Getting back into the GSLSE again
04-08-12, 11:55 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Getting back into the GSLSE again
Word of warning, this is going to be a long post. My purpose for this is to log what I'm doing to this car, and hopefully get some friendly advice while I'm at it.
I've had this GSL-SE for something like 8 years now. It seems to have been an eternal project car, passed from owner to owner, who would get the car, have a little fun, then sell it to the next person. I only paid like $800 for it from a guy on these forums. The car isn't a looker at all, the front bumper cover is damaged, the paint is horrible, and the rubber strips on the side are missing. Basically it looks like a POS.
The beauty of this particular car is the engine, it runs great, and has a good amount of power. I dynoed it at 125 rwhp quite some time ago, when it ran great. I have done some mods since then to increase power, but the engine isn't really running that great. I'll get to that later.
The thing is, I have barely driven it in the past couple of years. The registration gets renewed every April, which in this state requires a safety inspection, and I realized I have barely driven the car since the last inspection last year. Also, it's been a while since I did any real work to this car, so although at one time I knew every single adjustment of this car, I'm afraid I have forgotten most of this information. Worse, I have forgotten a lot of other things involved in working on this car, it's like I'm a rotor noob again.
<----sadface because noobs like smileys.
What I would like to to is restore the car to a reliable daily driver status. My DD is a 96 Miata, and I mostly drive it because it gets better gas mileage, but if the RX-7 were running properly again, the city mileage difference would be minimal, and quite frankly the seven is more comfortable. I'm not interested in adding power, the car has plenty of that, and driving the Miata for years has shown me how to harness every single available HP to make the car go fast. I may actually lower the power for the sake of comfort and drivability.
Here is what I've done to the car (that I remember)
K&N Cone Air Filter
Full Racing Beat Exhaust
2GCDFIS
RB Springs with Tokico Blue shocks
S5 Transmission (love that 5th gear)
Various tune up stuff that I'll probably have to redo from the car sitting so long
This post is going long, I'll go over my inspection in the next post.
I've had this GSL-SE for something like 8 years now. It seems to have been an eternal project car, passed from owner to owner, who would get the car, have a little fun, then sell it to the next person. I only paid like $800 for it from a guy on these forums. The car isn't a looker at all, the front bumper cover is damaged, the paint is horrible, and the rubber strips on the side are missing. Basically it looks like a POS.
The beauty of this particular car is the engine, it runs great, and has a good amount of power. I dynoed it at 125 rwhp quite some time ago, when it ran great. I have done some mods since then to increase power, but the engine isn't really running that great. I'll get to that later.
The thing is, I have barely driven it in the past couple of years. The registration gets renewed every April, which in this state requires a safety inspection, and I realized I have barely driven the car since the last inspection last year. Also, it's been a while since I did any real work to this car, so although at one time I knew every single adjustment of this car, I'm afraid I have forgotten most of this information. Worse, I have forgotten a lot of other things involved in working on this car, it's like I'm a rotor noob again.
<----sadface because noobs like smileys.What I would like to to is restore the car to a reliable daily driver status. My DD is a 96 Miata, and I mostly drive it because it gets better gas mileage, but if the RX-7 were running properly again, the city mileage difference would be minimal, and quite frankly the seven is more comfortable. I'm not interested in adding power, the car has plenty of that, and driving the Miata for years has shown me how to harness every single available HP to make the car go fast. I may actually lower the power for the sake of comfort and drivability.
Here is what I've done to the car (that I remember)
K&N Cone Air Filter
Full Racing Beat Exhaust
2GCDFIS
RB Springs with Tokico Blue shocks
S5 Transmission (love that 5th gear)
Various tune up stuff that I'll probably have to redo from the car sitting so long
This post is going long, I'll go over my inspection in the next post.
04-09-12, 12:23 AM
#2
Thread Starter
A couple of weekends ago, I decide I'm going to make this car crank. Long story short, it was simply the battery. Got a new battery, and she fired right up. It didn't hesitate, it wasn't flooded, no explosion of smoke like I would expect from the car sitting for a year, it just came right up. Nice! I take it for a little spin to the gas station since it has almost nothing in the tank, put in about 10 gallons, and drive home. It has some idle surging problems, and some issues while cold, but when warmed up it took off like a rocket.
I take it home and give it an inspection. I can't get under the car very well at my house, so it's mostly checking under the hood. Some notes:
There is literally a cobweb in the engine bay.
Coolant is clean and green! I must have drained and flushed it recently.
Oil isn't in bad shape, but I go ahead and change it since I don't remember the last time it was done.
The belts don't have much wear, but the look like they may be dry rotting. I'll need to replace them. While I'm at it, I need to install the dual alternator belt pulley that I've had in the bottom of my tool bin since I removed the smog pump.
Air filter is filthy. I've got a K&N cleaning kit, but I think I may put the stock airbox back on.
