All the pullies look fine.

Took the manifold off today and unbolted the fuel rail. Placed the ends of the injectors in some bottles and turned the pump on. Injectors are not leaking, but that doesn't mean they are not sticking during operation and staying open longer than they should.

Pressure regulator has been fixed. The screw in the middle of it was backed almost all the way out. I tightened down until I could feel pressure on the spring and turned the pump on again and Voila! 70 psi.

The pump has no clue what kind of regulator its hooked to and it doesn't care what it is as long as it does its job. The factory regulator will work just fine with a walbro. All an aftermarket regulator will do is allow adjustment and take another chunk out of my wallet I don't have.

Well I believe I stuck my foot in my mouth with my last post about the regulator. In my head it didn't make since why the OE regulator couldn't regulate the pump, it just wouldn't get full use out of it. Little did I think that the Walbro could actually over power the OE regulator and keep it open preventing proper fuel pressure. Took me sticking my foot in my mouth, replacing the regulator with another OE used one AND another OE new one, all with the same results.

I have a couple people looking to see if they can get a deal on an aftermarket regulator, if not I will suck it up and get one at full price. I do believe once I get the proper pressure on this it should run again.

Back to square 1. I have gotten a new adjustable pressure regulator and have fuel pressure, had it running for a second before it died and now not even trying to start, just flooding it out.

Anyone want to buy a SE? I really need this thing going as my other car needs to be parked asap.

Tried using some ATF to see if that would help out and wasn't able to get it to actually fire up unless I unplugged the fuel pump. Once I did that it fired and ran for a few seconds smoking like crazy as expected, but once I plug the fuel relay back it, it dies and will not attempt to fire.

I need some ideas here guys. I would think if it could fire up and run, it should have good compression, but everyone is telling me if its flooding straight away the apex seals are stuck and you have no compression. If this was a standard combustion engine, I would have had this thing running long ago. Currently I'm just torturing myself trying to get it running. I really am so mixed on whether to keep fighting it and get it going, or sell it and get parts for my current car. I think I would really enjoy this car, but the question is "Is it worth it?"

Your car looks great, absolutely it is worth it. Sorry to hear of all your troubles. Sounds like you are close. Try the un-flooding procedure for the SE. Pull the plugs, blow out the crap, etc. If it ran until it was out of gas before, then it may be flooded.

I've been through the unflooding procedure several times and everytime it floods right back out.

Low compression. Pulled the schrader out of my compression gauge and 75 psi was max on both rotors. Yay me!

Sell it to me lol. I have a perfectly good SE motor here just waiting for a straight body.

If I don't get it running this weekend, I most likely will sell it. I've been soaking the seals in ATF this week and calling a friend over to see if you can pull it and get it started.

the car should start on 75 psi...I have turned on engines running on one rotor and low compression in the other....fuel injectors might be bad.......I bet if worst things worst you put a carb and low pressure fuel pump, the car will run if you want to ditch the system....

<------Also selling a (118/118/118)(121/117/117) compression 12A with a stock port and new rb 465+fuel pump....

Part of me wanting to sell it if it doesn't run this weekend is I don't want to throw any more money at it. We will see this weekend.

Pull starting did not work. I did however hear it run the longest its has ever ran since I got it...because I was sitting in the passenger seat connecting and disconnecting the fuel relay to keep it going and someone else was flooring the throttle.

I have one last thing I want to try if I can find someone to loan me an ECU and possible a set of known good injectors. I've replaced the injectors already, but they were unknown from a box of "good" race parts. These are the last 2 pieces I have not replaced with new parts and its still flooding out right when you hook up the fuel pump at 50psi. I would like to try to at least swap out the ECU for a known good one to see if thats it and if it is, I'll drop the money to get a new one.

After taking the car out of the garage, I do really want to get this car going because it has grown on me and a great looking car, but at some point you have to draw the line and its approaching very quickly.

did you check your exhaust by any chance to see if it was clogged up???????? also I haven't seen anybody talk about the variable resistor which is the lean/rich screw next to where you hook up your TPS connector.... People will mess with that at get it out of adjustment and next thing you know, your car is running too rich.....Also on another note, is your throttle-body clean??? Not gunk up?

