The Shaolin

iTrader: (5)

I bought a 1986 RX7 on eBay because I've always wanted one. 50k original miles, little rust. Base model.



First of all...under the hood...

I only know piston engines on newer cars, that's all I've ever worked on. I've tried to do my homework as best as I could but I still have a couple of questions. So many vacuum lines.

1) The crank pulley is 3 pulleys. The innermost one has a belt on it, but the other two are empty. What are these for? Power steering and A/C?
2) This has the 5th and 6th ports that open off of vaccuum from the exhaust...correct? Where is the actuator for this? On the front side of the throttle body, there is a vaccuum port. I took the vaccuum line off the port, opened it, put my finger over the end and let go, and it closed...so I'm guessing the diaphragm is shot. If this isn't 5/6 ports, what is it?
3) Where does the linkage on that side of the throttle body go to? lol.
4) I compression tested it, but it was 2 or 3 hours after I ran it, so the engine was pretty cold by this point. I got like, 98 on the front rotor and 95 on the back one. It's still running really solid...I'm gonna rock it till I pop it and drop a 13BT in I think. These numbers aren't TOO bad considering it was cold, right? I noticed, however, on the rear rotor, that one of the bumps was MUCH larger than the other two, so I probably have one poor apex seal. Yes?
5) I've never seen a spark plug like that before! Is that standard? electrode in the middle and 4 thingies around the outside?

6) This spoiler was chillin in the back...looks to be off of a Turbo II. I've already started sanding it down...Just drilling a couple holes and putting nuts on the back with some sealer, right? Doesn't look to be too hard...



7) The interior is not in the best of shape...my initial plans are for this to be a weekend driver and track car. I plan on putting it on a decent diet, ripping out the carpet and dashboard, interior panels, etc. Maybe headlights, wiper motor, windshield washer fluid, emissions if I get excited. Any suggestions on easy spots to lose alot of weight?

8) He put some gay battery terminals on there, and the cables keep popping out...I want stock ones. How do these look? http://cgi.ebay.com/BATTERY-TERMINAL...QQcmdZViewItem
How is the battery tied down stock? There's nothing there to tie it down right now...lol

Sorry, this got kinda long...thanks for putting up with me, I'm so lost...lol

killinit937

if it has the original exhaust. the 5/6th ports open up front back pressure. you will find a tub that runs down allthe way to the last cat. if i remember right. thats what makes them actuate. some people just wire them open.

NCross

iTrader: (18)

the only vacuum line on the throttle body is for the double throttle.

dont rip the the interior all out, youll regret it. scrape the sound tar, remove the rubber matting remove the AC (if equipped), remove the wiper fluid tank, remove the audio gear, remove sunroof motor, remove airpump silencers, security system (if equipped), cruise control (if equipped), tools/spare, AAS (if equipped).

removing weight doesnt really help that much unless you put fiberglass bodypanels,remove everything and whatnot to achieve 4-500 pounds.

i wouldnt touch the emissions on an NA if i were you. i hear people say its hard to get it running right without it.

dont mess with the catalytic converter, you will loose power from the aux posrts not opening right.

The Shaolin

iTrader: (5)

also, when I compression tested the motor...the rear motor had one big jump and two smaller ones...so I probably have an apex seal going, right?

The Shaolin

iTrader: (5)

thought of another question...

it's got 8.5 OMG RACE HIGH PERFORMANCE spark plug wires on what appears to be an otherwise stock ignition system? they are also wayyyy too long? WTF?

The Shaolin

iTrader: (5)

bump

na5

remove stock exhaust system replace with high flow cat and single exhaust tip make sure cat has the vacuum port should shave you some good weight off

na5

and relocate your battery to the interior

Ashyukun

iTrader: (3)

0. Do some reading through the archives, get yourself a Haynes manual, and download the FSM (Factory Service Manual- there are links posted in the stickies above). Many of your questions and problems are answered and solved by those.

