I bought this car without an engine and pushed it into the garage in August, and tonight it left for the first time. I work on it pretty much one weekend a month because I go to school 3 hours away.


The engine doesn't idle without the throttle cracked, probably a vacuum leak somewhere. I replaced the leaky proportioning valve and bled the brakes all the way through.



The good:

-Engine felt great! Only had it up to 3k or so and had all the power it was supposed to have, didn't miss or blow up or anything. The wideband is reading off the chart lean, which worried me until I remembered that the wideband is right after the header flange which isn't quite bolted tight yet.
-The transmission in there was in unknown condition, but shifts like it's brand new. Score.
-The rear end was in unknown condition, but didn't blow up, and I tried spinning the rear tires and both rear tires hooked up nice. <3 LSD


The Bad

HOLY **** NO BRAKES!
Ordinarily, I would have checked the brakes before leaving the driveway, but this was very difficult to do while keeping the throttle cracked. I got into the street and the pedal went nearly to the floor and didn't stop the car so well. I used the E-Brake to get around the block

-Coolant gauge doesn't work. Not sure why. It's plugged in. Cluster may be unhooked?


It was pretty damn awesome to drive an RX-7 again, I really missed it. I was so happy, it was a major milestone tonight. Then I was terrified when I realized the brakes didn't work...and then I realized that I still have a long ways to go...

I've got 10 days to work on it before I have to go back to school. I hope to drive it back to school, or at least have it driveable.

Things to do in the next 10 days:

-Find vacuum leak and get engine to idle.
-Install BAC (unless I can get it to idle okay without it, I guess)
-FIX BRAKES
-Insure it, get plates transferred to it.
-Install second seat
-Replace a leaky coolant hose
-Wire in the electric fan for the radiator to a thermostat and a switch
-Hook up electric airpump and get aux ports and variable dynamic intake working correctly
-Install Rtek ECU (will be here Monday)

I've got nothing to do all break, and I should be able to get all that done, i'm hoping.

video coming in a few minutes as soon as photobucket stops being gay.

 

where is the vid.

 

There ya go.

Exhaust is RB race header into 3" straightpipe with borla can on end, but isn't hung right so the flange isn't tight. It's half exhaust and half open header.

 

I'll buy it from you.lol

 

Sounds mean, good job!

Why did it take so much effort to reverse?

 

I'm not sure. The brakes may have been sticking a bit and I was trying to keep the throttle cracked and check if the brakes worked...(they didn't) lol

 

lol beautiful.

good luck finding all the problems. i remember when i got to drive mine for the first time after i got the engine rebuilt.

have fun with it and keep us updated with pics and more video once you finish.

 

That sounds tough, not sure how legal it would be here though

 

Always awesome to have finished a project. Thanks for sharing the fruits of your labor with us.

"NOBRKS" Definitely needs to be your license plate.

 

Thanks for all the comments.

Like I said, I got alot of work to do yet, and I'm hoping to get it ready for the dyno on April 4th so you will definitely see more on this project!

 

i think i've seen you driving before. i recognize your car. ever been in or around oconomowoc?

 

That was the first time since 2001 that car has been powered on a public road...but I was driving a silver FC all summer....not near oconomowoc though.

 

wtf! i've seen 4 fc's between delafield and oconomowoc and i can't track down a single person with an fc through this forum.

 

I didn't see much....too dark. Sounds sweet.

 

nice job!

i will also be going through that same process very soon.