Rotary Freak

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AnFu
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Rotary Freak

Post by AnFu »

Hello!

I am a rotary fanatic, but I do not own one :roll: , yet :P . I hope I will in the next couple of months, because I believe that in every garage there should be at least one rotary engined car. At the moment I am browsing for 1st Gen RX7, because there isn't really any other options in my country. Will keep you posted when something happens.

Best regards, AnFu.
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by codge »

Hi there AnFu. Welcome.

May we ask what country you are located in? A country where 1st Gens are the best options to buy?
Sounds interesting.

Codge
AnFu
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by AnFu »

Thank you for your welcome.

I am from Slovenia.
Well, actually there isn't much of a choice here. Currently there are two 1st Gens and one 2nd Gen selling, the 3rd Gen is almost out of options (law problems mostly). Maybe not that interesting as it sounded at first. I am looking to buy a 1st Gen, because it looks nicer to me. Hopefully I will be a proud owner of one in the next couple of weeks/months. And about that I will have to ask you people a few questions. I just don't know if I should ask the questions here or in some other topic (it's about getting certain part as cheap as possible and some service questions).

Best regards, AnFu

P.S. I hope my English is correct/good enough.
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by Lucky »

Hi, and welcome. Best of luck with your search for an RX-7, and your English is very good! Certainly better than my Slovene :oops:
AnFu
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by AnFu »

Hi, thanks again for the welcome.

So I have decided I will ask the questions here, but please don't be mad If they were answered somewhere else, I would just like to have the answers on one place.

Anyhow... Yesterday I went and have a look at 1981 S2 RX-7 with 12A carburettor engine. The body work is in decent condition, no real rust on the critical points (from the other article on this forum), just a bit of surface rust. But still the car needs a whole new respray. And the dash is a little cracked. On the odometer is 183000 km ~114000 miles. The engine starts with no problems even when it's at working temperature. Rear right break sticks a little and there is a bit of steering free play. In the engine is a 7 year old oil at the moment :shock: . And the exhaust manifold leaks a little. The owner said that the pre-ignition is a bit of, since quite often there is a bang in the exhaust (I don't know if that is normal or not). And one fuse blows when you try to turn the interior fan ON. Also at that point the temp gauge falls down. The rims are 13" rotor shape and the tires are 185/70-13 also really old.

Here are some pictures of it:

Image

Image

The colour is odd, but that will grind down and be resprayed with some sort of silver I think.

So... I need to ask you guys:
-what is the proper/best oil for engine, brakes and clutch lines, transmission and diff and how much do I need it. Maybe there's even a service manual somewhere in .pdf format?
-what oil and air filters to use (I was probably going to use K&N, since it's quite easy to get one here)
-considered on the state of the engine (running, mileage, oil), can I at least assume it will run good for a while (few 10000 km with regular service)?
-what spark plugs to use (and is there recommended to change the leads?)
-how to set the pre-ignition and how to set the carburettor (is there any literature for this specific model), I am not really familiar with this things yet.
-the steering wheel isn't original, any ideas where can I find a OEM one? If I can I will just strip this one and make new ring.
-next things are the bushing in the suspension and steering rack. I found some from Whiteline and Superpro, but they are quite expensive. Is there anything cheaper out there?
-rims/wheel, this Mazda isn't really friendly with 4x110 PCD, I don't wan't to change the axles and hubs, but still are there any 15" that will fit nicely? Or maybe even PCD adapters (search the internet but till now couldn't find any)
-do you know what is the stock diameter of the exhaust piping? I need to redone that, but I will probably go a bit bigger and with Vortex mufflers but, I need some reference point, since to big isn't what I want

I thing that would be all the questions.

So yeah, I do not own the car yet but hopefully I will in the near future, and till then I would like to gather as much information as possible.
Overall my plans for the car for now are:
-full service
-new paint
-new rims and tires
-new exhaust
-new bushings all over
-new steering wheel
-removal of rear seats (weight reduction and there aren't any benefits from them really)
-new clutch disc and flywheel skimming (to get some weight of it)
-and carburettor and pre-ignition setting (with help from others)
And I think that would be all.

I just hope you aren't mad for al those questions, cause I am sure you have answered them before.

Thank you for your help.

Best regards, AnFu

P.S. If this should be in any other thread/topic/section please tell me.
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by codge »

Lets do it a little bit at a time:

Engine Oil wants out if it is 7 years old. The oil to use is ordinary mineral oil (Quite cheap to buy). Grade 15W 40 or similar. About 4 litres? Change as soon as possible.
I use only Mazda oil filters for 12A engine. Do you want the Mazda part number?

Look on here for a long post about exhaust system change. A chap in Europe somewhere had a cracked front exhaust. This is a common problem which also causes backfire in the exhaust. I assume an exhaust manifold leak will cause the same problem. The fix is maybe the biggest problem. You might need to find a complete replacement non Mazda exhaust.....Find the post & have a look.

Steering......always some play with these. You need to check the steering idler bushes. Nice easy fix and cheap parts. There must be 0000's of used series 2 steering wheels in the breakers yards.

Plugs BR8ET from NGK. Tightening torque is important. The aluminium housings are not very thick here.....13ft lbs in old english. Don't know how that converts to Newton Metres.

More anon (means later....again in olde english).

Hope that helps for now.
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by Hobbawobba »

Welcome, AnFu! You've come to the right place :D Let's add on to what Codge has already said..

This link should have all the manuals and diagrams you will need
http://foxed.ca/index.php?page=rx7manual#firstgen

Mazda's own oil filter is what I use along with a K&N E-2700 air filter.

A lot of 1st gen owners get this kit from Energy Suspension. Lots cheaper than other makes! :)
http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/pr ... oreMade003
codge wrote:Steering......always some play with these. You need to check the steering idler bushes. Nice easy fix and cheap parts.
Being LHD would it not be better to go for the Moog K9369 idler arm from https://www.rockauto.com/? It only costs £44.36 shipped on their website to the UK with one of the many 5% off codes they have :lol: . Might be a tad cheaper to Slovenia and a more permanent fix than replacing bushes? :?


Afraid I'm not too sure on the other things and can't help you there!

Jesse
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by codge »

Yes, We cannot use the USA Moog idler here in UK as it will not flip to our RHD. We all would like one as they look great instead of the normal idler.

Carb setting......all from memory. Need to recheck in Haynes manual.
Get it Running and engine hot.
Set speed around 1000 with idle speed screw.
Screw in mixture screw gradually until it just starts hunting (speeds up /then down /then up /then down......bit like a slow horse canter).
Back off mixture screw very gently until running is as smooth as you can get.
Reset idle speed screw to a nice tick over...900 rpm or thereabouts.
CO meter in exhaust will now show about 3.5%/4% if all is well. (Engine hot).
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by DB RX63 »

Luckily the DB Mazda spares cupboard has a spare Moog Idler Arm available.

PM me if interested and I will find out shipping cots to Slovenia (must be cheaper from UK than US ?)

DB
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Re: Rotary Freak

Post by KiwiDave »

You have some good options for exhaust components with LHD setup.

Racing Beat in the US supplies complete systems or just components http://www.racingbeat.com/RX7-1975-1985 ... stems.html

You can also get Pacesetter Headers http://www.amazon.com/Pacesetter-Header ... pacesetter

and the other bits http://www.amazon.com/Setter-88-1379-Pe ... pacesetter
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