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Texas_Ace's 1987 NA $500 RX7 Build-up thread!

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Old 06-28-08, 10:59 AM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by clokker
So the whole "rats gnawed through the wiring" story was just BS, eh?

It apears to some degree or another. I DID find a nest of some kind in the intake, so who knows. But there WAS a fire.

So can i switch the injectors?

Also, i see a TON of vacume lines under the intake, and a lot of them are dry rotted (duh). But i also see that there are fuel lines, can i just use standard vacume lines for everything but the fuel lines or not? might as well change those out while i am in there.
Old 06-28-08, 11:15 AM
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Now that there appears to have been a fire in there, I would assume all the vac/fuel lines to be suspect and ready for a redo. Vacuum leaks seems to be the #1 cause of problems around here...
Remember to use high pressure fuel line.

Dunno nuttin about injectors.
I'm sure someone will chime in.
Old 06-28-08, 11:27 AM
  #28  
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Yea, both the primaries and secondaries are the same injectors, 460cc, so you can switch them as long as you switch the plugs and locations. You can get new injector connectors for the harness online for about $5 a pop, just google "bosch fuel injector connector". This plug is also used for the water temperature sensor and the idle air valve.

You can use regular vacuum lines for everything but the fuel injection line. My recommendation is to replace them all, so take off one of each size that you see (AND MARK WHERE THEY GO!!!!), go to an auto parts store, get 10 or 15 feet of each (as much as it looks like you'll need, plus a little spare just in case), and then go thru, one-by-one, pulling off one line, cutting a new line to the same length, then putting it on the same place. This will be the easiest way of doing it in the long run. DO NOT think that all vac nipples are the same. Some of them have an actual vacuum signal, some of them are just air bleeds etc, and if you mix some of them up, you are not only going to be confused as hell, the car won't run correctly (if at all) and if it does, you may shorten engine life (like connecting the OMP injector bleed lines -the spider-looking thing- to the wrong place)

Not to worry you at all, its really pretty easy, you just need to be methodical about it. Dont forget to use fuel-injection-line-specific hose clamps on the fuel line too... very important and often overlooked step

Good luck!
Old 06-28-08, 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by toplessFC3Sman
Yea, both the primaries and secondaries are the same injectors, 460cc, so you can switch them as long as you switch the plugs and locations. You can get new injector connectors for the harness online for about $5 a pop, just google "bosch fuel injector connector". This plug is also used for the water temperature sensor and the idle air valve.

You can use regular vacuum lines for everything but the fuel injection line. My recommendation is to replace them all, so take off one of each size that you see (AND MARK WHERE THEY GO!!!!), go to an auto parts store, get 10 or 15 feet of each (as much as it looks like you'll need, plus a little spare just in case), and then go thru, one-by-one, pulling off one line, cutting a new line to the same length, then putting it on the same place. This will be the easiest way of doing it in the long run. DO NOT think that all vac nipples are the same. Some of them have an actual vacuum signal, some of them are just air bleeds etc, and if you mix some of them up, you are not only going to be confused as hell, the car won't run correctly (if at all) and if it does, you may shorten engine life (like connecting the OMP injector bleed lines -the spider-looking thing- to the wrong place)

Not to worry you at all, its really pretty easy, you just need to be methodical about it. Dont forget to use fuel-injection-line-specific hose clamps on the fuel line too... very important and often overlooked step

Good luck!
So with the injectors, i can't just put the secedaries where the primaries are and call it good? I have to get new cnnectors too? It looks like the connectors for both are teh same to me. If i have to buy anything to get them to work i will just get some used injectors rather then ess with my brand new harness.

I was hoping i could just put the sec where the pri are and they would work fine, i would not have any secdaries but it should start right? thats all i want right now, just to start it so i know it is worth spending more $$$ on getting this running.

As for the lines, i have replaced all the lines on a few cars, so no worries there. I have had good luck with silicone hose on cars before, it seems to last longer and not have as much problems. I think i still have some left from my last car, i think i might just use that.

I just know that this car has more vacume line then i have ever seen on a car in my life!

thanks for the help!
Old 06-28-08, 08:31 PM
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The secondary injectors are exactly the same as the primary injectors, you can just swap them. I was just mentioning where you could get more connectors since you said that some of them were melted together.
Old 06-28-08, 08:41 PM
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Originally Posted by toplessFC3Sman
The secondary injectors are exactly the same as the primary injectors, you can just swap them. I was just mentioning where you could get more connectors since you said that some of them were melted together.