Most of the rubber under the hood needs to be replaced. It's not ancient 20 year old rotted rubber, but it's due for refreshing.
THERE IS A FRICKIN WASP NEST ON MY HEADLIGHT! High pressure water to the rescue!
Brakes need work. The pads, (Hawk HPS) look new, but the rotors are rusted from sitting. This makes stopping exciting!
Door seals are in bad shape or completely non-existent. If I drive in the rain I'm going to get wet! I never changed them in the past due to price and the fact that it's not a go-fast part, but I'm moving this up the priority list.
Hm, I have a homemade TPS test light in the glove box. I vaguely remember fiddling with the timing/TPS/air idle etc chasing down some idle problems. Apparently, I didn't fix it as i still have idle problems.
Lots of random stereo wiring. I used to have a real "system" in this car, but I have taken it out. I need to remove the excess wiring. I would like to install a modest stereo and speakers into the car to run without an amp, like a decent stock stereo system.
The suspension still looks brand new. I installed it years ago, but it has very few miles.
Likewise, the RB exhaust is still like new as well. The pipes are still shiny, and the paint hasn't all flaked off of the presilencer yet. I love the setup, but I am thinking about putting a catalytic converter back on the car to keep it from smelling bad, and enable it to pass inspection without using a friend that owes me a favor.
Oil Pressure gauge doesn't work. Actually, it's never worked. Need to fix that, on a rotary that's important!
Car idles pretty badly. Going to follow this guide to see if this helps. I think I was in the middle of it somewhere at some point, but never completely solved the problem.
I haven't driven it enough to tell, but I remember the last time I daily drove the car it had atrocious gas mileage. At one time I got 19 MPG city and 26 MPG highway, and if memory serves the last time I measured I got 15. I believe the car is running rich, if I'm going to DD this car this HAS to change. 19 MPG is acceptable, 15 is not.
Whew, I have my work cut out for me.
I take it home and give it an inspection. I can't get under the car very well at my house, so it's mostly checking under the hood. Some notes:
There is literally a cobweb in the engine bay.
Coolant is clean and green! I must have drained and flushed it recently.
Oil isn't in bad shape, but I go ahead and change it since I don't remember the last time it was done.
The belts don't have much wear, but the look like they may be dry rotting. I'll need to replace them. While I'm at it, I need to install the dual alternator belt pulley that I've had in the bottom of my tool bin since I removed the smog pump.
Air filter is filthy. I've got a K&N cleaning kit, but I think I may put the stock airbox back on.
Most of the rubber under the hood needs to be replaced. It's not ancient 20 year old rotted rubber, but it's due for refreshing.
THERE IS A FRICKIN WASP NEST ON MY HEADLIGHT! High pressure water to the rescue!
Brakes need work. The pads, (Hawk HPS) look new, but the rotors are rusted from sitting. This makes stopping exciting!
Door seals are in bad shape or completely non-existent. If I drive in the rain I'm going to get wet! I never changed them in the past due to price and the fact that it's not a go-fast part, but I'm moving this up the priority list.
Hm, I have a homemade TPS test light in the glove box. I vaguely remember fiddling with the timing/TPS/air idle etc chasing down some idle problems. Apparently, I didn't fix it as i still have idle problems.
Lots of random stereo wiring. I used to have a real "system" in this car, but I have taken it out. I need to remove the excess wiring. I would like to install a modest stereo and speakers into the car to run without an amp, like a decent stock stereo system.
The suspension still looks brand new. I installed it years ago, but it has very few miles.
Likewise, the RB exhaust is still like new as well. The pipes are still shiny, and the paint hasn't all flaked off of the presilencer yet. I love the setup, but I am thinking about putting a catalytic converter back on the car to keep it from smelling bad, and enable it to pass inspection without using a friend that owes me a favor.
Oil Pressure gauge doesn't work. Actually, it's never worked. Need to fix that, on a rotary that's important!
Car idles pretty badly. Going to follow this guide to see if this helps. I think I was in the middle of it somewhere at some point, but never completely solved the problem.
I haven't driven it enough to tell, but I remember the last time I daily drove the car it had atrocious gas mileage. At one time I got 19 MPG city and 26 MPG highway, and if memory serves the last time I measured I got 15. I believe the car is running rich, if I'm going to DD this car this HAS to change. 19 MPG is acceptable, 15 is not.
Whew, I have my work cut out for me.
04-10-12, 10:05 AM
#3
That gas mileage sounds the same as mine. Fun to drive, lots of power, way to many service stations stops. previous owner installed aftermarket door weather strip. The stuff pops out of the groove all the time. Guess I'll need to glue it in place. Or replace it with some better.
