Hi all,

I picked up a 1985 GSL-SE from a friend of mine, who is the original owner. Car has ~167k miles on it, my friend says the seals were never changed. It has been sitting outside since 2004, and was last driven in 2014 when he had to move it across the yard.

Here are some pics of the car: https://photos.app.goo.gl/OzOWvbjdqLkhoa4i1
Feels like opening a time capsule!

Overall, the car seems to be in good shape to my untrained eye. Here are the known issues thus far:

Cosmetic issues:
- cracked taillight and front blinker
- paint peeling on hood
- plastic molding bits are warped
- rubber door gaskets are dried out and cracked

Mechanical:
- Friend says some issues with steering, but doesn't remember what
- Suspension issues, suspecting tie rods
- AC belt is gone
- heater core was leaking, so looped back the coolant lines
- fuel door solenoid is rusted frozen
- lots of corrosion in firewall near clutch cylinder
- dead battery
- need to replace all fluids

I've got a lot going on with the upcoming holidays, so I won't be able to do much to the car until the spring. In the mean time, I'd like some advice to help me evaluate what exactly I have, and how much work is going to be needed.

I know NOTHING about rotaries or RX-7's, and I'm willing to learn. A lot.

I knew next to nothing about cars, and then had to rebuild my EJ205 engine for the WRX after performing a money shift this spring. Took about 5 months, but I got it done and the car runs again! So, I'm willing to put in the time and effort to figure this out, but it's going to be a long term thing.

I'd like to avoid body work, as I know nothing about welding. I just skimmed through woodmv's "barn find" build thread. That is an awesome thread, but there's no way I'm going to pull that off. I hope my car doesn't need that much work!

Goals for the project are to learn about the car first and foremost. I'd like to finish with a daily driver that can handle light track duty, but if I completely fubar it and have a pile of parts at the end, that's ok too. I'm sure you guys would be happy to pick through them. :P

So, to get started, I'd like to know:

- How do I evaluate the chassis, look for rust, etc? What are the common spots to check?
- How do I evaluate the steering and suspension? How can I tell what's wrong?
- Any chance of avoiding the motor rebuild? How can I tell?
- What kind of long term things should I get started on now? I've heard about ATF + MMO in the engine... should I start soaking for the next couple months?

Thanks!

 

Does the car run? Is the engine locked up,have you tried to turn it over by hand? Try to avoid use of atf in engine. If engine is locked up,try to gently turn one way,then the other. 13B engines are pretty reliable and normally have a longer lifespan than 12A carbureted engines.Look for rust in all places a unibody car would collect moisture. You need to address the corrosion issue on firewall,start by figuring out what caused corrosion in 1st place. Likely a leaking clutch master cylinder and or brake master cylinder allowed brake fluid to run down firewall,pull rug back from floor inside car under pedal pivots and look for signs of fluid there and on carpet and insulation.. A common but hidden area for corrosion is under rear storage bins,remove them and look at floor and side of body,inner wheelhouse and area of upper link where it attaches to body. One last thing,do not hook up battery backwards on install. The negative cable is closest to front of car.

 

Thank you for the tips!

I was told the car doesn't run, but I haven't tried to start it. Not sure if the engine turns. Is there an easy way to turn the engine? There's a giant fan blade that obstructs me from turning the crank from the top. Can I get to it from the bottom, or do I have to remove some parts first?

The corrosion in the firewall is weird. No fluid in the area, although the brake lines go near there. I don't see any visible damage so it's a bit surprising. I will pull back the carpet as you suggest and start looking for more corrosion on the body.

I'll be traveling for the holidays so won't have much time to work on this; as I said, it'll be a long term project with slow updates. I hope to have more time in the spring to devote to it, but right now I'm trying to collect info on any long term things I should be working on. Not sure that there are any, but thought I'd ask.

An example would be soaking parts in degreaser or something like that. Things that may take weeks or months, since I don't have time to actively work on the car yet.

