so i just bought an 87 Rx-7 for 700 because the lady that had it before me had it overheat on her and she did not want to deal with it anymore but she spent about 3k on upgrades and replacing items all throughout the car but anyways. . . . i think i fixed the overheating problem by flushing the cooling system out with just water (i am going to buy the kit tomorrow) but i ran the car without the thermostat because i think its bad and the upper radiator hose got hard as a rock as soon as i started the car. within seconds! is this normal for these cars and if not how do i fix it. Also when i started the car i would have to keep my foot on the accelerator or else it would die as soon as i let off. any ideas on what could be the problem for this? thanks for the help guys.

 

Usually overheated motors can be bad, depending on the severity of the overheat you may warp parts on your engine due to aluminum rotor housings and iron side housings.

If this is not the case however, your not idling is probably a vacuum leak.

Check for bubbles in your coolant, bleed the coolant if you do. If the bubbles come back within a short amount of time then you probably have a bum motor.

 

ok now any ideas on the radiator hose? is it supposed to act like that?

 

Hard radiator hose = cooling system under pressure = proper operation

soft hose = no pressure = possible overheating/lack of coolant circulation

 

lets say i did have to rebuild the engine. with most of the top end already done could someone guess how much it would cost to do the rest

 

There is no "top end" to these engines, and from what i have seen if your just looking to keep it close to stock, its just as cheap to buy an already rebuilt motor from a reputable shop