First of all, the engine is idleing a little high, around 1800 rpms and also has a bit of a studder, sort of like a rythmic after burn sound. One thing to take note of is that the fuel in the tank is about 4 and 1/2 months old. The reason I didn't drain it is that I have a little over half a tank, and no containers that big. Could this fuel be causing the studder and the high idle. Also, I'm getting a lot of smoking out of the exhaust and the exhaust side of the engine. I imagine this is oil from the rebuild that is burning? One more thing, my brakes are gone. They were fine before I started the rebuild, but now they are gone. The pedal goes straight to the floor and if I pump it it builds some pressure, but quickly loses it. Also, I topped off the brake fluid resevior and it hasn't gone down at all since I pumped the brakes. I appreciate any responses.

-kevino

 

1) get rid of that gas, drain and refill with new stuff.
2) rebleed your brakes, you may have a leaking caliper.
3) a bit of residual oil burn is probably heresay right after a rebuild, it should go away quickly though considering its only assembly lube. If it continues, there may be a problem

 

What does half a tank of gas in an rx-7 equate to in gallons? Is that about 6 gallons?

 

Sounds like you have vac leak or block-off plate leak problems...

If the tank stayed sealed during the 4 1/2 months, it shouldn't exactly be varnish yet, although I'd check the tank filter if in doubt...

1/2 a tank on my gauge visually looks like probably 8-10 gallons in mine, maybe more. She looks about 2/3 full through the pump opening...

 

Well, the tank was definitely sealed during the down time. As a side note, I installed a lighter flywheel (14lbs not including counterweight) during the rebuild. Can this cause higher idles? I imagine the idle isn't dependent on this, but just in case...

 

You are talking about idle after warm-up, right?

 

Could be a vac leak/throttle plates being held open/etc, could be all kinds of different things, just go over it all and double check.

 

I took out the thermowax setup a long time ago so that warmup has no effect on my idle. Every time I've had vac leaks before my car would stall, so I'm not quite sure it's a vac leak. I guess I will try draining the gas when I get a container and see if new gas helps. As for the brakes, one more thing I forgot to mention is that they are pretty much locked up. I can barely push it myself and I usually need help. Of course the engine moves the car, but I can tell there is a huge drag.

 

I'd perform a complete fluid change in all four, then bleed the crap out of her....

Some vac leaks cause stalls, some cause hesitations, some cause high idles...It all depends on WHERE the leak is, and what relative size it is...

 

The only lines I can think of that might cause this are the lines in the back of the dynamic chamber/throttle body. What would happen if they were leaking? The oil injector lines probably wouldn't do much right?

 

I wouldn't worry about it.
LEAVE THE HIGH IDLE!
We normally bump up the idle just to keep the engine idling.
Since you already got it high, let it run for a few more hours.
This will actually help.

I've ran my car with 2 year old gas sitting in it.
The rotary engine is so resiliant to bad gas it's not even funny.
It's not like you're going to go pounding it all over the place.
If you're paranoid, mix some fresh gas in it and let it burn off.
Trying to get rid of old gas is not very easy.


-Ted

 

interesting note:
lets say you installed the motor and set the throttle plate to what you think is perfect. when you start the car up, the throttle cable will tense up. im not sure how this works exactly. check throttle cable?

 

Throttle cable is good. I've pushed on the throttle cable linkage a couple of times to make sure it was resting on the stop. Mixing in some fresh gas sounds like a pretty good idea, maybe I'll try that. I just hate the idea of tearing everything back off to look for a vac leak, I just want to be done with it for now.

 

well every brake is locked up exept for the front drivers side. I guess I'll bleed the system and move the pistons around a little. If I had the extra money I'd just buy all new ones, but I don't.