miggs

Purchased this 1987 RX-7 Turbo II here in SoCal for $550

I bought the CarFax for it which shows it was kept in Ca all its life but its last registration was in 1996! The car was sold on June 06th, 1997 to the person I purchased it from, as shown by his title, old but kept in a plastic paper sleeve. CarFax shows the last mileage as 125k, almost at 126k and when I purchased it was about 500 miles above CarFax's last record.

I will post more pictures in the morning once daylight hits.

The car was in the following condition, here are my notes from that day:

- Exterior was largely complete but just missing some amber lights and a dent on the passenger side fender. Passenger side mirror was broken into but nothing was stolen, seems they didn't care for the original Mazda cassette player The rubber at the glass seems ok everywhere but some spots are more worn out, no major rust anywhere. The trunk won't open, the previous owner opened it for us but we haven't seen how to unlatch it. I'll learn how to do this likely using the FSM I've already got in my arsenal thanks researching this forum heavily the past week.

- Interior was largely complete as well. The plastic pieces surrounding the seat belt bolt near the headliner were cracking on both sides from being exposed to the sun for so long. There was newspaper covering nearly every inch of the trunk area. It still had its original everything, NOTHING was aftermarket, albeit not in the best conditions, but it was all there.

- Engine seems to be complete based on comparisons with pictures I made that day from online stock photos of the 13b Turbo. The oil wasn't anything beyond the usual posted scents of gas and oil from a likely flooded engine then again I have ZERO hands on knowledge of rotary engines until now.

- Transmission hasn't been fully checked by me but the shifter was very loose, assuming the return spring and/or shifter bushing from my research done on here. The clutch pedal was stuck floored in, from research I saw its likely the clutch master cylinder and/or slave cylinder.

- There were no wheels/tires on the car but luckily I managed to purchase some from another rotary owner and managed to tow the car home on a flat bed free from AAA thanks to my plus membership. The brakes and parking brake were very responsive when I parked the car in for a car sitting for at least 5-6 years.


I stupidly attempted the deflooding for a bit after getting a fresh battery on it. I tried it 6 times then stopped, as such I am following Aaron Cake's Guide for Improperly stored RX-7s step by step this week as luckily I work from home so I can spend quite a bit of time on the car everyday.

I have installed the following parts:

- Wheels and tires
- Oil Filter
- Air Filter
- Car Battery

I can hear the fuel pump relay clicking but can not hear any sound from the fuel pump once the key is set to IGN. The lights inside all work but none of the gauges. I won't be attempting to crank again before completing the guide of Aaron Cake. I will post more pics tomorrow.

Here's my to do list:

- Replace fuel filter
- Drain fuel pump with siphon pump
- Jump start fuel pump relay to see if fuel pump can be started to flow out the remaining bad gas
- Remove fuel pump and run jumper wire on it to test it, if bad then replace and if good, clean out the area as much as possible and re-install the fuel pump
- Drain engine oil and re-fill with 10w30 per Mazda's instructions
- Use Multi-meter to check alternator and starter to see if they're still ok.

- Flush and re-fill Coolant
- Replace vac hoses, radiator and heater hoses
- Replace the clutch slave cylinder and clutch master cylinder
- Replace Brake Pads and Rotors
- Bleed Brake System until fresh brake fluid flows
- ATF squirted in the leading plug holes but not put in the new spark plugs yet to do the advanced de-flood procedure
- Replace Spark Plug wires but don't connect them to the spark plug holes to do the adv. de-flood procedure
- Complete the advanced de-flood procedure
- Once the engine is running then inspect the gauges for proper reading, and move on to stabilizing the idle if necessary

Based on my research here it seems I'll have to replace either the shifter bushings or shifter return spring to fix the super loose shifter and that says I have to drop the transmission. Any other things I should do while I have the transmission out? Maybe it'd save future labor time to just replace the clutch and/or flywheel while the trans is out.

Also, I'm not sure what to do after if I still have no start but if I'll just cross that bridge when I get there.

Once the car can start, idle properly and can drive around my block I'll move on to completing the registration by getting it smogged and move on to at least getting it into decent shape for daily use. I suppose further issues will show up by then, but at least I think I'll have been proactive enough after stupidly trying to de-flood and crank up the car. I was just so excited that logic escaped me, hopefully I don't pay too much for it.

I had also seen the ATF Treatment how to and plan to do that once I've done the above and let it soak in for 2-3 days before attempting to use the car for official daily use.

mach.80

iTrader: (2)

Nice "Barn Find" so to speak.

I love the fact that you are treating this car with the care and attention it deserves.
IF there is something wrong with the car, you will know for a fact that you gave it every chance to
come back to life. You will also know that you did not make the damage yourself.

I have not read Aaron's procedure but, we used to get lube in the engine..
We would make a concoction of Gear Oil and WD-40. Squirt plenty of it into the intake runners
leading into the ports. With the spark plugs removed, hand crank the engine carefully (clockwise)
until your sure it's completely lubed. Reinstall the plugs, complete the rest of your list and you
should be O.k to fire up. Afterwards you may hear a little apex chatter but it will go away.
Oh and so will the smoke. Whatever you do don't rev the engine.

