Hey all, just picked myself up a 1982 FB. I bought it from way out of state and drove it over 500 miles back home, and it ran like a champ!! I had just 2 issues on the road trip, at one point the alternator belt exploded on the highway so I had to pull off, thankfully AutoZone had one in stock for me 5 minutes down the road!

The other more important issue is that I had to stop every hour or so due to the temperature gauge getting too high for my liking. No emergency lights or anything, but I know that heat is very bad for rotaries. There are a few aftermarket parts on the car, one being a Holley carburetor that looks way too big for this 12a, and a nice exhaust system that the previous owner installed. There is one warning light, the exhaust overheat light, but that is on even from a dead cold start. There is also no air filter on the carb.

I am very new to carbureted engines, and I honestly do not know how to identify this specific carburetor, but I want to attribute the heat issue with something here. Is the lack of filter making the carb suck in too hot of air from the engine bay? Is the large carb just too much for the small engine to handle? Is the exhaust job creating too much heat? Or could this problem simply be a crappy radiator? Obviously I don't expect an exact answer but some suggestions from those with more knowledge would be awesome. Thankfully everything inside the engine seems to have stayed intact with the heat.

I can attach pictures of the carb if needed. I do know it is a square bore carb and that it sits on the stock 12a header.

EDIT: Another slight problem is there is a lot of play in the steering wheel now. There was a tiny bit when I started the trip but it soon got bad. There's about 20 degrees of play.

 

For the play in the steering wheel, you'll need to check all the steering components for place. Check the idler arm. The bushing gets hot being on the exhaust side. The businings are easy to replace. The MOOG model is the best if you need to replace the entire thing because it can be greased.

Before replacing anything, check the exhaust for a sweet smell of anti-freeze.

Are you losing water?

Check the low water sensor by unplugging it and see if the dash light turns on. Be careful with the sure/sensor. The wire isd easy to break.

For the heating issue, replacement of the t-stat and water pump is easy and cheap. After a flush or replacement of the rad depending on age. May not be the issue but insurance.

Timing too far advanced can cause heating issues but I doubt that is the issue. I also doubt it's the exhaust.

 

You know I probably cooked a bushing but ill definitely look into all of that. As for the water, I am not losing any, but I'll definitely try the sensor in the morning. Will I need to replace the gasket when I take that off?
Took it to the wash today and a few errands without any overheating, so it's probably just from running it too long, but I do want to fix it regardless. Thanks for the response Kansas!

 

One thing I did forget about is the clutch fan. These can go bad. It's not a problem so much at speed, mostly in slow traffic.

 

So I gave the steering wheel a shake while looking down the engine bay and I don't see any movement, even from the steering column. On top of that, the idler arms don't seem to have any play when I mess with them, so I'm guessing I need to take some dash panels off and get a look at the connections at the wheel.

 

Before you get too crazy just know that ALL the 1st gens have play in the steering wheel, called a dead zone. The dead zone is at top dead center and on many of these cars you can move the steering wheel from about 11:00 to 1:00 without moving the road wheels. Mine had about 2" of free play when I got it and after replacing the tie rods/ends and the idler arm I now have 7/8" play. I'll take it. These cars have the same steering as a truck from the 1940's so it will never feel like a modern car (or even an old car with R&P steering). It's one of those "special" things about our cars.

Also, the part of the steering column that you see under the hood does not rotate with the steering wheel. The shaft that rotates is inside of that. I believe the slop I have left, which is totally normal, can be made a little better if I adjust the steering box. There's a procedure for it on this forum, but it involves special tools and I haven't messed with it yet. Many of the long-term regulars here have done it and can guide you. It's a less-common job than the normal tech stuff here like carbs and cooling.

 

Thanks for all this info, I didn't realize that the column was inside of that tube, but the reason I am concerned is because during the ride home that play distance got much greater, it started out small around 5 degrees and soon became like 20 degrees of rotation, So realistically I have something like 4 inches at the outer edge of the wheel where nothing happens.

Also something of note is that I can turn my wheel all the way to one side, and that dead zone follows me, in the sense that once I stop turning the wheel, the play is there until I turn it the other way. This makes it very hard to stay on the road. It isn't just a dead zone when the wheels are perfectly straight, from 11:00 to 1:00, but I have that 4 inch distance to overcome to make any sort of correction in my steering, even through turns. I almost crashed my daily driver since I had gotten used to wildly over correcting in the rx7. Lol. I could be wrong but it just doesn't feel like any components are moving in this play distance besides the steering wheel itself.

 

Well it ended up being the steering box, I adjusted it with a little help from RAD potential's video over on YouTube. Still have that little dead zone but its so much better than before!