so im picking up an 88 RX7 non-turbo convertible on monday. i drove it last night and it ran great. i took a look around the engine bay and all over the car and everything seemed worth it. the engine bay was very clean. though i may be new to having a rotary ive had my fair share of other cars, mostly nissans so i know a little bit about tuning.

what are some of the basic things i need to look for about these. my brother-in-law has an 87 with close to 200k on it and it still runs great. i do know that the NA motors run forever from what i hear. but what should i expect or whatnot. the car has 138k on it and 10k on the rebuilt motor and tranny. Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum.
If you haven't yet - read through the sticky threads at the top. Tons of good info.

Pay attention to maintenance.
The book says change the oil at 3750 miles. They mean it. That's the Max. 3000 is best.
Dont let it overheat - It may not forgive you.
When you change the tranny & diff oil, use synthetic gear oil.
The engine meters it's oil into the combustion chambers at higher throttle, so use a quality low ash mineral oil. If you want to use a synthetic, make sure it burns clean.
Once every day or so, red line it, to burn off excess deposits & oil the seals.

The 7 has a 50/50 front/rear weight distribution and no deliberate understeer.
Most other cars tend to push or plow around corners.
The DTSS (sometimes called rear steer) will surprise you. The car will feel tail happy.
If you don't practice turns & quick lane changes at lower speeds, your first high speed lane change or curve will spin you out.
Once you're used to it, the handling is awesome.

I have a copy of the factory manuals at the link in my sig.
Download & print whatever you need.

 

Mostly perform the relaibility checks & modifications. Have the injectors professionally rebuilt & blueprinted so they don't leak with the engine off (hard starts), improves power & fuel economy, reduces carbon buildup. Check, clean, or replace worn battery/starter cabling & contacts. Replace/check all hoses, vacuum lines, & belts for leaks, chaffing, wear. Check the pulsation damper screw & cover on the fuel rail.

If the stock exhaust is still on it, replace the two pre-cats with a straight pipe (partial headers). You might also replace your main cat with a magnaflow racing cat (exhaust shop can do that). Exhaust makes the biggest difference with additional power, fuel economy, & reliability. You can't spend too little or too much on the exhaust.

Other than that standard tuneup, adjust/check TPS, check throttle body for gunk buildup & fluid movement of the throttle plates, and all the typical used car stuff.

 

gET A THERMOSTAT CHECK FOR OVERHEATING!

 

thanks for the advice guys, as far as the TPS...the guy who had it before mentioned something about the TPS being replaced but it needed to be reset or something?? not sure.

 

i did i a little research on the DTSS...is this the same thing/similar system to the HICAS system that nissan had?? if so, are all FC's equipped with this??

 

Check the FAQ in this section, it has a list of Acronyms. The TPS (throttle position sensor) helps the computer dial in the correct amount of air/fuel based on throttle input. If the sensor is out of adjustment, has a flatspot, or the throttle plates are gunked up/not fully opening the car will run rough & get poor fuel economy.

If the car runs fine, confirming/adjusting the TPS can smooth out the throttle & performance a bit, plus help out in fuel economy.

 

what about my DTSS question?

 

as far as the nissian one I'm not sure of its capibilities compared to the DTSS, but yes all FC's had this

 

The DTSS system reduces oversteer. The whole point of the system is to toe-in over .5G's so the back end doesn't kick out. It also causes toe-in during braking to reduce liftoff oversteer.

The whole system functions on bushing compliance. As the bushing is compressed, the toe-in increases. As the bushings get older they have increased compliance and thus they tend to toe-in earlier and more easily, leading to increased understeer. I recently replaced my DTSS bushings with the delrin eliminator kit from Racing Beat and the car feels completely different when you throw it into a turn--it used to plow, even when after I upgraded my springs and shocks. After 150k miles those bushings were junk.

FC's are tail happy because they have a short wheelbase and stiff suspension. The DTSS system is supposed to reduce that. It's a crude form of traction control in terms of preventing oversteer.

To learn more about the DTSS system, check out the suspension section in the factory training manual:

http://wombat.sevarg.net/RX7/RX-7_Tr...Suspension.pdf

 

thanks, ima see how the bushings are and if they are shot then ill get that eliminator kit you mentioned