Hi guys,

I have just bought a 1980 Series 1 Rx7, it is running a 12a Bridgeport with 48mm IDA

When I picked it up yesterday, it started and ran fine and we loaded it on my trailer no problem and same again once back at my house (5 hour drive away) started fine drove it in to my garage where I parked it up for the night,

When I woke up this morning, I pulled it out of the garage and fired it up but for some reason is running horribly, no pulse and even when opening the throttle it spits and misses a little bit and overall just sounds dull.

So far, I noticed the band where the exhaust manifold meets the first flexi was loose so I have tightened that all up, I checked and replaced the spark plugs with new ones and i noticed the fuel pressure was set at 3psi which I tried to wind up a touch which made no difference at all,

If anyone has any advice on what I can try next, it will be much appreciated

 

How long was it running when you loaded it up on the trailer, and then again when you got it home? The worst thing you can do to a rotary engine is start it then shut it down before it warms up. If you did that twice, its possible that youve dislodged carbon from the oil control rings, rotor faces or housings, which has lodged one or more of the side, corner, or apex seals. When this occurs, you just need to get it warmed up enough that the carbon dislodges or softens enough to free up and get ejected out the exhaust. Some seafoam in a vacuum hose leading directly into the intake might help.

In the future, just be aware of it and avoid not letting it warm up. I actually push the car around the garage if I don't have time to start it up and actually drive it a few miles. If it ran well before, this is the most likely scenario. Search on "carbon lock"...

 

Oh right ok,

it was running both sides roughly 10-15mins

after I changed the plugs yesterday I had it running for close to 20mins while trying to give it a rev here and there and no change,

I forgot to mention that when I changed the plugs the leading were cleaner than the trailing too

 

Ok so,

I tested for spark and neither of the trailing plugs were sparking but both of the leading plugs were sparking,

I then switched the coil leads and retested,

now both of the trailing plugs are sparking and neither of the leading plugs are sparking,

I will get a new lead tomorrow and try that and hopefully that’s the issue!

 

Good process troubleshooting your problem.

 

Or you have a bad Ignitor. Is your tachometer working properly? It takes it's signal from the Trailing Coil, which is the coil closest to the front of the car (*don't ask me why...).

 

sorry only just seen this!

no the tacho isn’t working it is locked at 5k rpm I just assumed it hasn’t been wired up completely as the interior is a work in progress (no dash etc)

I ended up replacing both of the coil leads and is still misfiring!

I haven't retested the spark after doing that as I was feeling a bit defeated at the time

i tried wiggling wires on the coils and around the distributor but no changes

im going to get a test light and a multimeter tomorrow to start doing some more eliminating before buying more unnecessary parts

do you have any tips for how to use these correctly and what to try first and if not following that?

thanks

 

These are the coils I have, I used a multimeter set to 20k, put the negative in the bottom where it plugs in and the positive on the top where the lead connects.

one was reading 7.4 and the other was reading 7.57

 

Someone has modified the ignition system with non-standard parts. We would need to see how the wiring to put together and configured to let you know what they did.

 

thanks for your response, I will take a video and post it here later today once I’m back from work,

im in New Zealand by the way so time is a little off (currently 7.25am here)

 

here is link to video I’ve taken, I was messing with idle as I was filming at the start, I’ve just replaced all of the leads with new ones and this is the best it has sounded so far it normally just gurgles so a step in the right direction I think

 

Your car looks great. Someone took the time to do a lot of wiring tucking and cleanup.

Looks like someone has converted the 1980 version of "electronic ignition" to the more modern electronic ignition with ignitors on the dizzy. The coils, of course, are not stock. I can't tell what type of ignition this is. Is there a MSD box anywhere? I'm not versed in the different type of ignitions for aftermarket conversion.

From what I'm hearing in the video, the ignition seems to be working well. I'd say it has to be more of a carb issue.

 

I don’t think there is one of those boxes, all switches come to this panel and there is a lead direct from this to the coils, I have just drained the fuel tank(by siphon as no bung on this one) put fresh fuel in and added a fuel filter to the line, It starts and runs really well doesn’t miss a beat for about 5mins before sounding like it does in the video I posted

 

This is going to be a really hard one to diagnose over the internet.

My guess is fuel delivery.

 

Yes I agree, I think I might just focus on piecing the interior back together and I will take it in to a shop somewhere in the near future