Hi all,
New to the forum, Mazda Rx7's and rotary engines so have a lot of forum reading to do! I saw a pic of a Rx7 on eBay and have fallen in love with the shape and hope to find a car in the near future. Can anyone point me towards info on what to look for engine wise when buying a car as these engines are completely new to me.
Hi Mike,
Welcome, Have a look at the buying guides on here.
I guess everyone will stress the need to check out the bodywork in the usual rust places before anything else.
But to answer the question, all cars had the same engine, the 12A. Most were standard with Nikki carb but rarer Elfords were turbo modded in UK by Elford Engineering.
Look for an engine that's pulling strongly through the gears and that runs smoothly without hesitation.
A little smoke at start is OK, particularly if the owner is putting premix oil in with the petrol like many do. Engine shouldn't smoke over much when hot.
History should show regular oil/filter changes, 3000/6000 mile interval respectively. Water temp should be normal even when in a queue and oil pressure wants to be up around 60psi hot when running fairly fast.
Thanks for the welcome and info. Can you tell me what an OMP is as I've seen many references to it and to the fact that some people remove it then use a premix.
Mike
Welcome Mike,
OMP is the oil metering pump, this little pump is on the front offside of the engine and pumps a small amount of engine oil up to the carb as rotaries need some oil with the fuel. If 2 stroke oil is added to the fuel in the tank then the pump can be removed. Im a belt and braces bloke so I use both
Me too. Since these engines are usually quite old it doesn't hurt to use the OMP and premix together in case the OMP goes faulty......they don't usually but hey, lets be sure eh?
By the way, all first generation RX7's are exempt from emissions test on MOT, visual smoke test only. Exhaust gases are hotter than a conventional engine so premix isn't usually a smoke problem either.
Hi Mike,
welcome to the forum...... check out the buying guide on here, particularly in respect of what to look for in terms of rust. Body/chassis condition is everything with these cars, mechanical bits, even engines are cheap and plentiful 2nd hand but bodywork is the thing that kills them off...... they don't get scrapped cause the engines have worn out, they get scrapped due to chassis corrosion these days.
A good 12a engine should start more or less straight away off the key.... if it's cold then just with the choke.If you need to spin and spin the engine to get it to catch, then something is wrong.
The best advice these days is to buy on chassis/ body condition...... no matter which series 1st gen it is.....( they did 3 different series 1979-1981, 1981-1983, 1983-1985..... all are very similar just with more refinements / equipment as each series came online. In years gone by, buyers could wait for the model they really wanted, in their favourite colour, etc, etc....
Those days have gone now.....with only a couple of hundred cars left, less than half that number still roadworthy and very few for sale at anyone time, there's not a wide selection to choose from.
Wow really impressed with all the advise thanks guys. Went and looked at the light green car currently on ebay this afternoon armed with the buyers guide downloaded from the forum. Bodily the car looked fine in the five areas mentioned in the guide but the rear suspension components especially the shocks etc were badly corroded. The exhaust looked very tired in paticular the heat shields between the rear silencer and the fuel tank and above. The suspension bushes that I could see also looked like they needed replacing and the brake discs had quite a lip so will probably need replacing. The engine started from cold immediately on full choke and there was no smoke from the exhaust at all even though the idle with choke seems very high. So what is the position on spares taking into account the above description ie exhaust, brakes, suspension bushes etc
Mike
Oh yes and the other question I meant to ask should the car have rear seat belts and if not can the be retro fitted.
Most parts you mention are easy, either new or from a breakers. Maybe an exhaust might be costly.
Rear belts. My view is that it is very difficult to fit full adult belts since no suitable anchor points exist and the rear seat folds flat.
My MOT tester says he doesn't worry overmuch about tired looking bushes on a Jap car. He says they can continue like that for ages and mine certainly have.
Different if you need high performance roadholding.
the seat belt anchor points are there, welded into the shell.... they are just well hidden! Pull off the trim panel above the B post or lift up the rear seat cushion and you will see them. I've got a set of 1st gen rear seat belts somewhere that I took out of a series 3.
