Okay, brief history.
1985 RX-7s, ~74,000 miles. I bought it in September (or October?) of last year. I'm the third owner. The previous owner had the car for years before selling it to me.

I've had some issue w/ the OMP, but have been running pre-mix until I get the opportunity to replace/rebuild the OMP. I have a very nice looking replacement one on-hand, but haven't had the opportunity to work on the car much.

I try to drive it at least once a week. This morning, it's cold here (well, for us anyway) at about 28F. The car lives in the garage when I'm not driving it. Today, I cranked it up (no problem), let it warm up, and drive to work slowly. Once it was nice and hot, the choke is off, the temp. gauge is showing the car is "normal", etc. I drove a little more aggressively. Nothing crazy, mind you. I was taking each gear to about 5,000RPM before shifting. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd were all nice and fine (this is from the stoplight). Going into 4th, however, the car hit close to 5k RPM and suddenly cut out. At the next light, I turned right and worked through the gears again, but each time the car felt a little like it was being weighed down or something.

So, any thoughts? Have I killed it? Or, could it be something simple? For all I know, the car has it's original plugs, wires, and distributor cab/rotor. But, I actually don't know that for sure. My biggest fear is that I've somehow lost compression, although I suppose that may not necessarily be the case.

Thanks for your collective insight!

 

Fuel filter first. I had similar, worked for me. If the car sat, and you start driving more regularly, sediment gets stirred up and can fill a fuel filter in 100 miles of driving. So I found out. I'm cleaning my tank with a filter a month.

 

I agree. Sounds like fuel delivery. You should drop your tank and clean as a safe measure.

 

Any recommendations as to which fuel filter? Or, does it matter too much?

 

in terms of brand? speaking for myself, i don't care. i just buy what i can whenever i need one. i know a lot of guys (myself included) also choose to install a filter close to the carburetor.