OKay, I am somewhat of a rotary newbie and I was thinking to myself, As I am attempting a re-build on this 12a engine, I want to remove as much weight as possible.... What can come off the engine???

I don't need AC (power windows and a targa top), I don't need emmission control (live in alberta, no emissions).

So, can someone help me with what can be left off the engine? I don;t mind putting in the extra work if it will make the engine bay look cleaner and the car lighter in general.

cheers'

 

definatly get rid of the ac and emmissions rats nest.. but before you get rid of the nest, you are going to want to get new exhaust.. no cats, then you can take off the acv too

 

Search the forum, this question comes up all the time.

 

So when you say "new exhaust" you mean headers, muffler, and cat? Just checking...

 

So far i have taken off my air pump, and i replaced my cat with a presilencer. I will take off the ac as soon as i have time. And if i ever get a job, i will get a new header, and maybe a good muffler...

 

to take off all of the emissions stuff, you need to first get rid of your cats, airpump, and acv

 

anyone wanna tell me how to do this? Is it straightforward from the manual or are there any other "extra" steps that I need to do to get the engine back into running order?

cheers'

 

oooohh,
its been a while since i seen a good "rats nest" thread,

this should be interesting.

 

well do it up then.. who has removed their rats nest...
tell us all about it

 

Alright, I've typed this before, but I need a study break; this is from memory since my car's in storage far away...

Tear everything out, plug up all the little inlets at the base of the carb. Do not plug the vacuum advance pots on the distributor, it won't advance all the way if you do. Do not plug the "air vent solenoid" on the top of the carb, not cool (ask me how I know lol). I think I plugged both inlets on the shutter valve, I can't remember... you might need to experiment with it so it's open, I think you plug them both but don't quote me on it.

Figure out how your crankcase ventilation system works (different for different model years) and be sure to keep it. All this means for my 82, is to keep the charcoal canister, the line coming from the gas tank and the line to the center housing nipple. There's a solenoid thingy you can keep, but I didn't bother with it... You also need to have airflow to the inlet on the oil filler neck - if you don't you'll get bad slimy condensation and your oil filler will rust. I stuck a small "breather" filter on it and problem solved. Some people say to run a line to the air cleaner, didn't work as well for me for some reason. If you get condensation, you know it isn't working right.

I think that's it, at least for an 82 model... if I forgot anything just ask

 

Oh yeah, you can also ditch a bunch of the **** on the carb, like the whatsamathingy for the airpump with the huge line to the intake manifold (the infamous one that always fails), also you can ditch the hot start assist and the cold-start fluid stuff. Can't remember what else off hand...

 

we need another complete how to,
been a while since i heard someone run through it completely,

i havent even started on mine yet so im not the person to ask.

ok i started,
but im still not the person to ask,

i'll have ya pluggin venturies,fuel line to dizzy advance,
smog pump to oil filler neck,you get the picture

 

hehe

a step by step intruction thingy would be great, I'm learning as much as I can from the car the forums and the manual but my knowledge is still equal to that of a total noobie when it comes to these things.

Hopefully, when I get the engine out, I can have max come over and help me out with the component removal, as he knows EVERYTHING about rx-7s.

cheers'

 

Guys, what I posted above is basically a step-by-step guide lol. There isn't much to it, other than "rip it all off." You pull off the vaccuum hoses, unbolt the metal assembly from the top of the engine and toss it in a box. Try to keep everything in one piece as much as possible.

After that, you do the few simple things I posted above. Search the forum for more background on the issues I mentioned.

It's a very easy job, there's no need for instructions on pulling off every little hose.

 

Silver Rocket,

I don't mean to be a pest or whatnot, but the problem us "newbies" have is that you say "pull every plug on your carb" but surely you don't mean the fuel line or any other "obvious" lines that you need to keep on there... well we don't know that sorta stuff, much less which line is the fuel line. To you it may be obvious, but to us "average rx7 loving driver" we don't.

I don't mean to throw flames and whatnot, but that is a problem that I have while on this board. (Btw, I love this board, I read it every day).

 

SuperPhly,

That's cool man, I understand. Actually, I am pretty much a newbie myself - I'm almost 22, have owned my RX-7 for 6 years and have only started learning to work on it in the last couple. I only yanked that e-stuff last summer myself. I've never rebuilt an engine or anything... seriously man, this is an easy job.

It sounds counter-intuitive, but even though you're junking it all I'd suggest learning about what you're pulling off before you do so... understand on a basic level what those vacuum lines and solenoids are doing so you feel comfortable pulling them off.

if you don't know where the fuel lines and such are, it's time to open up your Haynes manual and have a look. Between your manual, this site and a few others, all the info is available for you to gain a reasonable understanding of how your car works. It's important that you do so if you want to start messing with stuff. Things don't always go smoothly when working on cars, and if you understand what you're doing, you're much better equipped to deal with the unexpected things that come up along the way.

I don't see why a how-to guide should include things like how to remove your air cleaner, because that's all in your manual anyways. I pointed out the main issues that need to be addressed, and mentioned you could search the forum for lots more info about each. You quite literally do "pull off all the vacuum lines attached to the rats nest" - when you're done they're all gone! After that, you buy some rubber vacuum caps and plug all the inlets on the base of the carb they were attached to.

I'm not really sure what more there is to say... sorry if it seems I'm leaving things out, but again do a search, it's all there. If you're not comfortable with doing this and you want to learn more first, then by all means do so. It's not some critical thing you have to do, it doesn't make that much different unless your e-**** is fucked up in the first place (which it often is...)

If you decide to start doing it and have questions, let us know and we'll help you along the way

 

Thank you man, you are 100% correct. There is no reason why ANY of us should just understand the basic functionality of our cars. We don't need to know the exact diameter of our 3rd vacuum hose. Just remember what that vacuum hose does.

I will check out that Haynes manual and look up some things on the carb and try to figure out what hoses do what.

Also, you all have said not to do this mod with out an exhaust system installed? Headers, Cats, Etc? Or just headers? hehe, I am anxious, but broke.

 

I'd leave it all stock until you get headers and eliminate your cats, airpump, ACV, etc. Then you can lose the emissions.

Full exhaust is really the mandatory first step - it's the first real bang for the buck, and no other mod will be too effective until you open up that majorly restrictive factory exhaust. After that you can start playing with losing the rats nest, ignition, messing with your carb, better fuel pump, etc.

 

I just removed everything and capped the openings. Only exception i did, was entirely remove the shutter valve and weld the opening shut.
\
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And on the oil neck filler leave something that will suck the condenstaion outta there, or else it will rust. since the bottom of the motor will be hotter and the top colder. Makes a good formula for water vapor

 

the chiltons is more specific on this,
the best year for the most simplicity looks to be an 83

the haynes will only be helpful if you have a 79-81 i think it is???
been a while

 

couldnt you just route an old vacuum line over to the filler neck?

 

Gotcha, the only problem now is... that damn exhaust is going to end up costing me close to $500 for Racing Beat stuff... Monza's no good.

 

I know that rats nest weights our cars down so much, Hell I told out about 100 lbs work of speaker box's and eqipment and hardly notice a difference, the fact of it is these cars do not have all that much tourqe unless you have an SE. the only thing I would ever take off under the hood would be the AC, and the problem with that is that when you go out in the summer you will be the smealiest guy arround do to no AC that, I would say if you removed everything you could under the hood, I would be the equivalent of maybe 1 - 2 HP gain, Big Deal, I have hear do many things about air fuel mixure being important to start taking stuf off just to lighten the car, unless you are purly into racing and like to rebuild your engine every 50k - 80k miles