Ah, that makes more sense. Lucky for me the new harness i got has good injector connectors, well one is a little messed up but i think it will work.

I just need to find some more injectors so i can button everything up and see if she runs! I already have a line on some, jut the dang shipping time means that it looks like it might be end of the week, darn it!

Otherwise the rest of the things on the engine look to be in pretty good condition. A few minor parts that i either broke while putting the harness in or were already broke but those are not expensive.

But seeing as i have at least a few days before i will be able to do anymore "real" work, anything else anyone can think of i could/should do? That means ANYTHING, just as long as it is fairly cheap. I plan to give it a good wash and wax, but would love to get any other small things out of the way i can now while i have nothing else to do (don't have to be at work until next week, so got a free week on my hands).

So, any ideas?

And once again thanks for the info!
Old 06-28-08, 08:47 PM
  #32  
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where in texas you located? im in college station
Old 06-28-08, 08:58 PM
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I have heard of that, it is near Huston right?

I am in DFW.
Old 06-30-08, 04:36 PM
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Ok, i was driving by the shop the RX7 was parked at when i bought it. And i see a PERFECT S5 sitting out front with a for sale sign.

so i stopped in to look and ask how much. It was $2500 but it was also a 1 owner and only has like 50k miles. i mean perfect.

But i was able to talk to the owner of the shop about my car and found out the real story behind it.

Story is this:

the owner of the car had a small fire in the engine bay a few years ago but it still worked. About a year ago he brought it in to have it rebuilt, had it rebuilt and it worked fine for a little bit, but then the PD that was already bad leaked again and caused another small fire that took the already burnt harness over the edge.

The owner then left it not having the $$$ to have it fixed. and that is how it sat until a few weeks ago when he called him up to tell him to move it of fix it. So he said find me $500 for it and i now have it.

The only other bad thing about it is that while it was sitting there people stole varius parts off of it, lucky for me it so far looks to be just cosmitic parts (which i will care about after i get it running).

So the car really does have fresh seals all around, and did run perfect except for the harness when it was left sitting.

He also said that i got one HECK of a deal on it, he said that to find an RX7 for under $1000 with a blown engine is rare, and he works on them all day long.

I also should have the injectors and new PD in tomorrow or the next day, then i can see what it can do!
Old 07-01-08, 10:55 PM
  #35  
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Slick deal.
Lots of work.
I paid 600 for my manual 87 N/A super BASE super SCREWED UP
For my first RX7 was $500 for a base 87 N/A auto that was stock but a leaky fuel injector caused a decent fire and threw it over. Managed to sell it for $500 and then buy it back to make the two 7's into one.
Mine for $600 came with:
Cut shocks,
Smaller tires,
Sanded phone dial rims,
Cone intake with no cold air setup,
bad clutch,
no passenger seat,
bad master cylinder,
dying syncros in the tranny,
no thermostat,
an extra coolant resevior,
bad passenger door,
and a really screwed up interior.

Hopefully you got a better deal than I did, but I think the amount of work is the same if there's not much wrong after the wire harness. It sure is fun working on it though, isn't it? I haven't seen my car in like two weeks.. having withdrawal symptoms personally.

Well, good luck and have tons of fun. These cars are worth the blood sweat and tears IMHO.

Roarke
Old 07-02-08, 09:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Roarke
Slick deal.
Lots of work.
I paid 600 for my manual 87 N/A super BASE super SCREWED UP
For my first RX7 was $500 for a base 87 N/A auto that was stock but a leaky fuel injector caused a decent fire and threw it over. Managed to sell it for $500 and then buy it back to make the two 7's into one.
Mine for $600 came with:
Cut shocks,
Smaller tires,
Sanded phone dial rims,
Cone intake with no cold air setup,
bad clutch,
no passenger seat,
bad master cylinder,
dying syncros in the tranny,
no thermostat,
an extra coolant resevior,
bad passenger door,
and a really screwed up interior.

Hopefully you got a better deal than I did, but I think the amount of work is the same if there's not much wrong after the wire harness. It sure is fun working on it though, isn't it? I haven't seen my car in like two weeks.. having withdrawal symptoms personally.