Another recommendation run Premix in your gas. Always. It is a must. The OMP system is weak.

Cheers,

Joe

miggs

Thanks for the tips Joe

I'll be working on it a bit each day on it so I'm hoping by next weekend she's running the streets, if not eh no biggie we'll continue the revival and move on to other things. I'll definitely do what you said, that way I can hear the engine fire up at least while also lubing up the engine

so just buy any gear oil and mix with wd40? Like a 50/50 mix?

LargeOrangeFont

iTrader: (7)

Nice find.

miggs

Checked my starter and battery and so far it's all good. Couldn't check my alternator, but I'm still not hearing the fuel pump working. I'm going to check the the fuel pump relay under the hood and the fuse under the box as well. Hopefully it's just one of those has gone faulty and I won't need to replace the fuel pump, if I do more funds coming on the weekend so I'll get back to it then and will meantime do the other non-fuel related repairs like the coolant flushing, brake bleeding, etc..

scathcart

I would get your injectors serviced and count on replacing your fuel pump If it has been sitting for that long. Take out the pump and inspect it, and see how bad the varnish build up is inside the tank. Definitely drain the tank; no need to siphon pump, there is a drain plug on the bottom.

miggs

Will do, thanks a lot for the advice, I stupidly had my pump ready to go haha

I had imagined a scenario where the injectors would need rebuilding and I noticed a 40-50 buck rebuild kit on here so I was thinking of doing that if each injector passes its ohms test per the fsm.

I'll be sure to order the fuel injector rebuild kit this upcoming saturday when I get paid should my multimeter rule out the fuel pump resistor relay and the fuel pump fuse under the dash as mentioned around here.

I'll also be ordering a new fuel pump then should it give no response when jumping it directly as mentioned on this forum. It's great to know it's got a drain plug, I think I'll be doing that tomorrow morning then before I start work. I'll have a few hours so I should be able to drain the tank, remove the fuel pump, remove the fuel filter and proceed the aaron cake guideline. At this point I can do anything that requires no money to do such as diagnostics and the like, so I'll spend the week cleaning it up and seeing what else I can do.

Needless to say, any advice is greatly appreciated, but I'll be doing more research later tonight, I gotta get back to work for now. I'm sure I'll find the right info but thanks for the tips fellas, I REALLY appreciate them!

scathcart

Fuel injectors are not rebuildable by the home mechanic... Is the rebuild kit you describe just the new o-rings and grommets? You would need these anyway, as the ones in your engine will be rock hard.
You would need to have your injectors serviced by a shop that specializes in doing it. They will typically measure the flow and spray pattern before they begin, then flow solvents through the injector will having it sit in an ultrasonic bath, then re look at flow and spray.
It usually around $15/injector, should be pretty easy to find a place local to you to do it. If not, lots of places online do it as well.

mach.80

iTrader: (2)

Use just enough wd40 to thin out the gear oil to really squirt the mix in the intake runners.
If you do take out the injectors, you could squirt it into there.
Otherwise, you want to choose a vacuum line closest to the engine block. That way you get minimal oil mix in the intake manifold itself and more into the engine.

Squirt enough to lube the rotor housings, but not too much to hydrolock the motor.
Add oil, turn engine, add oil turn engine, etc. Both rotors at same time, do your not dragging a dry rotor around.

This will lube the engine.That is important. But it will also help the engine start by sealing the apex seals to the housings which will intern build compression easier for that first fire up.

miggs

Good to know, I'll have to wait a few days anyway as I don't get paid till Saturday so I'll probably just have them serviced as you said, I found a SoCal rx7 shop on here but maybe I can find another shop too but I had been hoping to find a reputable rotary shop to do work I just can't do. I'm not home engineer like some of you guys but I'm handy with tools, especially a soldering gun and multimeter

miggs

Dude, thanks a lot for this info!

driftxsequence

iTrader: (8)

oh man a Tornado Silver T2!! Post pics of those lovely red T2 seats please!!!

Landon303

iTrader: (25)

+1

miggs

Didn't know they were something special lol I'll definitely do that for you tomorrow.

miggs

So as of now I've done the following:

- Wheels and tires
- Oil Filter
- Air Filter
- Car Battery

- Replace fuel filter with new rubber fuel hose and clamps
- Drain fuel tank
- Replace fuel pump
- Drain engine oil and re-fill with 10w30 per Mazda's instructions
- Battery and Starter are good per AAA testing but due to no start, they couldn't check the Alternator
- Flush and re-fill with 50/50 Coolant mix
- ATF squirted in the leading plug holes for advanced deflooding procedure



The car cranks much harder now, I can feel a buh-buh-buh rumble sound coming from under me but still no cigar. Here's what I have next to do:

- Remove the fuel injectors and have them serviced
- Replace the belts, I don't see very much lag at all and they still seem usable but maybe I should anyway?
- ATF Treatment to lube the apex seals so I can build some compression.


