Hi guys! n00b here... wrecked my camaro. i talked to a guy about an 83 Rx7 stick shift... im assuming it has the 12A motor... i dont know anything about rotarys to be honest.. is there anything that i NEED to know about owning a rotary powered car? all i know about the motor is its carbureted. (ive heard about 'premixing' 2stroke oil w/ the gas??, ATF!?!?!? which doesnt make any sense to me, other things...) any and all help will be apreciated! i hope to soon be the owner of an rx7. Thanks.

Anthony

 

all '83s were the 12a carburated engine.


When you check it out, make sure to check for rust around the inside of the rear wheel well, where the suspension piece mounts... many RX-7s, especially in the "rust belt", rust like crazy there and the suspension will fall apart partially. Always check that before you buy, cuz its a lot of work to have stuff re-welded.

Overall though, the RX-7 is very reliable provided you do regular maintenance and dont do anything stupid to it, lol. I'll let other people chime in with stuff to know and check out, i gotta get some sleep now. Good luck with the 7

 

thanks alo raptor13x... ill be sure to check that out Sunday when i go to test drive it! anyone else?

 

For the right price and if the rust is minimal, then its worth it. I have a 79 and its lasted this long so for all origianl. Just search for anything you wanna know, because i'll tell you one thing, What you DONT know will hurt you in the long run. If your getting this for a pleasure car, there is a point where you just need to wait and get something fixed or park it for winter, or wait for part. You really cant rush it if you want it nice. Dont do a V8 swap, or even thing about it, cause if that car runs, then its prolly worth the price, that because of how theyre made... alright its 2 am almost, i dont know what i'm doing up.

 

i just need to know if basic things liike maintenance intervals are the same or not??? type of oil... ive heard aout mixing 2stroke into the gas??? any others?

 

check out the sticky at the top of the page and the newbie section also at the top.
but to add, check if the oil is good, this is important. also, start it and see if u see white smoke come out, if it does, than something MIGHT be wrong.

 

has the car been driven, or has it been sitting up for some time,,,thats when you do the atf/mmo treatment, let us know....and welcome to the forum...

 

thanks donna... the car is being driven... its the guy's daily driver.. as a matter of fact i just noticed it for sale in the parking lot and saw him, had a chance to kick the sh*t for a minute he said he's never had any problems with it... i did a quick check on the body and there was no visible rust... felt inside of wheel wells.. those looked good... when he started it up it didnt spit any smoke and i followed him (coincidentally) for about 3 miles and it never spat any kind of smoke at all...

 

I say go for it. Of course, I always say that when someone asks if they should buy a RX-7. I have so much damn fun with mine that I figure everyone will too. All your basic questions about RX-7's can be answered in the FAQ, and if you have anything to ask that isn't covered there, shoot away.

 

Don't be scared off by some of the talk on the forum - some of these folks are hardcore rotorheads and know these things inside and out - which may lead you to believe that normal maintanence won't get you by on a daily basis in an RX-7. You couldn't be further from the truth... I have had 5 different RX's, none with major problems - living by two rules. Keep it filled with water. Keep it filled with oil.

I've owned various other cars, including F-Bodies. I actually sold a '98 LS1 Trans Am to purchase my current '83 GSL (and had considerable cash left over!). I believe, for the money, there are very few cars you can own that are as unique and fun to drive as the RX. Coming out of an F-Body, the first thing you'll notice is the lack of juice on a launch - but fling the RX around a corner once, and you won't give a ****. Plus, with a few mods, the RX can become quick as snot.

The only downside to 1st Gens I've found is lack of aftermarket products. They're there - you just have to search them out a little more - and if you're looking at an '83, because of the odd bolt pattern, you'll be limited on wheel choices. Again, you can upgrade yourself out of this issue, should you be so inclined.

You'll find this forum an invaluable source of information. The RX is not "tricky" or "weird", it's just has a much more simple engine design. The rest of the car is just a very light, flingable, well-built car.

Good luck!

 

... sorry I was momentarily raving...

To your original question: Maintenance is like a normal car. Personally, I use 20w-50 Castrol, every 3,000 miles. Keep an extra bottle around, rotories are suppose to burn a little oil - and you need to make sure you figure out how much you burn, as to not let it get to low... Water, just keep it filled like any other car - and as any other car, it shouldn't lose any...

And about the smoking - the car probably has a manual choke, it'll smoke some when it's cold. Once it warms up, there shouldn't be any smoke...

No special anything - except driving...

Here I go again...!

 

Umm i havent had an RX-7 long but if it spits out hella white smoke its probably because the Carb is flooding, which mine does, i need to rebuild it. But there is nothing wrong with them other than flooding which they apparently do more than other cars, the carbuerators that is, oh and they arent the best cars in rainy weather... i had a few problems that are all gone now, I have an 84 GS Targa 7 model i traded my van for it, which was the best decision ever.... i love it, so much fun to drive.

