Ok, I think I'm getting a little bit closer. THE ENGINE IS DEFINITELY OUT OF AN 85!! So I have succesfully established that the counterweight isn't the problem.

I've been changing some things around and it is starting to run better but I still have a few issues. I think I'm dealing with multiple problems at once, but I'm slowly getting them whittled down. Here is what I changed on the car last night with positive results...

1) Put on a new dizzy cap and rotor. The old ones were practically new, but somehow the cap had some scratching inside of it. I think the rotor scraped it once when I was trying to turn the dist. to change the timing. Anyway, those are brand new now.

2) Tried switching to two different igniters that I had laying around the garage. They are still used igniters, but I thought it was worth a shot. Don't know if this contributed to the changes in the car or not, but it was running better.

3) Put the hose back on that goes from the pots on the dist, and then T's to the carb spacer. Previously, I plugged up the carb spacer, and just left the dizzy pots uncapped. I put the hose back on and it seemed to help a little.

4) Changed the location of my PCV hose to prevent lung mustard buildup. I WAS running it from the oil neck nipple, through a PCV valve, to a nipple on the intake. I switch and NOW it is running from the oil neck, through the PCV valve, and then ends on the carb nipple between the two OMP nipples. I think this is what helped the most. I don't know why, but it seemed to change the behavior of the car quite a bit.

5) Change the fuel pressure numerous times and the car doesn't really seem to care what the fuel pressure is. It runs the same no matter what. So I put it at 4 and left it. Was working a little better.

SO........ after changing all of those things I have finally come up with a tangible symptom that could reflect an ignition problem. I reinstalled the dizzy just like the Haynes says by aligning the indicator pin with the leading timing mark, and then aligning the tally marks on the dizzy gear and shaft. Dropped it straight in the engine. So, for all intents and purposes the distributor was "correctly" installed.

When I went to check the timing it was actually pretty close. The car seemed to be running okay. At least better than before. I started trying to tweak the timing a little bit, and here is what I noticed was happening. For some reason when I checked my timing the trailing and leading plug firings seemed to be switched. I hooked my timing light up to the trailingg plug to adjust it, and it only moved when I turned the whole distributor. I tried adjusting the pot on the dizzy to see if I could adjust the trailing, but it wouldn't do anything. Then I hooked up to my leading plug and noticed that the dizzy pot was affecting the leading plug only. I would assume that this means it is firing my leading plug when the trailing is supposed to be firing?? Then when I turn the dizzy to adjust my leading igniton, they both change as normal. So basically the two plugs are switched!!?? (I hope all of that explanation made sense... )

I thought that I may have the plug wires switched, but I checked everything six times and all my plug wires are right. What the heck is causing this to happen? Do I have the electrical plug in connectors on the top of my igniters switched? This is the only thing I can think of that would cause this symptom. I haven't tried switching them though, because I didn't know what that would do. Any ideas why I am getting these backward readings between my trailing and leading plugs???

 

Sounds like the ignitor plugs are switched around or the connection to the coils are switched. You can check the wire colors to be sure. The trailing should have a YG wire and the leading should be YL (yellow w/ blue stripe). I believe the ignitor closest to the alt is the trailing. Also check the connection at the coils. The coil closest to the front of the car should be trailing (have the YG wire connected to the - terminal). The other is the leading (YL wire connected to the coil - terminal). Also the plug wires shouldn't cross as they connect to the dizzy (front coil trailing, rear leading).

 

gotcha.

 

Mmmm-Hmm.
-And when someone's asking for help, post what you know to be true or keep your trap shut. Bum advice "hit and run" style just for the sake of postwhoring never helps anyone. Just because you open a thread doesn't mean you should **** on someone's tire to let everyone know you were there.

 

hmmmmmm...since you mentioned *******. I could be a small one but you must be the big one. I guess you dont like that taste of your own advise as I didnt see anything wrong with Rick's post. he was just trying to help.

 

he's got a point. that and i don't get why this forum can't stand blunt opinions or advises? why do we have to 'baby' our suggestions? being blunt does hurt sometimes, but hey, i think that's the best way you'll learn.

rick's opinion was as just valid as others. so i don't get what's up with teh put down?

sterling, i think you just started it by calling names.

 

Oh so Rick's your pal. I couldn't figure out why you, of all people, would be defending him.
Now I see. Sorry to have stepped on your buddy's toes. Usually when a guy with a post count of 9 comes onto the second page of a troubleshooting thread and his first words are "Dump the stock carb and get a real carb...", it's someone who's not really trying to be helpful. I guess my knee-jerk response was uncalled for despite the fact that this would only have been about the thousandth friggin time someone has done just exactly that, because this time, he's your buddy.

