TX_RX

This is a 1986 Mazda RX7 with 156k miles I purchased last winter.

Some back story, a few months ago I popped a heater line and had my coolant light trigger. I traced it to power steering fluid spraying on the line, making the heater line go soft, and finally failing. I decided to do the power steering removal, replace all the coolant lines, remove the A/C (didn't work and don't really want it, this car is just for fun, not every day), and rebuild the OMP while I was at it (it wasn't working before).

After a great deal of fussing with it, I managed to get the power steering->manual conversion completed, and the rack is ready to go back in the car. I have also decided to do a full tune up. Here is my short list so far:

• All new coolant hoses
• All new vacuum hoses
• All new drive belts
• oil change and new oil filter
• new fuel filter
• new air filter
• new coolant (duh, since I removed all the coolant lines, it's drained anyways)
• new radiator cap
• new thermostat and thermostat o-ring
• new spark plugs
• bleed and replace brake fluid
• bleed and replace clutch fluid

The car also has new tires, and a fresh alignment, but I will have the alignment re-done when I get the steering rack back on, since I am sure not to get the front toe 100% right.

Am I forgetting anything I should do? I have a list of parts I need and I found all the P/N's from the microfiche. I will be sending it to various local dealers, Malloy Mazda (I heard good things about them on the feedback section), RX7.com since I live 4 miles from them, and Mazdatrix. Are there any other sources I should look at?

TX_RX

I forgot to state, it's a 1986 RX-7 GXL

Evil Aviator

• oil filter pedestal o-rings (2 each) 9954-10-1601 (These crack over time and cause oil to leak on the heater hose, creating the same problem that you had with the power steering leak)
• new rubber fuel lines inside the engine bay
• new fuel pulsation damper and seal (requires removal of upper intake manifold and installation of a new gasket) http://www.mazdatrix.com/c-pulsation.htm
• clean fuel injectors http://www.witchhunter.com/injectorserv1.php4
• check your pedals to see if they need new rubber stops
• new wiper blades if necessary
• check the clutch slave cylinder line and boot for leaks
• look under the car and check the condition of the brake and fuel hard lines
• check the brake w-springs, soft lines, and rubber boots
• check the rubber boots on the tie rod ends

Notes:
- Follow the service schedule for "unique" driving conditions as per the factory service manual.
- Use a torque wrench when installing the thermostat cover. If you don't have one, I recommend the "click" type rather than the dial type. See Chapter 30 of the factory service manual for torque specs.
- Use distilled water in the coolant mix. Tap water can cause mineral deposits.
- Use only green ethylene glycol coolant, not orange fluid. Dexcool destroys engines.
- The brake piston rubber boot gets torn when you try to slam the caliper down over the disk witout compressing the piston. Check to see if the previous owner tore the boot.

Recommendations:
- If your state allows blue brake fluid, use ATE Super Blue to make sure you swap out all the old amber fluid. Then the next time you change the brake fluid use amber Castrol LMA to make sure all the blue is changed out.
http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/acces...tail.jsp?ID=21
- The Fumoto F-106 (Regular Valve) oil drain valve makes changing the oil a snap, it allows you to change the oil without jacking up the car if you have a low-profile oil pan, you can take a small oil sample without completely draining the oil, and you will never need to replace the crush washer like you are supposed to each time you change the oil with the stock plug which is most likely rather rounded-off by now.
http://www.quickoildrainvalve.com/
- If your radiator looks beat up, you may want to replace it with an all-aluminum aftermarket radiator if you don't mind spending the money. The stock radiator is one of the few pieces of junk that was installed by the factory, and the plastic end tanks tend to crack and explode.
http://www.rx7store.net/category_s/287.htm
- Synthetic oil works great in the transmission and differential.

The 86-88 thermostats have a gasket, not an o-ring. The gasket is included with an OEM thermostat, but may not be included with an aftermarket thermostat.

calpatriot

Make a two-LED code checker, and check for trouble codes.

The same checker serves as a test set for adjusting the TPS. Check the TPS for proper max and min resistance values, and for dropouts throughout its range. Then adjust it per the factory method--which includes first doing the idle speed and mixture. Dont forget to jumper the initial set connector while setting the idle speed.

Verify closed loop operation of the ECU-O2 sensor feedback loop. You will need a one-LED test set to do that, or just use one leg of the tester you made for the trouble codes. Search for my posts on the 'green lamp check'.

If you don't know when the O2 sensor was last changed, you might put in a new one. $18 at Autozone, same as OEM without the special connector, but you can cut that off the old one and use a butt crimp connector to put it on the new sensor.

Pull up the carpet on the right side, get access to the ECU, and backprobe the pins on the connectors. Use a voltmeter, and compare the values against those listed in ch 4 of the FSM in both the 'on, not running', and 'running, at temperature' conditions. This will highlight any bad sensor or wiring thereto.

Check the operation of the double throttle diaphragm per the FSM procedure. The diaphragm perforates with age, and does not function. It serves as a vacuum leak when the car is cold. If the #2 secondary throttle plates are closed, it will severly limit power.

Reach under the right front fender, find the relief air tube. If there is a large volume of air coming out during idle, something is wrong with the Air Control Valve or its control system.

TX_RX

Thanks to everyone. I didn't even think of the oil pedestal rings. I have never owned a rotary engine before so I didn't know about that detail. I took care of the wiper blades to get the car inspected earlier in the year, since you have to do that to transfer the title from out of state.

I also forgot to mention that I did check the brakes. While the front pads are of good thickness, the rears need to be changed in a bad way, and I already grabbed the brake hardware for it. The fronts look good, but the inside pad on the driver's side is .25" thick, where the rest are .3" thick. So I figure I should put some grease on the sliding pins, and see if that helps some.

A friend mentioned I should also change the plug wires and coils. Any thoughts on that?

Does anyone have any comments on some of the parts sources I mentioned?

daviddeep

iTrader: (4)

I frequently buy parts from Ray Crowe at Malloy Mazda. He's great to deal with and an RX-7 fan himself. He has a black FD. I think their prices are pretty reasonable.

Mazdatrix is also a great source of parts, but be aware that they sell a mixture of Mazda OEM parts and quality aftermarket. For example when I went to purchase a new clutch master cylinder, I found out that they carry a different brand part than Mazda dealers are currently carrying. Probably no functional difference, though the Mazdatrix part was a bit cheaper. On actual Mazda parts, Mazdatrix is often a tiny bit more expensive in my experience.

If you're leaving your car more or less stock, the NGK spark plug wires are very good quality. If you don't know the age of the set on your car, replacing them is a good idea. They're not very expensive.

TX_RX

For some reason under Firefox 3.6, Mazdatrix is coming up as an attack site. That's odd.

I have incorporated your suggestions into my parts list. I will e-mail my list to a few sources and see who has the best price. Thanks again everyone.

daviddeep

iTrader: (4)

Same here. I've never seen that with the Mazdatrix site before and I visit it all the time. I'll have to check on IE8 on my PC later and see if it's the same there.

OregonTII

Talked to mazdatrix today. Their site is fine to visit, the problem was fixed. But it will take a couple days/weeks to get google to stop attempting to block the site for firefox users.

TX_RX

It only occurred too when I went from Firefox 3.5 to 3.6. I am on Ubuntu, so I didn't get the update until today.