04-14-12, 09:59 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Been doing a little work on the car in my limited spare time. I had an old stereo and new speakers in the back, but I had ripped out the amp a while back. I connected the speakers directly to the stereo, and they ain't bad. The stereo can't really drive the speakers (Infinity Kappa 6.5 inchers) but it still does a decent job. I'm amazed at how well these speakers work in the RX-7's rear location, it sounds like I have a small sub back there.
More importantly, I worked a little on the engine to try to get it to be a little more smooth. I replaced the coolant temp sensor, which was recommended in a gas mileage thread, and the old one crumbled in my hand as I removed it. I then adjusted the throttle cable (it had too much slack) and adjusted the TPS. The car ran a little better, but it still had a little bit of a bouncy idle, so I started hunting for vacuum leaks.
The vacuum hoses were surprisingly in decent shape, so I kept looking, and I found one that wasn't connected at all! It went to one of the vacuum advance diaphragms! Admittedly, I had no idea what that was, and had to search the FSM and the forum to figure out what it is and what it does. I plugged it in, and the car actually ran worse, like it threw the timing way off. I must have figured this out at some point in the past and unplugged it, but not done anything about it. I'll have to pull it off to see if there's some way to repair it, if not I'll look for a replacement, but they seem difficulty to find.
The fact that I have a very obvious vacuum leak, and a non functioning vacuum advance explains a lot of my car's erratic behavior, and why the problems tend to go away under load. Progress!
More importantly, I worked a little on the engine to try to get it to be a little more smooth. I replaced the coolant temp sensor, which was recommended in a gas mileage thread, and the old one crumbled in my hand as I removed it. I then adjusted the throttle cable (it had too much slack) and adjusted the TPS. The car ran a little better, but it still had a little bit of a bouncy idle, so I started hunting for vacuum leaks.
The vacuum hoses were surprisingly in decent shape, so I kept looking, and I found one that wasn't connected at all! It went to one of the vacuum advance diaphragms! Admittedly, I had no idea what that was, and had to search the FSM and the forum to figure out what it is and what it does. I plugged it in, and the car actually ran worse, like it threw the timing way off. I must have figured this out at some point in the past and unplugged it, but not done anything about it. I'll have to pull it off to see if there's some way to repair it, if not I'll look for a replacement, but they seem difficulty to find.
The fact that I have a very obvious vacuum leak, and a non functioning vacuum advance explains a lot of my car's erratic behavior, and why the problems tend to go away under load. Progress!
04-26-12, 07:37 PM
#6
Thread Starter
Thanks! I haven't been able to do much to the car, but replacing that sensor, getting a new gas cap and adjusting the TPS seems to have helped my gas mileage. I've been daily driving the car this week, and I've run 50 miles and used very little gas if the fuel gauge can be trusted.
05-14-12, 11:58 PM
#7
Thread Starter
Did a little more work here and there on the car... I've mostly been working on the AC system. I replaced the drier, vacuumed out the old stuff, but it wouldn't hold pressure. I poke around a bit and find that the compressor is leaking. Crap. Going to have to pull it to see if it's rebuildable.
I did, however, fix my "timing" issue. I was replacing the cap and rotor for the hell of it (I've never replaced these) and noticed something seemed odd about my plug wires. It seems some idiot, who shall remain nameless, swapped the leading and trailing wires on the rear rotor. It's amazing the car was running as well as it was, considering. Swapped the wires back, threw in some new plugs, and plugged in that vacuum hose that was unplugged, and the car runs and idles perfectly at a rock solid 800 or so RPM. In a few quick drives it runs much better, and the exhaust isn't nearly as smelly since it doesn't seem to be running as rich. Yay!
I'm still having a problem with cold idling, as in, the car won't do it until it's run for a minute or two. This and the AC are the next projects.
I did, however, fix my "timing" issue. I was replacing the cap and rotor for the hell of it (I've never replaced these) and noticed something seemed odd about my plug wires. It seems some idiot, who shall remain nameless, swapped the leading and trailing wires on the rear rotor. It's amazing the car was running as well as it was, considering. Swapped the wires back, threw in some new plugs, and plugged in that vacuum hose that was unplugged, and the car runs and idles perfectly at a rock solid 800 or so RPM. In a few quick drives it runs much better, and the exhaust isn't nearly as smelly since it doesn't seem to be running as rich. Yay!
I'm still having a problem with cold idling, as in, the car won't do it until it's run for a minute or two. This and the AC are the next projects.
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05-20-12, 05:06 PM
#8
Thread Starter
Was planning on rebuilding the AC compressor and installing it, but alas the gaskets and seals haven't arrived yet. So, I just poked around the engine bay going through the idle problems checklist, cleaning, lubing, adjusting things. I think I may have solved the cold idle problem, but It's hard to tell since you only have a few minutes of tinkering with it before the car warms up and it idles fine anyway. If what I did fixed the problem, the throttle stop screw was closing the throttle plates too far, but I'm not ruling out a bad dashpot either.
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