Hi, I just bought a 1979 5spd 7, I'm planning on fixing it up to be my pizza delivery car. I also plan on autocrossing it this season if I can get it sorted out well enough by March.

Here's a pic of her:



My first question is about my wheels. I have never seen them on an rx7, but the center caps have a mazda emblem on them. This leads me to believe that they may be factory wheels. Here are some pictures of them.



And the center caps:



Are these wheels factory?

I'm going to try to hit them with some steel wool to take off the rust, then re polish them with my powerball.

My second question is about the tach, right now it's just showing volts. I have read that your trailing ignitor supplies the signal for the tach, but I can't find anything about an ignitor in my haynes. Where are the ignitors?

I have been doing tons of research on this site, just trying to get some specific details.

Right now the car runs like ***, I'm hoping its just bad gas. I need to do a brake overhaul and get some tires on it before i can start driving it, then it needs shocks.

 

I assure you that those wheels are not factory. At least not to any first generation Rx-7. Looks like some home made center caps to me. Or maybe someone found some Mazda stickers that were the right size and put them on there....

As far as your tach goes, I'm not sure that the 79s had ignitors on them? I know that they didn't have the electronic ignition, but I'm not sure about ignitors. Anyway, if your 79 does have ignitors, they will be mounted on the side of the distributor, right by the cap. Two black plastic guys with wires going into the top of them....

 

They look close to my rims, their keystone but my center caps did say keystone on them.

I still have the original boxs with model # if your interested it may point you somewhere.

And welcome to the dark side

 

ive never sceen those wheels before. they look almost like american racing wheel with mazda center caps. if you think you have bad gas you should drain the tank and then replace the fuel filter. you should also try running sea foam thruogh the fuel system. if the car was sitting for a while, plugs and wires should be replaced and the break system should be inspected also. others will come in with more info

 

i don't think those are factory

 

Ditch the wheels and search the forums and archives on how to refresh the car from storage. Also, please dont make it a pizza delivery car

 

Could you imagine a 7 used for delivery

Bbbrrrraaaa bra bra brap brap bbbbooooommmm…..you might not even have to ring the doorbell to get someone’s attention…And the pizza would smell a little like exhaust. lol

 

I used to deliver pizza's in an '83 GSL... Once I accidentally turned the key start when the car was running so the starter sh*t the bed. For the rest of the night I had to push start it. I also hauled a stand up jetski in the back of that same '83... those were the days.

 

It's okay guys, once the Rx-7 grabs ahold of him he'll be delivering the pizzas in the white FWD I see in his pictures...

You'll get the rotary bug.... we all did and look at us...

 

I think it's genius. It's the surest way to meet the other rotorheads in town. They damn-sure heard you coming, and if their neighbor is a rotorhead, they've heard the sound many, many times before.

Unless it's an FD. They're always broken

I'll throw out another possible manufacturer, and that's Diamond Racing. Their challenger wheels were popular for a while when you wanted some straight, light wheels for race rubber.

 

I didn't think the wheels looked factory, but the centers threw me off. I don't really like them, but the budget pretty much forces me to keep em.

I'm pretty sure my ignition is all stock, so I guess that I don't have ignitors. I'm thinking about upgrading to the newer ignition system, but I want to try and get her running as is before I start modding it. Also not sure how it would affect my autox classing.

Any other ideas about the tach?

I was also thinking about removing my airpump belt. I've read on it and it's supposed to cut down on backfiring.

 

Steel wool or Bead blast the rims to get the rust off. If needed clear coat them. They look to be the old keystone's that someone put a mazda emblem on.
I don't think using this for a pizza car would make you much money as the gas mileage would suck, but to be out where you could meet others would be cool.

 

yeah, i'm a little worried about the mileage. i've always got the civic if the mileage is just too terrible for me. I mostly wanted it for autocross, but i'd like to drive pies in it as well so I can get a little more use from the car.

 

Well, the air pump itself doesn't cut down on backfiring. There's the AAB valve that shuts down one rotor on deceleration, and the ACV that directs air pump air to the cat, and other hardware. The ignition upgrade might be worthwhile as it's not hard if you have the parts handy, and it means you don't have to fiddle with the points.

Can you give us a full rundown of how the car runs and what's been added or removed? Pics of the engine bay would help a lot, too.

 

Welcome to the forum and the Darkside. In my sig are links to the online FSMs, carb manual, etc. Download the 80 and 85 FSM. The 80 will deatail some of the differences between the SA/FBs, the 85 is more complete with better pics and diagrams.

The 79 has points and resistors, not ignitors. That's one of the first mods you should do. The 79 tach pulls it's signal from the leading side since the trailing ignition only works part time. The tach also doubles as a voltmeter when the key is on, but only before the engine is started. After that is should read as a tach while running. You might download the 79 wiring diagram too since it's not included in the manual.

As far as the wheels, if they are wider than 5.5", you might consider having them redone so you can put bigger meats than the stock wheels take. Good for autocross.
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haven't measured the wheels. yet. Right now there are 205/50/13's on there.

Electronic distributor upgrade is definitely in the near future. There is an 84 auto gsl near me that I might pick up for upgrade parts.

How much does a used dizzy/coils from an 81 and up cost?

 

buy a 81-85 dizzy and coils from the for sale/wanted forum. iirc i got mine for around 100, but that was a while back.
http://www.mazspeed.com/ignitionswap.htm

 

You have J-105's, and those are not mounted on the dizzy, but near the drivers side strut tower.

 

my j-105's were on the dizzy? the ballasts were on the strut tower...

 

I'll take a look at it tomorrow. I'm going to do some work to it and I'll look for the j-105's.

 

look at the connections from the leading coil. I believe that the tach signal comes from one of those wires. yellow/blue maybe?

 

Good luck with the 7. I have the SA motor in my FB. Love it alot better than my other motor.
~andrew

 

Nice find. Treat it well, they are rearer by the DAY!!!

 

You are thinking of an 80.

79 had points.

 

Me and my buddy bled the brakes today, I drove the car around the block and it seems okay. Runs kind of rough, hopefully some plugs, new gas, a fuel filter, and an electronic dizzy will smooth it out.

The car also smokes a lot, but the po said he put some 2 stroke in the gas tank and I think he put in way too much.

I looked around and there are no j105s here. I don't see any wires on my coils other than the pos, neg, and plug wires either. My speedo doesn't work either, i'll have to check behind the cluster I guess.