About a month ago I got my first RX7 and I have reached a point where I have enough to share and ask that rather than fill up the forum I'd rather put it into a build thread. Here are a few pictures of the car when I first got it.




In summary, the car hadn't been driven since '04, all the electrical worked with the exception of the coolant temp , battery voltage, and fuel level gauges, the 12a has good compression, and the carburetor needed to be rebuilt.
I started with the carburetor.

 

Hit the 12 image cap. More pictures...

Does anyone still sell this gasket? My rebuild kits don't include it.


I also replaced the rear hatch struts but need to redo it again. I didn't take any photos of the carburetor after I cleaned it up and put it together unfortunately (I was too excited to get the car running). I was able to get the car started and idling but it was running poorly. I had messed with the floats and I wished I hadn't knowing what I know now. The accelerator pump circuit also was not working so I took the carburetor off the car again to fix the floats and accelerator pump. I did have a spare carburetor on hand and ended up putting the floats from there in and thought I would see how the car ran with the correct amount of fuel in the bowls. I ended up not being able to start it at all, so I took it off and this is what I found.




All this green corrosion was not there when I put the carburetor on so I've decided to clean the entire fuel system at this point.


Sidenote, will this hole in the heat shield cause problems?

 

Some pictures of the gas tank after I cleaned it up some more.





Some surface rust but nothing looks too concerning yet.

Fuel pickup as it came out of the tank.

And after a little cleaning.

 

Some internal shots of the fuel tank.






Somehow I am going to have to find a way to get all that crud out of the bottom of the tank... Other than that it doesn't look too bad I think.
I also made a discovery regarding the accelerator pump at this time. The weight that is #74 was originally thought to be missing but I found it wedged in the carburetor and it is stuck pretty good.


Currently I am thinking of drilling out the weight but I am open to ideas anyone on the forum might have.

 

I don't know what I was thinking when I was planning on drilling the weight out. A small punch and a light tap from a hammer freed it up. The ball was stuck down, but some WD-40 and blasting air in the accelerator pump inlet freed it up. The accelerator pump is now working as it should.

 

Nice work! Looking forward to more progress pictures.

 

Great progress thus far!! The hole in the floor will not cause any issues other easier access for rodents and moisture. I have extra plugs for that opening if you end up needing one. There are kits for sealing gas tanks. I think POR makes a fuel tank sealer.

Your car has a lot of potential and will be amazing once its restored! Definitely looking forward to seeing more progress!

 

I took the fuel tank to a radiator shop to see how much it would cost to clean it. They wanted $480 USD. I think the $107 por15 fuel tank repair kit and doing it myself is the way to go for now.

 

Ouch! I realize this doesn't provide any help for you, but a radiator shop in Baltimore did mine (this past summer) for $125 - which I though was reasonable...

 

Yeah I was expecting more in line with what you paid. This was the only shop I could drop the tank off without taking time off of work so I went to them first. Currently on the fence about trying someone else.

 

My tank was for an '83 GSL and did not have the removable pickup lines as yours does. On my tank there was no way to ensure any coating wouldn't plug up the pickup lines and the fuel sock. If I had your tank I wouldn't think twice about refurbing it myself and using the POR-15 kit. Check out Arron Cake on youtube for some good videos of him going through the whole process on his Cosmo restoration. It seems tedious, but totally doable...

 

Have not got much done lately. I cleaned the jets, but I am concerned about the finish on the metal. Looks like it is coming off.




I can't the level of detail I want in these photos but it is the best m phone could do. I also cleaned the idle mixture screw.

Will order the fuel tank sealing kit soon. Still deciding on which one I want to use.

 

Cleaned some more parts and ordered the POR15 fuel tank repair kit.


Also decided that the lower carb body will need to come apart to clean.

 

Got the throttle shaft screws out today. Didn't take any pictures but I did have to torch the screws for the secondaries to get them out.

 

Why did you remove the throttle shafts? I've never done this when rebuilding a carb. The shafts and butterflies can be cleaned properly without full removal. Was there built up carbon or gunk causing them to stick?

 

Yeah it was gunked up and needed to be done I think. I ended up using the throttle shafts and butterflies from my spare carb since I was having some issues getting the butterflies out, but then I got them out and cleaned them up in case I want to use it in the future.

I also finished with the carb and now its sitting on the side until I get the rest of the fuel system ready.




I'm leaving off some of the choke stuff for now since it never seemed to do anything before. If I change my mind I can always put it back on.

 

Haven't gotten much done lately in the past few months. I finished sealing the gas tank and am now preparing to put it back into the car. This was the tank after pressure washing the inside.

 

I did use the POR15 fuel tank repair kit. This is the tank after using the degreaser step:

 

I also found something was stuck inside the tank behind the baffles. Eventually I was able to get it out.


It is a rubbery, bendable thing. I have no idea what it is, how it got there and if it is important at all.

 

Metal prep stage:

 

And finally after using the sealant:

 

I then sanded, primed, and painted the top half.

 

I decided to try truck bed liner on the top and bottom of the tank. This is my first experience with truck bed liner, it has been okay so far, I'll have to see how it holds up over time before I decide if it was worth it.
Truck bed liner on top of tank:

 

I then started on the bottom half of the tank. Removing the undercoating was not that bad with an angle grinder and a wire wheel attachment, it was messy though.







Close up of the dent on the bottom of the tank.

 

Truck bed liner on the bottom of the tank:


I also redid the wiring for the fuel sending unit. I don't have any pictures, but the old wiring was only twisted together (no crimp or solder, they didn't even strip all the insulation).