Haven't checked the resistor, intake is completely clean, exhaust is clear as best I can tell.

if you can disconnect the cat, you can see if you have raw gas going through or if the cat is clogged up...disconnecting it and turn the car on to see if it stays idling, it will be loud but you would know....

I will try disconnecting the cat this weekend, hard for me to do stuff during the week.

I did take my stethoscope out and listened to the injectors while cranking over with the plugs out and they are getting pulsed, doesn't seem like its a fast pulse, about a second or a little less, but they are getting pulsed. The rear one was a little harder to hear than the front one, which neither was easy to hear, I think do to location.

After I try disconnecting the cat, I think my next step is to get the injectors cleaned. After that, find someone local with an ECM I could borrow real quick.

Couple other questions I need some help on:

1. Timing: How can you check the ignition timing on this without it running? I also can only assume it has a "crank position sensor", know a way to test it and where is it?

2 Headlights: I've known about this for awhile, but have been focused on getting the car running first. I can turn the park lights on, but can't seem to get the head lights on. I have not checked the tail lights yet. I can however pop the hood and turn the adjusters until they bottom out and they will open and close the headlight real quick. This tells me there is power getting to the motor and the motor is good, but as with the engine, I'm confused why they are not working. Any common things to check on this?

Nice project

The compression is too low. Its always going to flood, and if you ever do drive it that engine wont last long. Theres no point in trying to get that engine to run good because its only gonna run for so long anyway. I speak from experience..I wasted a ton of time on a car before I figured it out the hard way.

Mike: Thats the first time I have heard this, so I will keep at it. Currently don't have much of a choice as my other car has now started knocking.

Went to Pull-A-Part today and picked up some GM Ignition modules and some Ford coils to upgrade the ignition system. I know the current system does have spark, but I do not know how strong it really is. Since I have already tried everything on the fuel side, lets see if a direct fire setup will help.

Getting ready for the direct fire setup, got templates for the brackets I will make at work. Mounting the 2 TFI coils off the shock tower right where the factory coils are at. Trailing coil is staying in the same place, but the bracket will be trimmed to allow room for the other 2 coils. HEI modules will be mounted on the right(engine) side of the shock tower. If I can get a dead ignitor to gut, I should be able to pull this off without any wiring running to the distributor and the only factory part of the harness I will have to modify is the coil side connectors on the factory leading coil.

I did also learn that the leading coil that was in it was an Accel Super Stock Coil that was measuring out of spec, only reading 6.5k ohms on the secondary where it should be 9.2k ohms. So its possible I have been chasing the wrong problem all along. Anyway the injectors were sent out late last week to get cleaned and that will knock out everything on the fuel side minus the ECM.

TFIDLIFS Ignition Setup installed....and it runs!!!

Still got some things to tie up before I can get it on the road, still trying to get someone over with a 7 to look at to see how some things are ran.

Well...now back to not making any sense. It still fires up right off...but if you disconnect the leading coils, no change. I'm getting no spark to my leading plugs and yet now the thing runs.

Oh my, just read your entire adventure. Wow, way to hang in there. Is you paint code VG? The pic looks the same as mine. All the way across the country, two identical SEs. Just love mine, your going to be an SE expert.

It has been an adventure. If it came down to rebuilding or replacing the engine, I would have tossed in the towel on it.

I do have it firing on all 4 now, but timing is off so I have to get that straight.

I have the full RB exhaust and Pineapple inserts in the 5/6 ports. Car pulls so strong from 2k until the alarm goes off. I've never checked the timing, assume its stock. You might get away with a RB down pipe and Presilencer and the smog police wouldn't notice. Those cats realy choke it.

