Greetings!

I just recently forsake'd pistons when I bought my first RX-7.
...
forsook?
Anyway.

It's a '93 FD Automatic. And I love it like I know you have to in order to keep it happy.

But as we all know, love ain't enough.
I am staggeringly ignorant when it comes to rotaries. And while these forums, FAQs, and guides have already been invaluable (one of the previous owners apparently ate the manual, so I started with literally nothing), I'm worried that I'm missing some key information that would mean sudden automotive death for the new love of my life, and (of course) my subsequent ritual suicide.

I am therefore looking... for a teacher.
Somebody who will help me reach my goal of having total understanding of every single piece of my specific car, in a very hands-on kind of way.

I mean, I'd take it to a mechanic for a check-up and be the creepy chick who silently hovers over them while they're working, staring intently at their every move from right under the sign that clearly says "employees only in this area!", but generally speaking they're not too in to that.

I can pay, of course.

Please send me a PM if you're interested, in the Seattle area (preferably with a suitable location for the lessons as I'm limited to working in the actual street), and capable of walking me through my entire engine and everything connected to it.

Thanks for reading.
Oh: Here's me.

 

well i dont know about a mentor but i was planning on having a engine tear down day down a few miles past south hill puyallup..

this would prolly be in a month or so... we will have 5 motors to tear down from older rx7s, 12a and 13b( same thing as your engine basicly) this would be a great learning experiance to understand whats actually inside the motors. as well as have some fun and meet some other rx7 owners

 

I'm not necessarily someone you would call a mentor, however I do know what does what on these things. And coupled with a FSM (factory service manual) for your particular year. I could do just about anything. I unfortunately live in Tacoma... sigh... so there is some distance that has to be covered. But I'm still in love with these spinning triangle thingies. If you're just looking for a basic walkthrough, I'd be more than glad to show you what I know.

Send me a PM.

 

kompressorlogic: Wow, sounds like my kind of party. Where do I sign up?
Let me know when you decide on a day.

Dr. IfTeR: Oh, Tacoma isn't that far. I'd think twice before going to, say... Spokane or something.
Besides: I rather enjoy driving these days.
I'll message 'ya.

 

I live in Renton, on the hill up from Ikea. I too have the auto trans on my 93 touring. I've learned alot about mods and have a couple of years into my FD. Plus I know others in the area to introduce you to with tons of knowledge. PM me when you have any questions or meet. My name is Matt.

 

Congrats on the buy, just remember, your level of enjoyment of this car is directly related to the level of care you show it. It cant be said enough that these cars are finicky, but with that said, Ive had mine 2 years with no problems, but Ive only put 10k miles on it too :P

As cliche as it is, THIS thread contains everything you need to know about the car, as a beginner.

Also, there are quite a few people in the NW that seem fairly knowledgable, so I suggest you go to all the meets (like kompressorlogics) and get to know everyone.

 

This online forum is quite a diamond in the rough in terms of an online resource for this or any particular car. I have troubleshot...troubleshooted....whatever, diagnosed and solved about 80% of my 3rd Gen's problems so far while directly referencing this site.

If there was one thread in the FAQ to read and print out first it would be by Jim Lab.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...threadid=27094

And just stay on top of your servicing (not just the 2K-3K mile oil changes). The 13b-tt engine creates quite a bit of heat that turns all the rubber hoses that just sits right over the shortblock crispy and non-pliable quickly. Coolant leaks and vacuum leaks are quite a common things because of this. And you definitely do not want to have any cooling issues with a rotary. So in short, assess the state of your vehicle in terms of what is good and what needs servicing (fuel delivery, cooling, brakes, etc) not in any particular order because they are all essential components.

Congrats and welcome to the world of automotive masochism!

P.S. Oh yeah and get an alarm if you don't already have one. That was mod #1 for me. Mod #2 for me was a 5lbs Halon Fire Extinguisher (get one, no joke). And get a backup ABC extinguisher in case the halon fails to cleanly put out the fire.

 

Thanks for the info, everybody!
Yeah, I knew the potential headache I was getting into when I bought the car. Two of my friends (one of which was a roommate) have owned 7's, and I heard about their difficulties on a fairly regular basis. So, no surprises there.

I've always been a fan of that school of thought that says if you don't take care of your stuff, then you don't deserve to have it in the first place. Probably a common thought around here, yeah?

My last car (I'd tell you what it was, but it's embarassing) ran for about... 7 years after every single mechanic I took it to started giving me its life expectancy in weeks. Truth be told, I probably know way more than I'm letting on. I just want to be absolutely sure.

I've already had the breaks checked out - rear calipers were hosed, so those have been replaced.

As far as the cooling goes, I just ordered an aluminum AST and new radiator cap - partially because it just seems like the sane thing to do, but mostly because it's been dumping small amounts of coolant after I turn the car off, for the last day and a half.
Small amounts. Like, half a shot. Makes me happy I watch my parking spots so closely and it hasn't been raining lately, because other than the physical evidence of green stuff showing up on the ground, there have been no symptoms of any kind of cooling problem whatsoever.

I've been doing the camp-out-in-the-car-for-10-minutes-and-run-the-fans thing, until I can puzzle out the mod that makes that happen automatically, and that's been taking care of the single symptom entirely. But it looks like the radiator cap might solve the problem, as the gasket on mine does look pretty sad.
And, yes: I've already started carting around a couple gallons of distilled water.

Next on my list after completely taking care of the coolant, is replacing the oil gauge. The stock gauge is clearly about as useful as using a ouija board to get the reading. But I might need some help with that mod.

So, yeah: That's about where I am at the moment.

 

Your oil guage get its info from the sending unit located above the spark plugs near the oil filter. It could dirty inside and sticking, one way to clean it is to remove it and let it soak in solvent overnight. Blow it out with compressed air and reinstall. It sounds like your on the right track to keeping your seven. Upgrade your radiator and lose the pre-cat/downpipe to get HP and heat loss. Don't do too many mods without proper engine management and tuning.

 

You'll never be happier, or more pissed off, but you have to love em.