I recently bought a 79 rx-7 and I have until the 18th to get the car smogged. The only problem is that the previous owner bought the car with the rats nest pulled and now I'm stuck with the chore of trying to get it to pass smog. Well long story short... do any of you fine gentlemen know where I can pick up a rats nest in the Riverside area?

 

Post a thread in the wanted to buy section. I suspect you'll need more than just the rats nest. The 79 has a thermal reactor exhaust and is NLA. Download the 79 service manual and check for missing/modded parts.

 

Thank you good sir.

 

you are fucked, so fucked.

 

Maybe not completely humped, but you are facing an uphill battle. Not a lot of SA smog parts left floating around.

Post some engine compartment pix so we can get an idea of just how much you're missing. Include shots down around the exhaust area.

You may have to go PNO for a while, or explore 'other options,' based on your deadline. It took me months to find all the parts I needed to just get my smog gear working right.

 

here are the pictures that I was able to take:

 

Exhaust at the engine looks intact, need pics of the rest of it. Air pump is missing, one-way valve in the return fuel line is missing and rats nest. If the exhaust is complete it may not be that hard to scrounge parts. Try to source them in CA as some of them may be different than the Federal models sold in the other 49 states.

 

get antique plates or you could leave that horrible state

 

In addition to Trochoid's catches:

Heat sheild for the thermal reactor is missing, as is the warm-air tube from it to the air cleaner.

Hose from air control valve to air cleaner also missing.

Need to see without the air cleaner on the carb.

There's no EGR valve on the engine, which means yours is a 49-state "Federal" build, not a California build - makes a difference in many smog parts. Actually works in your favor somewhat since it's a less-rare config. I'm not sure what additional hurdles it might put in your way, though.

Where was it registered previously?

Looks like the altitude compensator's busted off, but I can't see too clearly down there.

There may be some electrical relays missing up in front of the driver's position, again, angle's wrong.

 

that doesn't look too bad, you need to find an air pump. um i did a t2 like this where the vacuum rack was gone, so i just ran vacuum lines from the ACV to the 2 solenoids, it looks like spaghetti but it works.

you do have to go look at some of the books, ( foxed.ca ) and go and figure out which solenoids need to be hooked up and where.

oh and BTW you need to hook up the air pump to the air control valve and have that blowing into the heat exchanger and thermal reactor like mazda says it should, and it'll pass the sniffer no problem. you have all of those parts except the air pump, and the solenoids to run the ACV

 

DivinDriver: The car was registered in Ca but in ways that we should not speak of in this forum.

And thanks to all of you. I do have the books but haven't really had time to go thru them all to well. Trying to find somewhere to replace the alternator belt. It starts to wail when ihit 5k rpm.

 

Today is 10/10, your smog is due 10/18. you maybe able to find them parts but lets face it, there is 99.99% chance that you wont pass and I dont give a **** what people says unless you have plenty of cash to burn.

 

i agree it aint happening next week, but i could make it pass with 2 solenoids and an air pump.... the dyno smog is easy

 

It's a 79", Should only need an idle test. Being that it is a 79" there isn't much to the rats nest compared to later years.

 

With the air pump installed, the alt belt will quit slipping. Common problem for us that desmog.

 

not in california. and the loaded dyno test is actually WAY easier to pass than the idle test, which is actually the hardest for a rotary

but yes, you only need 2 solenoids to run the emissions system for EVERY rx7... the other solenoids do other things like the idle up for the a/c...

 

Just playing devil's advocate here, but even if the car was complete when he bought it, the odds on a '79 passing without a careful going-thru of the smog bits is 60/40 at best. Even with the most tender loving care, smog parts wear out & they ain't making no more. Adding points ignition into the mix doesn't help.

His alternatives are sort of limited, though. Especialy, as you said, if he's trying to work on a shoestring budget.

Timing on this blows as I'm unavailable all next week til the weekend, but let me know where you stand by the end of the week. I may be able to root up some of what you need out of my spares piles, at least for a loan to get you passed. There's a fair amount of similarity between our builds, & Riverside's not all that far from here; I'm just off the 71.

Even if you find everything, still might not pass on first test. It's possible to have every thing done per the manuals but you won't know the numbers until they probe your tailpipe.

 

Passing visual inspection is the easy part but once you're on a roller its is different and it could take $$$ to make it work right. Unfortunately, I dont sugar coat anything.