I bought a 1983 Mazda Rx-7 GSL equipped with a 1.1l double rotor engine. it has a full exhaust and a four barrel carb. its a 5 speed with a manual choke.

I bought the car knowing it didnt start. The seller informed me that it needed a starter and a battery, which was obvious. I bought both, and the engine will turn, but will only fire every now and then. When it does fire up, it will die after it starts for about 3 seconds. Ive replaced all 4 spark plugs, all of the spark wires from the distributor, installed a new fuel filter, and ive tried starter fluid. I'm pretty positive im getting a good spark considering that ive replaced the plugs and wire, but have yet to test it and determine the color of the spark, and i have not taken the distributor apart yet. The fuel pump is pretty beat looking and his quite a bit of rust on it, although i can see that it is working. Im thinking that maybe the fuel pump isnt creating the needed amount of psi resulting in lack of fuel in the carb.

Please dont just agree with what i have said could be wrong, but give me some ideas of what might else be causing it not to start. i would very much appreciate it.

 

Make sure you have good spark. A little Seafoam downt he carb will help get it running, as long as you are getting fuel and spark. Check the level of fuel in the float bowls by looking through the little windows (front and back) after it has run and then died...

 

i once picked up an SA that the previous owner couldn't get running for 4 years.

new gas, plugs (NGK), wires, fuel filter, and a used rotor cap i had around, and the car ran like a beast. i'd check the rotor cap out if i were you (worn contacts, carbon arc trails, etc). to feed a carb, the fuel pump only needs to maintain 4-6 psi, so hopefully that's good.

ps, did you change the wires from the coils? a few more grounds woulds wouldn't hurt either

 

the carb seems to look dry alot of the time. Im pretty positive its not getting enough fuel if any at all. this is my first carbureted car, so im no expert on carbs or how the whole system works. but i have a good idea from some research ive done. The car had been sitting for quite some time with barely any gas in it before i bought it. the carb doesnt look like its dirty or blocked up, but doesnt look brand new. the few times ive gotten it to start briefly, i poored gasoline into the carb, which i would think would be a huge red flag.

I didnt change the wires myself, but they are new or barely used. ive inspected them and theres no corrosion on them whatsoever and the connecting pieces look like they're brand new. I also have the wires that it had before they were changed.

i havent had time to pull the cap on the distributor yet, but thats the next thing i plan to do.

 

i just found out exactly what my problem was. the distributor cap is in excellent condition, sparks are blue, but theres no fuel getting into the bowls of the carb. the fuel lines are good and the pumps good. i loosened some bolts a little where the fuel lines attatch to the carb, and fuel was spewing pretty good.

i just have one problem, i dont know much about carbs. they're a little on the expensive side, and i'm not very confident about rebuilding it.

 

hit up junk yards. the first car i owned (subaru justy) had carb problems. i called napa and it was like 500 bucks after all the discounts i could get. u pull it price was like 20 bucks. always a lot cheaper!

 

Sounds like your floats are stuck. Bang on the top of the carb with a plastic hammer or something that won't do any damage. If that doesn't work, then there are a couple of ways to reach in there and free them up.

 

thats exactly what it is too.i found that out yesterday when i had a friend of mine ,that has a 2nd gen rx7, come look and see if he could help.

we can get the car to run off of carb cleaner, so the apexi's are ok. but we were using carb cleaner in the fuel lines of the carb, and it would start more and would actually stay started with out me mashing the pedals for gas. so im gonna continue to clean lines, and take your advice on the float

 

what are your ways of getting inside to the float?