If I ask any stupid newbie questions feel free to rag on me

I know quite a bit when it comes to boingers but recently I saw the light (8 days ago) and bought a 85 rx with a 12a for $500 it runs great and everything but at 700 rpm's it has 60 or so psi of oil pressure and at cruising about 90, but then today it just dropped to 0 I tried wiggeling the wire that goes to the sender but no change, the oil level is in the norm I even added half a quart, I am hoping its the sender or the stock gauge. I had to drive 30 miles home and every now and then it would go to about 5 and then I went down a steep hill and it hit about 20 then slowly dropped back to 0 I am going to test the sender and gauge tomarrow if thats not the problem does any one know what it could be

also when I'm driving about 60 mph my temp is about 3/8 an inch from cold and when I am ideling or driving slowly my temp goes to the end of the norm zone about 3/4 of the way on the gauge is that because my thermostat is stuck or is that the way the rotorys run I know its not good to get them that hot but a new bridge is going in and sometimes traffic is slow


I plan on getting a header and doing custom exhaust from there on back, also doing a street port job, and getting a new intake and carb system a 4 barrel holley or dual carbs, I don't know does any one have any opinions about any of this (pros and cons) I trust the advise of any one that knows what there doing when it comes to rotory's

 

If you were able to drive for more than 1 minute anywhere with zero oil pressure, then it has to be gauge problems, so put that problem on the back burner...you need to take care of the temperature problem ASAP or you're gonna lose that engine...rotaries DO NOT like to run hot. Unlike a boinger which will rattle and stop upon being over-heated, but still can be started 80% of the time the next morning like nothing ever happened, the rotary engine simply dies. What does the coolant look like?

 

The oil pressure sending unit has gone bad. Replace this with another and you should be fine. You already seem to know that it's the brass 'mushroom' under your oil filter.

As to the engine overheating, when it idles hot, that's either the fan clutch or a slipping belt. When you're underway, the forced air going into the front of the car blows through the radiator keeping it cool. Once that forced airflow stops, the only thing pulling air through the radiator is your engine fan.

Some suggestions would be to find your local Pick-A-Part and grab a fan clutch from another 7, or install an electric fan unit and wire this into a thermostat or manual switch. Either way, you need to get that overheating problem fixed very quickly. As stated above, these engines will not tolerate being overheated - AT ALL.

Good luck, and reply back if you need some direction on electric fan installation,

 

It is the sender thank god

As for the temp It has only got that hot once, and I quickly cooled the motor down

I noticed that the fan spun very easily (even for a clutched fan) I just thoght it was so it didn't kill the gas mileage at high rpm's

well I'll go electric it may even free up a few horse's

 

Thats a nice car, did you do that your self