New 1st Gen(83) owner with a lot of questions!
10-05-23, 02:31 PM
#1
Newbie
Thread Starter
New 1st Gen(83) owner with a lot of questions!
Hello all my fellow rx7 owners, I just bought a 1983 Rx7 with 105,629 miles and need to know all the ins and outs of this fantastic piece of history. It runs well in my amateur opinion but its got some dings and rust hiding where the sun doesn't shine, as well as that the interior is a disgrace to what It should and could be - it's missing proper door seals(rubber weather seal bits that follow the edge of the door a d around) and a lot more is desired. Where can I find all of the necessary information to get this beauty fixed properly and make her look new again? Also, I will try and include a video of the engine since I have absolutely no clue as to how they're supposed to sound and look.
Thank you all <3
Playlist of car warming up and engine below
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCImvWgHDby6m1U_9h9FZ_QYgLToXZz1r&s i=1c0gt5i-4ewQG6fP
Thank you all <3
Playlist of car warming up and engine below
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCImvWgHDby6m1U_9h9FZ_QYgLToXZz1r&s i=1c0gt5i-4ewQG6fP
The following users liked this post:
StubbornHat (10-05-23)
10-05-23, 03:21 PM
#3
Rotary Enthusiast
https://mazdatrix.com/
pretty good parts source. that interior is not that bad imo
but it has a 79-80 dash and FB trim and lights.
you should posts ome pics on here..these cats can tell you whats what
pretty good parts source. that interior is not that bad imo
but it has a 79-80 dash and FB trim and lights.
you should posts ome pics on here..these cats can tell you whats what
The following users liked this post:
StubbornHat (10-05-23)
The following users liked this post:
StubbornHat (10-05-23)
10-05-23, 04:53 PM
#5
Senior Member
Congratulations. Just spent two years traveling the path you just stepped out on. It’s a hell of a journey.
This forum is the key. Some amazing people here with deep knowledge. I have rebuilt exactly one RX7. Some folks here have built many. I could not have built my car without them.
I would start with a check of engine condition. Then move to safety items, then to reliability items, then to cosmetics.
Do you know the car’s history? Engine ever rebuilt? At that mileage, first cut for me would be to establish if I am looking at an engine rebuild, and I would establish that with a compression test. Do you have access to a regular piston engine compression tester or willing to buy a cheap one? Let me know and I will talk you through a quick and dirty test that will give you a rough but useful reading of engine condition and if you need to pull and rebuild.
Then I would look for fluid leaks. Any puddles on the driveway, or appearing anywhere around the engine. If you see leaks, but hard to track down where coming from, use UV glow in the dark dye. Like the compression, what the leaks are and where they are coming from may trigger an engine rebuild.
Any smoke from the tail pipe? Color? All the time or just some of the time? This can tell you if oil or coolant is being burned, again possible engine rebuild needed.
If engine is good, then I would….
Pull the wheels and check brake pads and rotors/drums for wear and brake lines for cracking or rubber decay.
Find date stamp on tires, and of more than 10 yrs old replace them. Same if they are worn.
Bounce the suspension, and replace any shocks that are not working.
Replace all fluids: Oil, coolant, brake, transmission, differential.
Check any rubber lines and tubes such as fuel and coolant for rot and cracking. Replace if any doubt. For now if engine running well don’t touch any vacuum lines.
Test the oil metering pump is working. If you are new to rotary and don’t know this pump… it sucks oil from the sump and throws it into the carb to lube the rotor seals inside the engine. If it’s not working, really bad for the engine.
Even if the oil metering pump is working, add 2 stroke oil to your tank. 1/2 oz per gallon, every time you fill up. Belt and braces making sure the engine is receiving the oil it needs.
Kinda stuff you don’t want to do, and does not make the car prettier…. But will help it be safe and reliable so you can drive it whilst working on interior, door seals etc.
Good resources:
Foxed.ca for service manuals. Incredibly useful and detailed. If you trip over a hard copy of a service manual for your year car whilst searching for parts…. Buy it!
For parts: Atkinsrotary.com, Racingbeat.com, Mazdatrix.com and watch the for sale section of this forum daily. Also I have found riggsvintagemazda.com very useful for used hard to find parts. EBay can also be useful.
