I'm really an FC guy, and that's all I've ever had to learn about and work on, so this 'Nikki' carb stuff is all new to me. I bought this 85 FB last night about an hour and a half away in Cartersville, GA. It definitely needs some TLC, but it's not too shabby for $350. My uncle and I got it to run on starting fluid for about 30 seconds, so I know for sure it runs. I pulled the plugs and there's the nice, even, loud compression pops so the seals are all there. I put about a gallon of gas in the tank since it had been drained before storage, but it's not getting to the carb. I've been informed by the infamous Ray Green that the filter could be clogged from the car sitting for 2 years. The p/o claims the fuel pump was replaced, so I'll go with that for now until I can get back to the car to test it. All I'm really worried about now is finding a deal on getting it towed back home. But I'll get back to the lack of gas and Nikki stuff once I know more and understand it better. Here's the car:





And a short, quick video:


It's an 85 something, I couldn't find a badge to tell me the package. It has 225,000 miles, but I'm always hearing that FB's run forever so why not? The body's straight with a very small amount of surface rust above the tail lights that's easily fixable. Looks like a hand pushed in the spot about the pass. tail light and below the hatch, but nothing big really. It's got a grey interior, which is currently gross since the aftermarket sunroof leaks. The pass carpet just might come clean, and it needs new door panels and a new drivers seat at the least. Some ricer painted the radio trim, vents, and dash opener white, but that's easily fixable too. Hopefully with a lot of cleaning and a claybar kit I can have this car looking 10x better within a week or 2.

And I've heard the rumors that you FB folk are much, much nicer than the people in the FC section of the board, so I look forward to putting that to a test. I'll try to post everything on here as well as the OGTA thread. There's probably some info I left out here that's on there:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...75955&page=245

Thanks for checking it out,
-Brett

 

Brett, welcome to the 1st Gen section! looks like you picked yourself up an S model. looks as if the mirrors are not power.. i'll post more info on model identification in a few. but a restorable 7 for $350 is a super sweet deal!! if you know Ray Green, you are already in world class company. the guy is top notch. would definatly love to see more pics of the car! interior engine bay etc...

test to see if the fuel pump is running when you are cranking the engine over. if not, test for voltage to the fuel pump at teh conector. its located under the driver's side storage bin. fuel filter is very easy to replace as well. its located under the left rear side of the vehicle, right near the "frame rail". i'll get a pic for you. keep us posted on your progress!

 

here's a pic of the fuel pump and filter location. you can easialy see the filter on the left and the pump is located under the metal plate just ahead of the filter:

 

here's some information on testing the sender. with the age of the vehicle and the fact that its a first gen, you'll probably need it, lol:



here's the specs on an 84 so that you can see the options available on each specific grade:



and the same for an 85. however, the only change should be that the 85 GS was not available with the option of a sunroof, whereas the 84 was:

 

Brett I'm expecting to see this at ZoomFest!

Welcome to the 1st gen section. We're a bit more laid back here.
This thread might get moved on you into our non-tech section
but don't panic, thats normal.

 

mazdaverx713b- thanks for all of the useful info, you know I'll use it. I'm fortunate enough to live about an hour from Ray, and I probably see him once a month at our OGTA meets.

I doubt that The FC's been dying to see Road Atlanta, and I really wouldn't have time to go over everything on the FB to trust it completely since ZF's just about a week away. It'll make it to some OGTA meets though and there will definitely be pictures Maybe next year's ZF.

That probably would be more appropriate since I just had that one question about the fuel and this is more like a 'look what I got and am going to do' thread.

So I'm picking up the car tomorrow evening. My step dad can get his work truck (F-250) and we can rent a dolly from U-Haul for $35. So far I'll have about $420 invested in the car. Then once it's home I'll go crazy on it Saturday. I'm excited!

 

Nice find Brett! For $350 that's a bargain, nice looking car with big potential.

Dave is a veritable encyclopedia of FB (and SA and SE) knowledge, follow his lead (except the part about "world class". Unfortunately Brett knows me too well to fall for this).

And yeah, Tim has an interesting idea. Any chance of getting this ready to go for Zoomfest?