 

It's been a while.... finally got time to start poking at the engine and it's been slow. In March, I was able to turn the engine, and with a spark plug out, I can hear a "swoosh" sound as the engine rotates. So I think that's a good sign. My original plan was to add fresh fluids and see if the car runs. I started by addressing the corrosion on the firewall, and figured out it's the clutch master cylinder. All the fluid leaked out and caused the corrosion. My first order of business was to remove the master and slave cylinders:



Corrosion on firewall behind the clutch pedal.



Clutch master and slave cylinders. The slave cylinder came out in pieces. I got a new one from rock auto, but it didn't come with the plunger part.

I then removed the radiator, and saw a ton of rust. The radiator piping just crumbles in my hand, so I figure I have to replace just about all of it.


Here's the radiator. I guess it still holds water, a lot of rusty / muddy looking stuff came out!


Water pump is corroded. I doubt this can be reused, right?

At this point, I'm thinking it'd foolish to even try starting the engine; I'm gonna have to tear it apart. I start taking parts out of the car in June, but it's slow going. First, I had trouble with the connectors to the air intake, fuel injectors, etc. I finally found out I had to remove the wire around the plastic housing to disconnect the connector, and that made it a lot easier. I then remove the Dynamic Chamber, rat's nest, distributor, and just about everything else I can. Here's how the engine looks now:


Engine is almost ready to pull!

I also pulled the starter motor and took a pic of the flywheel. I'm guessing I will need to get this resurfaced or something, right?


Starter motor was frozen on, but eventually was able to be removed!


Flywheel looks unhealthy....



Right now, I've run into a couple problems and hope someone can help. A ton of questions - if there's a better format or I should start separate threads, please lmk what's best:

1) I need to remove the oil cooler lines. I've read the 1st gen faq, and it advises getting 21, 23, and 24mm wrenches. I understand I need to remove the banjo bolt for the lower oil cooler line, but not sure what the best way to remove the upper one is. I can't get good clearance at the engine (others have mentioned grinding down their wrenches) nor can I get clearance at the oil cooler. I was thinking to lift the engine up a bit, then remove the driver's side engine mount, and then get access to the oil cooler lines, but this sounds... wrong. There has to be a better way.

2) I need to remove the nut on the exhaust manifold. There are two of them, and I got the lower one from underneath the car. However, the upper one is impossible to get a socket onto it, let alone an impact. Any suggestions on this? I loosened the top nut in the photo below. However, the other nut is behind (above) the piping. If I go further downstream of the exhaust, towards the rear of the car, I can probably disconnect after the flat rectangular part, but that seems like it'd be a hassle to pull the motor from there.



3) Parts. I'm starting to make a list of parts I need, and wondering where you go to get them? I want to replace all the rubber hoses and stuff in the car; do I simply go to Autozone and buy rolls of tubing, or is there a better way? I will want to make some hardlines as well, so need to find a tutorial for that. Off the top of my head, here's what I need thus far:

- radiator
- water pump
- alternator (can test to make sure this one is good?)
- starter motor (ditto)
- engine gaskets, seals (are these still available? I'm hoping to rebuild the motor if need be)
- rubber lines
- hard lines
- everything brakes (calipers are rusted, need new rotors, pads, etc)
- everything suspension (I don't even know what I need here... it's all gone)

4) List of things to do "while I'm in there". What are the things I should be researching at this point? My goal is to have a running RX7, not to make crazy amounts of power or go racing. If I can come out of this with a reliable daily driver that's fun to play with and do an occasional HPDE, I'd be happy. I've been hearing things about removing emissions equipment and stuff like that, and wondering what makes sense to do, and what doesn't?

I'll be working on the car regularly now, although I only get an hour here or there to do it. Still, I'll be posting regularly and I've uploaded a lot more photos to the link in the first post, if you want to follow along with the progress in more real-time-ish. Thanks!

