I got my 82 gsl from my youger brother and it is not running.

The engine (stock 12a) was filling with coolant. My brother started having this problem after he was in a side collision car accident. He lost control on a wet road, went into a skid and hit the read of a dodge ram sideways. He spen a lot of money (around $1500) in body work to get the car looking good again. (is still needs paint though). After he got it back for the body shop he noticed it was running hot and loosing coolant.
He pulled the spark plugs and coolant drained out.

Is there anything special (beyond wear measurments and checking to see if it is warped) I need to inspect to tell if the housings can be reused? The engine has 168k miles and I do not know if it has been rebuilt before.

 

sounds like the coolant seals went.

needs a reuild. or if you dont have the money you can pick up a running 12a for cheap.

 

I'm currently planning on rebuilding and doing a street port while I've got it down for a rebuild. That's why I was asking if there was anything I should check or lookout for with the current housings to see if they need to be replaced.

If the housings need to be replaced I'll probably just get an engine that runs.

 

Rotor housings can warp when the motor is overheated. You have to check the measurements to ensure they are in spec and make sure that there is little to no flaking of the chrome plating on the housings.

 

<sigh> PLease look in the FAQ sticky at the top of the 1st gen forum.
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=237777

Look near the bottom, under the mazdatrix faq list is a link to their identifying bad rotorhousings page. I did this instead of just providing the link so maybe you guys (I mean this for everyone, not singling you out guitarman )will get into the habit of using the great FAQ that Bob (inittab) spent so much time and effort on before you just arbitrarily post questions. Of course if your questions arent answered, please feel free to creat a thread, and ask away.

 

well if it turns out that he may want to rebuild it I have some parts I am not using for cheap.

PM me.

 

Thanks for the Help. I'll try to let everyone know how it turns out as i progress through this project.

I did look at the faq and checked the link to mazdatrix before I posted.

I just wanted to make sure that there was not anything special that would be related to a possible overheat that someone may have discovered.

 

Thank You.

 

I posted this on another thread, I think it may be applicable to your situation as well.

"If it was just hoses or a leaky radiator or cap, you would not be seeing the white smoke. Sounds like you have a water seal leak between the rotor housing and side or center housing. This usually happens as a result of overheating. The rotor housings and the side housings expand at different rates, so when the motor is overheated the rotor housings try to expand more than the tension bolts will allow, causing the rotor housings to crush themselves against the side and center housings, which are steel. When the motor cools, the now-deformed rotor housings do not seal properly."

I will add that once a rotor housing is deformed, it isn't reusable.

Seems like it's always the rear rotor that goes bad first.

 

Wankelguy, I saw your post on the other thread and thats what started me thinking that there may be something special to look for. Thanks for the great info.

That is encouraging since it was the front housing that I found coolant in when I took the engine apart.