 

How far away are you from mobile, Al? I have some grey Seats that are in excellent shape with no rips or stains if you're interested. And I have a extra haynes manuel for the FB.


But good luck with the resto. I'm sure once you get it running right, it'll be a lot more fun than your FCs even though it's slower.

 

Welcome Brett,

If you know Ray and the OGTA people you have a much better start than most new FB owners. Fuel filter is one of the the first things I'd do also.

When we towed my brother's non starting 84 GSL back from Virginia It had been sitting for 5 years and wouldn't start. I removed the left rear wheel and the plastic panel behind it. This gave me access to the fuel sending unit plate. I removed it (the little screws can be a pain) and was left with a 3" hole in the tank. When I shined a flashlight inside I saw a 1/2" of rusty looking crude. I dropped the tank, cleaned, sealed and reinstalled it along with a new fuel filter. Car started and ran OK with fresh gas. Still not reliable. I removed, disassembled, soaked, blew out with compressed air, and reassembled the carb with new gaskets and needle valves. Car ran great. New distributor cap, rotor, plugs and plug wires made it quick and reliable. In the five years since, little things have needed replacement, but the fuel pump (original) just got replaced last month. Old evaporated gas leaves nasty residue behind. Not saying yours will be the same, but this is how I've brought several abandoned FBs back to life.

Carb manual, FSM, wiring diagram and many other reference materials are on these sites
http://wright-here.net/cars/rx7/manuals.html
http://foxed.ca/foxed/index.php?page=rx7manual

Ron

 

here's some info and my writeup on dropping the tank should you need to do that. others may do it differently, but this is what i've found works. dropping the tank is no big feat. just make sure you drain all of the gas first. it makes a big difference when removing and reinstalling the tank. pop open te filler door and remove the three 8mm bolts holding the filler neck on. push the filler neck through the opening. it may be a little tough at first but the seal will unstick and it will push through.

next, get under the car and remove the three lines ahead of the fuel tank. eaiser to do this now rather than when the tank is coming down. then you'll want to remove the small plastic splash guard in the left wheel well. this will give you access to the sending unit. unplug it. chances are the connector will fight you a bit coming off and will be stiff. be patient with it.

you will then want to remove the two 14mm bolts holding the tank up, move the straps down, and work the tank down. get the tank on the ground and remove the pickup lines and the fuel level sender. you may find the screws for the fuel level sender very rusty and difficult to remove..of course you are in NC so i doubt that thats the case... you can now look in the tank and make a determination of where you want to go from there. when the tank is clean you will want to replace the gasket for the fuel level sender and the gasket for the pickup lines. you may also want to replace the pickup screen that attatches to the pickup lines. this can be clogged or ripped or otherwise in poor condition. the part numbers for replacement parts from mazda are as follows:

pickup/return line gasket: FA54-42-182

fuel level sender gasket: 8871-60-962A

pickp screen: GA97-42-113

fuel tank pad: 8871-42-761

fuel level sender(if yours is bad. new sender comes with gasket): FA54-60-960

i have recently purchased most of these parts for my project and the prices are pretty reasonable from the dealer.

pics to follow with explanations.

 

here are the instructions with pics for the tank removal:

first, jack the car up, put it on stands, remove the left rear wheel, remove the plastic splash shield in the left wheel well. it is held on by two 10mm bolts and a 10mm nut. this will expose the fuel level sender which needs to be unplugged at this step:



next, open the filler door, remove the gas cap and the three 8mm bolts, lift off the plate and push the neck down until it breaks away from the body:



now is a good time to drain the gas. place a suitable bucket under the drain plug and remove the drain plug. a clean 5 gallon bucket works great and you can empty the bucket into a 5 gallon gas can or cans:



after the tank is drained, reinstall the drain plug and remove the clamps from the feed, return, and vent lines and slide the hoses off:



once thats done, remove the 14mm bolt from from each tank strap, they'll be in the front of the straps towards the rear bumper and you'll want to swing the straps down:



when the tank starts coming down, wiggle the filler neck out of its opening. once you do this, the tank will finish coming down(all the while you are supporting the tank with your leg or suitable support i hope)



and the tank will be down and ready for service:



once you are satisfied with the tank, install is the reverse of removal. wiggling the filler neck into its opening while installing the tank at an angle is the toughest part. once everything is set in place, you'll bolt the straps up, install the lines, install the filler hose and cap, connect the sender connector, install the splash shield, install the tire, lower the car down, fill the tank with gas, start, and check for leaks.

here is the new pickup gasket and fuel level sender with screws installed





reinstall the tank and add a coat of undercoating to preserve the sender and protect it and the screws from rust. you may also want to clean and undercoat the entire top of the tank while it out to preserve it:

 

Oh you wish The FC's been waiting for Road Atlanta!

