FD help, not starting / water seal bad
 

Ok, so my car has been sitting for probably 3 months, not having much money to put in it and not knowing whats wrong with it. Well i got some money together, and an rotary shop opened up in town and took it to them and guy told me it had bad water jacket seals. The car when it first went bad, had the hardest time starting, it would take hours of messing with to even get close to starting. When it would be able to run, which it wont now, it would seem to run fine until coming to a stop, which it would die and you can forget able about cranking it again for few hours.
Could bad water seals cause this? And how much damage could this have caused to the rotors, apex seals?
I do not know much about these motors yet, but willingly and ready to learn. Im ordering a rebuild dvd and giving it a shot myself. But I'm not really looking to spend 1k-1.5k on a rebuild kit. What are the major items I should replace during a low cost rebuild? and how much am I looking at and from where?

Sorry for the double post but its not letting be edit. Would this kit be fine? The basic one. What else would I need?
http://www.rotaryaviation.com/overhaul_kits.htm

Is there any smoke? If so, what does the smoke look like/smell like? Coolant will normally show as white smoke with a sweet smell.

If the water jacket is bad, it could be filling the combusion chamber with water/coolant, so that would make it hard to start. However, it could be other things also (like leaky injectors which cause the engine to flood out while sitting).

Rebuilds are not cheap and you may need to even double the price on the cost of the rebuild kit depending what else it needs. For instance, you make need new front/center/rear irons (these contain the grooves for the water jacket). The rotor housings may be worn/pitted. If the engine has been filling with water, the rotors, apex seals, bearings, etc. may be rusted. You won't know until you open it up. Assuming it is just the water jacket, the cheapest option will be to fix/replace the seals, etc. that are causing the leak and reuse everything else (apex seals, springs, etc.). They may work fine depending on their condition and your plans for the car.

View that video a few times and download a copy of the Factory Service Manual (FSM) from the stickys in the 3rd Gen. Secton. Assuming it is a coolant seal...only when your confident you have a basic understanding of how the engine works and IF you're an experienced gear-head with all the needed tools would I suggest doing this yourself. Even then it's often not the short-block that confounds the novice rebuilder but re-assembling the long-block stuff...i.e. the sequential system.
You could check for feedback on the rotary shop in your town or go to the regional section and search for some other shops in your area. You might also be interested in this post from a year ago.... https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hlight=memphis and this shop in Morristown TN has been around for years.... http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/3rdgen/index.html

If your bent on DIY and since getting a 'kit' would make it easier, then personally I would recommend one of these... http://www.racingbeat.com/RX7-1993-1...its/30017.html
That kit you're looking at is fine and RA seals are good IMO. Although the RB kit is more money, it's also more comprehensive...with exhaust and intake gaskets that IMO should be replaced.
My .02

is there any smoke at all?

Ya when I finally was able to crank it, white smoke poured out, but it also had some dark smoke as it burn the concrete behind the exhaust.

hey I live in munford about 20 minutes from memphis not many other 7s around and a hell of a time getting help with anything,this site is the best and very helpful.. goodluck!:icon_tup:

are you going to rebuild it yourself?

Thank you. Ya theres a few FCs around here but I can only find one other FD, and I only saw him going down the road. But from the way it sounded, Id guess it was an LS. And so happens to be the same one, the only other one Ive seen, is the same color and same style wheels as mine. Are you ever at the dragstrip?

Ya I believe so. I got a quote from the only rotary shop here for right at 4k. And I'm sure its worth it and they do great work but I just wanted them to tell me what was wrong with it. Id like to learn how to do work on these engines.

The plans Ive got are pretty small and basic.
-Basic rebuild that hopefully goes successful.
-Maybe streetport, but not sure yet.
-Intake
-Paint
-Wiring harness has to be fixed bc for some reason, no gauges work.
-Tune

Besides that its only got a custom exhaust that came on it and the greddy intercooler I put on.

Also, can someone please clarify something for me. The guy I took the car to that told me the water seals were bad (he showed me by hooking a compressor up the bottom spark plug and the water start bubbling at the neck.) He told me that these engines are tricky to remove, that you have a "reverse clutch"? can anyone back this up. Ive never heard of such thing nor could I find anything about one.

[QUOTE=Hlwyatt;10934462]Thank you. Ya theres a few FCs around here but I can only find one other FD, and I only saw him going down the road. But from the way it sounded, Id guess it was an LS. And so happens to be the same one, the only other one Ive seen, is the same color and same style wheels as mine. Are you ever at the dragstrip?


in millington sometimes..yeah I seen an fd with the whole blitz setup in memphis the other day,but I think its now running rough and he tryin to sell it.. we need some rotary machanics around here!

Can anyone tell me anything about this "reverse clutch" that I was told about? I cant find anything on it.

It's a "pull clutch". The throwout bearing pulls the pressure fingers to disengage the clutch. Therefore you have to disengage the throwout bearing collar from the pressure plate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPCi4RpGQCU

The engine rebuild process:
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-archives-73/work-begins-new-engine-lights-wheels-pics-506967/

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/video-13b-rotary-engine-rebuild-945519/

It's been said that you should not rebuild your own engine unless you have the funding to rebuild it twice. Because there are many elements to the rebuild and while none of them are terribly complicated, a mistake can ruin it. You might consider pulling the engine yourself and letting the shop do the shortblock rebuild.

David

Thank you, very very much. The guy I spoke to at the rotary shop, made it seem like its just the worst thing to deal with in the world.

Yeah we thought about pulling it and letting them rebuild it, but in the end I wouldn't have learned a thing, and that's what I'm really wanting to do. If it works, great, If it doesn't well then I guess I can let them do it or figure something else out. But thanks for the video, really helped.

Watch plenty of videos on how to rebuild the 13b make sure u get the main specialty tools e.g. 54mm socket and the lock for the flywheel (must have). Ul b fine, me and my buddy had never even worked on a fd and stripped down, cleaned out and rebuilt in a week (12hr shifts mind) takeur time, mark everything out, take loads of pics (to revert back to when ur stuck) and use this site coz it helped us out to no end.