And lastly the very entertaining and super-useful YouTube channel of RADpotential. The guy knows rotary and how to pass his knowledge along.
Welcome to the club!
This forum is the key. Some amazing people here with deep knowledge. I have rebuilt exactly one RX7. Some folks here have built many. I could not have built my car without them.
I would start with a check of engine condition. Then move to safety items, then to reliability items, then to cosmetics.
Do you know the car’s history? Engine ever rebuilt? At that mileage, first cut for me would be to establish if I am looking at an engine rebuild, and I would establish that with a compression test. Do you have access to a regular piston engine compression tester or willing to buy a cheap one? Let me know and I will talk you through a quick and dirty test that will give you a rough but useful reading of engine condition and if you need to pull and rebuild.
Then I would look for fluid leaks. Any puddles on the driveway, or appearing anywhere around the engine. If you see leaks, but hard to track down where coming from, use UV glow in the dark dye. Like the compression, what the leaks are and where they are coming from may trigger an engine rebuild.
Any smoke from the tail pipe? Color? All the time or just some of the time? This can tell you if oil or coolant is being burned, again possible engine rebuild needed.
If engine is good, then I would….
Pull the wheels and check brake pads and rotors/drums for wear and brake lines for cracking or rubber decay.
Find date stamp on tires, and of more than 10 yrs old replace them. Same if they are worn.
Bounce the suspension, and replace any shocks that are not working.
Replace all fluids: Oil, coolant, brake, transmission, differential.
Check any rubber lines and tubes such as fuel and coolant for rot and cracking. Replace if any doubt. For now if engine running well don’t touch any vacuum lines.
Test the oil metering pump is working. If you are new to rotary and don’t know this pump… it sucks oil from the sump and throws it into the carb to lube the rotor seals inside the engine. If it’s not working, really bad for the engine.
Even if the oil metering pump is working, add 2 stroke oil to your tank. 1/2 oz per gallon, every time you fill up. Belt and braces making sure the engine is receiving the oil it needs.
Kinda stuff you don’t want to do, and does not make the car prettier…. But will help it be safe and reliable so you can drive it whilst working on interior, door seals etc.
Good resources:
Foxed.ca for service manuals. Incredibly useful and detailed. If you trip over a hard copy of a service manual for your year car whilst searching for parts…. Buy it!
For parts: Atkinsrotary.com, Racingbeat.com, Mazdatrix.com and watch the for sale section of this forum daily. Also I have found riggsvintagemazda.com very useful for used hard to find parts. EBay can also be useful.
And lastly the very entertaining and super-useful YouTube channel of RADpotential. The guy knows rotary and how to pass his knowledge along.
Welcome to the club!
Last edited by Slow_sevens; 10-05-23 at 05:10 PM.
The following 2 users liked this post by Slow_sevens:
diabolical1 (10-05-23),
StubbornHat (10-05-23)
10-05-23, 10:56 PM
#6
Newbie
Thread Starter
Congratulations. Just spent two years traveling the path you just stepped out on. It’s a hell of a journey.
This forum is the key. Some amazing people here with deep knowledge. I have rebuilt exactly one RX7. Some folks here have built many. I could not have built my car without them.
I would start with a check of engine condition. Then move to safety items, then to reliability items, then to cosmetics.
Do you know the car’s history? Engine ever rebuilt? At that mileage, first cut for me would be to establish if I am looking at an engine rebuild, and I would establish that with a compression test. Do you have access to a regular piston engine compression tester or willing to buy a cheap one? Let me know and I will talk you through a quick and dirty test that will give you a rough but useful reading of engine condition and if you need to pull and rebuild.
Then I would look for fluid leaks. Any puddles on the driveway, or appearing anywhere around the engine. If you see leaks, but hard to track down where coming from, use UV glow in the dark dye. Like the compression, what the leaks are and where they are coming from may trigger an engine rebuild.
Any smoke from the tail pipe? Color? All the time or just some of the time? This can tell you if oil or coolant is being burned, again possible engine rebuild needed.
If engine is good, then I would….
Pull the wheels and check brake pads and rotors/drums for wear and brake lines for cracking or rubber decay.
Find date stamp on tires, and of more than 10 yrs old replace them. Same if they are worn.
Bounce the suspension, and replace any shocks that are not working.
