I need some expert opinions please. I have an 88 Anniversary RX7 that I purchased from a friend for $500. He never drove it and it just sat. Yes, I know that's bad for the rotory engine. I've put $1000 into it so far (replaced intake and exhaust manifold gaskets, replaced turbo with a stock unit and rebuilt oil metering pump). I've had a compression test performed and both rotors/cylinders show 97. I've been told that 95 is borderline. I have now noticed a pretty good oil leak coming from the rear main seal. Here is my dilemma: Do I dare put the money into repairing the main seal or do I hold out until the motor is replaced? I imagine the repair bill for the main seal isn't cheap so would it be worth it? Any thoughts. Thanks.

 

The Rear Main seal isn't too hard to fix. You can either pull the engine to replace it, or drop the tranny and remove the fly wheel.

Also, 95 is not borderline. I'm down to 75 (replacement engine coming soon...hopefully) and the car still runs well.

 

If you are going to replace the seal with the engine put together, be careful not to damage the e-shaft.

And how do you rebuild the oil metering pump?

 

It's very easy to do. I purchased a OMP seal kit from Lowes Performance Automotive for $25 (comes with instructions) and replaced the 4 seals within the unit. Worked like a champ, no more leaking oil pump. The only hassel was removing the air box, fan and shroud, air pump, upper and lower radiator hoses (my radiator needed flushed anyhow) to gain access. Remove the OMP by removing the 2 bolts and the coter pin from the throttle body linkage. Be careful not to lose the the small washers from the linkage and be extra careful when removing the oil lines from the pump. They are very brittle.