P-low

hello all, didnt see a new owner thread or section so i thought id post here.

proud new owner of a 1985 rx-7 gs. just bought it last night around 2am, drove 300 miles with a friend to the LA area from las vegas to get it. only paid 600 for it and it has a nice straight silver body, needs paint tho, nice motor that hasnt been rebuilt and hasnt had any mechanical problems. motor only has 140k miles on it and it runs great, started right up at 2am in the mornin about 40 degrees or so and i forgot to put the choke on. put some choke on afterwards and let it warm up a bit and test drove it. watched for smoke out the tailpipe but it was clean. car has a lot of spunk for a lil 12a motor, feels powerful. im pretty impressed by it. previous owner had it as a daily driver and had put a racing beat header and presilencer on it but has stock catback. thinkin of buyin the racing beat muffler to finish off the exhaust, and put a high flow cat in it. would a cat be a good idea? heard that rotarys put out a lot more exhaust temp and pressure pulsations then piston motors so would a cat be able to take the abuse? right now it sounds really buzzy, im thinkin theres a few exhuast leaks and it backfires alot. i guess i need to clean the nikki carb and adjust the fuel mixture. im not too great on that seeing how this is my 1st carbuerated car. theres a huge rotary crowd out here so ill figure it out.

its old, so the interior needs work and so does a lot of trim and weather stripping. also noticed i needed to repack the wheel bearings in the front. i drove it 300 miles home without any hiccups, no overheats, no fluid loss, no leaks... almost too good to be true, like a wet dream! was wonderin if i could put in rear rotors and the lsd outta a gsl? thinkin i can if i can find the parts. oh, another thing is that the steerring is really sloppy. feels like my parents old camaro or chevy pickup. is there anyway to tighten it up? i read that it isnt rack and pinion and that its some other type. been readin a lot of the FAQs.

i dont have a digi cam to take pics with but ill see what i can do. im wanting to restore it back to stock interior and exterior but id like to extract a bit more hp outta the motor. ill do some searches and see what i can find.

thx guys, just thought id post up to let you know.

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

Welcome to the forum and a pretty nice find. Definitely check for rust first and foremost. A high flow cat should do perfectly fine but after a while the stock cat just melts. As well don't put any glasspack mufflers on cause it'll just melt. There's a ton of things you could do to get more horsepower out of the 12A. I'm personally turbocharging mine as well as streetporting and quite a few other things. Yeah you should try and get some pics and show us the beauty. Good luck

zduford

Well congrats on the perchase..!!

Racing beat offers a cat replacement pipe. And depending on air care or not thats what i would be concerend with.

If ya have an exhaust leake, you will get back fires, (and naturally back fires and part of the rotary experience)

as for HP....money is your limit basically, you can turbo these things, FI them, TBI them....there has been many things.

Easy things are 2gdfis or the MSD6a( if ya have the cash the box is i belive 220cdn) Rats nest removal, carb stuff( there is a guy on here that mods them, not to sure of the name anymore) But just look around and talk to the guys on here.. its great help.....

rxtory

welcome there are many of you newer owners lately joining and buying 1st gens

P-low

ill have to read up on a lot of stuff here, try and figure out what'd be the best things to do to extract hp... i want to keep it reliable while gettin a lil more oomph. ya ill have cash to spend, and ill have no problems spendin it. lol

i still have to register it in NV, so i have to pass smog. it passes smog in CA so i shouldnt have a problem here. i think ill look into that catless pipe later.

riceburner1r2001

iTrader: (4)

look up sterling for your carb, they do great work

Rafy13bt

Welcome like me know you find something to spent the money on jajaja its like a boat that you throw money in the water jajaja I have spent so far about 8,000 on mine but evrething is going to be new including the eng..

southernrunner

hey rafy is that a magnaflow muffler? it looks like the one i am going to be putting on my car. if it is how good does it sound?

Rotary Weasel

welcome fellow nOOb! your 7 will own your soul and part of your wallet too
do get some pics up!
and another Nevadan!

Rx7carl

Welcome to the forum. If it has an RB header and presilencer, doesnt that replace the cats? Im not sure how youll pass emissions with that setup. The buzzy may be loose exhaust hangers or sheilds rattling. Do the usual tune up stuff. Cap, rotor, wires, plugs, timing check, air filter etc. and see if the backfires go away BEFORE you mess with the carb.

Yes you can swap a disc rear end into it. In the FAQ thread is a link to Felix's site, read up.
Theres a good write up on tightening the steering on www.mazspeed.com in the facts section. Its also a very good tech forum for 1st gens.