I plan on doing more to it once i get it running correctly. I can get away with putting straight pipes on it and pass. They really only check for exhaust leaks and check engine lights.

well then, when your ready toss the cats, air pump and ACV. Less weight and more power, easier access to right side of engine. win win

Long story short: Found TDC with a wire in the rear rotor, reset the crank pulley, reset distributor, idled roughly and back firing above 2k rpms. Tried moving the distributor a tooth either direction and nothing, put it back on TDC and flipped the pick up leads to the leading ignition modules and its has power now. Still not idling on her own when she is cold, once warm idles around 800 rpms. I still have to get a simple timing light on it and actually get it timed correctly.

Oil cooler was leaking a little and got the bright idea to try to snug it up a bit and got a big puddle of oil in the drive way. Will be searching for new crush washers today to fix that and should be driving her to work starting tomorrow.

There are still a bunch of little things to do to it as currently I have no horn, dash lights, or turn signals and still have to get the rest of the ducting back in the dash. Gotta get some speakers for it since they are all gone. Remove the power window motors and see if I can clean them up and get them working better. And get some new mirrors since these are missing some hardware and currently not working. Its a list, but its nothing that makes it not driveable and a much better choice than my current car that sounds like it wants to throw a rod out the block any time you start it or get above 55 mph.

Do you have the FSM? If not download it. I have an Hayes that came with car. I've never opened it. FSM so much better. I went through the set up on cold idle and warm idle several times, at first I left out some steps and wasn't happy. I would drive awhile than go back and follow every step. Now works great.
Your oil cooler experience sounds exactly as mine. I took it off and cleaned off the paint from the bung and looked very closely. I saw avery fine crack. had it welded and reinstalled and still leaked. Ordered new crush washers from Mazdatrix there aluminum, no leaks since.

I have the FSM downloaded some where, but hate looking at it on a screen. I tried to get a friend to print it for me since he owned a print shop, but he has never done it. I have a Chilton's which helped more for setting the distributor up.

I picked up 2 new crush washers from O'reilly's today, but busy filing taxes and can't go out and fix it yet.

Yay double post!

When you toss the cats you might want to look up a cat recycler. They will pay good money for factory rx7 cats and it might help offset the cost of your new exhaust. They even pay the shipping to them (from you). Large factory FB cats should bring $80 up. Smaller ones are 445 and up. just an idea for you........

fat fingered it... It should have read $45 and up not 445! Hell I'd be out doing some midnight requistioning with a sawzall if they were that much!! JK

I have no idea why I didn't put this thread in the Build sub-forum.

Well I drove the car to work Monday no problems. Took it to the car wash and realized all the window seals are leaking, still need to give it a proper bath. Got home and took the oil cooler off because it was still leaking and I noticed some cracks on the lower bung. Took the cooler into work and had them weld it up Tuesday...left my wrenches at work. Just got the cooler back in and no leaks. I'm amazed that was the only leak on the car that I have noticed.

Here are the pics of my new ignition setup:
Attachment 683176
Attachment 683177

I still have to get it timed properly, the leading is firing off on the trailing mark. I don't know if my timing light was too fancy for a rotary or what, but will be getting it fixed soon. Its drive able. The swap really wasn't that complicated, had some issues with the bracket for the modules and the bolts I originally used and then I also tried to use some of the factory wiring, which didn't work out. It was all easy to fix though once I learned the crank pulley was installed incorrectly.

I also meant to grab a pic of one of the switches in the center console, I have no clue what it is for. My original thought was the mirrors, but I found out that switch is on the dash, so I have no idea what the joystick in the console is.

Everyone always wonders about the joystick bro. Its for the factory stereo, you can point it in the direction you want the sound to come out of your speakers. Only 1 of the 3 Rx7's ive owned actually had a working one. Was cool and everyone used to play with it, got annoying.

I was thinking that was possibly what it was. Currently don't have any speakers in the car yet so I couldn't check. Seems a little weird since the radio also has controls for fade and balance.

Its picture time! Just gave the 7 a Comet bath, still needs to be polished, but came out looking a lot better than it did. I still would like to give it a nice wet sand and buff.