 

Looks like I got the first two issues solved last night! Also made a few mistakes, two steps forward, one step back....

For the oil cooler lines, I ordered a set of large metric wrenches, 20-24mm. I used the 23mm box end to get the lower oil cooler line banjo bolt, that came off easily. For the upper line, I'm not sure what size wrench I need. The 21mm fit perfectly on the engine bung, but the 24mm was too small. I bought a 25mm and that was too small as well. I was able to get my adjustable wrench on it, but the engine mount cross piece was blocking me from turning it.

I ended up lifting the engine a couple inches, removing the front cross piece, and was able to remove the oil cooler line! Unfortunately, I did this before I was ready to remove the engine, so I left it hanging on the cherry picker for now. I may need to put the engine mount back on there since I need the picker to move another engine, unless it's ok for me to rest the motor on the front cross brace? It looks like the edge of the oil pan sits under that brace, will it be ok?

With the oil cooler lines removed, I now have to remove the exhaust. I decided to remove the covers a little lower on the exhaust and was able to get access to these bolts:


Removed the exhaust cover to get to these nuts, looking towards the front of the car.

I'm hoping this is all I have to do on the exhaust part. Should I remove a piece of exhaust to make it easier to pull the motor?

Now that I I've got the exhaust and cooler lines separated, I have a couple of more electrical connections to remove. None of these wires seem to be detachable. The wires are a lot longer than I'd expect, and they seem to have inline splices in them. I think PO may have done this work, but can't figure out why. Can you guys confirm if I need to remove the entire sensor, or if I should cut the splices off and re-splice later? Both wires are on the driver's side of the motor:


Wire on the right doesn't have a connector to detach it. It is underneath the AC bracket, towards the rear of the oil pan. Looks like I can simply unscrew it?


This wire is underneath the oil filter. It has a connector, but not obvious how to remove it. Do I simply pull on it?

Now for the step backwards. I *think* I've removed all the hoses and wires, so I started unbolting the transmission. I've got all the bolts, except for the upper passenger side bolt, which is impossible to get to. Then it hits me - I don't think there's anything supporting the transmission once it's unbolted, right? So now I'm thinking, maybe it's easier to remove the transmission WITH the motor. Original plan was to pull the motor first, and then pull the transmission later, if needed. But now, I'm thinking it might be easier to pull both together... If so, then I'd have to put the bolts back (and maybe the starter too) and figure out how to disconnect the transmission.

Looking ahead, I started reading some threads on how to separate the transmission from the engine. That sounds like it's going to be difficult. I don't quite understand all the steps yet, but hopefully I'll figure it out soon. I'm getting a bad feeling that this is going to take a lot longer than I want it to....

Anyway, long story short. If any of you know how to remove the electrical connectors (cut? unscrew bolt?) and how to remove that top passenger bolt on the transmission, I'd appreciate the insights. Thanks!

 

You would only need to put a few of the trans bolts back to pull it. Couple on the bottom and one on top. The one on the passenger top holds the lifting hook anyway. Starter does not need to go back in. Make sure the drian the trans fluid first and plug or wrap the trans tail so fluid doesn't drip out. Get the car up as tall as you can on jack stands.

That connector below the oil filter just pulls off. No need to take it off now. Disconnect the main engine harness from the passenger side firewall and just drape it over the engine. The idea is to not have to take stuff off until the engine/trans are out of the car.

 

Hi all,

Looks like my father was active on the thread somewhat. I recently got the car from him and am in the process of trying to get the car running.

My plan is to undo all the work he did (thanks for taking pictures of everything!) and then to flush the coolant system with CLR to remove the rust. I heard from him that the tie rods are messed up and the brakes need rebuilding, so I will be doing that as well. The car should be able to run after that.

My question is, what else would I need to do to get this car running? What other maintenance needs to be done? I'm not particularly adept with cars, much less rotaries.

I can post pictures of anything upon request. Thanks to all who help.