Any other help would be much appreciated.

I don't yet own a fuel pressure gauge nor a compression gauge but plan to purchase them from my upcoming paycheck.

At this point, I'm quite worried I'll need a rebuild as I don't see any loose or torn vac hoses, or anything else alarming and so far I've done a pretty complete tune up. If a rebuild is needed I think I'll go with the Rotary Aviation rebuild parts list I've seen on here and their DVD how-to which seem to have awesome ratings on here.

miggs

Can't stand not trying the ATF at this point, I don't have anything to lose at this point.

I'll service the fuel injectors meanwhile I'm waiting 2-3 days doing the ATF Treatment. I'm hoping that I can crank it by Thursday night around this time and pray it starts.

mach.80

iTrader: (2)

As long as it doesn't sound like buh-buh-buh- -buh-buh-buh- -buh-buh-buh.
If its steady and no skipping, you may still be O.k.

miggs

Thanks a lot mach.80, it definitely is steady with no skips. I'm doing the ATF treatment in a bit and will attempt to start the car Thursday night, once my neighbors seem to be asleep so my smoke parade goes unnoticed.

miggs

Tach is finally showing some life!!!

I didn't get to do the ATF treatment but when I tried to crank the car today during an advanced deflooding I noticed the tach was finally jumping a bit, not much but a clear bounce for sure!

I'm having the battery charged right now at autozone, i'm hoping once fully charged maybe she'll crank for me.

miggs

I'm going to keep working meantime that happens and will go and clean out the interior as much as I can today without damaging it too much due to it years spent baking in the sun. I will take pics for those who requested them

miggs

Feeling somewhat stupid as this point, I found an out of place red wire connected to the battery and thought KILLSWITCH! I never had a car that had one (lets you know I likely never had a car worth being stolen).

Found it right under the dashboard, left side to the steering wheel. I see where the wires run and see a broken ground wire, my DMV and Carfax research confirms this car has only had one owner, with no stolen status and all its life it's been in California. I'll be having my mechanic remove it tomorrow morning and hopefully by then she's running, something tells me for the first time, this may actually be it. I never quite felt the other stuff would be it and maybe that explains the seemingly non-responsive fuel pump?

In any case, I'm praying that does it and she's ready to move on to inspection and fees at AAA and smog. The exhaust seemed in remarkably great shape so I don't think I'll have many issues with passing smog, then again who knows.

miggs

Meantime I'm going to clean her up inside as much as I can and post pics of the interior

miggs

Just drove the car for the first time today! Finally got it starting after my mechanic removed a kill switch I found. The idle is rough, needs the injectors done, and it needs a coolant flush but drives solid otherwise, nothing I can't have done by this evening. Except the injectors of course, my mechanic can inspect them and rebuild them or replace as needed.

Got a 30 day operating permit so I'll get the car on point by then for its smog and vin verification at the AAA office. So far it all went pretty smooth so far, $120 paid, low for a car out of the dmv since 96!

miggs

Finally got it running and idling well, gauges don't work except the fuel gauge.

I flushed the coolant system and re-filled it per fsm and tips I found on here. I think I put too much as now it tossing some out of the reservoir but stopped after about 5 minutes. I'm going to drive it again in a few minutes and see how it does now, hopefully all is well but so far no drive issues and no overheating I saw no ADD COOLANT nor heard any BUZZER.

My battery has gone low after the defloods and that its just been sitting so I'll be recharging it tomorrow at the auto zone (I hate those guys but use them for things like this) then in theory, I should be ready for very light daily use then once I get my check on the 14th I'll be able to put in more to get things in order for normal daily driving.

I'm surely not out of the woods but thanks a lot guys, the amount of info here is truly amazing for such a specific car model. I've already learned more with my FC than any car I've owned. Just want to say thanks a lot guys, super awesome forum! Took me about 4 years from my join date six years ago to finally get an RX-7 but man so far it's been worth the wait and quite a ride already.

miggs

It's been a little over 7 years since I updated this thread and worked on the car. Finally been getting it going again with the help of a mechanic friend I met recently. Since this was last updated here's what happening:

1. Car no longer cranks but starter solenoid turns with 12v power directly to it. I found some great info on here to check the contact and flow of current going to the starter solenoid. I'm going to go through that tomorrow morning and clean up all the contacts in that starter circuit. I'm also going to add the extra relay added in the mod in this thread (thanks to HOZZMANRX7 and RotaryRocket88) Sticky starter 2nd gen

2. When the starter solenoid is given 12v direct power, the car cranks up easily but won't turn over. Could be flooding but since it was already dark, we decided to just continue tomorrow morning. This gives me some peace that the motor might be saved even though I'm fully prepared to have the motor rebuilt. Gonna de-flood it tomorrow and add the fuel cut off switch mod.

3. Exterior lights all work and dash lights work too but the gauges aren't except the fuel gauge. I plan to check the oil pressure sender, coolant temp sensors, etc to see which need replacing.