JEC

While investigating the extremely hard sub-zero start this AM (sounded like it was firing on only 1 chamber of 1 rotor - painful!) I could hear a tiny hissing while I checked underhood for fuel leaks, cracked hoses, etc.
For months I've been fearing the worst when the death-knell of Low Coolant Buzzer would shriek - then stop, then shreik again. Every time I would puzzle at the filled-to-the-brim coolant overflow tank, then add coolant directly to the radiator after it cooled.
The tiny hissing was revealed in the glow of my flashlight - it's the thermostat gasket. Somehow my repeated cranking with it's seemingly random firings had given the sytem just enough pressure to show me the leak. The funny part is that at full operating temps the leak is not visible nor audible. Ha Ha - that's nice, NOW FRIGGIN START YOU WEIRD LITTLE CAR!
I let the car sit for 5 minutes while I contemplated A)waking up the (not morning person) wife and having her be 1 hour late to her work by driving me to my job in another city, B) crimping off the new brake line to the broken-bleeder-screw-brake in the winter beater and using the e-brake for the 37 (I've counted!) traffic lights and the freeway entrance & exit in the snow, or C) spending my weekly check on a long taxi ride...
After 2 more tries the RX-7 finally fired on all chambers and I had a fun ride keeping it pointed straight while dodging morons in the snow.
Tonite - try to fix the beater, or the 7's gasket?

Taranis

That oughta be a little obvious.. You're actually contemplating using the e-brake for regular braking on SNOWY roads??

Perhaps you are trying for top honors on the Darwin Awards, hm?

Risking your life and the lives of others to avoid a simple thermo gasket replacement is dumb - and lazy. I hope you're at least semi-joking..

- JB

stickgoat

Fix the beater first. Using the ebrake as your only source of braking in the beater is unreliable and dangerous, particularly in snow.

JEC

LOL you guys thought I was serious about e-braking the infamous Snowstainer in this horrible weather. It's a 87 Cutlass Ciera FWD v6 automatic w/ bench seats - the e-brake is the difficult to reach foot pedal. I've never used it even for parking.
The 7 started fine this morning (it's still full of coolant too). Last night I discovered that I need to replace more brake line, the wheel cylinder, maybe the other side's cylinder, most if not all the springs, and the drums themselves on the beater's brakes.
1000 curses on the use of drum brakes in automobiles, and 10,000 curses on the weather and the salt on the roads.