Alright so I finally bought myself a turbo II which is the car I have been wanting ever since I found out about RX-7's. I am now worried that maybe I jumped into the purchase too soon. Here is the information:

1988 Non Turbo Converted to Turbo
CAI with Turbo Inlet Duct
t3/t4
racing beat downpipe
racing beat presilencer
greddy extreme catback
greddy high flow fuel pump
7200 secondaries
apexi safc
apexi avcr
boost guage
a/f guage
e-fan
short shift kit
no air pump
tokiko 5 ways
racing technique springs
trust front and rear strut bars
diamond component speakers
8 inch punch sub
two amps
in dash alpine three disc changer
corsksport type II body kit not on car but included
included new sunroof, and turbo mirrors as well

Now the bad, car does have a vacum leak somewhere which I know is normal. It has no FCD so it hits fuel cut easily. Leaks oil from the turbo return line at the gasket. Transmission is having issues. Grinds from a stop when I take off in first, whines when the clutch is out at idle, and vibrates badly in fith gear. I have no clue what is wrong with the tranny/drivetrain.

I just am not sure about the car, I know rotaries need love, but now I am second guessing myself. Reading all the stories that come up about how everyone hates their turbo makes me feel even more nervous. I have owned a convertible now for 1.5 years and been on this site for two so I have read up a lot. Thanks for reading and giving me your opinion on the car and my purchase.

 

well how much is the car if its a decent price dont pass it up.... if it doesnt have a FCD it cant be too badly abused..... its prolly gonna need a new tranny and clutch so about 500 in drivetrain.... and are you sure its a vac leak.... does the car have a lumpy idle kinda like a lawnmower if it does the motor is blown and the guy selling it to you is bsing you.

 

Ben- (from garlandrx7...)

time to call Don he is always willing to help... he moved into his shop and stuff, you should bring the car down here and let him check it out.

 

does it have the turbo or N/A tranny / drivetrain?

 

Sounds like the tranny could be replaced, along with the throw out bearing. Ugh, I suggest finding a tii transmission. Put redline mt-90 tranny fluid in there.

Stop letting it hit fuel cut. Dont drive it hard until you get a fcd.

Now, does the car have rubber or silicon vacuum lines? If its rubber, take off the upper intake manifold and tb assembly. This will give you access to basically all vacuum lines, replace them ALL. There are a few down by the turbo.

 

does the car run really shitty though? if not and you have lumpy idle then it's a vac leak, as long ur not sputtering and hot stall and ****, u should be fine.
Transmission is busted, prolly because it's a NA trans, the weaker half.

If you can't find any leak check the EGR valve if it still has it, my vac problems was because my EGR, i yanked it and blocked it.

How much you got the car for?

-mike

 

it is a t-II tranny, not an N/A, he replaced the whole drive train
the car runs great, accelerates hard, don't worry I am not going to drive it to fuel cut, I take it easy on it until I can get a fcd, the vacum lines where replaced with silicone ones but I don't think he did a very good job with it. I am going to see about getting the compression tested for the motor real soon. Thanks for the comments.

 

ACK! You shouldve done that before you bought it. But anyways, those sound like pretty easy problems to fix. You can get a tii tranny for ~200$.

 

thanks for the kind words of encouragement, I hear too many horror stories, not enough good ones.

 

If you keep it stock or modify it correctly, expect years of enjoyment & long engine life.

Both of mine are doing great I've been putting money into upgrades, not repairing the car. That' what I like about the 2nd gens - put the money into the car, not repairing the car

 

he he
I hope I can do that once the initail bugaboos are taken care of

 

this should make you feel warm and fuzzy.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=148130

 

no FCD is BAADDD. this bitch has probably been seeing detonation like its a ***** on friday night.
BUY AN FCD ASAP. i bet you are running around 8 or 9 lbs of boost? definitely bad. get an fcd, its worth the money.


no big deal man. drivetrain problems are usually pretty easy to diagnose.
1. grinding first gear- my car was doing this when my clutch master cylinder was leaking. the pressure in the pedal would get low and it would be hard to get the car into gear, sometimes a slow grinding sound. not a big deal, make sure your clutch pedal has a good bit of resistance. if your pedal is nice and still, then it may be a tranny problem, but i will almost put money on the clutch not fully seperating (when you have the pedal pushed in and try to put it in gear). open the engine bay and open the clutch master cylinder fluid reservoir (drivers side on the firewall, corner of engine bay) and make sure it is filled with fluid.

2. whining when the clutch is out at idle- your throwout bearing (formally known as the clutch release bearing) is going out. this is the bearing that the clutch sits on while the car is out of gear. its not a problem, its just annoying. i bet you can also hear the clutch spinning when you are accelerating and push in the clutch to shift to second.. as i said, its not a big problem, just annoying. just be sure to get that replaced when you get a new clutch (it should be done if the mechanic doesnt half-*** the job)

3. vibrating in 5th gear- is the shifter vibrating or is it the whole car? if its just the shifter, one of your transmission mounts is probably out. which you *should* probably fix soon, but its not imperative.
if it is the whole car (does it get progrssively worse as your speed increases?) then its probable the driveshaft being out of balance (unlikely) or one of the U-joints on the driveshaft (also unlikely, but possible) or could even be unbalanced tires/wheels...

dont give up on it man luckily, my whole drivetrain is fine and was fine when i bought my T2. on the other hand, you could be like me and have alot of wiring and 80's electronics problems... trust me, those are alot more annoying, but arent as serious... post if you have any more problems.

 

well a new wrinkle popped up, owner says it has a reprogrammed computer by g-force that he "thinks" elminated the fuel cut but he can't recall, and it never used to hit fuel cut at all. now it does. I am confuzzled.

 

get an fcd up in this piece. get another stock ecu if you need to. fuel cut leads to dead engines very quickly.

 

Check common areas (intercooler piping, TID, etc). But it would just be better to go ahead and replace all vacuum hose with silicon.

Do NOT drive the car to fuel cut unless you want to blow the engine.

Replace gasket. Ues high-temp gasket sealer.

Most likely a throwout bearing issue. If the tranny is in fact bad, don't buy a used one for $200. Pay the money and get your rebuilt. Trust me, you'll be much happier.

Check tranny mounts and driveshaft.

 

hey i already covered that one!

 

car alredy has silicone lines, I checked the compression but I have to recheck it as I didn't do so with the engine hot or the throttle open so I only got 65 which is way low and I am hoping it is higher this time.

 

I was getting 90 on my front rotor in -15C temperature while heavily flooded. I got a look at it and there are chunks missing out of the seals and rotor (yes on the front). Uh, I cant see your motor lasting long at all..