Hi All,

I am new to the forums and I just recently bought a Silver 1993 RX-7 TT with a new engine (with 3000 miles on it), Turbo Timer, new Miglia wheels, tires, racing brakes and all kinds of other work done to it. It is basicly back to stock and in very good condition with upgraded brakes and a turbo timer. I am new to RX-7's and pretty much just know the basics.

I notice that when I run the car for a relatively short period of time, not really pushing it or anything (which is a challenge in this car!), it gets very hot (you can feel the heat coming off the hood and even when you are siting inside driving it, it feels like I have the heat on full blast). Warmer than I would expect for the type of driving I am doing, but then again I dont know a whole lot about RX-7's.

Is this normal or should I investigate further?

This is my first RX-7 and first sports car so I am sure I will be around asking stupid questions... hopefully I won't be too annoying =)

Thanks!

 

Unfortunetely, FDs have dummy temp gauges. IF you truly believe your car is overheating, have you checked the overflow tank to see if there is any action in there? The only other thing you can do is to purchase an aftermarket temp gauge. Assuming, of course, that your stock gauge still isn't moving.

Your temp should be right around 180degrees or so.

 

Make sure your cooling fans are coming on correctly. I recommend doing the fan modification (the one that grounds the ECU to where the fans run for 10 mins. after shutdown) as this really helps cool things down. And believe everyone when they tell you that if the needle on your temp guage even THINKS about creeping above half way, you are running REALLY hot!
Also make sure that you have the cooling system full, it is a little different than normal cars as you have an Air Seperation Tank (AST).
Some of the sites you see referenced here and there have a lot of good info on all this........

 

Feeling the heat coming off the hood is nothing strange for a FD... but I would be concerned if it really did feel like you had the heat on full blast when you're inside. Actually when I first got my car I did feel some of the heat from inside the car also but I didn't quite think it was THAT bad. After I removed the pre-cat and installed a downpipe, the car ran noticably cooler.

It's true that the stock temp gauge is almost useless, but you can still get a vague idea of how hot it's running. If the needle is below halfway, you should likely be ok, if the needle starts going above the halfway mark... you could be having problems.

 

is that accurate? 180 F is like 82 C. According to my power FC, I am consistently around 88-92. Should I be worried?

 

I have a Koyo radiator and I get between 84-88C while I'm driving and the highest I've seen it go is 100C when I'm stopped at a light for a long time right after I've run the car hard. I don't have a fan mod right now to kick the fans on manually so that's probably why the temp is so high at idle... no airflow at all.

 

I always see 160-180 temps, except when I'm at idle for a long time, then it can reach up to 220.
But when ever its in heat, I just throw some cold water on her @$$ and she goes out of heat pretty quick.

 

No leakage and the temp gage never goes above half... i dunno, still seems kinda hot to me. Guess I will just have to keep an eye on it. I will look into getting a fan mod and a after market temp gage sooner or later.

Thanks a lot guys!

 

If you're not loosing any coolant and temp gauge never goes above half, I wouldn't worry about it. When you say it still seems kinda hot, are you comparing it to other cars in general or other fds? Cause I've pretty much burned my hand on the hood before when I first got the car cause I didn't know how hot it was.

 

I was comparing it to other cars in general, and from most of youre comments it sounds like the RX7's run hotter than most (but most other cars are not built like race cars) so i guess its ok. I was just concerned =)

I have read about people replacing the plastic factory AST because it has a tendency to crack and leak. Have any of you done this and would you recommend it?

Thanks again.