Replace all fluids: Oil, coolant, brake, transmission, differential.
Check any rubber lines and tubes such as fuel and coolant for rot and cracking. Replace if any doubt. For now if engine running well don’t touch any vacuum lines.
Test the oil metering pump is working. If you are new to rotary and don’t know this pump… it sucks oil from the sump and throws it into the carb to lube the rotor seals inside the engine. If it’s not working, really bad for the engine.
Even if the oil metering pump is working, add 2 stroke oil to your tank. 1/2 oz per gallon, every time you fill up. Belt and braces making sure the engine is receiving the oil it needs.
Kinda stuff you don’t want to do, and does not make the car prettier…. But will help it be safe and reliable so you can drive it whilst working on interior, door seals etc.
Good resources:
Foxed.ca for service manuals. Incredibly useful and detailed. If you trip over a hard copy of a service manual for your year car whilst searching for parts…. Buy it!
For parts: Atkinsrotary.com, Racingbeat.com, Mazdatrix.com and watch the for sale section of this forum daily. Also I have found riggsvintagemazda.com very useful for used hard to find parts. EBay can also be useful.
And lastly the very entertaining and super-useful YouTube channel of RADpotential. The guy knows rotary and how to pass his knowledge along.
Welcome to the club!
This forum is the key. Some amazing people here with deep knowledge. I have rebuilt exactly one RX7. Some folks here have built many. I could not have built my car without them.
I would start with a check of engine condition. Then move to safety items, then to reliability items, then to cosmetics.
Do you know the car’s history? Engine ever rebuilt? At that mileage, first cut for me would be to establish if I am looking at an engine rebuild, and I would establish that with a compression test. Do you have access to a regular piston engine compression tester or willing to buy a cheap one? Let me know and I will talk you through a quick and dirty test that will give you a rough but useful reading of engine condition and if you need to pull and rebuild.
Then I would look for fluid leaks. Any puddles on the driveway, or appearing anywhere around the engine. If you see leaks, but hard to track down where coming from, use UV glow in the dark dye. Like the compression, what the leaks are and where they are coming from may trigger an engine rebuild.
Any smoke from the tail pipe? Color? All the time or just some of the time? This can tell you if oil or coolant is being burned, again possible engine rebuild needed.
If engine is good, then I would….
Pull the wheels and check brake pads and rotors/drums for wear and brake lines for cracking or rubber decay.
Find date stamp on tires, and of more than 10 yrs old replace them. Same if they are worn.
Bounce the suspension, and replace any shocks that are not working.
Replace all fluids: Oil, coolant, brake, transmission, differential.
Check any rubber lines and tubes such as fuel and coolant for rot and cracking. Replace if any doubt. For now if engine running well don’t touch any vacuum lines.
Test the oil metering pump is working. If you are new to rotary and don’t know this pump… it sucks oil from the sump and throws it into the carb to lube the rotor seals inside the engine. If it’s not working, really bad for the engine.
Even if the oil metering pump is working, add 2 stroke oil to your tank. 1/2 oz per gallon, every time you fill up. Belt and braces making sure the engine is receiving the oil it needs.
Kinda stuff you don’t want to do, and does not make the car prettier…. But will help it be safe and reliable so you can drive it whilst working on interior, door seals etc.
Good resources:
Foxed.ca for service manuals. Incredibly useful and detailed. If you trip over a hard copy of a service manual for your year car whilst searching for parts…. Buy it!
For parts: Atkinsrotary.com, Racingbeat.com, Mazdatrix.com and watch the for sale section of this forum daily. Also I have found riggsvintagemazda.com very useful for used hard to find parts. EBay can also be useful.
And lastly the very entertaining and super-useful YouTube channel of RADpotential. The guy knows rotary and how to pass his knowledge along.
Welcome to the club!
Whenever I start the engine and run the choke, I notice a decent amount of white/blue smoke puffing out of the exhaust, and I can smell it easily too when I turn the air on inside(AC doesn't work). After some time of running the choke and it gets to around 3k RPMS(10 or so minutes) the smoke is hardly visible anymore. This is normal right?
"At that mileage, first cut for me would be to establish if I am looking at an engine rebuild, and I would establish that with a compression test. Do you have access to a regular piston engine compression tester or willing to buy a cheap one?" - I do not currently own a piston engine compression tester, but seeing as it's important to the lifetime of my Rx7 I would love to know where I can get a reliable one without breaking the bank!
