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While there are still many little projects to be done in the restoration of my car, my first goal was to get the car mechanically sound, running and drivable. As an aside, Father's day is tomorrow and I feel that starting up the car for the first time in 15years, for my father on Father's day would be quite momentous. I've primed the fuel system and it appears that it's ready to start- floats looks good, I have fuel where I didn't before which was the only thing stopping it from starting a couple months ago.
That said, I'm now ready to give it a bath so that it's looking pretty on the first drive. As expected, it shined up really nice!!!
That car cleaned up nicely!! Did you wax it to get that shine or was the paint that nice under the dirt? Something about a Mach Green SA just gets me. The spoiler by the hatch hinges is really neat. I've never seen one of those. Did the car come with it originally?
I did fire it up yesterday and did take video, however it won't stay running.
It's behaving like either a large vacuum leak or maybe a bad coil. It starts up right away and if I keep it above 2500-3000 then I can keep it running. It takes quite a bit of work though with frequent pumping of the accelerator, it's rough, and definitely is very low on power. Anything below 2500 and it can just instantly drop off and die, sometimes savable with pumping of the accelerator but not often. I screwed with the mixture screws a bit, from full close to many turns out, negligible impact.
I have 2 new coils coming in later today that I'll make sure to count out that as an issue. Even though the wires should be fine I got a set of those coming tomorrow just to be sure spark isn't an issue.
Otherwise I'll be going on the ever-so-wonderful vacuum leak hunt.
Additionally, the water pump is weeping so I have one coming in the next day or two and I'll be taking care of that as well. Not a surprise with this one.
I'll check back in likely on Wednesday and give you guys an update. Cheers.
PS- Dave & t_g_
The hatch wing is factory as far as I know. I am curious to know how unique this is, can't imagine many exist as it seems it hasn't been seen before.
And I gave the paint a very quick hit of rubbing compound to get out some surface marks and grime, but by no means has it been fully detailed.
I've never seen that spoiler before. Ever. It has to be unobtanium!
Have you messed with the idle speed screw at all? I would check for vacuum leaks Just to be on the safe side. Did you replace the cap, points and condenser, rotor, plugs or wires? The engine sounds like it has decent compression so that's a plus! Keep us posted on how it goes.
Also, have you talked to your dad about the car and asked if he had pictures of the car when it was new?
There were a whole host of factory accessories that were only ever available in Japan and some RHD markets. Pretty much everything the US market got under the Mazda "Finish Line" range did not actually originate from Mazda Japan but were locally sourced items branded by Mazda America under licence. As such, generally speaking, the targa bands, louvres, car bras available in the US were not available in Japan and the factory OEM accessories were not available in the US. The exception are things like wheels, stereos and cruise control which were factory options. The Japanese were very fond of little visors. For the series 2 and 3 SA22C you could also get factory door and A pillar visors. You could even get a reverse parking sensor. I've put up more details of these rare accessories here: 1st gen RX-7 OEM accessories brochure - AusRotary
The brochure lists a rear hatch louvre but it looks different and fits on the interior of the vehicle. The series 1 version may have been different or it could be an aftermarket item. Japan did have a very active aftermarket for these cars with all the great tuning houses over there. I don't have the JDM accessories brochure for series 1 to check it against unfortunately.
There were a whole host of factory accessories that were only ever available in Japan and some RHD markets. Pretty much everything the US market got under the Mazda "Finish Line" range did not actually originate from Mazda Japan but were locally sourced items branded by Mazda America under licence. As such, generally speaking, the targa bands, louvres, car bras available in the US were not available in Japan and the factory OEM accessories were not available in the US. The exception are things like wheels, stereos and cruise control which were factory options. The Japanese were very fond of little visors. For the series 2 and 3 SA22C you could also get factory door and A pillar visors. You could even get a reverse parking sensor. I've put up more details of these rare accessories here: 1st gen RX-7 OEM accessories brochure - AusRotary
The brochure lists a rear hatch louvre but it looks different and fits on the interior of the vehicle. The series 1 version may have been different or it could be an aftermarket item. Japan did have a very active aftermarket for these cars with all the great tuning houses over there. I don't have the JDM accessories brochure for series 1 to check it against unfortunately.