Lurking in the garage.
Attachment 682652

Right after the bath.
Attachment 682653
Attachment 682654
Attachment 682655
Attachment 682656

Now on to more things to fix. I have a few plugs under the dash that I don't know where they are supposed to go to. I currently do not have blinkers, dash lights, or a horn. I have checked the ground behind the gauge cluster and its good. I think it has to do with these plugs but I can't find anything that they go to.

Located on the right side of the steering column, very short leads out of the main loom.
Attachment 682657

Left side of column just behind the hood release.
http://i321.photobucket.com/albums/n...-29-16_487.jpg

Left side of column, 2 plugs total.
Attachment 682658

Well I finally got a base timing light and got the leading timing set, but for some reason the trailing is wayy off. It actually runs smoother with the trailing not firing. I still have a running rich issue. I picked up new O2 sensor and some exhaust gaskets to replace sometime. On the last tank of gas I hit 18mpg with 75% of it being highway and you can't really stand near the car without your eyes watering from how rich it is. I currently have the fuel pressure set down to 20psi but don't want to reduce it any more than that. And of course still have some electrical issues I was going to work on this weekend but left the diagrams at work.

Its been awhile since I've updated this. I've replaced a few trim pieces here and there on it.

Yesterday I pulled the dash back out, which I hate this dash with the center console being part of it. The thing is heavy and a pain to get in and out of the car. Any way, pulled the dash to try to solve my blinker/horn/dash light issues. I found out what those plugs go to in the previous post: There is a plate with some relays and flasher module right next to the clutch pedal and none of it was plugged in. Currently I have 3 of the 4 blinkers working now. The right rear isn't working and bulb looks fine, so will pull out the volt meter and see whats going on. Also have an issue with the reverse light on that side too. Still no horn and haven't checked the dash lights.

I'm hoping to get a spare engine to play around with as soon as I find a way to get it out of the salvage yard. Its locked up, but will give me something to play around with.

Changed the transmission fluid yesterday as well. Took it in to an oil change place for them to specifically and they said it was fine. Drain the oil and its black as can be and maybe half a pint came out. Go to take the fill plug out and not a single mark on it and tight as all get out. They never checked it. Hopefully this will solve some of the noise from it and thats what I get for trying to let someone else do it and take their word on it.

Next up is changing the rear diff which I'm not looking forward to.

Good news though is the car has been doing great, no major issues from it so far driving 40 miles every day. I still have an exhaust leak I need to get fixed, kind of putting it off until I can afford getting an exhaust for it so I don't have to put that manifold back on.

Do you still have the stock steering system? I had to add a ground wire to tie the steering shaft back to the chassis, after I installed The ReSpeed rack and pinion kit. Now I have a horn. ( Check the grounding ) Spare motor, Ya while you have it apart prep it for a turbo ie, remove the plug in the front iron for oil feed and front cover for oil return. Rear housing for water supply to stock S5 LIM water supply. Than a turbo water pump housing. Ready than!

Yes still have the stock steering. The only thing not stock on it currently is the fuel & ignition system, and replaced the power window switch bezel with a GS that has the coin tray instead of the stereo control. I still need to get the jumper wire for it, but still don't have speakers so no hurry on it.

I will check the grounding on the horn circuit.

I still have no dash lights, still have this connector that needs a home I'm guessing:
Attachment 673174

Right rear turn signal and reverse light I believe both just need new sockets. Pulled out the volt meter and popped the light off and both connectors are full of rust. I was able to get voltage at the connector with the volt meter, but can't get it to the bulb, can't clean it out enough down low.

I need to hurry up and sort this lighting, horn, and exhaust leak issue out so I can get it pass inspection and registered here. I'm way past my 30 days, rolling around with the tag off my old car, which was legal for the first 30 days.

Here is the current plan on my 7: I'm going to get the exhaust leak fixed and get the A/C back in working order and finally get the car tagged here in NC...not quite in that order. When that is done, this winter I plan on looking for a motorcycle and once weather permits, I will end up selling or trading the 7. I like the car, but want a bike and its about that time when I will need more than 2 seats and the bike is going the opposite direction.

I think I will be able to make a nice profit off of it and then put that towards a new vehicle.