I bought a 1987 non turbo for my son's 16th birthday as he and his friends wanted to work on it. Unfortunately, since he has given up and no longer wants to work on cars.
I had to come to Nashville from LA to try to get the car running to sell.
Any help is certainly appreciated.
Car info - was running really good but overheating.
My son put in a new thermostat and a rebuilt tranny. They disconnected a few wires and didn't hook them back up. With the help of a member, I found out one was the oil pressure switch and the other a condenser, which I hooked up.
Only wires off now are the two mini harnesses that come out of each side of the tranny toward the rear .. they screw in. My son doesn't remember if the wires in the tranny are the ones that came with the new tranny .. as I have a set that is different.

so .. problems
1. tranny wiring

2. no dash .. fuses blowing (it use to work originally before the tranny replacement) I have been reading the schematics (which I am not very good at) trying to figure out a way to trouble shoot and find the short .. ? Any ideas of where to start would help. I was looking around the fuse box trying to see if or where wires disconnect but didn't see anything.

3. starting problems - it was starting but took a long time last week, then blew tons of smoke .. which cleared up. Since the water pump, it doesn't want to start .. trying but not catching. I have pulled the fuel pump fuse .. then accelerator to the floor and blew out the gas ... which seems to help. I have ordered new plugs and wires and will try those tonight .. hopefully it will start up fine as it use to.

3b. I have a feeling that it is leaking gas into the cylinders when setting. I saw a bypass kit at Mazdatrix and have read the posts about putting in a on/off switch to the fuel pump, which I plan to do as soon as I figure out which wire goes to the new switch ?

4. I replaced the water pump and the cap assembly with overflow tube.
? > how do I tell if it is overheating now since my dash gauges is not working ?

I also hear this gurgling noise in my engine after trying to start it since I put in the new water pump. Don't remember hearing that before .. does it for a few minutes ??

This RX7 is really pretty clean and I like it. If I had the funds, I'd ship it to LA as my project car as I have quite a lot into it for my son .. can't afford to put any more into it and need to get another car and sell this.
I also agree with many of the posts that doing things the right way works .. unfortunately, finances don't allow

I also want to thank the members that have been so helpful and patient !
Special thanks to RotaryRocket88 who has been GREAT !

 

as far as the gurgling noise make sure there is no air in the system, you have to get all of the air out or it will cause problems, the FSM that can be found in the stickys will show you how to do this

what color smoke is it, most likely if it was overheating alot you blew something, 13b and heat do not mix, you may just have to rebuild the motor

 

First of all, thanks for all the replies and feedback. Very much appreciated.
A reminder that this was my son's 1st car I bought him .. project and he moved on. I am just trying to make it a better deal for its next owner, so, cannot put the money or time in to rebuild.

mileage on the car is 182,111

I got it fired up yesterday and it smoked like crazy for about 2 minutes, then .. fine, no smoke at all.
The engine sound really good, runs smooth, responds well to the gas pedal without hesitation.
I read the manual yesterday and open the radiator bleed screw while running the engine, refilled the coolant and ran the engine longer. It seemed like the water was boiling when I shut it down.
The radiator I believe is the original and it has had the thermostat and water pump replaced.

Today > I started the car up this morning and it didn't want to start again. I removed the fuel pump fuse, cranked the engine with the gas pedal all the way down.
Then put the fuse back in .. it took a couple times doing this , but, it did start up .. very rough at first like all the cylinders weren't firing or something, but, then cold (high) idled fine, blew more smoke (not as much as yesterday) and only for about a minute or less, then cleared up .. then ran fine.

My engine is very clean. There is very little rust on the car and very little, next to none in the bay when I have worked on it.
I want to try to a cut off switch on the fuel pump today but don't know which wire to put the switch on. I will give a shot at reading the manual schematics and search the forum which I stink at both.

I am just trying to sell the car asa I need to get my wife a car and try to recoup some losses so I can head home to LA .. been here 3 months too long trying to help with these cars !

The only rust on the vehicle was the original exhaust system which was literally dust !
I have had the full exhaust replaced front to rear, it has a new clutch, rebuilt tranny, new water pump, new thermostat, cap and housing, battery .. the car is really clean, very straight and almost everything works .. or use to (new problem with blowing instrument cluster fuses), the kids didn't hook the tranny wiring back up and maybe still overheating.
I think that whoever buys it with a little more work will have a great car ..

Again, thanks for all the help and feedback.

If anyone has a link to how to put that fuel pump fuse in, which wire to put it on, that would really help today .. or any other ideas.

MazdaTrix has a fix that sends the gas back to the tank for about $60.00, but I really can't put any more money into the car unfortunately.

 

first try to kill the engine and let it sit, have it run and get it to normal temps (about 10 min let it run at least) then pull the fuel pump fuse, the car will use up whatever is left in the lines and then stall, come back in the morning and replace the fuse and try to start it, if it starts right up that may be your problem, otherwise it is something else and the fuel pump cut won't help

as far as the dash I would just take it out and inspect all the wiring behind it, look for any melted touching wires, its kinda rough to get the speedo cable off the back of the cluster but you should be able to reach up in there and unhook it, just don't rip at anything and be gentle, the plastics are all brittle

 

thnks for the tip. I will run it out of gass tonight, pulling the fuel pump fuse . then see what happens tomorrow .. how it starts. I'm pretty sure it will fire right away.
As I said, after it was hard starting this morning, I pulled the fuse, cleared the cylinders by turning it over for a bit .. then it started up pretty easily, but, I will also follow your directions.

I've been looking through the manual diagrams trying to figure out where the wire is for the fuel pump (up n the front area) so if I need to put that cut off switch in, I can right after tomorrow mornings start test.
As far as the wiring, I'm gonna leave that for the next owner . just gotta get out of this car and sell it.
I believe the next owner with minimal work will have a great car

 

well you could remove the fuse and run wires fromt he fuse location, and put an inline fuse in...

 

I thought about that but was concerned what else might be on that fuse line. Want to make sure the only thing cut off is the fuel pump.
Seems I should be able to find a wire some where near the fire wall or down by the interior fuse box.
that way the switch could be under dash or area.

 

How was it overheating?
Half way on temperature gauge? Pegged on temperature gauge?
After you get the car to run, Remove the radiator cap (obviously when the engine is still cold), and let it warm up. Check for bubbles coming up.

If you see bubbles keep rising (think of it like a cold beer from a bar), there is a good chance that the cooland seals are bad - which would require an engine overhaul.

It wouldnt hurt to rent a cooling system pressure tester and go from there.....