and here is the situation.. There is an over heating problem.. now the guy i got it from has replaced the rad, therm, and apparently the water pump.. He seems to think that its burning water.. so the water seals inside are burnt out.. which means a rebuild which i dont mind and would actually be looking forward too.. but i have a feeling its not.. I started it up and it ran a little rough, it hasn’t been started in over a month.. i drove it around the block and it was rough for sure.. but not that bad.. more like just needs a tune up.. it blew some white smoke, but it was very cold out and like i said hadnt been started in a while so that could just be it warming up..

He only had water in there so what i am thinking now that i got it at home i will toss some coolant in so i will be able to smell it if its burning.. one thing i wanted to know is if i do a compression test and these seals are gone i should not be getting any compression right?

Aswell.. the guy at the auto shop told him to put a bit of ATF in the oil and that might help seal up the seals.. but from this board im thinking the guy might have mistaken it for the "ATF" trick while putting the atf in the Chambers..

humm.. I guess that not much for questions.. but maybe if you could give me some ideas... .

Im sure you will be seeing a hell of alot of me in the near future...

 

The overheating could be a lot of things, first try to drive it around some or let it idle a bit while watching the temp and let it run for a bit, get some antifreeze in there and then check the overflow canister as it's idling for bubbles, if there's bubbles it indicates bad seals, rebuild time. If not, then it could be other things (such as a bad radiator, collapsed line somewhere, etc) This might give you some help, good luck!.

 

Ahh that makes sence.. if im getting bubbles thats cause of the rotor trying to make compression and it leaking out into the cooling system..

The part that made me wonder is that it still runs ok.. I figured that it would die out as soon as that roter tried to fire.. anyway.. got lots of work to do tomorrow.. WooHoo! a new project car...


next step, where can i start to find some good reasorse's for rebuild kits and what exactly im going to need to replace while doing the rebuild and what i might want to consider replacing..

And, what kinda books are out there on rebuilding one of these.. all i got so far is the haynes manual.. which is good.. but this will be my first rot rebuild so the more i can read up on it the better.

 

the first and only rotory engine i ever replaced was my 86 sport...same symptoms i replaced the radiator...always adding coolant...that bastard ran top notch every day no matter what!!one day i get about 200 yards from the house.....no pops hisses or bangs..i went into a corner with power...i accelerated out of the corner with no power. engine still ran fine (idled fine) but give it gas..same sound with no power...wha laa new engine..i dont believe there is a mystery reason for burning coolant...if its not leaking and your replacing the radiator and such....drive it as long as you can, but get aaa so the towings not a wallet killer

 

go to www.fc3s.org and download the factory service manual. The files are kind of big (if youre on a 56k) but they're worth the wait. Theres also a 13BT teardown on the site. I know your engine isnt turbo BUT that teardown should give you an idea of what to do. Welcome to the Forum and I hope you enjoy your RX-7!

 

Stinkyfatpig: You are in luck!

I just finished a rebuild and have a TON of info:

A list of stuff I replaced, tools, and misc and where i bought them from:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=108301

Tips on Carbon removal
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=105531

My final essay including some bits on mistakes to avoid and a bunch of other stuff.
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=134496

Have at it!

 

thanks for the ideas..

88, what would you say was your total cost after the buy of the car.. roughly after all the parts not including the tools like the ones listed on your links

 

Around $1500 .. not too bad. But I replaced ALOT more than what was necessary.

 

http://www.rotaryaviation.com/overhaul_kits.htm Good site.

 

rebuilt mine using a type C kit from atkins rotary (www.atkinsrotary.com) their video is also there which goes through the teardown/rebuild, but not reinstalling the engine