So for a little backstory, my family has had a 1979 RX7 sitting in their garage for 26 years now. Just recently I got interested in it and followed "(ENGINE) Bringing a RX7 back to life" to get it ready to attempt to start. I tried to start it yesterday but it only cranks, wouldn't start. Today, I tried again, it turns out I had flooded it. So I took the plugs out, cranked for 20 seconds, put the plugs back in, and put 1 fluid ounce of ATF into each of the smaller carb holes. I then cranked her back up and she sputtered to life. The choke was on and it was sitting at about 6000-6500 rpm while warming up. The temp gauge started moving and the choke automatically disengaged. It was at this point that the car started to die, I hit the throttle a little bit and it kept running (knowing that if the car isn't warmed up then it will flood again). So once it was warmed up I let off the throttle all the way and it just went to 5500 and died. I gave it like 5 minutes and started her up again and the same thing happened. I'm not sure what to do next. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

i hope you mean 550 rpm and not 5500.

The choke should not have a fast idle set to 6500 rpm, thats crazy.

 

I have no idea why it's like that but I did mean 5,500 rpm. Do you have any ideas as to why it's doing that?

 

Sounds like the throttle is jammed. Probably the cable is too tight or the carb just needs a rebuild. Or it could be a massive vacuum leak.

 

Probably a massive vac leak. And I mean HUGE.

 

I agree on the vac leak but if its that big I dont see how it would even start. You would basically have to have no intake manifold gasket.

 

If its a stock nikki, that anti afterburn hose could be wide open. I dont know if that would cause what hes saying, but he DOES have it choked in addition to the potential leak.

 

I got it idling normal(still rough but at 900-1100 rpm), I'm not entirely sure what I did. I seafoamed, replaced all dryrotted belts, and replaced the alternator. Thanks for all of your guys' input though, I appreciate it!

 

You have a dirty nikki. Try running more seafoam through it to clean it out more. Also change
the fuel filter again. Its been sitting and needles and jets in the carb have gotten plugged so
that the idle circuit is probably hosed.

If it keeps acting up you need to do:

1. New fuel filter
2. Verify that the fuel supply at the carb is flowing enough, ~30gph for stock I think.
3. Verify that the return line is not clogged, shoot some air down it and see if you hear bubbles
4. Rebuild carb to get it clean and functioning correctly, do not mess with float levels unless it needs it.