melblackbird

Hey all, I'm Mel, and currently residing in Calgary. I am fairly new to rx-7's, most of what I know is from spending hours reading this forum, haha.

I think I really fell in love with Rx-7's when I went to a drift competition almost a year ago and there were two FD's competing. Rotary's just sound amazing in my opinion and I decided then and there I wanted to own one! So a little over a month ago I got a pretty good deal for clean 1992 FD and am ready to jump in head first without a parachute into the rotary game! When I say 'without a parachute', I mean it--the previous owner didn't give me a whole lot of information about the engine. He said the engine that's in it is the second engine but I'm not sure how many km's it has (87, 000 on the odometer). I'm suspecting that I'll probably have to rebuild it (owner didn't say it upfront but I heard from someone else who had looked at it that the owner suspected it has a damaged apex seal). But in the meantime I'm just waiting until the weather is nice before I really take a look at what's going on under the hood and reading up on anything and everything I can about what I should do to maintain it and keep it running happily. I suspect this forum is going to be like a bible for me when it comes to doing anything with this new car of mine. ;P

Other facts about me...been working as a supervisor at a lube shop that changes oil and pretty much any other fluid in a vehicle for 2+ years now, hopefully will be getting an apprenticeship into auto mechanics in the near future!

Thanks for reading, looking forward to using this forum. :]

cdn

Mighty fine looking body on the thing! As far as blown apex seals go, just run a compression test on it and see what that comes up with, any other questions you have are most likely here and can be answered...if not, ask, everybody is ready to help each other. Welcome to the forum!

Anger

iTrader: (1)

Welcome Mel
Nice ride.

melblackbird

Thanks, guys! I plan on doing a compression test within the next few days (once I "borrow" a tester from work), crossing my fingers compression will be okay. As for now I've just been scouring the archives, love those threads, haha.

Mitchocalypse

iTrader: (2)

Hey Mel!, plenty of Alberta peeps on these boards, feel free to send any one of us a message. I'm sure everyone will be fighting over the girl RX-7 owner

I guess my first question regarding the apex seal situation - have you ever started the car?

Aus FD

Nice rig.

ninesixtwo

iTrader: (9)

I've seen that car driving around before, shame to hear that there may be engine issues. Not many FDs in town, hopefully you are able to keep this one on the road.

melblackbird

Yeah, had to drive it back to my place and I have driven it around when the weather is nice(er). That's the thing, it runs fine by the sounds of it other than a wobbly idle (tach doesn't work right now, another thing that will be fixed this spring, haha). Starts fine. The other thing is the first turbo isn't making boost, I only make boost when the second turbo kicks in at like 4, 500 rpm (again, just going by ear). But I can hear the turbo spool when I accelerate, could that just be the second turbo though? I picked up a used set of stock turbos from a friend who is doing a single turbo conversion on his fd so I may switch out the current ones and see if that does the trick (and check out all the vacuum lines and black boxes and such along the way for possible leaks). Friend has heard this car run and says it sounds fine too. It's been driven around when the weather is nice but I'm always so paranoid it's just going to die on me, haha.

Mitchocalypse

iTrader: (2)

yeah i doubt you would have been able to drive home if an apex seal was completely torched. You'll have to compression test it and if you get any low numbers its probably from a chipped or cracked corner seal or something. Either way, low compression = you should probably rebuild. Good news is that all your internals will be reusable!

As for the turbos, as I'm sure you've read, could be a million things. I honestly think the easiest thing is to tear it down and re-run all the lines yourself so you knows its done right.

RotaryMelon

iTrader: (7)

Welcome!
Always nice to see new Alberta 7 owners!

placd1

iTrader: (3)

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the car. It looks great and I hope you get all the issues sorted out.

ninesixtwo

iTrader: (9)

How strong is your affinity for the stock twins haha

melblackbird

I was just thinking of keeping the stock twin setup until everything else under the hood is looked over and also while I put most of my money towards shocks/suspension/brakes (blown shock on the rear driver side, pads almost worn completely). However I have seen the diagram for the stock sequential vacuum lines and it does make me want to cry a little, haha.

cdn

to be very honest, these engines can still start will blown apex seals, coolant seals etc.

melblackbird

Yeah that's what I've been reading, makes me a little nervous about driving it. :s

melblackbird

A bit of a newb/n00b question, but how bad is it to stall rotary's? I always panic whenever it happens, and yes it has happened a few times when I first get the car moving. :s I've read a lot on how bad it is to flood the engine and foul the plugs, so far it hasn't flooded and starts up again like a charm. If it is really bad for it I'll try and drive other cars until I can fully master moving into first without stalling before I drive the rx-7 again...

