We have a 1995 RX7 SP that has been driven and done approximately 50,000km and not been touched for 12y . So far a rotary engine specialist took off the extension manifold and cleaned the injectors and replaced fuel pump in fuel tank and replaced the spark plugs.
He will look at it after it has had a few tanks of fuel through it.The clutch has totally disengaged after getting hot sitting in traffic on a hot day with the clutch pushed in moving occasionally in v slow traffic for at least 20 minutes. /
This resolved spontaneously after it cooled on the side of the road after a couple of hours. Any ideas other than over expansion of clutch return spring?Does anyone know if there is a thread giving advice as to all the things to do to an RX7 left sitting for a long time to prevent other problems, I saw one in January but can't find it now.
Yvonne.

 

After 12 years, figure that all the hydraulic systems on the car will need to be replaced. Shocks are likely failed or about to fail, brearings will need to be serviced, and of course all fluids and coolant hoses will need to be replaced. Then as you continue to drive the car, you're going to uncover more and more problems as time goes by.

Sitting just destroys a car.

 

Plan on all of the vacuum lines under the intake manifold as well (the lines and switches under there control the turbo system and egr), while you're there replace the fuel lines for cheap insurance.

 

Go over anything suspension related and check hoses/lines etc. This is why it's always a good idea to take it for a good cruise once in a while.

 

Yes I agree it would have been a great car to cruise around in occasionally, however the owner lost his driver's licence for 9m while driving it and got the girl driving him around afterwards pregnant. He is divorced from her after 2 kids and his ex threw the keys away. I gather they moved on and got a family car and he lost interest in the $100,000 chick magnet he had been driving. He's not short of money.
He replaced the twin turbo with a single turbo initially but it was already a special model, the 1995 SP released in Australia when the Rx7 won Bathurst. There were only 25 made and it seems a shame to have let it rot.
He has given us carte blanche with it because we are living in the house he left it in, but the clutch getting stuck in when it got hot in traffic makes me a reluctant passenger, despite my husband feeling sure the return spring fused when it got hot then released when it cooled.
The rotary mechanic who worked on it years ago and just the other week said everything else including hoses looked OK and that it was a great car...
I will ask him about the suspension and bearings - it did have square (and very wide) tyres which we've replaced with narrower cheaper ones. Any other potential problems?
Thanks Yvonne

 

More history for a laugh, my husband has been a very clever heart surgeon all his life but loves doing things with his hands and loves cars. He is in love with this Rx7 and its been lent to him by a grateful patient to help him recover from a very close brush with death due to very nasty lung cancer and aggressive treatment (kill or cure).

He retired without choice which was the only way it could have happened because so many people needed him to keep them alive. He is now considering doing a mechanics course encompassing rotary engines so he can have more fun with it. lol sea change?
Yvonne

(I am currently a very reluctant lung cancer expert the way you are car experts, I'm his wife and also his managing MD so please excuse me for asking dumb questions like "how do we check the shocks" and "what bearings? the wheels?" In particular "how do we get this car up high enough to get under it without getting squashed?" Currently being the fitter one, I am doing the more physical stuff for him.

I'm afraid I get to do the posts too etc.

 

Plugs, all fluids, brakes. All normal marine nice items

 

Sounds like a great find - please post pics!

 

You sound like a lovely wife, presumably if anything goes wrong with the engine he'll be a ble to fix it through the inlet port without taking it apart..

 

It looks brand new, maybe he could get a wire through that huge air inlet at the front

 

If the engine has not been ran in years Id highly recommend pulling all the plugs and put some WD40 in each rotor chamber and crank it. This will help the initial start up. I would also replace the oil and crank it over quite a few times with no plugs to get the engine primed. Most damage occurs on cold start ups especially sitting for who knows how long.

 

That car looks great for having sat for 12yrs. Good luck with it

 

This is a lovely car to drive,
We've been driving it continuously since the rotary specialist changed the plugs and cleaned the injectors, its starting to purr and now it has round wheels feels lovely. Geoff put his foot down for a second the other day and it felt like it could fly, so when its been back and tuned properly I can't wait to see what it can do. Its only had one tank of fuel through so far, I'm really in the dark re the SP edition because I have a feeling a lot of the FD problems have already been altered ?does the fuel tank take as much fuel as they said? radiator already a decent size? I know the fan keeps going when its turned off and the twin turbo has already been replaced with a single one.
So far the clutch doesn't seem to have misbehaved again, and all the gadgets(except the aerial)work. I am surprised there don't seem to be any awful problems yet, possibly the owner(can't believe he doesn't want it back) altered it before it went on the road so its never overheated etc and has good pipes etc.
I'll keep you posted
Yvonne

 

Looks amazing! And what a great story to go along with it!!
Seems you've got the whole package. Congrats.

 

There is no sign at all so far of all the anticipated disasters associated with sitting for so long. Fingers crossed that it is as good on the inside as it looks from the outside.
Yvonne

 

That clutch issue sounds like something that happened to me a little while before my clutch slave cylinder went. I was driving along, put the clutch in to shift, and it never sprung back. I pulled over and jimmied the clutch pedal and it returned. Never happened again. You might want to replace the clutch hydros and the brake master cylinder, even rebuild the calipers. Lots of rubber in the extreme ends of the hydraulics circuits that can deteriorate after 12 years.

Also, if the radiator 'looks' stock, and it has an upgraded turbo, I would install an aftermarket coolant temperature gauge just to make sure the car doesn't overheat. I presume the coolant has been flushed at least once?

 

+1 For brake caliper rebuild. I purchased a plymouth laser turbo a long time ago. It had been sitting for 6-7months. The same day I drove it home 20 miles, the rear brakes were smoking in the driveway after a test drive, they locked up good.

 

wow that car looks MINT.

 

What Aaron said! Trust me I bought an 88 z31 with 24k original milesin 07... better get it looked at or have some cash set aside, that way when things surface you can fix em...

 

That car would be a dream come true for anyone on here. I can't believe the previous owner doesn't care what you give him.

 

nice find mate!

 

i have to say i wish mine looked that good after it sat for as long as mine did haha mine sat for 8 yrs and it doesnt look close to the condition yours is in. i have a long term project in my hands haha

 

I trust the fans run for a few minutes after shutdown, then they shut off? If they're not shutting off ever, then you have a big problem.

The fans are supposed to run after shutdown, but it isn't supposed to do it very often, at least not in stock form. If the coolant temperature switch has been swapped out for a lower temperature one, then the behavior you describe would happen fairly regularly. If it has the stock switch, then the fans running is indicative of a shortcoming somewhere else in the cooling system and it should be addressed. First thing would be to replace the coolant. Refill with a 70/30 mix of distilled water/coolant. Lots of threads on how to "burp" the air out of the system.

 

what a find, what a find

 

Hey Yvonne, I'm down in Tasmania myself
I got my FD after it sat in Tokyo for over 3 years in a holding warehouse and had never been started. It had only done about 79,000km from memory, since new.
It needed fresh spark plugs, and 2 oil changes very close together, a coolant flush and that was it.
The car has now done 95,000km on the odometer, no problems or issues at all. Extremely reliable. It is as nice as yours (except black) and the previous owner must have really looked after it, because its got a full Japanese service history and looks/runs A1.
People will tell you these cars are finicky/unreliable/complicated. I've had several FD's, and they arent that bad.

Its the old case of 'people only post on forums if they have problems'. There are probably just as many FD's driving around with no problems, but you dont hear about them because the owners have no problems to post about..
Just drive it and observe anything that seems to need replacing.
Good luck with it