I have recently puchased a 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL and am fixing it up. I have of course run into problems, which is to be expected when one knows nothing of rotary engines. When the vehicle is driven it accelerates at an incredible slow rate of speed, when the vehicle is parked and is revved freely the rpms still only climb at the same rate as when driven... Someone had also taken a vaccume hose off and taped off the nipple on the bottom of the filtercan. The exhaust 'return?' hose that attatches to the snorkel (Behind the butterfly valve in the snorkel) and then to what I'm assuming is the exhaust manifold is in bad shape and doesn't seal <--- major or minor issue?
One more thing, it's faint and it could be just me but the oil seems to smell of gasoline a little bit...


ANY response would be invaluable, thank you!

Josh

PS I lied, one more, the upper left plug when facing the plug side of the motor had a moderate ammount of oily residue on it. the others were perfectly fine, old, but fine.

 

This will get you started if you dont have a manual. http://www.wankel.net/~krwright/cars/rx7/85_manual.html
The oil will have a gas smell to it (normal) and the plug is probably getting leaked on (unless your talking about the inside) from the leaky oil filter pedistal o-ring. Read the manual and get some better verbages going on hard to tell what exactly you got going on. Welcome to the forum too, and pics are most helpful.

 

Check the accelerator pump to see if it's dripping gas, this will cause the faint gas smell and cause hesitation as you accelerate. Look for vacuum leaks (I found three different ones), especially the antiafterburn hose that runs down behind the carb towards the exhaust manifold. These easy fixes increased my gas mileage from 16 to 24 mpg and gave much better performance.