P-low

thx rx7carl. ya i know i wouldnt pass emissions with the rb stuff on. so i put the stock exhaust manifold and downpipe on wich has 2 cats in it along with a lot of other emissions stuff the rb header eliminated, and put the belt back on the air pump. actually the car runs better with the emission stuff on it then it ever did with the rb header and presilencer. it still didnt pass emissions tho. heres what i got.
~~~~ HC ppm ~~~~ :CO% ~~~~~~ :CO2 ~ :O2% ~ :rpm
rpm /limit /reading ~~ :limit /reading ~~ :result :result :result
2500 /220 /213 -pass :1.20 /2.01 -fail ~:15.30 :0.4 ~:2500
775 /220 /60 -pass ~~:1.20 /0.00 -pass :11.30 :5.0 ~:1207

says my air inj system failed. i know theres a hole in the pipe going back to the engine from the first cat. can i get some heat wrap and try to seal it that way, or should i cut the bad section out and fit it back together with a rubber hose and clamps? think that would make me pass that one test i failed? also says i need a fuel inlet restricter. thats the part that keeps stuff outta the tank, has a lil flap on it you push the gas nozzel on to open it, right? that an expensive part? went to autozone and carquest and they didnt carry em, told me to go to a dealer.

also after i was done with smog and i was going down the road, i was shifting normally from 1st to 2nd and then 2nd to 3rd, only i couldnt find 3rd... i pushed up on the stick and it wouldnt engage into 3rd and my clutch wouldnt pop back up. i pulled into a parting lot with the mommentum i had and tried to put it in 1st, but couldnt. clutch was still stuck down at the time. outta frustration i put it in reverse and killed the car, lol. i started it back up and the clutch came up off the floor and i could put it in 1st. i started out the parking lot but whenever i let off the clutch it makes a WHURRRRRRR noise and i can smell burnt clutch. 2nd gear is hard to find now too. did my clutch go out, or is it a problem with the tranny itself? everytime now i burn the clutch using it ever so softly in 1st gear, and 2nd is a bitch to get into. still drivable this sucks, it was behaving so nicely and smoothly b4, i was impressed by it. oh and another weird thing. my choke doesnt stay open anymore. ussually i could set the choke and leave it there to warm up, but now it wants to close itself. the choke **** pulls back in.

ill do some more research and read up on some stuff, use that search button. just figured id post my troubles. ill see what i can do to solve them. thx

P-low

my clutch fluid is low, so i think that might be causin my clutch/tranny woes. ill fill it up and see what happens. dot 3 or 4 fluid right? also was thinkin that the choke auto retracts in once its warmed up enough. thinkin thats why it was doin it. ill take my car to a muffler shop and get them to weild in a whole new line. think that'd be teh best option.

Rx7carl

Well the 2 precats are notorious for melting and clogging the main cat. However the hole in the airpipe to it does need to be fixed or the air inj wont get where it needs to be. Your temp fix with a hose and clamps might work.

The flap in the fill valve has nothing to do with it. The cap is a non vented cap. Once the cap is on the filler is sealed from outside air.

For your trans troubles read this http://www.mazdatrix.com/g2.htm

So the choke wont stay out even when the engine is cold?

Yes DOT 3 or 4 is fine. Just dont use any silicone fluid (DOT 5 I think).

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

Clutch problems are usually cured by the replacement of the master and slave cylinder, it is a regular problem for cars that have been recently purchsed but once changed it'll be good for a long time. I suspect your fluids will continue to leak, check for evidence around the cylinders both inside and outside the car, beware this fluid removes paint.

Rotary Weasel

yes it does! my slave cylinder was leaking a long, long time
once it finally went..I had the pleasure of pumping my clutch each morning and inbetween trips til it had pressure...often having to repump it while in traffic..get the MC-SC done now before it becomes a hassle..also replace the hydraulic flex hose..it's all inexpensive to do..esp compared to the trouble it will give you soon enough

rbf41182gt

nice find! have fun with it!

If the clutch hydraulic system is the problem, then definetly replace the slave and master cylinder, probably even the rubber hose. It's one of the easiest and most rewarding things you can do to your car.

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dayton

out of all the mods that i have done after exhaust i think the one that i enjoy the most is my black magic cooling fan... ( runs right up there w/ my twin weber down draft carb and intake set up.... i dump so much fuel that i have never used the choke!! ha, ha!!)

P-low

im a bit confused. i did a search on fuel inlet restricter on this site and tried to google it but didnt come up with anything. tried autozone and they didnt have em. i called the dealership parts department and had em look one up on the microfiche for my rx7 but didnt find anything. so does our cars have one at all? i read that rx7carl said we didnt have vented gas caps, and that tehy're sealed. so that would mean we dont have fuel inlet restricters? am i thinkin of the right part? cause the smog dude undid my gas cap looked in and said i needed one.

so i guess i need to argue to the smog dude that i have a non vented gas cap and dont need a fuel inlet restricter, and that these rx7s didnt come with them.

timmybighands

Did you ever pass smog yet? I took mine bone STOCK the 2nd day I had it and passed with flying colors. Now I'm removing the rats nest and adding an RB header setup... I'll NEVER pass again. Looks like I'll have to pay someone off to get through from here on out.

boog

http://www.vegasrotary.com/ im in vegas too, check out the local club, i havent seen them yet but ive talked to them online alot...they are good guys but its mostly 2nd gens