I am a new member and have just bought a 81 RX7. I love this car but am having problems with the carb and am not a good mech. In checking the local shops there is no one who can rebuild these carbs so I am going to have to buy a re-manufactured one. I have a friend who use to be a certified car re-pairman (American) and he has said that the re-manufactured ones from Auto-Zone and other national chains are just not really what they should be. So, Any suggestions on what I could do. He said he could rebuild it but he dosnt have an agetator to clean correctly. The car runs now but stutters at takeoff and will sometimes die before it kicks in and runs. Looks like 2 of the jets are not shooting gas and even when we rev at 4000 RPM's they dont look like they are kicking in. From the FAQ's I have read it could be the checkball is sticking from varnish build up as the car was sitting up for 2 years. Should I buy a re-manufactured one and from who or try to re-build ourselves. I was told that this is a really difficult carb to re-build. Any suggestions would be helpful as I want to slowly totally restore to like new. Thanks Dan

 

I had problems with the carb on my 84 acting a similar way and one of the members on the board told me to run a can of Seafoam through my gas tank and amazingly it worked the way it said it would and fixed my carb problems. It doesnt hurt to run a can through like a 1/4 tank of gas and see if it helps. Good luck.

 

It's not very hard to rebuild the carb yourself. Look in the FAQ and do some searches on rebuilding the Nikki. Then go out and get a rebuild kit. Again, some searching will get you recommendations on the best rebuild kit to get. Then go to http://www.wankel.net/~krwright/cars/rx7/manuals.html and download the carb repair manuals.

You don't need special tools. A bucket of carb cleaner should be available at your local auto parts store. Read the carb manual. Use a digital camera or draw pictures as you disassemble it. Clean everything well. Take your time and carefully put it back together. If you work really slowly, the whoile job will take a day or less.

 

Welcome to the club.

 

Thanks guys for the advice. I may try to do it myself. I do love these cars.

 

Slashdawg beat me to my usual post to the FSMs. The carb manual will do the trick for you. Btw, when you go to a shop and say rotary engine, most mechanics hide. The sad truth is the only part of the entire car that is different, is the engine internals. Otherwise, it's just a car and any knowledgeable mechanic should be able to work on it.
The stock Nikki is a 4 barrel carb, nothing special or very different from any other 4 barrel.

 

What would be a good rebuild kit and where can I get one? You guys have convinced me to give it a try. And yes I will photograph all steps of taking it apart and going back together.

 

I found a Standard brand kit at Autozone, has the good washers and everything you should need. 30 bucks out the door.

 

Trochoid;
your post left me with a couple questions, and hopefully the answers will be useful to Theknifemaker as well.

I searched on Autozones website, and the only carb kit i could find was a GP Sorensen P/N 96-538, which is special order.

is this the kit you refer to as "Standard Brand"?

what do you mean by "Good Washers"?

Thanks

 

Sorensen is a good kit. Some of the same kits are packaged under different names. A few of the kits have fiber sealing washers, the good ones have aluminum ones. Order it.