So who else needs a new motor after this weekend? My story goes a little something like this:

I was meeting up with the AZ I-10 caravan on the west side of Phoenix at 6 am at Cracker Barrel. When I arrived I got out of the car, smelled a bit of coolant and the thought "somebody is leaking coolant, I know it isn't me" crossed my mind.

7:00 rolls around and we head out. 1st rest stop comes I think about 100 miles out of town. I smell a bit of coolant again but think nothing of it. Time to head out of the rest area and my coolant light comes on when I fire it up. I dig around the engine bay and determine that I have a faulty splice in my overflow hose. I take care of that, top it off, and fire it up with a big cloud of smoke. Hmm, thats odd, but it quits right away and everything seems fine. Head out again get to 1000 Palms just past Indio where we stop for Lunch at In and Out. After eating I fire it up and coolant buzzer again. This isnt good. I get out just in time to see coolant dumping out the over flow tanks over flow. Crap! I remove the cap from the AST to see a geyser erupting. Looks like the car will be down for a couple months now.

Thanks to all the caravaners who hung around and stayed with me while I made the decision what to do. I really appreciate the support. That is what rx7 ownership is all about!

In the end I had a (very good ) friend from Phoenix come out with a truck and trailer to haul us back. While waiting the 8 hours for him to arrive my girlfriend and I got a room at Red Roof Inn, I didnt know 1000 Palm had a getto but this place should have rented rooms by the hour. I got 2 hours sleep and dinner at Denny's before my friend arrived. We loaded up the car and I got to drive back. We made it to my place at 3am and a 6:20am flight back to John Wayne Airport the next morning so we could still make sevenstock. 45 minutes of sleep that night, not bad I guess. Needless to say Saturday we were very tired and in bed before 9. But we still made it to sevenstock

 

that sux. sorry to hear it =\

my car ran out of gas on the way coming home from seven stock. It was about 1.5 miles from my house too. So my friend had to run home grab the gas can put a gallon in it and drive it back to me. Still sucked i just couldnt make it home before it actually ran out. Damn gas mileage!

 

Damn sorry to hear that Tom. Look at the bright side. You still have a rebuildable engine. Better to lose a coolant seal than an apex seal. Best of luck getting it back on the road.

 

Thanks guys.
Should be a quick rebuild since I dont think I will have to replace any of the big expensive parts. I just hope nothing warped due to localized hot spots as the exhaust was pushing coolant out the overflow.

 

We had one person with a blown coolant seal. But it was probobly blown before the trip. but he made it there and I think he made it back....I'm note sure

 

Yea, Tom definitely gets the Hard Luck/Hard Core award for this year's Sevenstock in my book. Not only did he have the misfortune of breaking down in the hottest place this side of Death Valley, he took it all in stride and still made the flight the next morning to the event. That's what I call true rotary dedication.

Tom knows what I mean when I say that Sevenstock weekend is like our Christmas in October. Glad everything worked out and let me know if you need anything to help get you back on the road faster. Thank god the weather has cooled off. Driving the REPU for the next month or so won't be quite as bad as if this had happened in June.

 

I had a check engine light but that was it. As soon as it came on i pulled over and check everyting i could think of, car wasn't hot or anything. Then started him up and he ran for about 10 minutes and it came on again. So i stoped and watched my buddys soccer game, went back to the car looked it over again, started it up and it hasn't come on since. I'm going to check my codes tonight to see what "Falcore" was thinking about to give me a check engine light.

 

**** my ignition f'd up 2 weeks before seven stock,lol well atleast it want left in the middle of the desert cause im sure thats where i would have left it if it would have happened on the way.... owell they better have sevenstock 9 damnit!!!

 

Oh hey JR you didnt end up going? Ah that blows...I meant to call you so we could meet up but I lost my cell phone and all the numbers in it...PM me .....

 

Well I came close to popping my motor.
During Sunday's dyno tuning with Steve Kan, my wastegate got stuck closed and the engine overboosted to 28 psi according to the Haltech datalog. We were running 91 octane and was certain there was a mistake with the Haltech so we then checked the Profec B which read 29.4 lbs.
I have ceramic apex seals and an Aquamist system that runs 66% Methanol and 33% water. I'm sure the two of those saved me from another engine build.
Never did get the wastegate problem sorted though.
fwiw, I made 390 rwhp and 370 rwt at 5200 rpm before we let off when it overboosted.
Engine is running fine and it just passed a compression check.

 

You're a lucky SOB! it actually made 397rwhp and 392rwtq at around 5300rpm. I have the dyno chart

 

We blew the Intercooler on the way to Seven Stock....good thing it was on my Deisel truck which was under warrantee! Just missed out on Fridays fun. Gas milage was 8 mpg towing the trailer with no turbo. Expensive and slow.

 

Props go to Tom for hanging on. The next day did pay off.
It isn't fun for any when some in your group loses a motor this way.

 

LOL i know the silver speedmachine FC caught on fire like 2 nights before the show. that was fun. oh wait not really