7krayziboi

iTrader: (15)

Welcome Melissa
Hope to see you cruising around one day

They will deformity start even if one rotor lost compression , the lack of power is Obvious!!!

cdn

Ahhhh but that's what's so impressive about this little Dorito engine haha

cdn

just let the car always idle and warm up before driving. I let it go 5 minutes at least and more if I'm not in a rush. If it's warm it won't flood and if it's starting fine then no issue. You can hold the key in ignition and crank it till the cows come home if it ain't starting. The battery will go before the engine most likely haha. Optima redtop batteries are great for these engines too. Pricy but worth it. Back to topic though, any car can get mad at you for stalling them 10 times in a row, this one however will do the same in that case, BUT if you warmed it up first then flooding should be non issue.

Spalato

iTrader: (33)

Welcome to the forums Mel, hopefully your presence here will make this place less of a sausage fest

I also have the same issue with the first turbo not spooling. I did a compete vacuum hose job and tested all the solenoids. I believe it might have something to do with the wastegate...not sure. When you do the vacuum hose job make sure to test your solenoids...because even if you replace the turbos if the solenoids are bad you will prolly have the same issues.

I did the vacuum hose job for the first time and I'm not very experienced with working on cars, at first I was overwhelmed but evetually I got everything back. The hardest part was getting the upper intake manifold back on and attaching all the hoses to it. I advise you to print out the colored hose diagram and laminate it...you will be looking at it allot. But trust me its not that hard, I'm a noob and was able to do it. Just read all the guides and write-ups you can find and be patient.

Once you take your turbos off please let me know if you found out what the issue was. Just by looking at the twin turbo diagram it seams that the cause for the primary turbo not boosting might be that the wategate is stuck open...thus discharging all the exhaust out before it reaches the first turbo...dunoo. Borrow a boost gauge from a friend and test the boost levels...

I dont know what the emissions controls are up there but if you take off all the emmisions crap it really simplifies the vacuum hose mess...so if you go ahead a do a vacuum hose job then is the best time to remove emission stuff.

Coverhag

iTrader: (15)

Congratulations on your new purchase Mel. The FD quickly becomes an addiction as you fall in love with the car and the endless possibilities it provides.
The previous owner was on this forum and if you search abit you should find past threads about the car and what that person was working on from time to time. They were also on the Edmonton RX-7 Club site and maybe the Calgary club site on facebook. There could be further info there as well of you.
Have fun with it, Cors

domrx7

iTrader: (7)

Welcome Mel and congrats on your choice to own a Rx7 Fd. It wont be long before you're truly addicted like the rest of us......Enjoy !!!

BoostGravy

Welcome to the forum! Pretty sure I know which 7's you saw if it was at Driftwest?

melblackbird

Sorry for going for a while without replying--I've been pretty swamped with work and with the FD, haha. But thanks cdn for the info about stalling/flooding, it made me feel a little bit better, haha. :P

Spalato-- Wow, glad to hear that I'm not the only one with this problem! (Well, kind of. I am sorry to hear that someone else has to deal with this frustrating issue). In a week or two my boyfriend and I are going to tackle replacing the turbos. and I will definitely make a poster of the vacuum line diagram for when we do that! Someone actually suggested maybe an actuator or a wastegate being stuck open right before I looked online and saw your post, and it does sound plausible to me. The guy who previously owned this car redid the lines too though, but I wonder if he only did the hoses and didn't replace and solenoids. But I guess we won't find out until the turbos come out and we take a closer look at everything. I will definitely let you know what we find out too--I'll be making a build thread in the next few days so I'll post a link when that's up!

Coverhag-- Thanks, despite the problems, I'm falling in love with it so fast, it's crazy, haha. and I was wondering if anyone would recognize this car/know if the previous owner was on here! Do you know his username? Wouldn't mind reading what he was up to with the car, it would help me out a lot. :]

domrx7 and BoostGravy-- Thanks for the welcomes! Really, big thanks to all of you, I wasn't expecting as many people to post, haha. It's great, I feel so welcomed. And BoostGravy I went to round five in Edmonton, it was Andrew Moschuk on the ADVAN team's rx-7 that I drooled over. Bloody well love that car and I want his gram lights, haha. The other driver with an FD was Shawn Hartum I think? Not positive who drove, but it was an orange FD with "Seibon" across the hood. That thing sounded so beastly and beautiful.

BoostGravy

Yeah that would of been Shawn. You should of seen when Conroy Ganson was drifting, he's insane with an FD. Shawns orange fd is actually Conroys old one haha.