1. Yes, you're probably right- if the empty pulleys are on the same side as the spark plugs (right when looking from the front) those probably the A/C & P/S- though there's an adjuster pulley for one of those. I can't remember for certain since I ripped mine out...

2. As was already posted, the 5/6 ports are actuated from the exhaust- there's a pipe/tube running from the cat that comes up next to the exhaust manifold and a small vacuum line that comes off from that and plugs in near the back of the engine. If you're looking at the engine from the passenger side and looking down into the bay, you can likely see at least the rearward 5/6 actuator- it's slightly smaller than the half-sized coke cans and has a rod sticking out of it. There's one on either side of the ACV. There's a quick method posted to check their activation using a dab of grease- it's a good idea to do something like that to check their functionality, you'll want them working if you want to get the most out of the largely stock engine.

3. Linkage on the side of the throttle body... that's the front side right, so that's likely the linkage to control the MOP (metering oil pump) that is used to lubricate the seals in the stock configuration. If the rod that goes down from that linkage isn't there, you need to be premixing until you either get the stock oil injection system running or just keep premixing. Do some searching on 'oil injection' and 'MOP' or 'OMP' for more info on this, as well as 'premix'. If the rod is there and is connected to something with a bunch (4) of plastic tubes coming out of it, it stands a chance of still being working properly. Do some reading up on the topic though- it's rather important to our rotary engines.

4. It sounds like it's compressing decently well, and as I understand it (I'm still relatively new myself) the difference in the numbers would indicate that you've got an apex seal that isn't holding compression as well as the other 2 are- but it still looks pretty good.

5. Yes, that is the standard spark plug. Keep in mind though that the four aren't completely interchangeable- the trailing (top) and leading (bottom) use slightly different plugs, so don't mix them up and remember to get 2 of each (and put them where they go) when you replace them.

6. I can't view images from work, but that should be all you'd need to know. I'm having the spoiler I got for my 'vert installed by a local body shop though- I decided it was worth the $50 or so to have it done by people who had the right tools (and who would both be responsible for fixing any mistakes & less likely to make them- at leas hopefully).

7. I have a 'vert, so worrying about weight hasn't been something I've really done (since it's largely pointless :P). Do some searching and reading through the archives and old posts- there are a lot of people who have done weight reduction so you'll find a lot of good info.

8. Those look identical to the posts I have on my battery cables, so I don't see why they wouldn't work as long as you're using a battery that has posts like that (i.e., not a side-connection battery).

9. Enjoy!

The Shaolin

iTrader: (5)

Thanks! Every board could use more helpful people like you

I'm running into some issues titling the car, and it needs brakes bad, so it's going to stay parked for a while...the spoiler is almost ready for primer, I'll check back in with progress

Ashyukun

iTrader: (3)

Can see the pictures now. Arctic Silver, just like my 'vert. Nice. That color looks really good waxed up and shiny. Not that I'm biased or anything. The only bad part about it is that I've only been able to find the Duplicolor paint in that color in the small spray cans. I used about 2 cans of it when I repainted the Mustang spoiler that is going on my 'vert- you'll probably need slightly less for that spoiler since it's got a bit less surface area. But adhesion promoter, the colored spray paint, and then a acrylic layer on top looks a lot better than I really expected a spray-can job to end up. And I suppose the $4.50 small can's aren't that bad... but it's annoying that the big cans of other colors are only a dollar more- especially when you've got something as large as a bumper to repaint...

I can sympathize with you on the title problems- it took me a while to get the title for mine transferred over properly... the buyer made a mistake and corrected it and the Notary didn't point out that we needed to have him fill out an affidavit of correction (and neither of us knew it either)- and then he was out of the country visiting relatives for close to a month. I didn't want to really start working on the car until I had the title signed over properly & could legally and totally prove I owned the car. It was rather frustrating.

rhvix

I thought in 86 they ran the 5/6th ports with air pump pressure, not back presure..... at least my is that way......... or was.