Yeah, like the tonneau covers for the rear hatch area. Mine came with that option installed. Lost it when I moved 11 years ago but found another last year and have it back on now. So unique and cool looking.
His Dad passed 3 years ago, so I don't think its possible, but who knows.
Correct, not possible. lol.
The ignition stuff was all replaced 15 years ago and I did refresh the plugs. I figured since the car hadn't run much since that the components would be alright but I've gone ahead and ordered all of it- cap, rotor, wires, condensers, points, coils. Proper water pump is on the way as well. All should be in the car by end of Friday.
Since I did get the cooling system cycled a bit while running it which had a flush treatment in it, I've got that all out and pushed a bunch of extra distilled water through the core, engine, and radiator. When I get the pump I'll probably fill it all back up with another flush treatment for good measure and dump it again after some driving.
I must have missed the part about your dad, I'm sorry. Just wondered if your family had any pictures of the car when new, ether with your father or grandfather. Would be cool to see those.
Good idea on ordering new ignition components. More than likely they are not causing the issue but its good to have fresh parts on the car to eliminate possible suspects of running concerns.
No-one carries points... at least not in stock. Not even Mazdatrix. I keep getting told to change out my dizzy haha.
They're on order, just taking way longer than everything else. I've ordered about 12 sets... I'm getting to that point where I recognize that I'm going to really need to collect a ton of parts planning for the future.
I have all the ignition parts installed and ready just waiting for the point sets to button it up.
Also installed the water pump, snagged one of the last remanufactured around - Napa said there was none left in the country according to their system.
Cardone is(was) a great remanufacture company to keep items as factory as possible but most items are depleted at this point.
Anyways, I'll let you guys know how it goes after I get the points in a few more days.
78 Savanna: i was wondering if you are keeping a list of parts #'s and suppliers for all the stuff you are sourcing?
I'm asking as I have the same car as you which needs some TLC.
I was thinking of doing this myself. moving forward.
78 Savanna: i was wondering if you are keeping a list of parts #'s and suppliers for all the stuff you are sourcing?
I'm asking as I have the same car as you which needs some TLC.
I was thinking of doing this myself. moving forward.
Generally speaking, yes. I have all my receipts and took a picture of nearly every part I ordered/received.
That said, that information isn't nicely organized at all- I have a huge pile of papers all pertaining to the car/parts. It will be able to be referenced but will take much sorting.
Additionally, I can honestly say that at least 50% of what I've purchased is no longer purchasable from the same sources. I've ordered last of inventory from most places when it comes to the OEM parts, often needing to find yet another source.
It's all doable, just takes a lot of time and dedication. Lots of emails and phone calls, and waiting...
I hear that. Most of the stuff will probably have to be rebuilt (brakes calipers and alternators, etc...)
I've had luck getting the alternator rebuilt on mine.
I've picked up odds and end for the interior through ebay (User: Japenese spares <- something like that)
and some places have some calipers rebuilt, but hard to find the right side.
I took some pics of the parts# for some stuff I replaced. One day I'll put them together as well.
Good Luck with everything.
Originally Posted by '78 Savanna
Generally speaking, yes. I have all my receipts and took a picture of nearly every part I ordered/received.
That said, that information isn't nicely organized at all- I have a huge pile of papers all pertaining to the car/parts. It will be able to be referenced but will take much sorting.
Additionally, I can honestly say that at least 50% of what I've purchased is no longer purchasable from the same sources. I've ordered last of inventory from most places when it comes to the OEM parts, often needing to find yet another source.
It's all doable, just takes a lot of time and dedication. Lots of emails and phone calls, and waiting...
