Friend picked up a black FD with 120k on the engine, only 20k on the rebuild, and at the price of $8000. I figured it wasn't a bad deal, but he didn't give me time to even check it out before he got it.

I start the engine, after driving it around I get some white smoke from the engine. My assumption is it is oil burning from all the leaks. I Am going to clean it out tonight or tomorrow and locate the leak, if so... reseal the oil pan using some of "THe Right Stuff".

Boost Pattern is good, except after 6000RPM the turbos crap out (clogged PRecat, I Take it) - This will be replaced with a downpipe while i am doing the oil pan.

Failed Emissions - Clogged CAts causing it I Assume.

Oil leaks are crazy though, there was an oil pan gasket sitting in the back of the car when he picked it up...as if that didn't say it already. I have to futher inspect the car to make sure it is the oil pan. COnsidering the last owner kept the car stock aside from a few mods that he removed before selling it, I am going to say the oil pan 'gasket' is still there, and these things leak like a ****.

THe turbos might be burning oil, or excessive engine heat, the engine runs pretty smooth, so I am sure it's not a busted seal, and boost is smooth aside from the upper RPMS. His engine bay is a mess, things scattered everywhere... all out of place, going to replace his rats nest with mine (I did the silicone on mine) I Am doing a single project, so a lot of my stock parts will go in there.

Anyway had experience with the white smoke from the engine bay being oil related?

I think for the price he paid, he got a pretty decent bargain... a few days of work should fix it up nicely before it gets heavily modded.

Any opinions on this smoke?

 

I bought my car with a rebuild and the person who rebuilt it tightened the rotor housing to tight, that's where my oil leak was at. It would smoke like hell if i drove it for more than 3 hours; i took it to Pettit and the fixed everything.

 

HE's leaking oil real bad, I haven't looked under the ride yet. I really don't want to lower the sub frame, but I think I'll have to... just don't want to cause he'll have to get it re-aligned... oh well. =P

 

Forgot to mention, the car starts without the clutch being engaged. I'll guess the switch was modified for a remote start system. I can throw it in neutral and start it without the clutch just fine. I thought it was funny for some reason... not sure if this is a good thing or not, haha.

 

Check out this post about oil pan removal, resealing, and replacement without removing the subframe...

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...l+pan+subframe

 

Wonder if this is possible to do with the precat in the way, I Dont want to raise the engine too much and end up busting lines or cables....

 

If you're going to examine the cats for clogging, do the oil pan while the precat is removed. I did it with an HKS DP in place, and it would have been easier without it there.

BTW, I raised the engine as high as it would go (all water hoses and the intake were off, but everything else was in place) and had no problems with anything getting damaged.

 

Sounds good, I'll pull the precat since a DP will go there anyway. THanks, gotta make sure it's the pan first... more than likely it is... h aha

 

Hey Darren, hows it going?
I had some smoke in my engine bay that was from exhaust leaks between the manifold and turbos. Check the torque on all those nuts while you have the pre-cat off. I think there are 7 total bolts / nuts in there. Just be careful not to break any studs like I did last month, that turned into a "replace the manifold" project which was ok since mine was so bad any way.
If you really want an adventure pull the turbos and check that the gaskets are in good shape.

 

It seems like the clutch switches go out on the fd pretty easily. I just jumped mine with a wire in the connector. That makes it so the switch is taken out of the loop and it has continuity all the time when you need to start the car. I'll bet they did the same with that car instead of replacing the switch. It doesn't bother me at all, that switch is for dummies that aren't used to manual cars much.