Hello everybody, just got my first rotary, a 1985 RX7 GS 12A manual. It's been sitting for about 4 years and looks to be all stock. Body is crusty but actually in pretty good shape, no rust on the undercarriage, floor or suspension mounting points. Shocking for an East Tennessee car! This is going to be fun project car that I plan to build in stages - first get it running and driving, then do some light mods to the engine and refresh the suspension, then go all in with a 13B swap and body work.

I can dribble a little fuel through the carb and get it to light off and run until it burns that fuel off but I've got nothing pulling through the carburetor. I know the fuel pump is working and am getting fuel up to the carb. I drained the tank and flushed the pump/lines to get fresh fuel all the way through the system. I took the top plate off to check the floats and they aren't stuck but the bottoms of the bowls were really gunky and the accelerator pump isn't squirting so I know I'm going to have to pull the carb and build it. Since I'm going to have the carb off anyway I figured I might as well go ahead and strip it, do a rat's nest delete, swap to mechanical secondaries and adjust the accelerator pump accordingly. I'm planning to get a full Racing Beat exhaust too so this is a little future proofing in addition to the restoration aspect. I know swapping to a Holley would be simpler but I don't have the money right now to get a manifold and hunt down a 465 for a stock ported 12A, plus I'd like to keep the OMP with a conversion to an aviation style external 2 stroke oil supply.

I've gotten tons of good info and walk throughs from this forum so I feel pretty confident. I'm wondering if there's anything else you folks would recommend that would be easier to do while I've already got the carb off?

 

Remove and rebuild the carb, but KEEP THE ORIGINAL NEEDLE VALVES AND SEATS - aftermarket rebuild kits have 2nd rate needle valves and seats that will not seal correctly, and will result in flooding, every time. The originals will still work fine, as long as you leave them alone. Also, I'd leave the rats nest alone until you get it up and running and can verify everything else about the condition of the motor and carb (*post rebuild). Oftentimes, people will start changig too many things at once, and then cause a bunch of problems that they're unable to diagnose and fix. If the engine ran well when it was parked, let it run well again with a fresh rebuilt,carb, and THEN consider changing a few small things to your liking, always one at a time with verification runs in between.

As this is your first rotary, my advice comes with a congratulation and caution; they all run on fuel, air, and spark - but beyond that, you need to have some patience as you dig into this car. There are likely other things going on (*suspension, bushings, bearings, seals...) that will need work, too just given the age and that it's been sitting for 4 years. Do a good and thorough inspection all around, and then prioritize what needs to be done to get it road worthy. Everybody wants to start with the engine, because it's unique, but there's a lot more under there hat keeps the car running and driving well.

Welcome aboard, and good luck. Search before you ask; we've been here 25yrs, and everything you're going to find has been found and fixed before. Searching gets you info NOW rather than waiting for one of us to show up to help out. Oh, and post pics!

 

I also want to strongly emphasis this. It's easy to do the game of "while I'm in there", but remember that the car is perfectly capable and designed to run with all those systems installed. I would approach things one by one. Do the rebuilt, get the car running. Then take on deleting those things if you feel it is necessary. Sometimes less is more, but more is less in this case.

 

Good points, maybe it will make more sense to wait until the exhaust replacement to take all the emissions off since the EGR will have to go away anyway. I'll build the carb and just focus on a good tune-up before diving into changing things.

Thanks for the tips guys!

A few pictures from this past weekend. It's gross and needs a super cleaning. LF fender is a little boogered but I think I can straighten it out - I'm much better with mechanical than body work but I'm willing to give it a try.

 

That baby needs a bath! And is that smoke or steam in the shop?

 

welcome to the board.

i "third" everything that LongDuck said.

i love the "original" photos. time to get your hands dirty now.

 

Smoke, burning out oil I poured through the intake to make sure the seals were lubed up before trying to start it with fuel. Took a while to clear that mess out!

 

Like at a sporting event when the team enters the field, that's how a rotary announces it's presence. I think we've all done that before. Welcome aboard,