Well, good luck and have tons of fun. These cars are worth the blood sweat and tears IMHO.

Roarke

It sounds like mine was in much better condition then yours. Prior to it being parked it had a complete interior with good radio, but people stole pieces from it over the year it was parked and so it is missing a handfull of pieces. Lucky for me they are all small and should not be too hard to get.

The body is in good condition, i just finished buffing it yesterday, made a WORLD of differnce already, today i am going to do afinal buff and wax it. Should look like new when ii am done.

Then the engine, it was also running when it was parked, or so i am told. The fire had damaged the wirnging harness but not much else. Looking in the engine bay it looks like everything is there except for the clutch slave cyl.

So in theroy when i get the parts i need for it later today i should be able to start it up and be pretty much ready to drive it after some basic tune up.

We will see. but i did look at another RX7 a few weeks ago that sounds just like yours. Was owned by a hispanic, and if you have ever seen a hispanic neighborhood and there cars then you know what this was like. Looks ok from the outsied but inside it was trashed. Interior was non exsistant, no AC, no PS, bad tranny, bad idle (think it was an apex) everything that could be removed or broken and it still run was.

Pictues should be coming later today or tomorrow of my car cleaned up, it is like a new car!
Old 07-02-08, 11:24 PM
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Ok, finally got finished giving it a lot of buffing, a little polishing and a little wax. Looks darn good if you ask me, for $500 a lot better then i would have expected.







Just need to get either a new bumper (if i do i want an S5 bumper) or see if i can fix this one and then see about some paint.

But overall now other than sctraches and a few minor dings the outside looks pretty good. Just need to get the inside cleaned out good now.

Also got the parts i needd to put it back together intoday, so tomorrow i will try to start it if all goes well.
Old 07-03-08, 07:24 PM
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Ok, i think i just might be able to try starting it tonight!

I think i have it all back together and pretty much ready to go.

Here are some picture of the negine bay, everything except the airbox is done, i will be putting that in after i change the oil. So anything you see missing or that needs to be done before i try it?




I just put some oil in the block and have/will spin it some to get that in there. i am going to change the oil and gas then i think i ready to try, so PLEASE let me know if you see anything! Last thing i want to do is mess something up when i try.

P.S. The sec injectors are not hooked up, i know that, i was sent the wrong ones by mistake so they are just there to plug the fuel rail, they should not effect me starting it as i understand it.
Old 07-03-08, 07:38 PM
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have you replaced that thermo sensor? you may have quite the hard time starting it without that in there, since the computer richens up the mixture at lower temperatures since the fuel doesnt vaporize as well.
Old 07-03-08, 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by toplessFC3Sman
have you replaced that thermo sensor? you may have quite the hard time starting it without that in there, since the computer richens up the mixture at lower temperatures since the fuel doesnt vaporize as well.

Yes, the only thing not hooked up right now is the O2 sensor, since i don't have a wrench to replace the bad one with, the new one is hooked up, just not in the exahust.

Also, i have been spining the motor to get the oil coating the inside and was woundering, how hard should it be to turn with the plugs installed? i know on a piston engine you could bearly do it, this seems pretty easy.

so anything else that you think i need to know before i try it? Will i hurt anything by trying it now? thats my biggest question. Because if this motor is/goes bad, it is a V8 that is replacing it.
Old 07-03-08, 08:30 PM
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Ace,

As your engine hasn't run in a long time, you might want to follow Rotary Resurrection's new rebuilt engine startup sequence. You'll find it here.
Old 07-03-08, 08:43 PM
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Originally Posted by vrracing
Ace,

As your engine hasn't run in a long time, you might want to follow Rotary Resurrection's new rebuilt engine startup sequence. You'll find it here.

Thanks for the link, i am about to go get some gas, so i saw that it recomend to disable spark and fuel, how do you do the fuel? Spark is easy.

An awnser by the time i get back would be great. Thanks!
Old 07-03-08, 10:31 PM
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Ok, so an update:

I finally got to the "beta Starting" but it was dark by then so i decided to just skip the whole fuel system altogether for this test.

So i first unhokked the spark plugs, then cranked it over a few times to see what it did, i will say that is sounded differnt then any other engine i have ever heard. What is it supposed to sound like when you crank it? About how fast? it didn't sound to be going very fast (i was jumping it BTW).

