Hi all,
I have inherited a 87 rx7 that has been sitting in my uncles garage since 1997! From what I’ve been told it ran fine when he parked it. It has 46,000 original miles. Other than a layer of dust and 4 flat tires it looks great. I’m looking to get it back on the road so what are something’s I need to take care of with this rotary motor. It’s a 13B non turbo. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

if you gave it to me i'd just spin the engine over by hand, and maybe put a little oil in it.
then i'd toss a battery in it, and see why it was parked so long.

after it starts then you need to change the oils and coolant. also all the filters. for sure there will be something that is really bad too, like the cooling system, or the gas tank, but engine should be fine

 

Thanks for the input!

 

drain gas tank

 

look inside the gas tank before you try to start it as the whole fuel pump hanger assembly and tank may be rusted out.

if you're going to try to spin it by hand, remove the spark plugs and pour just a little oil carefully in there just a little. Also you may remove the upper intake and pour a little oil in the four intake runners.

 

 

:wow:wow:

whatever you do don’t go full-robdahm and try to put a Garrett G40-900 1.06 T4 turbo setup on it

.

 

Lol no worries! With 46,000 original miles on it, I’m going to keep it as original as possible… but my ‘88 very could be a different story.🤪

 

So there has been some pleasant developments since my original post. As per the suggestions from some of you, I drained the gas. There was no trash nor rust. It looked great… just smelled skunky. The fuel pump was a different story. In case you were wondering, this is what a fuel pump that has sat for 25 yrs looks like.

It has seen better days…
so I replaced it. Replaced the line to the fuel filter and the fuel filter.

 

I can smell this...

 

After replacing some of the fuel system components, I focused my attention to the plugs. I’m pretty sure these are the original plugs. Let me know otherwise, guys, but I’ve not seen this style before.

NKGs with round tip instead of 4 points… originals?
I added oil before replacing the plugs to lube up those apex seals I’ve heard so much about.

 

Not sure if those plugs are original, but that looks like a big piece of carbon on it.

I would try gently rotating the engine by hand (clockwise as faced from the front, and make sure it's in neutral) and make sure it turns freely. If it does, I like to add a bit of oil, rotate, add a bit of oil, rotate, etc. That spreads the oil all around the combustion chamber and gives it time to soak in between the seals.

Your neighbors will hate you when you get it started, but you can't be too careful.

 

not sure if originals, don't think so, check the number as it looks like race NGK R6601 plugs

 

NGK and Denso supply spark plugs to Mazda Japan, and either got installed at the factory
Mazda USA only supplies NGK, but you can still buy the ND's

 

well I’ll damned! That’s so cool! Thanks!

 

Nice! Low mile, 5 Lug car, most likely has 4 pot front brakes. Hope you get it running and get to enjoy it!

-M

 

thanks! I’m getting close!!

 

Im in the same boat!

 

Nice find!!

 

That louver though!! lol