hey, long time reader, first time poster...i bought my first rx-7 about 3 weeks ago. the car runs very strong but having some problems keeping the water temperature down. for some background information, the car was not running when i bought it. the water seals were leaking coolant and the car had been sitting for about 4 months. i changed all the fluids in the car, used aluminum and copper block sealer and the water seals held up. the problem now is she wants to run hot as hell. i was wondering what i should invest in as far as radiators, oil coolers, and fans and whatnot to keep that water temperature down. the car is a 1987 turbo II with a stage III street port, full exhaust, intake, 550's all around, running 9 lbs of boost right now. thanks in advance for any suggestions
-Trent

 

how many miles and are you sure the motor was rebuilt... kinda sucks if a decent rebuild has already crapped the water seals, anyways try replacing the thermostat with a new MAZDA one the stant ones are crap... i went through three of them before i switched back to a factory mazda one.... also run a radiator flush type fluid and flush the rad VERY WELL, also replace your rad cap!

 

100% sure the motor was rebuilt...the car is an ex 1/8 mile drag car and has seen 6.4 second passes at 140+ mph running 30+ lbs of boost...therefore its been through 7 motors...current motor was rebuilt about 3k miles ago i think, 105k miles on the body. ill check out the thermostat though i think its already got an OEM mazda tstat. radiator cap on the radiator is a 1.3 bar, so im thinkin thats straight (correct me if im wrong) but i dont think the one on the water pump is straight...first night i had the car running i noticed coolant boiling out of that, so im surely going to invest in that. lemme know any other ideas.

 

also im pretty good with working on motors and whatnot so is it possible if the water seals are FUBAR'ed just to tear apart the motor and just replace the o-rings without buying the $1000 rebuild kit?

 

anyone?

 

Sounds to me like the sealant, while helping to stop the leaks, probably FUBAR'ed the coolant passages as well. Now you are flowing less coolant and are running hot.

I doubt any amount of radiators, coolant mixture, water wetter, thermostats is going to help your ailing engine.

If you're going through the trouble of tearing down and rebuilding the engine, you might as well fix everything.

Also, the extent of the damage can't really be assesed until you tear the engine apart.