So after cranking it i decided to hook up the spark and see what i could do with a can of carb cleaner.

So i had a buddy crank it while i sprayed some carb cleaner down the intake. A few times it sounded pretty close to catching but it never did, would just speed up the cranking for a second then go back to normal.

I am not real surprised but would like to know what it is supposed to sound like when it is cranking? it sounded like a low whine, and you could just make out a few what i would assume to be compression strokes at regular intervals. but for how slow it was cranking it sounded like far to fast of compressions. Or is that how it sounds?

Remeber i only saw my first RX7 in person 3 weeks ago, and have never heard one run properally (saw one with an exahust leaks and a bunch of other stuff wrong, that doesn't count).
Old 07-03-08, 10:39 PM
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Oh yeah, one more thing. when i would turn the key to on and leave it for a few second a buzzer would go off. no idea what for, it would just go off. but not right away and not at a set time after i turned the key on.

any ideas?
Old 07-03-08, 11:44 PM
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thats probably either the coolant level sensor or the oil level sensor. Either one of the two. Check up on the bank of lights on top of the dash to see what the problem is. Based on the second picture you posted, it looks like the coolant level sensor may not be plugged in. It is the little plastic plug-looking thing with a single wire coming out thats sticking out of the top of the radiator. That should be connected to the appropriate plug on the harness (or you can just ground the plug in the harness, but that defeats the point of the sensor). That would cause the buzzer.

The engine should be very easy to turn over by hand compared to a V8, V6 etc. Not much to turn.
Old 07-04-08, 09:56 AM
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That is possible, where is the coolent sensor and oil sensor? i am pretty sure i had everything hooked up but i might have missed something, very possible.

Also, the coolent is a little low, so that might be it too, i didn't feel like dragging the hose over for a half gallon of water when i knew it was not going to get hot.

I will try filling it up and see what it does.

Thanks
Old 07-04-08, 10:06 AM
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Coolant level sensor is located at the top of the rad and has one wire coming out of it.
Oil level sensor is on the driver side of the oil pan.

Car is looking good, BTW.
Old 07-04-08, 10:18 AM
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Originally Posted by clokker
Coolant level sensor is located at the top of the rad and has one wire coming out of it.
Oil level sensor is on the driver side of the oil pan.

Car is looking good, BTW.
Thanks!

I have to say, after a good buff I am quite surprised at how good it looks. I mean i really like it. If i can just get it running i will be set.

Well back out there to do some more checking and see if i can't get this thing started.

Any tips/Threads i might want while trying to bring this thing back from the dead?
Old 07-04-08, 10:21 AM
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okay im at work so i dont have much time to read the second half of the second page. gotta build some airplanes!

Anyways, your not going to find a "coolant level sensor" anywhere. Its called the "water level sensor." I just got a new one from Mazda, and it was just shy of 35 bucks after taxes. Only I didn't look online for "WATER level sensor" after I found out it was actually called water, not coolant.

in a nut shell, if you can try to find a WATER level sensor online for less than 35 bucks, get it. But the one from mazda was really good quality I must say.
Old 07-04-08, 10:43 AM
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Yeah, after calling mazda twice and both times getting IDIOTS that don't know jack squat both time i don't exactly trust them much anymore.

I have only been around RX7's for 3 weeks and i knew 10x mre then they did. 1 of them must of asked me "Turbo or non turbo?" at least 20 times when just trying to find a clutch slave cyl. not to mention that it took him 10 mins (yes really, 10 mins of me having to walk him through finding it). thats not even an "RX7" part.

So i tried calling again about an O2 sensor and banjo bolts for the OMP. Well the O2 sensor is aout the same as the slave cyl, takes about 10 mins and finally come to find out it is 3x the price of pep boys.

Well after 10 more mins of trying to explain the oil metering pump and where it is and what i needed i just gave up and hung up.

Thanks for the info! Seeing where the sensor is, i am pretty sure it is that the water was not up to it, i took the upper coolent hose off at one point so that is the level the coolent is at, which woul be just below the sensor. We wil see, going to get out there and see what it does when i fill it up, though i need some better jumper cables, i am only able to try anything for a min or 2 before they get hot.


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