Howdy, first time here.

Situation: I have a 1991 RX7 Convertible sitting in my garage under a cover. doesnt run. might need to rebuild the engine. Had an oil leak which ripped thru my heater hose, possibly causing an over heat.

Trying to figure out my options with it.

1. Rebuild the engine and get the sucker back in action.
2. Sell it as is.
3. Sell parts off of it and donate the skeleton.
4. ???

I love that car, had lots of fond memories with it. Ideally, I would like to get it running again to keep those good times rolling . So any suggestions on a place to get the engine worked on would be appreciated, as well as any options on what i should do with it.

thanks guys
--rob

 

I'd say as long as it's as easy as a rebuild, go for it. Always good to see some great looking verts on the road.

 

an oil leak ripped through a heater hose?

 

It was a determined oil leak?

 

heres what i think it is (please correct me if my technicals are wrong)

I had a small oil leak which dripped oil on the heater hose, at the point where the heater hose goes thru the firewall.

the dripping of the oil on the heater hose, caused the hose to corrode slowly, causing a leak in the heater hose.

The heater hose contains coolant, and when the hose leaked, my coolant leaked.

soon my car was low on coolant, which caused the engine overheat.

I was on the 5 freeway, just north of the grapevine, on my way back from San Fran, when i had this incident. I called my dad in LA, and he drove out to save me. (Dads are cool like that!)

Within 5 minutes of looking under the hood, he switch-bladed the bad part of the hose, and fixed it. Gave me a quick lecture on auto maintenance ,bought me something to eat, and i was on my way home.

I added that last part of the story, since what could have been a pretty uncomfortable and horrible night, stranded on the 5 freeway at 11pm at night, turned out to be pretty cool. And gave me yet another reason to like my dad, and another awesome memory with my RX-7.

 

One of my hydraulics on my convertible top is broken. Anyone know of a place where i can fix this?

91 RX7 Convert.

 

There are no hydraulics in the convertible top assembly. The RX-7 is not some lame Mercedes.

 

Yea, my Dad has bailed me out of being stranded on the side of the road before too. I popped a sleeve off of an intercooler pipe racing some motorcycles down the highway once (I almost had em...) He came by with a trailer and hauled it away till daylight when I realized that I could've just shoved the sleeve back on if I had seen it! Didn't even have to call him!

Keep your car man, if you are in the financial position to rebuild the thing and let it sit in your garage while that happens (if indeed it does need a rebuild, I assume you have searched all about trying to start a dead seven!) I would do it in a heartbeat. My TII is my daily driver, it bucks (bad TPS) doesn't idle at stops sometimes (bad TPS, it's coming i the mail) and has a massive vacuum leak at the moment, but I still love driving the thing! When I finally need to rebuild it, I'm either porting it, or dropping in a bre! Keep the sevens alive!

 

there are clear hoses running from the convertible top through the floor which are just for drainage, you may have mistaken these for hydraulics.

 

IF you overheated the engine and let it sit, it may be a more difficult rebuild than standard. Rotaries that have been run hot tend to rust up inside when let to sit for a while, as coolant seals are flattened during the overheat, then coolant puddles up inside the internals, which causes rust when left sitting.

Then again there are other times when they are okay if not much/any coolant got inside. If it is locked up and won't turn, it's a good chance it's rusted up inside. If it turns freely it is probably still okay.

Coolant seal motor that sat for exactly 1 year:

 

tasty... can i lick it?

 

uh huh huh...that's what she said...

 

how long did you run it b4 you decided to park it and pull over?

 

First replace the heater hose, put the car back into order to start. Then test it to see if the coolant seals are truly gone. If they are, you spent very little money, but at least now you know the true status and you can decide rebuild or sell.

If they are not gone, you get to start driving your vert, again for very little money.

Life with a Vert is better than having Mickey Maouse ears and a presidential seal. I wouldn't trade places with the President of the United States, whoever wins.

Good Luck with the Vert!

 

Nice bump for a year old thread...

 

Ohhh, I took the bait!

 

i bought this vert, and am working on it as we speak. The owner told me that this incident isnt what caused it to stop running, but the car isnt running and has been sitting for a year.

this is my thread
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/faberz-fc3c-ongoing-thread-797938/

I replaced the battery and am about to upload a video of me cranking it at full charge. it turns a little better and im about to go check if it needs gas i can't hear any in the tank and the gauge read 1/8 so it might need some. i'll update my other thread if anyone wants to follow along