hello rx7club and welcome to my story. my name is Gabe and i'm new here so not too many newbie jokes. I have always loved the rotary as my dad grew up with 1st gens. My 1st car was a 1984 gsl-se which i still have. When I moved to Arkansas I noticed a 3rd gen behind a local shop. I talked to the owner and he said it was his, the motor was blown, and it wasn't for sale. bummer.....well about 4 months ago the owner calls me and says he will sell me the car, if i don't want it he's gonna part it out. That afternoon when i got home it was in the driveway......




It is a 1994 with a black interior, sunroof, and bose. only 1 oil cooler so it has to be a touring or PEP ??? either way $1,200 as is..... So I knew there was no compression on the rear rotor, which ment it needed a rebuild. So i called Atkins and ordered a rotor kit, gasket kit, and side seals. Couple days later i've got what i need and after months of reading i was ready !




So i tore it all down and found a missing apex seal on the rear rotor, explains the no compression. Sent my stationary gears to atkins to have bearings put in, only to find out that half the bearing is touching now, so i need new ones......thanks RP !! Now everything is ready to go back together.......






Got it back in so now it's time....you didn't think I'd leave you without a video on my first thread now did you.....i think not !!!!! I want to say thank you to the rx7club and all it's members, as it's many of your projects and knowledge that helps me through many of my problems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXUzD6N8XZ4

 

you bought the car for 1200$?

 

Damn you got a killer deal on that car. Did you get the little bugs worked out? Good luck.

 

you lil punk, you bought a blown FD for 1200 bones....

there are ECUs that cost twice that...

i hate you

not really but good find and nice build to save an FD

 

good stuff, cant watch the vid at work..
is it up and running yet?

 

good job on everything!

i noticed your tach is not working. also, whats up with the coolant leaking, where is it coming from?

 

holy **** 1200.. nice deal

 

What a great find. And it's nice to see such a car being brought back from the dead. BTW, it is a Touring model that you have. You can tell by the rear wiper. The Popular Equipment Package didn't have that. And you've got the rare and much sought after glass sunroof. So, congrats on the car.

 

Congrats. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

wow, what a deal!

 

1200... for an FD... holy ****.... you lucky punk xD
awesome job on the car

 

thankyou everyone for the comments, so it's a touring model ? thanks. The tach was working and now it's not, kinda sucks. I do have water dripping, it's comming from the waterpump, where it bolts to the front iron. You can see a trickle comming down the front cover. I figured you guys would be pretty pissed that i found such a nice car for only $1,200, hell i would be.

 

killer deal

 

I'm kind of glad you got it for 1200 better then the guy parting it out.

 

the thought of a beautiful car like this being parted out just killed me, i hung up the phone and drove straight to his shop with cash in hand !!! I have already changed this damn waterpump to block gasket once and it's still leaking, it this normally a hard place to seal or is it just me ????

 

Ill pay double what you did for it lol

 

I'd pay 5 times that... already did. but mine had zeal coilovers, rebuilt calipers, new slotted rotors, aftermarket rollbar.. but no sun roof.

And I thought you have to replace the water pump AND the gasket, not just the gasket?

nice rebuild, do you have pics or a write up on the motor rebuild itself? What tools did you use/buy?

 

Welcome to club and awesome story! Hope you work out all the bugs. G

 

I don't have a writeup on the rebuild or many pics of the motor apart, when i'm in the shop i'm really not concerned with taking pictures. I've got plenty of pics with the motor on the stand and in the car .All the work was done by me in the evenings or weekends with basic hand tools. No air tools here, although i could really use some !!!. I used all Atkins seals, if i remember right i had to order a rotor kit, a 2nd gen gasket kit (cheaper), side seals, oil control ring springs, new stationary gears w/new bearings (from rotary performance just a hair over $300 shipped), the 2 water pump gaskets, and some turbo gaskets. I also ordered and down and mid pipe. I had all the tools i needed except a rotary engine stand adapter, a 2 1/8 in socket and breaker, and a knife sharpening stone. I took the motor to the same mechanic i bought the car and used his dial test indicator to check the endfloat. It read just a hair over 4 thousandths. there wasn't really any "special" tools i had to buy to do the rebuild, although i did update a couple of deep sockets. You can pretty much pull the motor strip it down, clean it and rebuild it, put it all back in and fire it with a basic set of sockets and wrenches....if you don't believe me, check out the video !!!

 

it is great to see an FD rescued from the crusher. 'almost brought a tear to my eye. good work. lay the right mods on her and she will be almost untouchable.

howard coleman

 

Good job on the build.

 

Are you sure the leak isn't coming from above...one of the thermosensors, t-stat housing or even the throttle-body coolant line?
And careful with that mid-pipe. Search and read about boost Creep.

 

i kinda figured since i was to run no boost under the break-in period i would be ok with the exhaust, i'm planning on getting PFC and a profecB spec II soon, but I hear ya with the boost creep. Many guys claiming and dynoing 12-13 psi with midpipe and to me that is a concern ! I will have to check again on the leak, it looked like it was comming from front iron area, i will have to get this fixed asap !!

Thank you HC. Comming from you that really means something. I feel honored to even own an FD in this condition at my age !!

 

Update?

 

Half the bearing was touching?