're looking at mid 15's or so.

Add a good aftermarket carb, fuel pump and regulator and a little more weight reduction and you're now into the high 14's or at least 15 flat's.

That's about the limit of the stock port size - around 155 hp and a little under a 15 sec quarter. But weight is key to that 1/4 mile number - depending on how far you're willing to go with weight reduction you could improve on that a fair bit I'm sure.

 

well ... if i offended you, then you have my apologies. i guess i just took the "newbie-thing" a little too literal, but there was no way of knowing.

anyway, i'd say everything that SilverRocket just said. a stock 12A, compared to a stock SE, won't seem like much. but with a few simple mods, it will run with a stock SE, especially from 3500 RPM to redline.