Sittin for 5 yrs. Safe to drive from Colorado?
 

Hey guys and possibly gals.

Names Mitch first off since I'm new. Here's the story, Going to visit my uncle in Denver this weekend and head back Tuesday. I'm flying by myself so I'm trying to make absolutly sure if I decide to drive his 90 RX-7 GXL home instead of flying, that I'll make it. I think it will be about a 14 hour drive from Denver to Austin. I'll stop for the night with family on the way in about 6 hours from home. I currently work at a shop right know and have been around cars my whole life so if something needs to be done I can do it. Might take a second to realize if things are different on a rotary how ever.

OK! Finally, the questions and info.

Car has been sitting almost 6 years. ( has a bent drive shaft)

We'll get the drivshaft fixed/replaced.

I'll most likly buy 4 new tires, change oil (whats good for a rotary?) Change belts, and hoses, and also plugs.


And basically look over the whole thing to see what I can find.

I'm new to rotary motors so any info you have would be highly appriciated.

Thanks
Mitch

Have a look at this:
http://aaroncake.net/RX-7/unstore.htm

yea, do what ^^ said, read that, and get your uncle to do all that stuff and then if it runs fine the try and make the trip, but have a friend with you just in case...

Ok, I think the biggest thing is to clean out the fuel system. Hopefully it didn't have much gas when stored. But it has been garage kept it's life and kept under a cover.

The only thing though, all my friends are out of town or have to work ( i was lucky to get off). That's why I want to be positive It's road worthy. I'm thinking get it all checked out and replace everything sunday, drive it around monday, and most of Tuesday, then debate the long drive home. The will be plenty of 2 hour stretches with nothing around:pity: I'll be doing this anyway though so I next time I go up I can have it ready for the trip home incase I don't get to bring it this week.

Tow It!!!

Everything depends on how the car was prepped for storage.

Has your uncle tried to start the car recently?

I live in Denver and know a bit about RXs...if you need some help just PM me.

Get AAA Plus, Its cheap and it will come in handy now or later.

If you change the belts and hoses, keep the old ones in your trunk in case something goes wrong with the new ones.

Welcome, Mitch!

First off, I can't say I'd recommend driving it that far without a good deal of driving around town, and smaller freeway trips first; it HAS been sitting for 5 years.

However, you seem to know what you need to change to make the car drivable; changing belts and hoses, tires, and cleaning the fuel system. you're not being stupid about it like a lot of the kids on here who want to know if they can drive a car that's sat for 4 years in some dude's front lawn with no maintainance across the country.


You're being smart here: "I'm thinking get it all checked out and replace everything sunday, drive it around monday, and most of Tuesday, then debate the long drive home." If you can drive it around town and on the freeway a little bit with no worries, and still feel safe, may as well go for it! If not, and you have to go back up to pick it up, I'd ask your uncle to drive it as much as he can in the mean time; if there's gonna be a problem, maybe he can find it for you.

+1 tow it.

Ok well thanks for the info guys. I like how big the community is around here so I can get multiple replys and decently quick.

I'll keep ya'll posted when I get up there and start workin on it and if any problems arise. Luckily just 10 mintues away there is a NAPA auto parts that carries everything I'll need:lol2:

i've found kragen to be able to get a greater variety of parts for fc's than napa, ever time i go to napa they don't have what i need and can't even order the stuff

I wouldn't count on that.
They may be able to order what you need but most likely won't have it in stock.
No slam on NAPA though, the other usual suspects- Autozone, Checker, PepBoys- aren't any better, and don't even bother with Mazda dealers, they have nothing.
Probably your best bet in Denver will be IPW (Import Parts Warehouse).

Well it's final, the car is mine. $3,600. Excellent condition, 3 miles short of 76k. plugs,hoses,and filter will be here tomorrow morning. Turns out the driveshaft isn't bent, just a shot U-joint.... Now to find the place found before that said they can fix it. or just get a brand new one because from what I'm hearing they say you cannot replace the U-joints, and that you have to replace the whole shaft. Is this true?

Also, found out it's only been 3 years this month, that it's been sitting lol but still pretty bad I know....

Apparently it is possible to replace them...see here.

