Hello! I'll try and keep this short and sweet because I tend to ramble on a bit, and would rather people read it and maybe can give advice!

The story begins with my friend, who lives in London and we mostly talked online in the days of IRC and Usenet. We like cars - obviously - and back when I had Seras, Delica and a new RX-8 four-port, they had a black, genuine UK-market RX-7 twin-turbo. Much envy.

Sometime in 2008, when three of us on this internet island of real weirdos had rotary Mazdas, their RX-7 spat the coolant out. London being London, I said I'd try and help sort it, but never managed to get time.

What I didn't realise was that the RX-7 was still in a Hoxton lockup. They got an MX-5, we lost touch as IRC etc died down and just chatted on social media sometimes, and then illness meant they had to stop driving. The MX-5 sat and they asked if I'd help rehome it - we found the cat stolen, car vandalised - and Hackney council had changed the doors on the lockups and given someone else the key... you can imagine what they expected the RX-7 to look like. Someone had been using the garage and stole their bikes and stuff (they also stole the Alpine amp and CD changer from the RX-7 boot using the toolkit screwdriver - which they didn't put back. Gits).

I was in London last month so went to check the car out with a view to giving advice.



24 hours later I was back with a recovery truck, and I'm now recommissioning/fixing/lightly restoring the car. Or at least, I plan to - I have told them what a rolling shell alone is worth these days and given the option of just getting the cash from selling it, but they'd like to see it running again and I'm glad, as I would too.



It has sat since 2008
It had a full tank of V-Power
I found very little rust (at first) and the interior smelled like a 2008 used car, no damp or mould

There is a car park bump on a rear corner, and mild chips/scratches in places.
The tyres were new, and still held air - on RX-8 rims.
The alarm and immobiliser work.

It dumped coolant not long after turbo work - trying to solve intermittent power issues.
They think thermostat and limped it home back then.
It kept going being topped up with water and stopped if temp climbed (but I know the gauge is a lie)
It has 0.9 bar caps.

I can't see coolant in the engine oil.
The thermostat pipe was empty bar some gunky white aluminium oxide, but I have removed the rad hose and there was water. Maybe a touch brown, didn't look oily.



So... don't think it's a chamber seal issue, but could be of course. Could be serious air lock - stuck stat maybe result in dumped coolant? Water pump looks newer than the rest of the bits.

I have not tried to start the car. However, I have gently rolled it forward in gear to check for seized engine, it turned very easily. Maybe no compression of course - I don't have a tester.

Can a turbo water cooling circuit pressurise the coolant?



I'm going to change the stat, flush the radiator and degas tank, put fresh fuel in (I have drained 2/3 of the tank and the petrol from the car seemed fine still in my HR-V) and try starting it I think.

In the meantime... I found rust.

Inner wing near the plastic plug for the ABS sensor wire (I think).

How should I sort this out? I can't weld.

 

Welcome to forum

 

Get a set of back issues of "Practical Classics" and thumb through for rust treatment. (Or ask google/youtube.)

Change all the fluids. Including gas. Don't cheap out!

Look in the tank for corrosion in the tank.

Running an engine that has sat for 16 years is likely not a good idea.

I would be very concerned about the rubber band seals used to seal the engine plates/ rotor housings .

Probably simply plan to have the engine torn down and all the seals replaced , and re-sealed up. (GBP 5000)

Plan to replace all the vacuum lines, solenoids and sensors (GBP 2500)

Spend it now, or spend it later......

or sell to someone who will.

 

Rip Van Wankel is being woken up... I am amused to be referred back to a publication from my former employer - I used to write for Classic Car Weekly and a few years ago my Twingo was in Practical Classics...

So what I've found so far:

Coolant exited the system. The car had not long before been worked on by a well-known British rotary engine specialist trying to solve misfire and boost issues - I have been looking for evidence of much work being done and haven't really seen anything helpful, but...

I pulled the radiator hoses and thermostat housing, the thermostat housing was full of jelly and crud. Notably the heater matrix pipes were blocked, the degas pipe was blocked. I cleared as much as I can flushing through with low pressure water from the tap, in large volumes, until things flow and flow clear - but I know there are a couple of smaller hoses I can't easily get to.

The thermostat had clearly been removed and refitted reusing the old gasket and some silicone seal. A thermostat and gasket is pennies, so this really annoys me, the silicone seal means I need to do more cleanup of the thermostat housing.