Secondly, his "advice" is negating the rest of the thread...as if he hasn't even read it. -At least that's certainly what it seemed like to me. We pretty much covered the carburetor possibility on page one, I thought. (I did not realize he was part of the LA Nikki Haters' Club.)
Lemme recap for you...
I personally know for a fact there's nothing wrong with Jamie's carb because he said it was working fine and idled smoothly @ 500 RPM on his other car.
Just like it did on MY car after I built the ****** thing.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for me to defend my work when a newb gets on and adds his two cents stating matter of factly that the problem lies directly with a carb I built and tested, -even if I did call for a peaceful thread.

-That's my "blunt" opinion.

 

My dad's rx7 has the vacuum advance on the dizzy hooked together with a vacuum hose (the two mushroom looking things on the side of the dizzy)....don't know if it would help the issue at all.

- Tech

 

Double check to see if the pulley is setup right (carls cardomain site pics helped me out..more than once!)

If you havent already tried swapping the two plug wires on the coils, try it...

put it back if it doesnt help...


Try starting the car, and turning off the fuel pump, letting it run until the carb is out of fuel, then turn the pump on, start it, an see what it does....

After that, take off the plug wires at the coil, and crank it over while watching them, see if you hear a ZAP ZAP ZAP and see blue spark jumping....

Thats all I got... I didnt read the whole damn thing, so if its already resolved, my bad...

Hey Sterling, *******!!!

EDIT: Did you turn the carb upside down by anychance?

 

actually, i don't even know the guy. never met him in my life. neither am i defending him. i'm just saying how he's entitled to his opinion; if any it's jamie that should matter his opinion since he is the one looking for advice/opinions

and why does post count matter?? that is a very poor way of getting a 1st impression from someone here on the forum. you cannot judge whether or not someone is a newb or a pro by his post counts. steve khan has a much lower post count than me and you here in the forum, would you consider him a newb due to a lower post count?

 

How about you guys stop flopping your manhood around for each other and give some some ideas here.... haha

The car is actually running pretty decent now. It is still missing a little bit, but i'm going to try swapping in an entirely different dizzy and see what happens. The car idles beautifully now down to 500 RPM. (Like it always did before.) It also will rev up to 7K. It is still bucking a little bit when I hold the throttle constant around 3K - 4K. It is nothing terrible, and but I"m still going to try some other things to see what happens...

I am still absolutely baffled as to why my spark plugs seem to be firing oppositely. My trailing timing controls the leading plug, and the leading timing is controlling the trailing plug. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING??

 

Ok i was reading your HELP! Post and didnt even bother reading all the replies that followed it was too confusing to keep track of what was done and wasnt so im just going to list the things that you should look into that would cause your problems...

#1 up the fuel pressure to 3-3.5 psi for starters and I am not familiar with the Carter Fuel Pump but i know the stock unit for a 12A motor should need to run the return line for proper fuel distribution
(check to make sure you have the butterflies closed at idle and start from there)
#2 Check to make sure both Ignitors are firing
#3 make sure you buy new spark plus i like the Nippo Denso's for a '83 Mazda Rx-7
#4 Check your timing make sure the leading and trailing line up when checked
#5 change your fuel filter
#6 Check your voltage reading maybe you might need to replace your Voltage Regulator and its located in your alternator for models besides 79-80.
#7 check engine compression

 

PLEASE!
Do NOT turn this thread sour!
Poor Jamie has been working his *** off building this car from scratch for over a year. Let's help him out.

 

And who said we hate Nikki carbs. they are good door stopper.
And YES, I KNOW RICK.

 

Jamie: Did you read my post on the previous page? That should help you track down this problem. You need to check the wiring colors. Probably either the ignitors are switched or the wiring to the coils is.

 

what he said!

and could those idiots stop fighting in here. trying to work out a problem... (no need to reply, just take it somewhere else OK)... really sucks when your reading along about suggestions to fixing a problem and all fo the sudden there are people fighting with each other.

But check those wire colours and get back to us

You say the engine is still misfiring a bit... is this with load on it, or unloaded? Mine misfires a bit when unloaded, but as soon as its got load on it, it runs perfect..

 

[QUOTE=H4Inf]what he said!

and could those idiots stop fighting in here. trying to work out a problem... (no need to reply, just take it somewhere else OK)... really sucks when your reading along about suggestions to fixing a problem and all fo the sudden there are people fighting with each other.

QUOTE]


Just respect everyone's post. there we go with the name calling - so who ******* died and made you the anchorlady.