The car lived in Claremont for about 20 years btw. Very rarely saw the light of day so I don't expect you to have seen it, regardless of how small Claremont is. I grew up there once I moved from Japan.
The car lived in claremont for about 20 years btw. Very rarely saw the light of day so i don't expect you to have seen it, regardless of how small claremont is. I grew up there once i moved from japan.
oh really so do you still live here in claremont ? And was the paint still in good condition or did you clay & wax it to get that shine ? If so what wax did you use ?
oh really so do you still live here in claremont ? And was the paint still in good condition or did you clay & wax it to get that shine ? If so what wax did you use ?
No I'm now in Orange County. That was the paint with just a simple wash and a very light rub of compound. I've since down over the whole car with a more detailed application of rubbing compound and it's looking really nice. Griot's Garage makes excellent products.
UPDATE:
Well, it's running better, but still barely runs at lower rpm. And I can't test ignition timing as it won't really idle.
The car runs best with the choke pulled- drastically better, whether it's warmed up or not. As it's warming up with choke pulled I can actually (now) let off the gas completely but the second the choke goes in it dies.
I actually drove it about 1.5miles just yesterday as I had to move it's location.. that was pretty rough but a little fun at the same time as I was actually driving it. Getting it to go in 1st requires a lot of effort but once I finagle it around 3k+ it runs pretty strong and through the subsequent gears as long as it stays higher in the rpms. Slowing down/reaching a stop I have to heel-toe in order to keep the car alive though.
I've replaced all the vacuum hoses and all ignition parts from coil to plug(found a second set of condensers I didn't know were down there with a different capacity than the upper ones).
So yeah, that's where I'm at. I'm trying to exhaust all options before I actually have to rip the carb apart as I don't know how long it's going to take me to piece together the gaskets to put it back together.. it's inevitable I suppose so I should just take the plunge. *sigh*.
Oh, on a different note: my turn signals don't work. I've replaced all the fuses for good measure. The hazards do work however. Thoughts?
I did some searching and found that gunked up column mechanisms are common but it looks good.
The idle issue could very well be caused by a gunked up carb. Sediment collects in the float bowls and the jets will clog, partially or fully and can cause all sorts of issues from poor to no idle to the engine breaking up under load. Perhaps if you were to remove just the air horn and the sight glass covers and clean the jets and the float bowls.... I don't know, I feel as though if the carb comes apart, the whole thing should be cleaned properly. You could try posting pics of the carb in the old school rotary section and see if anyone there could identify it. If we can narrow it down then you could try and find a couple gasket sets that have the gaskets, seals, and crush washers that you need. Might take two kits depending on what the carb is. I feel as though its just a late 70's 13B carb that is jetted for a 12A or something like that. Mazda wouldn't go nuts for a preprouction car I wouldn't think.
I did it.. full tear down on the carb. Actually a lot easier than anticipated and even studying every part of it, took about 2 hrs. Pulled all the hardware off and blasted carb cleaner thoroughly through every hole. Cleaned out all the jets/air bleeds/etc.. a couple had some minor blockages, as well as one of the needle/seats that are at the bottom of the bowls(not the ones the floats are attached to. Replaces the two main gaskets and any crush washers I removed (though many not applicable to my carb).
It's all back together now and I'll probably put it back on the car tomorrow if I get the time (got the removal/installation down to like 10 mins at this point).
I took a bunch of pics of all the jets for you guys for comparison to the standard SA carb:
My prep space
Most hardware off before pulling apart
Tadaa...
Floats and needles looked good
Difference in gaskets negligible, original lower, new upper.
Going deeper...
Stamped numbers from top to bottom shown:
180, 50, 90, 120, (none), 60.
Same on other side of course
These two from left to right: 50, 250.
Main jets:
160, 92
This gasket was exactly the same.
Rock bottom. Took apart anything I could, cleaned it all up and put it back together.
06-16-18, 12:05 PM