Any clue over where to find new shocks and gas tanks easily, other than a junk yard or part outs? - Just curious
Thank you for the help, it really does mean a lot to a knew and uninformed owner like myself!
10-06-23, 12:33 AM
#7
Senior Member
“I do not currently own a piston engine compression tester, but seeing as it's important to the lifetime of my Rx7 I would love to know where I can get a reliable one without breaking the bank!”
- Am actual rotary compression tester will run almost $300. But you can get a rough idea of engine condition with a piston engine compression tester which can be had for $20 on Amazon or Harbor Freight, or if you are lucky and have an OReillys or the like nearby can be rented for free. Doesn’t have to be high quality as basically you are going to use it once to see if you should be looking at an engine rebuild. Well, maybe twice to see how well you did once engine is rebuilt. Once you have one let me know and I’ll talk you through a quick and dirty compression test.
“Any clue over where to find new shocks and gas tanks easily, other than a junk yard or part outs? - Just curious”
- Lots of shock options. I am not driving hard and wanted it to be simple, so took the easy route and used the KYB shocks from Racing Beat. I did not dig deep into performance shocks as was intimidated by the learning curve and different opinions and reviews. As for tanks…. Don’t know. Thankfully have not had to do any work there.
On the smoke/smell, blue smoke is an oil problem. White smoke is a coolant problem. Coolant smoke also smells sweet. Both can leak into the engine and burn off through the tail pipe. Mine ran blue before rebuild. After rebuild runs clean, but every now and again I get a little puff of white whilst warming up. I don’t t worry about it… it’s a 40 year old car and I am not seeing any coolant loss at expansion tank.
I would start with compression test. I started with door seals, new wheels, new seats, fender painting etc and ignored the growing puddles under the car, and the smoke coming out from under the hood and out the tailpipe. The leaks and smoke got so bad it was embarrassing and had to face the fact I was in for an engine rebuild. It’s a good thing for a rotary owner to know early in his restoration if he is in for a rebuild, but hard to face as a rebuild will cost you around $1500 in tools and parts, (you doing the labor) and you may open up the engine and find it’s so damaged as to not be repairable which is worst case scenario. If you check engine early, you don’t find out your whole project is shot after spending large amounts of cash elsewhere on the car.
- Am actual rotary compression tester will run almost $300. But you can get a rough idea of engine condition with a piston engine compression tester which can be had for $20 on Amazon or Harbor Freight, or if you are lucky and have an OReillys or the like nearby can be rented for free. Doesn’t have to be high quality as basically you are going to use it once to see if you should be looking at an engine rebuild. Well, maybe twice to see how well you did once engine is rebuilt. Once you have one let me know and I’ll talk you through a quick and dirty compression test.
“Any clue over where to find new shocks and gas tanks easily, other than a junk yard or part outs? - Just curious”
- Lots of shock options. I am not driving hard and wanted it to be simple, so took the easy route and used the KYB shocks from Racing Beat. I did not dig deep into performance shocks as was intimidated by the learning curve and different opinions and reviews. As for tanks…. Don’t know. Thankfully have not had to do any work there.
On the smoke/smell, blue smoke is an oil problem. White smoke is a coolant problem. Coolant smoke also smells sweet. Both can leak into the engine and burn off through the tail pipe. Mine ran blue before rebuild. After rebuild runs clean, but every now and again I get a little puff of white whilst warming up. I don’t t worry about it… it’s a 40 year old car and I am not seeing any coolant loss at expansion tank.
I would start with compression test. I started with door seals, new wheels, new seats, fender painting etc and ignored the growing puddles under the car, and the smoke coming out from under the hood and out the tailpipe. The leaks and smoke got so bad it was embarrassing and had to face the fact I was in for an engine rebuild. It’s a good thing for a rotary owner to know early in his restoration if he is in for a rebuild, but hard to face as a rebuild will cost you around $1500 in tools and parts, (you doing the labor) and you may open up the engine and find it’s so damaged as to not be repairable which is worst case scenario. If you check engine early, you don’t find out your whole project is shot after spending large amounts of cash elsewhere on the car.
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