Greetings all

A couple friends and I are planning to build a car for Chump Car racing. We haven't decided on anything yet but are leaning toward an RX-7. I went to look at a normally aspirated '86 for sale today and would like some input, as I'm new to rotaries.

First off, the car doesn't run, so a warm compression test is impossible. I brought my piston compression tester and did a test with the engine cold, holding down the pressure release so I could watch the pulses. The front rotor was 40psi and the rear 60psi. All the pulses were even, leading me to believe that the apex seals are intact, but the low reading is of some concern to me as I've read that a warm engine should be over 100psi. Is there a rule or adjustment for a cold reading?

Secondly, when I pulled the spark plugs, they were heavily fouled with black carbon deposits and oil. I know these engines burn oil, so would fouling be indicative merely of shoddy maintenance or could there be bigger problems?

Finally, the shifter was very loose and I had trouble finding third gear. Is this common and/or easily repairable?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Sorry for double post; hadn't read the bit stating new users' threads had to await moderation. Mods, feel free to remove this one.