bahlorm

I have just recently got this 85 rx7 last weekend. This is the first one I have ever owned and I figured it would be a fun and nice car to drive. Now this thing has been sitting for a year and a half and I got it running the other day and today I got it to where it would be safe to take it out on the road. I didn't go far because it has bad oil and I was just trying to see if the shop down the road was open and I couldn't get my drain plug off without stripping it. But I decided to get on the gas a little, I wasn't on it real hard but the acceleration on this thing was very slow. Much slower than the 88 civic I used to have which had less power and only weighed 100 lb less than this car. I know the 12a engine isn't real powerful but I expected more out of this thing. I am wondering if maybe there is something causing it to be so sluggish (may be oil but I will get that changed as soon as I can) or if these cars are just that slow stock wise. I was just going the speed limit and taking off it required me to give it quite a bit of gas and shift fairly high just to keep up with traffic. This car does have a new air filter, just did a tuneup, replaced a few vacuum hoses, and has a clean fuel filter.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Traffic was slower back in the early 80s. Lots of old heavy gutless cars from the 70s. Not so today.

clykins

iTrader: (1)

The stock 12a is good strong engine. Do a quick search and you should find a number of threads dealing with similar issues. The FSM is dependable in the stickys (1st eight or threads) and has a number of things you can test to find the problem. Good luck.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

yeah traffic was faster in the 60's...

LizardFC

iTrader: (1)

These things are slow in stock condition. When I got mine, I was used to driving a TII. Although the FB ran great, I remember putting the pedal down and thinking, "Wow... really?" You have to remove all the crap that is tied so tightly around the car's *****. If you want an idea of just what kind of restrictions the engine is dealing with, look under the car. My 85 had two precats and one main cat, plus a caste iron manifold that was doing no favors. All of this with a 2" diameter pipe. Now take the carb off and have a look at the intake manifold. Yes, that's a plate blocking one of the intake runners! And read the 1st gen FAQ articles about rats nest removal, emissions removal, and stripping the carburetor and have a look at how much crap you can remove from the engine bay. Just removing all the emissions equipment and switching to a better flowing intake and exhaust has been said to increase power up to 30% over stock. And you'll drop 50 to 100lbs. The air pump system alone must weigh about 20. You can also safely advance the timing quite a bit.

Even with all that done, it's not gonna be a fast car. But it'll be a lot more fun. But first you really need to get the poor thing tuned up. Change the oil, plugs, fuel filter, and clean your K&N.

And another thing: Rotaries like to spin fast. The secondaries and the vacuum advance system (provided this is still working) don't kick in until about 4k, and peak power happens at about 6-6.5k. So if you're cruising at 3k and you stomp the gas, not much is going to happen. It'll probably just sputter at you because the tired accelerator pump couldn't keep up. You have to know how to drive these things. I had my exhaust made the other day and I watched the mechanic stall the car twice just trying to get it into the bay!

bahlorm

I will definitely check out the faq to see what all I can remove. It just has no throttle response at all, when I hit the gas and shift around 5k I see that I am still only going 40 mph in 3rd gear and it takes quite a while to get the rpms actually going. I am thinking maybe the cable to the gas petal may be a little loose also.

When I went to get my oil changed, I was on a road with a bunch of gravel on it and popping the clutch at 4k rpm still wasn't enough to break the tires in gravel. Just an example of how bad this car is right now. Not to mention the exhaust the person put on it makes it sound like a lawn mower, its not a ricer sound but it sounds like the car just puts along... and it kind of does

clykins

iTrader: (1)

Dependable...yes, but I was going for "downloadable".

bahlorm

Also is there any other place to find out how to strip out the carburetor? I went into the FAQ page and the link it has showed a bunch of pictures that are no longer there. So I can't really see how to go about doing it.

mikeric

iTrader: (20)

Sounds like you will want to be going turbo...

Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

The pictures for stripping the carburetor down are posted HERE:
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/carb-rebuild-how-strip-nikki-down-rx7carl-please-help-647576/page2/

I am going to update them some time to be a little more accurate, and have more detail. But for the time being they will work fine for you.

My advice for you:

1) Do a rat's nest removal
2) Remove the air pump
3) Remove the hot start assist
4) Remove the cold start assist
5) Remove the A/C if you have it
6) Remove the catalytic converters
7) Get a racing beat header and a presilencer or straight pipe of some kind
8) Remove the shutter valve in the intake manifold
9) Better air filter setup

That is the basic list and by itself will make a HUGE difference in the car. Your throttle response will be 1000x better than stock if you do just the lit above. If you wanted to go farther you could add the following:

9) Electric fan
10) Mechanical secondaries for the Nikki carb
11) Some type of direct fire ignition (DLIDFIS, 2GCDFIS, or TFIDFIS)
12) Upgraded fuel pump with FPR
13) Light flywheel

I'm only an hour and 45 min from you. I'm in Greenwood. If you get stuck I can help you out. Or if you wanted to bring the 7 up to my place some time I could help you pull the Rat's nest off, and some of the other crap you don't need. I've done it many a time, so it would be pretty easy.

Jamie

-Gamah

iTrader: (1)

Even with all my emissions crap still on (though not all of it is hooked up) my car will do 0-60 in a tad under 9 seconds... by todays standards that isn't extremely fast, but still faster than most civics.

Like was mentioned before, you aren't really making much power untill 5K+ rpms... take that tach all the way to redline before you shift, it's not as dangerous or scray on a rotary as it is on piston engines.

