first post.

i'm really excited. i want to try to ressurect this car and bring it back to its former glory. i bought an 88 10th anniversary edition from a guy that was a mazda lover. he felt bad for selling it but i guess a girlfriend + house is more important.

i've been spectating the forums for quite some time and now that i have one, i have my sleeves rolled up and wondering ... where the heck do i start?

here's some stats:
* 165k - original motor; it looks like it went through hell and back. not clean, i think the radiator/coolant sensor or the wire going into it is shot because intermittantly it'll buzz me "add coolant" but the coolant is full.

* turbo seems to be working for what that's worth. car feels like it still has a lot of go in it.

* it "seems" it idles a little "rough". the tach sits at 800 steady but physically looking at the engine it looks like it's shaking pretty hard.

* on start up, it'll blow some gray with a hint of blue and then it'll go away.

* it smells like those old amusement go-cart rides. lot of carbon monoxide, possible running too rich.

*and i found out it's leaking oil from somewhere. i'd say about the size of a hamburger bun in 9 hours. i parked the car on my driveway at 10pm and moved it at 7am.


the first think i'm going to do is try to clean it and get all the gunk off of it and that'll give me a starting point.

comments, suggestions, guidance would be appreciated.

thanks all.

 

Jack it up and check the oil pan bolts. They're 10mm. Some could be loose. They take 5-7 foot pounds.

 

thanks, i'll look into that.

Here's an update:

* I sprayed off as much gunk as a could out of the engine bay. looks A LOT better.

* I started it up since it's been sitting for a couple days and I wanted to check the oil level. It BILLOWS smoke. ugh... not good. More blue now. Looked like I was setting up a smoke screen for a tank battalion or something. It eventually stops after 5-10 minutes of sitting idle. But it's still blue. =(.

* Cleaned the dash, the door sills, etc. Nasty. I wiped down the top of dash. Dirty cloth is not Dirty Yellow cloth. Yuck.



Another question: the previous owner had a dog. There's dog hair embedded all over the place. What's the best way of getting it all loose and vacuum it up? I'm using masking tape right now because my vacuum is 10 years old and doesn't have enough suckage.

Thanks again.

 

First get more suckage, suckage is great . Change all the fluids then change the spark plugs,ckeck the wires .Remove the air intake and spray out the system with carb cleaner .Change all filters check all vacuum hoses . On ,and on and on .

 

I used to own the Anniversary edition also. Loved It!
If you are still having that annoying add coolant light going off you may try this.
There is a small plastic phillips head screw on the top of your radiator make sure it is off when you top off the radiator.
It help stop the trapping of air in the top of the radiator where the low coolant buzzer sensor is. It is kinda a bad design. make sure to tighten it before you drive obviously...

 

thanks.

unfortunately, i found out today that the seals are most likely done for. my mechanic knows a guy that does rotaries and he said "looking at how much smoke comes out... the seals are probably done for". he said most likely the previous owner pushed the boost too high.

so it's either a rebuild or a replace. =(.

i was hoping i could get some miles on it before this happened.

what do you all suggestion?

 

If the smoke eventually goes away, then you've still got some miles left on it, imo.

 

it's really bad on start up. since the engine jiggles a little (idle idle idle little jiggle idle idle idle) i get a nice smoke ring out of the exhaust .. like smoking a cigar.

i drove it to my shop and it feels like it can do it. not sloppy or slow or tired... it's got some pep and i didn't know it but i was doing 80mph on one stretch of road.

the smoke does eventually go away. not completely. when the car is moving you can see it but when i come to a red light or stop sign, you can see it lightly come out.

i just don't want to drive it until it's on it's last leg and die on me while i'm trying to get somewhere important.

 

As far as the motor jiggling, the mounts are worn and need to be replaced. I don't know much about rx7's yet, but i've read that turbo motors usually last between 125k-150k miles, and yours is overdue.

 

hmm... didn't even think about the mounts. where can i get decent motor mounts?

thanks for the suggestion.