Hi,

I've never driven in another rotory car to compare this to, but my oil press. gauge is very sluggish. You hit the gas, and the gauge doesn't start to move for a few seconds, and even then it barely goes. When you start the car it takes about 2 minutes to come up to "normal."
So the big question is... is my sending unit bad, or is this slow movement normal?
Thanks!
also, what's the normal coolent operating temp. for these cars? I'm used to 160~180... what's a rotory like to run at?

 

The stock oil pressure gauge is a complete POS. It is slow to react and often times inaccurate.
You need to get an aftermarket one for it to be reliable.

 

look under the car around the transmission and starter for a black connector dangling. reconnect it to a body or engine bolt. should help a little bit. it is a ground for the oil guage.

 

Maybe a dum question. It is possible for the oil pump to go out but how do you know before something bad really happens. You wouldn't think it would take long for you to screw something up if it no oil is pumping.

 

"What is this little black box with a single wire and a small metal tab that is mounted near or on the clutch slave cylinder?
It is the Condensor (capacitor) for the Oil Pressure Sender. It is needed to protect the oil pressure gauge from burning out in the event of sender failure, and for smoothing any erratic pluses from the sender."

 

You can try putting a about 4 washers on your oil pellet. hmm let me see its been about 5 years since I did this.... Comming out the front of the engine's crank shaft theres a fairly large bolt right in the middle. If you get this off (you may have to crank the engine with a breaker bar touching the ground) you'll get the pellet off. You can put about 4 perfectly sized washer to... um lets see... make the pressure spring stronger?? hmm I dont recall 100%, but I do remember after doing this my stock guage boosted back up to about 60-70 psi at cruising speeds from about 45 and it lasted for at least 2 years... car sold.

 

And heres the pellet mode writeup: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=pellet+mod


Heres another writeup for getting that 19mm bolt out of the eshaft, but I did it easier with just cranking the engine and a breaker bar.

You can change it without tearing anything down. There is a 19mm at the front of the e-shaft. Leave everything on (pulleys, main hub, belts etc) since you don't need to take anything off. Easiest is to use a impact to take it off but you can use a breaker bar. The only problem is keeping the engine from turning. This is easy. Near the clutch slave there is a aluminum plate held on by 2 10mm nuts that covers an opening. The FC flywheels have a notch on the flywheel so if you jam a small thick pipe such as a floor jack pipe in there it will hold it. Turn the motor by hand til it locks. Watch out for the clutch slave . The bolt is *NOT* reverse thread. There is thread lock liquid on the threads so it will take some strengh to take it off. Once it turns, slowly take it out and put a new one in. Watch out for the big copper washer. You don't want to smash it in the process or it will cause a huge oil leak. Use some RTV on it to keep it in place when you install it. Always torque everything down. The bolt is a 85-90 ft lbs. That's it.
All high mileage motors should change the pellet.

 

I was about to try a new sending unit, but they're $50 some dollars! So I figured I'd ask around first. My sending unit has a big dent on the "top," like someone dropped something heavey on it once, or they tried to pull the motor and smacked it against the fierwall / tranny tunnel. But I figured if the sending unit were broke, it wouldn't work at all. Thanks for all the help!

 

The stock oil pressure gauge uses a bimetallic strip to move the needle. Thus it is thermally sensitive and slow to respond. If you want to accurately measure oil pressure you need an aftermarket gauge.

 

Yep, I couldn't believe the difference between the stock and aftermarket gauges. For one thing, the stock gague was about 15-20 psi LOW, plus it was much slower to respond.

 

Okay...
Sounds like the answer is new gauges.
Thanks agian for the help!