 

Let use know what has been done and we can suggest things that should be done. With this being said, any general maintenance items that have not been touched should be. Brakes, hoses, belts, soft fuel lines (including those at the tank), etc.

 

What I have done (off the top of my head):
-Replaced the whole clutch (system was rotted out from the pictures above)
-Replaced fuel filter
-Partially started to wire in the rat's nest
-Reinstalled the starter
-Replaced the distributor, spark plugs, rotor, and wiring (I might have gotten the timing wrong, will need to verify it again.)

I will post photos of everything that I have done tonight.

As for the rubber hoses, how necessary are those to replace? Replacing them sounds like a huge pain from other posts I've read, so I don't really want to do them unless it is critical for me to do so. The other soft maintenance items sound about right, and I will be doing them after I can get the engine started.

 

The soft fuel lines are kind of important. They can crack.

I'd also replace the brake soft lines and oil cooler lines. The issue with these is that they get soft on the inside.

Replace the trans, diff, and brake fluids. Since you have a GSL-SE don't forget the friction modifier for the diff.

The tank is a wildcard. It might need to be cleaned.

 

Good point. I believe that the fluids are all drained but they haven't been replaced.

Here are some of the photos I took of my maintenance. Starter is not included in the photos.


These are some images of the clutch line and cylinders. My dad bought all these parts but never used them. The clutch should now work.



Some of the wiring and ignition work that I have done shown above

A picture of the dreaded water pump. A brass brush and some air got all that rust out.

 

Was the radiator and water pump replaced? Make sure to get a thermostat with a jiggle pin and place the pin at the 12 o'clock position. Might also be a good idea to replace both the brake master, clutch master and slave, and clutch slave soft line.

 

Looks like my previous post did not go through or something. I think the image size was over the limit.

No, the radiator and the water pump was not replaced. I am looking into a new radiator and an electric water pump. Let me know what you guys think of the electric water pump, if it's worth it to install.

I did replace the entire clutch system, save for the clutch hardline. I will be doing all the brakes once I finish putting the car back together.

I'll try and snap some photos of what I've done tonight, once I mess with this forum a little bit more. Thanks for the patience.

 

No need for the electric water pump for a stockish build.

For the rad, get a Champion aluminum and stick with the factory fan clutch. https://www.championradiators.com/Ma...ator-1983-1985

For that water pump neck and the water pump housing itself, sand-blast it inside and out. If you're close to KC, I'll do it for free.

 

Here are some pictures of the clutch system, recently redone by yours truly:



I cleared out some of the water pump rust with a good old brass brush and some compressed air:


I also got the alternator tested at autozone, however the test came out as a fail and it looks like I will have to be replacing this alternator.



This is the state of the engine bay as of 2 days ago. I have routed everything in the rats nest and have the manifold on right now, I think reattaching the starter motor and the airbox will be the last things I have to do before I see if this engine starts.

 

I believe that I will have to replace the water pump anyways, as one of the nipples for the lines is cracked. I don't know if I can replace that part individually, but it seems like a bad idea to continue using this water pump. I will have to do some more research though, since I'm really not well-versed with cars. I just hear some stories about cavitation and whatnot with the mechanical pump at high rpms, but I don't know if that's true.

https://franklinperformance.nz/produ...t=559782756368

This EWP seems to work on the 13b. I might just want it for the peace of mind. I don't know if EWPs are necessary for such a task, but it seems like something I might want to look at seeing as the current water pump might not be usable.

 

The stock water pump setup works well and does not have any cavitation unless a dual pulley is used. Getting a dual pulley and belt to match can be a pain. The good thing is you won't need a dual pulley unless you remove the air pump which I would not suggest.

If the rear nipple is hosed on that water pump housing, you can get used ones. The GSL-SE water pump housing is different than the 12A one so make sure you know what you're looking at when getting a used one.