I've got an OGTA friend that has a decent set, and I'm a good 6 hours from Mobile. I've got family in Theodore there that I was trying to get a turbo miata from before the FB Thanks for the offer though!

mazdaverx713b- Man you know your stuff I'm debating on driving back to the car tonight to check the filter and pump and add more gas and see if it just might drive home. It's under $10 in gas with out handy dandy Honda Accord, so I think why not? But then I think it would be safer on a dolly, too... Anyways, one thing I think I'll like more about my FC though- you can pop off a nice panel under the hatch carpet and get to the fuel pump and strainer and sender and all that good stuff

 

Now Brett surely you can get that thing running and drive it back tonight (hint: put some gas in the tank, bring a spare fuel filter; FB fuel pumps almost never go bad but get blamed for all kinds of things they didn't do).

Then you have a week to clean it up, get the shine back on the paint and drive it from your house over to Road Atlanta for Zoomfest. Once you get it to the track Road Atlanta has all kinds of tow trucks to help you out if it quits running while you are out on your warm up laps.

Stop being so pessimistic, that's a hold over from your FC days. FBs just want to make you happy.

 

That last line is signature worthy, Ray I'm selling those old wheels that I had on my car tonight possibly because I need to put the money I've spent on this FB back into my college fund, but if I've got time I just might go get 5 gallons worth of gas and a fuel filter and ride over there. But what about him saying the floats needed to be set? How would I mess with that if it wouldn't stay running? It's a 60 mile drive from here to there Humm...

 

Update: I'm going to be safe because I would die if this car had to sit on the side of the road... I'm getting a car dolly from U-Haul tomorrow morning and using my dad's truck like I said earlier and towing it home. Then the fun will start.

 

welcome to the cool kids club

 

The float level is set at the factory, so unless they've already been messed with, you shouldn't try to adjust them.

 

When you get it home, let Ray help you rebuild the Nikki, I'm betting it's probably a little gummed up too.

 

Dude. Welcome to the "real" RX7s. Don't get me wrong, the second and third gens are okay, but nothing compares to the first gens. You will find that out once you get her back on the road. Good luck. There are some good knowledgable people here. Ray is probably one of the best "good" guys here.

 

You guys are giving me too much credit on the OGTA thing, I'm just the secretary. Holly, Crit, Billy and Mike are the real masterminds, as Brett knows. But hey Brett, bring the Nikki over, we'll take a shot at it and call them when we run into trouble.

Once you've rebuilt a Nikki there's no going back. And once you take that pretty red car of yours around the Road Atlanta track you'll be selling the FC, you watch.

 

I hope not! I have that thought everyone has with their first car that I'll keep it forever



And the offer on the Nikki sounds good. I'm about to head out to pick up the truck and the dolly, and if everything goes well I'll have the car home ready to go crazy around 3 this afternoon!

 

Agreed, that's a nice FC Brett. Let me know how it goes, I'm around all weekend.

 

totally agree, a nice fc. but it isn't an fb :P

 

Alright, the car's home! I replaced the fuel filter and put 5 fresh gallons of gas in the empty system and it's still not getting fuel. I don't hear anything from the fuel pump, and when I picked it up the seller mentioned that the fuel pump wasn't an FB one, but another car's retrofitted on there and he had forgotten. But atleast it's home. I'm about to go search around to see what all is involved with checking and replacing the fuel pump. But it's home! Pictures later when my arm and fingers aren't covered in gas

 

glad to hear that its home!!! the first big step. i would inspect the fuel pump and most likely replace it with an oem unit (or aftermarket oem type.) if you need i can post pics of an oem pump for reference. will definatly look forward to new pics as you post them!!!