buldozr

iTrader: (1)

Hi guys, Like title says, new to the boards but have been a longtime rotary owner, I have owned two 88 rx7's about 6 years ago(learned how to drive a car on a streetport 5spd). Heres my issue, my brother bought an 87 NA with the 6port, it had a major exhaust leak when purchased, I simply thought it was the manifold possibly cracked/warped or just a gasket issue, I worked on it last night, swapped gaskets with oem gaskets, checked for cracks(none), check straightness(perfect), slapped it all back together, still leaks, I did some more investigative research and found out its leaking right above the exh manifold.... so its not the manifold but what could possibly have exhaust running through it above that??? I Know the actuators are exhaust driven... Could really use the help guys. Thanks

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

There is an air passage in the lower intake manifold that leads to the exhaust. I've never heard of that leaking.

Are you SURE the manifold is not warped?

buldozr

iTrader: (1)

^ when I swapped the gaskets last night, I put a machinist straight edge on it, couldnt have been warped, then my bro just called me about two hours ago, he took the manifold back off, machined it on the bridgeport mill(not to be confused with the shape of port, its a type of mill) and we know damn sure its flat now, still leaked. he pulled the intake manifold off and is going to take it to rx7.com in Garland Tx, we did notice a peice fall off the engine when we pulled the motor, it looked like a concave washer with no whole in it kinda like a plug of some sort, we didnt think anything of it but now I know we are over our heads, also noticed the 6 port actuators look good but the physical shaft they attach to are stuck... I think something is a miss or the previous owner may have fubar'd the blades??? they are not even stuck all the way open either, they are like half way... I will keep you guys updated on what rx7.com says.

buldozr

iTrader: (1)

update: that washer I was talking about was kinda like a freeze plug in the intake manifold, my stepdad is going to press it back in the manifold and braze it in place so it doesnt fall out again, hopefully it wont leak but I hope others will learn from our experience. Thanks for the ideas.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Are you referring to the freeze plug on the center iron? It was brazed back in place?!

If so, then you may be experiencing a coolant o-ring failure soon. The localized heat from brazing could have easily damaged the seals.

buldozr

iTrader: (1)

^ your right, correction, it was the center Iron, he decided not to braze(sounds like he was glad he didnt from what your saying). That car was a mess, we forgot to attach one of the vacuum lines from the lower intake to the side of the throttle body and it made it a real pain to get to after everything said and done, we eventually had to pop the upper loose to get at it. After all said and done, cranked the car to find the exhaust leak gone and a new vacuum leak appeared(most likely got disturbed after popping the upper intake loose). I was done working on it for the night but I still dont know if my brother found the new vacuum leak or if he tried to drive it back to Georgia like that. Those tiny oil lines get very brittle, that was a different story entirely. I hope he makes it.

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

I hope those Tiny Oil lines are Replaced Dude..or the car won't have Lubrication Internally.You can Kiss that Engine Good Bye unless you took the Initiative to Premix.

buldozr

iTrader: (1)

yeah, oil lines were replaced. I got a call from my bro that he made it allright to Georgia, he found the vacuum leak right before he left out so good thing too cause that car didnt want to idle for crap(sounded like a bridgeport at 500rpm... pow . pow pow....pow... dead)