 

I've owned four 12A-powered 1st gens (an '81, two '82's, and my current '85) and found them to be very reliable as long as a) you keep up the regular oil changes and routine maintenance, b) you don't mod the hell out of them, and c) you NEVER over-heat them--- if the temp guage goes to the top 3rd of the scale and stays there for more than about 60 seconds the rotor housings will warp and the engine will then be toast. This means if you burst a coolant or heater hose, pull over and shut down RIGHT NOW. Call a towtruck rather than try to drive to a service station--- it's not worth the expensive risk.
If your state uses salt on the roads during winter, expect rust to dine heartily on your 7--- many owners store these cars during the winter, or at least only drive them when the pavement is bare and dry.
One other thing--- Does Illinois have an annual emissions testing program? If so, check the exhaust system. Stock parts like catalytic converters from Mazda cost over $1500 each, and (good) aftermarket ones run around $600. Mufflers are over $400. The pre-cat (located between the exhaust manifold and the main cat) on the '81-'83 models) will clog up after many miles. Don't throw it out but poke all of the built-up carbon out of it and re-install. If you ignore it (ie: the "overheat exhaust system" warning light that comes on when the pre-cat is clogged) the extra heat that builds up from exhaust unable to escape from the engine may wreck your water jacket o-rings and cause coolant to leak into the combustion chambers--- same symptoms as a blown head gasket (big, thick white cloud that doesn't go away once the engine is warm, and nice pearly-white clean spark plug insulators from the coolant bath). Only fix for this is an engine rebuild--- $2000 at least.
These engines are designed to use a small amount of oil from the engine (about a quart every 1000 miles). This oil is directed into the carburetor and then into the intakes via an oil metering pump located on the front lower right part of the engine and is not retrieved. That's the only way the apex seals (same purpose as compression rings in a piston engine) can receive lubrication. Check the oil every 2nd fill-up and change religiously every 3000 miles.
As for the posts you referred to about ATF treatments, that is a method of un-sticking seals inside the engine after many miles on the odometer. What happens is carbon from both fuel and metering oil burning in the combustion chambers builds up over time and can cause the apex and side seals to become stuck in their grooves, which reduces compression.
The cure is to remove the catalytic converters from the car (so that all this carbon won't clog them after leaving through the exhaust ports) then use a turkey baster to feed automatic transmission fluid into the bottom (leading) spark plug holes. Then turn the engine over slowly (by hand if necessary, coil leads unhooked) to distribute the ATF and allow it to penetrate into the carbon in the seal grooves. Allow it to sit for a couple of days, then crank the engine over for a minute or two with the plugs still removed. This will eject most of the ATF. Replace the plugs and start the engine. It will spew thick blue smoke for over five minutes or more as it burns up the remaining ATF and loosened carbon. (BTW, rotaries with exhaust unhooked are LOUD).
Once the air clears and the exhaust is reinstalled you're good to go.
PRE-MIXING: A very good idea. Two-cycle oil burns very clean and does not allow carbon to build up inside the engine, even the carbon from burned fuel. Problem is, Mazda figured (correctly I think) that customers would freak if their owners' manuals said the engine required you to add two-stroke oil to a separate container. They solved this by having the oil metering pump (OMP) inject 4-cycle oil from the oil pan as previously mentioned into the intakes. This oil is great for lubricating sleeve bearings and such, but doesn't burn very clean in the engine. (ever torn down a piston engine after it had been burning oil for several months? Not a pretty sight).
Many 7 owners choose instead to remove the OMP and install a block-off plate where the OMP used to mount. At every fill-up they dump a pint of TCW-3 two-cycle oil into the gas tank just before filling the tank.
Works wonders--- Rotary racers have been doing this for decades.
I didn't want this hassle so I installed a metering pump adapter in mine that feeds 2-cycle oil from a separate reservior that I installed. Pm me if you want to know more about it.
As previously mentioned by others, these cars don't have much juice coming off the line due to weak torque at rpms below 3000 or so.
But where they really shine is above that value--- high revs (ie: up to 7000+) don't hurt them at all (although fuel economy goes downhill at those rpms) and they're a blast to drive. Well-maintained examples can reach 200,000 miles, but poorly-maintained ones will not last much more than 100, 000.
Good luck with it (assuming you take the plunge) and welcome to the club!

Brett.

 

thanks alot everyone for the feedback.. im definately going to purchase this car assuming it rides ok when i test drive it sunday! so thanks again everyone... and about salt... ill have to drive it int he winter.. but i work at a car dealership.. and im sure they wont mind me washing the underside of it every damn day to keep it from salting up on me.. especially since my boss was a huge rotorhead back in the 70's as i found out today... i guess he had a 1.8L rotary powered rx3? maybe? something like that he said him and his brother built it up and it was a god machine... i told him that i hope this doesnt make him get any flashbacks of his rotary background and make him go off and buy another one just to show me up! thanks again guys...

tony

 

One other thing...tell him not to start the car AT ALL until you get there...put your hand on the engine to make sure it's dead-dog cold, then have him go through his start-up routine. It's this first start, and any bluish smoke that might puff out, that will tell you alot about the current health of the engine....

 

Welcome to the club and the addiction! Definitely check for rust in the wheel wells at the suspension attachment points. Pull the storage bins on the inside if the owner will let you and check on that side for rust as well. I think the rust actually starts from the inside and works its way out. If you catch it on the inside before it has eaten its way out it'll be less expensive to fix. Also check for rust at the front strut towers along the wheel wells and where the steering mounts to the frame on both sides.

 

Lotta info here already. Wlecome, the bast thing I can say is be very leary of what most people (outside of this type of crowd of course) say. I have found on too many occasions that the adverage mechanic know NOTHING,****,ZERO,ZILCE about rotors and half will try and tell you something about the pistons or heads or whatever tus proveing his stupidy to us that know ANYTHING about them!Enjoy a beeautiful auto if/WHEN you buy it.

 

yeah... ive seen the car start cold already... i was looking at it in a parking lot it had a for sale sign on it...
the guy comes out.. and i was talking to him for about 20 mins he popped the hood and i was looking.. the motor wasnt giving off heat... and here in chicago its cold and you would've felt it... and when he started it... it didnt blow any smoke... besides the usual steam puff that i knew was steam cuz of how cold it was outside... and i drove behind him the whole way back towards my house about 4 miles... no smoke or anything... no sputtering so im assuming it was decently maintained. with my other cars ive bought ive had them checked out b4 i bought them... but i wouldnt even know who to bring a rotary to... so i figure ill make my own judgement and pray its a good one... thanks guys...