First off, I'm a newb so I wanted to say hello.

I've had an 85 GSL-SE for a while but I haven't had time to do anything with it. I'm sorry to say it's starting a good collection of pine needles in my parent's driveway back home.

I'm down in Long Beach about 500 miles away from the car but I'm moving into a bigger place in a few months and I'll have a garage to tinker with my car. I've had a few ideas about what to do but I wanted to hear what suggestions you all had.

So, the question of the day is: If you had a GSL-SE that has been sitting for a while that is bone stock, what would you do?

I'm aware that letting a rotary sit is the kiss of death so I'll have to do a rebuild anyway (most likely). At any rate, it's good to be here and I can't wait to hear what advice you all have!

 

welcome to the club. make sure you read through the faq section, you'll find some great advice and info there. trochoid, a fellow forum member, also has the link to many fsm's in hig sig. i would suggest downloading those.

on to business. if it were my car, i'd change all of the fluids and filters, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, inspect the suspension, brakes, clutch master and hose, the u-joints for play, and i would give her a good thorough detailing and keep her pretty stock, with only suspension upgrades. this is just my opinion though.
pics are a definate must as are more details about the car. welcome to the dark side!

 

Be sure to PM me when you get it. Im not that far from LBC.

 

Be sure to PM me when you get it. Im not that far from LBC.

 

Welcome to the forum and the Darkside.

Letting the engine sit is not 'the kiss of death', but if can cause the carbon buildup to dry out and the seals to stick. In the FAQs is a good writeup on Bringing your 7 rack to life, that will get you started.

What would I do with a stock SE, depends on if I wanted to keep it stock or not. 1st thing is to get all of the mechanicals up to par. If somethings needs replacing and you plan on modding, replace with the upgraded/aftermarket/performance part.

In my sig line is a link to the online FSMs, download whatever you need.
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Yeah, that's the idea I'm throwing around in my head. Whether or not I should leave it stock or not. I know the 4 port 13Bs do a lot better than the 6 port motors like mine. I've been thinking about using a 2nd Generation turbo II engine. I'm not sure what I should do but I wanted to keep it CA street legal and have some fun racing it.

 

Suspension. upgrade as much as possible, they handle great stock, think about how much fun it would be to be able to take every corner 5-10 MPH faster and not land in the weeds. My 84 needed new everthing and I still had fun with it. Brakes and tires to match. If you rebuild, toss in a streetport, intake and exhaust. All said and done, maybe 7 grand (more because it always costs more than you think it will) and you've got yourself a fun lil car that can stomp a stang and still sit in traffic.

 

Will do

It will be a couple months yet but when I get the car down this way, I'll let you know....

 

wellcome do you have any pics?

 

The last time it was running, I didn't have a digital camera. Since then, like I've said, it's (literally) been collecting pine needles.... A LOT of pine needles.

I would take a picture and show you but you guys would send me hate mail and want to kill me or something and it would just be bad. Let me get her cleaned up a little and I'll take some pics.

Actually, if there is a way to save the engine after it has been sitting, I might just try that. It had a recently rebuilt 6 port but half of the engine wasn't running. I thought it might be an injector or something but I ran out of time and never figured out what the problem was. Maybe I'll just leave it somewhat stock and drive it like that.

I thought that I might do the wide-body kit and put the Turbo II engine in it but that's a lot of time and money. If I can salvage the 6 port and clean it up a little bit, that might be the answer.

 

By the way, I forgot to mention that the car has a salvaged title...

I don't know if that would sway anyone's opinion on whether or not to keep it stock or not, but I figured that was important...

 

Check eveything out fuses, etc. Do a complete Fluid flush, then check breaks, rotors, suspension, etc. make sure everythings running good, if its been sitting for a while, try to replace all soft parts, hoses etc. New fuel filter right away. After words, for performance, street port your engine, get a turbo light boost (for street), new suspension.
and anything along the way you believe you need.

good luck, keep pics posted when you get em

 

I'm not sure if the laws have changed but last time I checked, turbos as a no-go for rotaries in California. Smog rules suck.

 

Aren't fb's old enough to be exempt from emissions?

 

Not in Ca.^
Law only pertains to 1975 and older vehicles.

 

True,

What I can do though is put the Turbo II engine in it and register it under the year model of whatever year car I take the Turbo II engine from. Otherwise, I can just say 'to hell with it' and make it a 100% track car...

I'm still not sure what I wanna do with it though. Since it's a salvaged title I really don't see the point of keeping it 100% stock...

 

Check out Steve84GS's car. He has a 1st gen with an S5 TII, 300 hp, widebody and it's smog legal in CA. Letting a rotary engine set for an extended period of time is not 'the kiss of death', but it may take a bit of work to get it up and running.

1st thing to do is get it started, then start troubleshooting. A can of Seafoam in the fuel tank when you begin will help clean out the engine internals and loosen up the carbon deposits that tend to cause stuck seals and auxiliary port sleeves. Download the FSM in my sig and start studying.

If the engine had a recent rebuild, then you're ahead of most that are trying to bring back an engine. It would help if you gave more details on what you mean by running on only 1/2 of the engine. If you have an injector that's not firing, the most common cause is the old wiring and/or the clip has become brittle.

If you run into trouble or a deadend you can't figure out, take Wacky up on his offer.

 

What I mean is that the back Rotor is running okay (or was). The front half of the engine doesn't seem to be firing. The harness was brittle when I installed it so that is very likely the problem.

 

It's been a while since I've checked in and things have certainly not gone as planned but I have managed to make a little bit of progress on the car. The good news is that the car has been moved from its former location (underneath the pine trees) and will be residing in a garage from now on...

I'm going to have to do a lot more cleaning and get the rest of the pine pitch off of the body but pics will be on the way.

Given the condition of the car, the work it needs and the fact that its got a salvage title, I think I'm going to make her into a 100% track car. For what it would cost to fix her back up, I think I could buy another running RX-7 in much better shape.

I hear that these cars run in E-Production. Since it's a GSL-SE, I guess its disqualified from Pro 7, however I must confess my ignorance to the various SCCA classes and what-not. Any suggestions you might have on that topic would be greatly appreciated...

Sorry this is taking so long to get going... :o

 

gawd... i wish!!!!

 

just come out to a meet one day. learn A LOT...and get to see a bunch of cars and how others have fixed theirs up. That is my best advice.

Whenever I get a new car I always read the forums for that car and go to a local meet. You can ask all the questions and see examples of cars just like yours.

LIKE MINE! Fellow SEer!

 

Yeah, I need to do that sometime soon...

That's sort-of "putting the cart before the horse", though. First, I need to sort out the troubles with this thing and get it going again. Still, I need to see what y'all are up to...

What class do you race your SE in?

 

no racing..just my DD cruiser......

 

Yeah, really...

I'd think my 1st gen might have grown a 3rd rotor, in that case...

 

they are in ontario, canada....YEssssss