If you do go electric water pump, you'll need a computer to run the pump, electric fan, and someone to alter an aluminum radiator to fit the AN lines. it does have a cool factor. You'll also need to upgrade the alternator because of the electric water pump and fans. Then there is removing the air pump and exhaust cats since the air pump is removed. This is because the EWP doesn't have a belt to drive the air pump. At this point, you might as well go header and then you'll need to address the 5 & 6th ports to operate them. I don't know anyone that has done an electric water pump that isn't also using a turbo with a stand-alone engine computer.

 

I might just buy a used mechanical water pump. Might be easier to manage further on.

Progress on the build has been steady, but I have ran into a bit of a roadblock. I cannot figure out what these lines and electrical connectors go to. I don't know if posting them to this thread will help, but if anyone can identify these lines and help me get them situated, it would mean the world to me.

This is a rubber vacuum originating from somewhere inside the transmission, I cannot find where it would go to, or any open nipple. Doesn't look like it's part of the air intake system. Picture taken from the passenger side of the engine bay, towards the rear.


Better picture of where the line originated from, this is near/under the motor itself.



These are some single-blade connectors originating from the lower engine area. They wire into a weird harness. Picture taken from the drivers side of the engine bay, near the oil cap.



Picture of where the lines originated from below.



There are 2 more sets of unknown collectors. The former, shown below, are connected to the main wiring harness. I don't know where they connect to, but they don't have much travel farther than their current positions. Are they part of the air intake system? Picture taken from the front passenger side.



Final unknown connector shown below. Comes up from right next to the front headlight on the passenger side. Similar connector on the driver's side, maybe something to do with the radiator?



Any and all information would be helpful. I'm sure this is in the FSM but I couldn't find it. I will do some more research tonight and tomorrow to see if I can make something happen. I'm close to seeing if this car starts, so I can evaluate the need for an engine rebuild.

Unfortunately, I am leaving for college this Sunday. I think I might have worked on this car less than my dad did.... but hopefully I'll be able to work on it during breaks. I'll be able to give updates then.

 

You can have the alternator rebuilt. It is best to find a local shop that rebuilds them. I had mine rebuilt and it went from 50 Amp to 65 Amp.

 

In the last photo if you are referring to the green connector it's called the "connecting connector." It's used for adjusting the throttle position sensor (TPS), it's where you connect your two multimeters, or test light to check/make adjustments to your TPS.

 

For the wiring, I would suggest getting the wiring diagram from Foxed.ca. There are location images for each area. Then use the connector section to find a match based on connector configuration and wire color.

 

Long time no see - I was finishing up some school and now I have about 3 months of time to start working on this car.

I did end up figuring out all of the wiring and trying to start the engine -> Starter motor works and the engine turns over, but it does not start.

I am suspecting a fuel pump/line issue. I will replace both, but I am having a hard time finding a diagram for the fuel lines. Is there a good resource to find where they route? Not sure if I was looking in the right place of the FSM but I could not find it.

I may squirt a little bit of fuel inside the spark plug hole to see if it ignites. Let me know if this is a terrible idea.

Anyways, I feel like I am pretty close to seeing this car actually work again. Pretty excited to drive it.

 

Hey all,

Still working on the car. I am going to drop the fuel tank soon, as I suspect it has corroded and the coating inside has probably degraded. I drained all the fuel today, and was removing all the trim when I ran into this white bag shown below. Any help as to identifying the bag is appreciated, as I do not know if it is vital to rebuilding the car. It is located behind some trim on the rear driver's side of the trunk.




Other than that, I am looking into getting my alternator and fuel pump rebuilt/replaced. I think the cost is pretty similar - might just go for something newer which I know will last me longer. After getting the fuel pump replaced, I'll see if I can get the engine running. If I can, the next steps will be flushing the coolant system then fixing the suspension and steering.

I appreciate all for helping me fix my car.

 

The bag is for the rear window washer fluid.

 

Like mentioned that bag is for the washer fluid for the rear window wiper. When I first saw it I was confused too