I was fearing water/oil/gasket failure, but I am 80% confident the coolant dumping is because someone topped it up with the wrong coolant and they reacted. I found no oily substances, but the jelly was really obvious. A lot of the cooling system is also affected by having sat empty for years, so I'm not thinking this is "done" by a long shot, but it's promising enough that I feel comfortable putting some coolant flush through once the engine starts (or using an external pump and warm water).

Water pump spins, no noises. Alternator and other ancillaries are mobile and free of noises or resistance.

I've extracted the oil for a change - black with slight petrol smell, correct level. Before this I checked - carefully, with a spot of oil in the chambers first - if the engine turns. It does and I can hear it "breathe" with compression even turning slowly by hand.

So like the rest of the car, it was parked up for 16 years but it feels more like one or two. Most hoses and rubber pieces are clearly 30 years old in terms of clamp marks and determination not to be removed, but not broken or split.

With one exception. The brake booster hose was very
degraded. Mostly on the engine side of the one-way valve and there's no corrosion or paint loss on the servo hose connector so I don't think brake fluid.

But if that hose collapsed so easily when everything else has aged so well, I have a sneaking suspicion I've found why it was misfiring or running badly - and the hose has just carried on deteriorating.

So I'm filling it up with new oil and filter, putting it back together, and we'll see what happens. A rebuild has always been planned, but it'd be nice if it runs enough to check some more systems out first.

The inner wing rust I know how to treat, how to hold it back, but there is a small hole there. I would prefer to fix it correctly, given how few official UK RX7s remain...

 

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything here - but it hasn't disappeared.

Progress has been slow partly due to work/money and partly due to just 'getting anything in Britain these days is really awkward' - search engines, AI slop and everything else just getting in the way!

So I got a scissor lift near the end of last year and managed to replace the rear set of fuel lines, though I want to hurt the person who put the fuel filter and bracket where they did.

The fuel leak that came sideways from the wheel arch became an amazing fountain of fuel just ahead of the wheel and the car didn't seem too happy.

Eventually, I could afford some fuel lines...

...but I got unlucky and Rocketdog's (previous) supplier sent me duff ones. Duff RX-8 ones. So even when they were sorted, they seem to be about 80cm too long!

(I'm assuming they're RX-8 ones anyway, since as far as I can tell all RX-7 FD models use the same hardlines under the body).

So I'm waiting for some 2.4m long ones, and hoping that one day I'll manage to put the fuel filter bracket back (I thought I was so clever taking the old one out without moving the subframe, and a nice shiny new one to fit - that's been hilariously bad trying to put it back).

I've got a set of braided hoses to replace the brake and clutch flexis as well, but the fuel leak and my lack of mobility means I've been unable to move the car for months, haven't been able to work on other cars because the RX can't be easily shifted off the ramp... so I really cannot wait to have the fuel lines fitted.

 

JP3 sells a kit to relocate your fuel filter to an infinitely more accessible location on the subframe.

Doesn't help you the first time you gotta change it. But if you ever need to again, you'll be glad you did.

 

Thanks for the referral!

If you would like to relocate the OEM filter, this is the kit: https://jp3motorsports.com/products/...b5a53385&_ss=r

We also offer a full line of DIY-friendly solutions. Our website is: https://jp3motorsports.com/

 

Perhaps investigate the cost of new housings, rotorsand plates before making an experimental drive and risking damaging what you have.

 

Already aware of that - and the experiments have already happened - the car may have problems, but until the fuel line issues it ran nicely

We'd always assumed the worst, but at the moment I just want to get it mobile.

 

Yes, I am wishing i had bought one - I was, originally, trying to keep everything standard but since I'm fitting braided fuel lines anyway it seems like that ship sailed

Next time - and next time might be soon after I've got the car road legal again.

Progress: the fuel lines I ordered (RX-7 FD braided) showed up with the olives not secured, so it's now approaching a month since I went "oh, I'll just buy some pre-made lines and stop faffing over the fuel leak".

I think they sent me RX-8 lines.

In the meantime, I've changed three brake flexis. Why three? The back ones were easy, but the offside front, despite great care, snapped the hardline on the body. ARGH. Well, I guess that one was going to let go sooner rather than later. So I bought a flaring cut and cupronickel line and made my first brake line in years - and of course it's one of the hardest to fit if you pre-form it. So I haven't got it perfect, but I'm happy enough that it follows the inner wing and correct route under the arch.

I'm putting off the nearside (left) one though.

I went to swap the clutch line, and the bracket for that is not bolted to the firewall! It looks cleaner and more recent - I'm going to change it anyway. And I think, I will change all of the lines given the age of the steel pipes. The brackets on the subframe were tough to get the new lines seated in as well.

But, so far, no sign of the replacement, correct-length fuel lines yet.