i just purchased a rx-7 1985... red... the doors were removed.. and the floorpanels have been redone... now the guy wants to sell it to me... hehe...

my problem:
he told me it ran rather roughly... as well as it needs new hydraulics... clutch... master cylinder? i just did the cylinders in my ford ranger.. and i saw that it has a mazda tranny... anyone know anything about fords use of mazda parts? Anyone have any suggestions for improving the runnability of the engine? And does anyone know of typical problems the rx7's have?

mine has 97,000 miles on it.. i heard that the engines die at 100,000 or so... hmmm...

 

tear off all the emissions or try to find the vaccum leak

Ive heard something about swapping the rearend out of a mustang do a search on the forum and you will probably find a lot more

peace

 

Ford owns a healthy percentage of Mazda, they do a lot of mutual projects. i.e. Ford Probe = Mazda MX6.
Mazda made a lot of Ford small pickups in years past.
If the hydraulics are bad on the clutch, you will need to replace the master, the slave, and the hyd. hose. Buy new, do not try and rebuild yourself.
Do a thorough tuneup, including replacing the plug wires. Rotaries are very sensitive to tuning.
Problems:
They foul plugs rather often.
They are hard on exhausts, due to the heat.
Keep the drain holes clear. 4 total, 2 in the trough around the sunroof, 2 by the hatch.
They have a lot of vacuum hoses under the hood. Replace all with silicone.
If the engine has been taken care of it will run a long, long time. I have an SE with 150K on it, running strong. I have an 80 on it's second engine, with less than 100K. But I let it sit. My fault.

Go to www.mazspeed.com and look up the ATF trick under the Facts section. It would be good maintenance for a car of that age.

By the way, if it is running really rough, you should do a compression check. Do a search on how to do that, use my name as a keyword. It may have a bad apex seal already. IF so, save your money. Better to find out now than after you sink a bunch of money in tuning it.
hanman

 

parts car if its in too bad of shape. generally get two and make one good one. however without doors it should have some great weight savings and faster quarter miles .

damon, you freaked me out with that avatar change.

 

True hanman, but Ford didn't own Mazda back in the day of the 1st gen.

 

I say fix it, I dont like to see cars destroyed .

~T.J.

 

so... i got under the hood today... and everything looks rather clean.. the connections that is... there is a thin layer of dust over everything... so i jumped the battery... and the engine made a RRrrr RRrrr RRrrr noise.. and didn't turn over... anyone know where i am to put the ATF when i do the "ATF trick" does anyone thing that would help?? also... there is an electric hiss sound in the rear end of my car.. right next to the "pumkin" where the driveshaft connects to the rear axel... what is electronic back there.. and should it be making that noise???

 

also... does anyone know where i can find a diagram of the engine online??? and hopefully the rest of the car???

 

Hey Joe, welcome to the world of FB's!
As for the non-cranking problem; is your starter turning without engaging the engine? Mine did that, ended up replacing the starter.
Do a search for the ATF trick, you can put it in the primary barrels in the carb or pull the trailing (or leading, doesn't matter) plugs and dump it in there. I think it's something like 1 oz per rotor.
That electronic "hissing" is the fuel pump (I think) mine does that, so I think it's normal.
For a diagram, get a Mazda service manual, that will have something like what you're looking for.
Good Luck with the car.

 

Joe,
Go to http://www.mazspeed.com/atf.htm
it is the definitive essay on the ATF trick.
Buy a Haynes manual, it is inexpensive. Try ebay, don't pay over 12$.
A Mazda shop manual is very valuable and should be purchased. Look for a used one first, but you can buy one new from mazdatrix or try ralphh@dgdg.com, he is much cheaper than mazdatrix.

When you say it won't turn over, you mean it won't turn, or it won't start?
hanman

 

it won't start... it tries.. but won't

 

Are you getting spark?

 

who knows.. i'm buying plugs wires and changing the oil tomorrow.