New to rotaries, big question
 

I am new to the rotary scene, i am going to be buying a 79 RX-7 for my wife in a few days, needs a lil bit of work. Apparently the guy who owns it, said he let it sit and idle for a while and didnt get any airflow into the engine cos of it. When he got back the engien had stopped and he could no longer get it to start, it will turn over but no crank.

I would like to know what the possibilities are and what could be wrong before i tackle this project, thanks in advance. Jeff

?? Not sure what you mean by "he let it sit and idle for a while and didn't get any airflow into engine" ??

You might want to check out the FAQ thread at the top of this forum. It's got a ton of information in it.
There's a number of fairly typical things people do when they get a "new" RX-7, (changing fuel filter, plus regular tune-up stuff like plugs & wires) and it's all listed out in there somewhere.

Good luck!

Where in NC? Maybe you should just sale it to me :)


First thing to do is check for spark and Fuel. Even if he had let the car overheat it would still start and run.

One thing to know about the 79 is it has points Ignition. So no spark could mean you need points.

My guess is that when he left the car running by itself and it stalled, the fuel pump kept going and he flooded the engine. The old trick of putting the pedal to the floor while cranking doesn't work on rotaries. Pull the fuse for the fuel pump, located above driver's left knee, remove the lower spark plugs then make sure that you have the ignition lines well away from the spark plug holes. Now crank the engine for @10 seconds. You should hear a strong "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." sound while cranking from both spark plug holes- a sign of ok to good compression. Check the condition of the plugs and if acceptable, put them back in along with the fuse for the pump. Turn the ignition to ON, pull the choke out and crank the engine. Don't use the gas pedal until after it starts. You may also want to check for spark of both leading (bottom ignition) lines. Just make sure that you have the plugs back in the engine. You obviously don't want to ignite the fuel that would be coming out of the open plug holes.

I think the first thing I'd check is the fuel filter more so if the car has sat for any extended period of time the gas can go stale and leave crap in the tank that will plug a filter.......my car did it from sitting for less than 1 year. the best way to check is to clean the sight glass on either bowl on the carb. and look inside for gas or pull the lid off the air cleaner make sure the choke blade is open and open the throttle a few times to see if the accelerator pump shoots gas down the carb. remember you must do this about 5 times to see if it's just some fuel in the well or if the gas is actually in the float bowl.
another thing is if the car was idling for an extended peroid of time there is a SLIM chance the plugs fouled. Also check for spark some of the older 7's killed power to one of the coils under some conditions and that may be a posibility. and one last thing the fusible links on the drivers side strut tower may have fried so check them too.