i just bought a 1984 rx-7 gsl i am currently restoring it. i was wondering if i was better off modifying my original 12a engine or swaping in a 13b engine.

 

all depends on how much money you wanna spend. congrats on the 7 and welcome to the forum.

 

yah thats true im still in high school so i dont really have too much money floating around

 

Learn every thing you can about the 12a and the car it's self. Worry about upgrades later.
Welcome to the world of no-pistons, no cam, no valves, learn about this first and impress
your friends. rx7doctor

 

Get use to the car, get it up to spec and reliable, then worry about going fast

do your homework, there is ALOT of good info in here, take some time and read thru it.
No sence having more power and breaking something 20 years old.....

 

cool guys ill do that, im also wondering what color would go with my burgandy interior i have to repaint cuz body work anmd i wanna find a cool color combo

 

I'm partial to a 'true blue' or 'grabber blue' with that sort of interior. Please forgive my muscle car color names, that's what I do when I'm not doing the rotor thing

You may also go with a muter color, such as a brown (T5 is a very RICH brown. Ugly in my opinion, but could be nice. Has nice sparkles)

White is always an option if you're going for a more classic look, and it takes FOREVER to show that the paint is fading.

Silver as well. A VERY light silver, or a ghost grey.

 

welcome. im new to it too. i just got my dads rx7 passed down to me. and im not much older then u too and dont have alot of money. the car sat for 3years so im still working out the kinks but is up and running but drives like crap and has no power what so ever.... well untill i hit about 7rpm n then it kinda trys to take off. runs the worst in 4th n 5th. if im not working or looking for work im under the hood all day n night. like Max7 said get used to the car and get it running right befor u do any thing to it. rx7s are why diff then american cars. i used to have a 2007chevy colbalt and raced it drag and street (not on any track eather) and the rx7 drives and handles why diff. congrats on the car n hope u injoy it to the fullest.

 

What just happened here?

Mike,
There's probably nothing wrong with the car. You're just not used to driving such an underpowered car. Let me guess, you feel like your flooring it just to keep up with soccer mom in the next lane leaving the stop light?? Heck, that cobalt you were driving was 145hp/155tq which is way higher than what a 30 year old 12a is making... Not saying they are not fun cars to drive but it costs money to make it quick/fast. That "wet mop" steering/handling you are feeling is wore out suspension parts and out-dated recipricating ball steering...

To the OP,
Doesn't look like you've posted since 2004, but hey, did you ever pick a color??

 

yes there are alot of wore out parts its 90% origenal no HP mods at all. i do have an air leake that i can not find but still havent dug into it to deep eather. but i can rev it up just fine when parked but when i go to drive and take off it almost sounds like it wants to die so i push in the clutch rev up again n start rolling a lil faster then i can go threw the gears. it sat for 3 years so i know thers alot to be cleaned and neeeds tune up bad. but when going threw gears-2nd it start out ruff as if no power whats so ever untill i hold the gas peddal down for a sec then kicks in. lots of lagg. 3rd is the same but i dont get good power untill about 41/2 rpm -5 then kicks in 4th is bad almost no power till about 7rpm and 5th thers no power what so ever. i actully slow down when in 5th. also after takeing it around the block and wormed up tonight i poped the hood and seen lil sparks coming off all the spark plug wires from coil packs all the way to the plugs. i touched em and they didnt hurt or any thing. but where the wires where close togather i seen sparks crossing. do u know what that would be? i plan on changeing all of them but wanna make sure its just old wires. (i think maybe 5 years old) plugs are from when it ran in the summer of 2009. ran all summer no problems at all and was put up in the fall. any tips or trick please let me know. thank u so much

 

Hey Mike and welcome to the club,
First thing I'll tell you is this, do a FULL tune up, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, oil change, (as well as the rest of the fluids) ect. change ALL the filters and rebuild the carb, and remember you don't have coil packs like on the cobalt but,old school canister coils (think old school 60's muscle car) so they may need changed as well. These cars don't have alot of power stock (101bhp I belive) but, a good tune up will do wonders to help in making the car run much, much, better especially after sitting and it sounds like it needs it from what you describe. After the tune up go over all the steering and suspension components as they may need replaced, and remember the reciprocating ball steering box in these cars has ALOT of play to start with but worn steering and suspension parts can contribute to the steering slop. Hope this helps you some and again welcome to the first gen section.

 

thank u for the respond. i plan on doing as much of the tune up as i can this weekend wit what lil money i do have. i didnt look at the dates on here when i started posting so i will start anew one just for my car over the weekend as well. i will take pics and will shoot a vidio befor the tune up and post it and then do a new one after the tune up. if u have any more tips for me please let me know and keep en eye out for my name to pop up on new post tomorrow night. i am a first time rotary owener so any lil tips will help i know the basics of the motor and how it works. thank u again and hope to heir from u again.

 

No problem and no worries on the ancient bump, the biggest thing I have learned about rotary engines is this, heat kills quickly so, engine cooling is paramount (both oil and water). Also if you have any doubts about your oil metering pump system PREMIX in fact, add it as extra insurance and the reason for this is apex seal lubrication. There are many threads on this topic but generally it's 100:1 ratio fuel to premix oil. With proper maintenance these engines last well over the 200k mile range. Looking forward to the build thread.

 

just wanted to give u an up date on what i found today. i was cheaking for air leaks around the carb but didnt really find any but i put my finger over some of the air lines then went to the air fliter and my shutter solenoid valve???? was stuck open. when i put my finer over it it had suckshin and it ran fine. toook my finger off went to running like crap again. played with the swith on it and spread lub on it got it working good. car seems to run fine now (almost) i drove it around the block meany times but still when i get in to high rpms it spitts and sputters. and at the top of 3rd has almost no power and still no power in 4th and 5th. any ideas befor i do the tune up? and befor i fixed the shutter valve it was the high rpms that the car did the best in and spit and sputterd in the lows?????

 

my new thread is up now under build threads. (tips n tricks. new rx7 owner here) with some new pics as well. hope to see u on there. thanks again!!!!!!!!