Whether it's possible to get it done in your timeframe is the question.
The guys at Precision Import Repair may be able to help you out, they seem to have a crapload of used parts...

Do you by chance have the number or just look them up online or a phone book for it? I'm just about 5 minutes from castle rock.

P.I.R.
4444 S Federal Blvd
Englewood, CO 80110
(303) 797-6510

They open at 8am.

Fc
 

I would be suprised if there is no internal corrosion of aluminum leading to internal coolant leaks. There's no way to prevent that if the coolant was not drained. Also, check around the thermostat. good luck

Yeah... but I got 1800 miles out of mine like that. :)

Just FYI... the car I purchased sat on a plastic mat in a garage for 2 1/2 years. It's an '88 NA. I believe that it was fairly properly stored, but not completely. There was fuel stabilizer put in, but at that age the fuel was still fairly well gone. The tank was almost empty though, so we just put 5 gal of new in.

The pulleys/belts were in amazing condition and I was in a REAL hurry so I didn't change them. I wasn't terribly worried as I had the new sets with me, and someone following me home in my DD.

I only ran the ~4 hours from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, but the car ran great. The coolant seals, however, were shot. This was apparant after several weeks of owning the car. I should be buttoning the engine back up by the end of this week with a nice big streetport.

I just wanted to post this to say that with new belts, hoses, tires, and having driven the car around town a little bit... even if some of the internals aren't 100% it will likely get you home no problem.

Heck... I wouldn't be surprised if one of these things would get you home all that way on one rotor... not that I'd try.

Like Kontakt waid, it's possible to drive one home on 1 rotor. I didn't realize my car had lost compression in the rear rotor when I bought it (D'oh!) :wallbash:

Anyways, I drove it (with VERY little stick-shift experience) about an hour and 20 minutes to school, then another 1.5 hours home from there. It was a bitch to drive (the car was bucking like something out of a rodeo), but doable.

The car I just bought was sitting for 6 years, all the brake lines were bone dry, and after adding fluid, cracking the lines, and pumping the brakes for half an hour, there was still 0 pressure, the seals are shot.

Car ran awesome when parked except for the broken u-joint. Which is being replaced by Engelwood Driveshaft as we speak. They had the U-joints in house also but it's 230$ out the door, not to bad compared to a new one.

I'm not worried about the motor NOT starting, just goin to put the new plugs, hoses, and filters etc.. in. The belts were only a month old when parked and haven't dried out. All the fluid levels are fine and will be replaced when I get home. Except, for the oil which will be changed here, and once again when I get home. Just inspected the brakes, they are fine, the rear pads will be a lil thin by the time I get home but will be ok for the road.

Only problem..... The sunroof regulator is broken:dammit:
AC needs charged but I'll just re-charge it once I get home with some good ol' R12 :lol: I like the windows down anyways....

I'll keep ya'll posted once it moves!


P.S. It's a manual, is there a dip stick to check the gearbox fluid or is it just an access hole in the side of the case to check it?

Access hole.

I spoke to Mike at PIR and he said he'd recommended Englewood Driveshaft...it's amazing they had the parts in stock and can turn it around quickly enough for you.

Somethings to maybe try...
Confirm that your low coolant sensor is functioning so you have some warning if you're burning coolant off.
Same with the low oil level sensor...that one will be easy since you're dropping the old oil anyway.

Good luck.

Check them by making sure the lights come on when the key is on accessory? or actual ground the sensor and see if the light comes on?

Yeah the guy at englewood was awesome. he even gave me a couple of the shop stickers just cause I liked the slogan lol. "Can't beat my shaft"


It was done when he said it would be and very nice guy so I would reccommend them to anybody in Colorado. He said he's all of a sudden been doing quite a bit of RX-7 shafts. I was the 4th within a week and he has another one coming tomorrow I believe.

Ground the sensor (water level) and see if the alarm goes off.

For the oil level sensor...
Drain oil- completely, like it it drain for a half hour after it seems to have stopped.
Then refill and start the car...most likely the alarm will sound for a moment or two till the sensor normalizes (at least this happens on my car and Mike says it's pretty common).

No big deal if you don't do these but I know I was quite apprehensive when my car went on it's first long trip (and I'd had the luxury of several months of daily driving under my belt) so it's worth it if you have the time.