Hey i just bought a 1980 rx7 in great condition and its supercharged.
The guy who i bought it from told me he got it idling at 600 instead of 1000.
So can anyone tell me what this means? I'd appreciate it thanx.

 

not exactly sure what ur asking but sounds like he means he had it idling at 600 rpm instead of 1000 rpm.

 

Yeah...sounds pretty simple

Slightly off topic here, but what is the correct idle for an SE? My car likes to be just above 600rpm...but this seems a little low.

 

the SE should idle at 800rpm

 

I can get my car to idle as low as 400, but I choose 900 for the throttle response

 

Lowering the idle can help with fuel consumption, but not by too much. I have my Sterling idling at around 750. Most fuel injected vehicles idle around 1000.

 

If you drive your car at night, you don't want it to idle below 700 as your battery will be receiving low charge.

At 550 rpm on my 83 gsl the battery is only getting 12v. at 770 with with the lamps on it's around 13.2v

 

Yeah. I've noticed in my FC with the stock volt meter the voltage drops almost 2 whole volts when you drop it under 750 (recommended idle). Drop it to 3-400 and it's struggling to hold 12 volts. Keep it at about 850 and it sits at about 14 volts.

Not to mention, when you pop your headlights on or if you have AC or power steering it will leach off of your idle a little and can cause it to dip down.

Honestly it's really good if your engine can idle smoothly at lower than factory numbers. It usually means it's in great shape. I think that's what he was getting at if he was bragging about it idling so low. Higher idle is a symptom of bad tuning, clogged fuel system, worn spark system, VERY dirty air filter, low compression, vacuum leaks etc etc. So it's good if it can handle really low idle.

Plus. Idling too low can cause more carbon build up.

 

750 is the spec for a stock 80.

I've often considered hooking the control solenoid for the throttle opener (normally triggered by turning on the AC) to the headlights, to up my idle at night... I've always seen a marked voltage drop idling at night with lights and fan (but not AC) on. 1st-gen alts are really underpowered IMO.

But I'm also often pretty lazy, so I've never actually done it.

 

i agree about the low idling being a sign of a good engine.
Rotary engines can idle as low as 400rpm and be drivable.

MY sugestion to you would be to drive it at 600 for a day, adjust it to 750 drive it for a day, and see what you like better.

Also look at how your engine is working at different idles, lower idle can reveal a poor mixture settings or even other things like timing.

When i tune my engine i tune it to the lowest idle, make sure the car runs as smoothly as it can at the lowest rpm it can, then raise the rpm to a level i like. Adjusting mixture as well in the process.

 

how do you change how high or low it idles at?

 

by turning the idle adjust screw on the left side of the carb