But before you do ANY of that, get all your fluids changed, carb tuned up, hoses, plugs, wires, etc checked and replaced...

bahlorm

I think part of the problem may also be having a year and a half old gas put in it. I drove it around with some new gas in it and put some gas treatment in it and it seemed to help it out a little bit, but I have yet to really mash on the gas. I am afraid of getting the car going too quick (dry rotted tires may not last long). And I may have to hold you up to that Glazedham. I don't know anything about rotaries or carburetors. Plus I only mainly know the basics about normal cars lol. But of course you have to start and learn somehow.

84stock

iTrader: (5)

You must have a few issues. My 83 stockport 12a with 121,000 km (70,000 miles) is very "competent". I did a complete tune up, better flowing air filter ($10 cheapy for an old dodge 318), lighter spring in the nikki vac secondary diaphragm (modified a light holley spring), increased timing and replaced the cats with a bonez downpipe.

Before the tune up, carb mod, tuning and exhaust upgrade the car would start losing power at 6000 rpm, now it pulls well to red line.

It's not fast, but it does perform well. As mentioned, this would have felt quite fast with these mods back in 1983. Consider a 1979-82 v8 mustang had 120 hp and 1983 marked the revival year of performance and a 5.0L mustang produced 175 hp.

"NOW" fast forward to 2012 and a 5.0L mustang pumps out 412 hp and gets 25 mpg. A 2.0L mazda 3 puts out 148 hp today.

Bottom line, you gotta respect your rx7 for what it was intended and what it is, a nimble smooth little sports car. You can make it a beast, but that costs a pretty penny.....

On a pleasant day I like to take lucky for a spin and enjoy the crisp handling, the smooth performance and the quiet note of the exhaust.



If I want to go to the track or face some saturday night competion at the lights, then rex gets a spin..

bahlorm

Also thanks for the link on how to take all the stuff out of the carburetor. I will start working on it tomorrow. And hope I don't mess everything up. I already took 1 thing off and then the car wouldn't idle so I had to put it back on earlier today lol.

Yeah 84 I do have to say the handling on this car is amazing especially since it has no power steering. I want to just get this thing up a little quicker. I got this car mainly for autocross and a daily driver. I was told that this car should have no problem keeping up with these newer cars, and now that I have driven it it seems that my old 88 civic had more of a chance. I just think there is something that is causing it to be so sluggish. Whatever it is I am also wondering if it may also be linked to my car idling at around 1500 rpm. All my vacuum hoses are connected and in good shape, I just don't know if maybe the car needs retimed (or how to time it), or the idle is just set high and needs to be adjusted (don't know how to do that either, or the fuel regulator is not giving the car quite enough fuel? The car will also stutter and act as if it will die if I hit the gas hard from idle.

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Vacuum leak...

dj55b

iTrader: (2)

12a slow?

with a few light mods ... not really:

Last year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLq4A7ndyZY

3 years ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6nx8_E8gOA

bahlorm

That was a mainly stock rx7 in those vids? There is no way in hell mine is even close to being able to do that right now lol. The guy who had this car before me said he got it up to 120mph easily, and I just don't see this car going past 80 right now lol. Today I will attempt to strip the carburetor. I will probably have to take off a piece 1 at a time and start the car to make sure it didn't mess up anything. I have also just noticed that the old fuel filter is still on it, so I will have to check and make sure it is clean. I figured since there is another clear fuel filter in the engine bay that there wouldn't be another one.

Glazedham42

iTrader: (4)

The factory fuel filter is the one that is underneath the car, next to the rear driver side wheel. If you have another fuel filter in your engine bay then it is aftermarket. Change the fuel filter that is under the car. Even if it looks like it doesn't need it. They are about $4-5 if I remember right. They are way too small and clog up easily. Change it, no matter what it looks like.

bahlorm

Okay I will go ahead and do that today if it stops raining. Having 2 filters on it wouldn't mess with the fuel pressure would it?

dj55b

iTrader: (2)

It's still normally aspirated lol thats all you need to know :P

Here's an in car video in Alabama at Talladega grand prix. If anyone ever sees me on a track somewhere, don't be shy to ask for a ride!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vXAq...layer_embedded

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

carburetor fitted cars can't sit for extended periods of time without proper precautions taken.

sounds like your carb needs to be overhauled and fuel tank drained of crappy old gas. going through this right now with a customer because i could smell the varnish in the float bowls from 1 year+ old fuel..

dj55b, just disconnect your redline buzzer already... lol

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

if they aren't clogged its fine. the other thing to look at is the exhaust, the rotary NEEDS a freeflowing exhaust, if the converters are plugged, or something, it'll be slow.

if it was mine, id skip all the parts removal/emissions delete stuff, its a waste of time, instead 84stock's method works really well.

step 1 is to make sure the ignition system is in good order, the wires either should be new, or you can check them with the Ohm meter. cap and rotor should be new, fuel filters should be new, spark plugs should be new.

then you make sure the exhaust is working, the rotary has no exhaust valves, so its pickier about the exhaust. the stock converters like to collapse too.

i've never bought a used car and had everything actually work right, and its not really a big deal to go thru it and make sure the basics work...

Re-Speed.com

iTrader: (3)

Nonsense ... It's the way my engine tells me to go faster

bahlorm

It has a new aftermarket exhaust on the car from the headers back. I just got a new fuel filter but since it is raining, I have not put it on yet. I have new plugs, wires, air filter and all fluids in it. I did find 1 thread where some spring to open the secondaries was not in the proper place and I have come to find out it was the same way on mine. I fixed it and it has helped quite a bit. I even got a chirp shifting into 2nd at 5500 rpm. The rpm seems to just slowly go up still along with the speedometer but at least the car may go 0-60 within 12 seconds lol.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

sounds like it has about stock horsepower now then, lol.