New RX-7 Owner...Questions...
 

I just bought an 83 the other day and have some questions. I replaced the accelerator pump gasket on Wednesday and that was my first repair. :p

I finally got around to really driving it today, I did a short little drive including a ten to fifteen minute run down the interstate. The car ran great for the most part, I was quite surprised at the get up the little 12A has.

Here are a few concerns:

-The car had an issue with stumbling and "flooding" at high RPM. The previous owners replaced the fuel pump, took the tank out and cleaned it, replaced the fuel filter, lines, etc. It runs fine now until 4500-5500 or so, where it stumbles pretty bad, then clears out and continues a very smooth acceleration. I'm guessing it's a carb problem? I'm quite new to carbs so don't want to tune anything yet, is there anything to check first? I do have a spare carb and two rebuild kits, so I could do a full rebuild.

-There is a small vibration when getting underway, I also hear it driving, sort of a howl/vibration. I'm thinking something with the drive shaft, is this common? Could it be something else?

-Finally there's a rear end noise when I'm braking. The car is a race car and wasn't frequently driven, could it just be the brakes rubbing surface rust off or something? The brakes work fine, but there's a noise, it's like a deep droning noise but only happens when I initially get on the brakes.

-The car feels loose at 50+mph. The steering is very sensitive, the car does pull a little, so an alignment will be on my to do list. The car is also on fairly worn Toyo race tires, so those two things may be really causing an issue together, yay or nay?

Other than those few things I'm IN LOVE. The car runs great, shifts like butter, I LOVE the sound, it's a blast and I can't wait to really use it at the track. Here are a couple photos:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8012/7...332271b7_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7...bd1bc3d3_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5453/7...f1e6f423_z.jpg

Nice pick up. Although I read your post, but don't have any advice or tips.

I just wanna say I am in love with my 1ST Gen as well.

that car does look like fun!

-re stumble, i'd look at the cap and rotor, and wires before the carb.

- could be the driveshaft, my vert makes a squeak from the driveshaft. might be a good idea to check the torque on, well everything under the car though.

- no idea! i'd look at the brakes though, my car had a pad installed backwards...

- the tires are gonna follow ruts and makes noises and stuff, but yeah alignment should be on the list, toe out is great for racing, but not so much on the street maybe :)

-

Thanks, I'll check the cap/rotor/wires and get it in the air and look around in a few days.

Trying to avoid making a new thread, couple of new questions:

-I noticed a milky substance in my oil fill tube, I did a search on here and found a few things, one of which drilling and installing a 90 degree fitting in the cap is a fix? Is it something to worry about? The oil itself on the dip stick looks great, just noticed it in the filler tube.

-How do I know if I need to pre-mix as in how can I tell if the OMP has been removed? Pretty pathetic question I know but I forgot about it and put gas in it a week or so ago, haven't driven it, but didn't want to run it without checking first.

I am not experienced enough to tell you how to ID if it needs premix or not. However, if a guy sold you the thing and didn't mention the premix, it is very very likely that it isn't needed. If your that worried and do want to drive ASAP premix 150 to 1 and keep looking around here for how to actually answer your question.

the milky oil stuff is normal, thats what happends when it doesnt circulate. dont worry about that although it does look nasty. but yes a vent does help. and the omp is on the bottom right side of the motor in the front. it has linkage to it and you can see sum plastic looking line coming out of it sometimes you can see the oil in there(lines). if you dont have the omp than definately use premix

You have lung butter, as some people like to call it. The proper way to fix is it to use a pcv valve connected to a vacuum source. Since you still have the stock carb, there should be a source at the baseplate, but make sure you follow the instructions in one of the threads on how to do it!
Personally, I have it open and have never had the problem, but just to make sure I would plumb something in.

As far as the OMP, you can see if it is physically removed by following the plastic oil lines from the carb, down past the water pump, and to the OMP itself. It is connected to the front cover below the water pump. If the lines aren't rotted out and there isn't oil everywhere, then you most likely have a functioning OMP. They are hard to kill I hear.

It will look similar to this one, although not the same. The position is the same though on the engine.
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg193...pg&res=landing

If there is just a blockoff plate, then you need to premix. There are tons of opinions on how much to do, but here again I run premix and mix at just under 1oz per gallon. I believe this is heavy. Idemitsu recommends 1/2oz per gallon with their oil.

Either way, I hope you get it running right. It looks like a blast. What events are you going to run?