Hey folks. I'm obviously new here to this forum. I'm also new to working on cars in general, and on rotaries in specific. I came across, what seems to be, a reasonable deal on an 84 GSL-SE. The thing definitely needs a new clutch release / slave cylinder. But when I went to check it out, the engine would (turn over?), but not start. Like, it wanted to, and the guy was spraying, I think, starter fluid into the intake, but it just wouldn't go.



The guy said that it may, apparently, need a new fuel pump. I am wondering if anyone can give any insight on this. Obviously, there's no substitute for actually inspecting the car yourselves, but maybe some of your prior experiences will lend themselves to my situation. Think this is the actual problem (fuel pump)? What kind of money am I looking at for these parts (fuel pump, slave cylinder)?



The car would end up a project, so I may be considering turboing the 13b. If that's the case, and I do need to replace the fuel pump, should I look for a high PSI pump in anticipation for a turbo set up, or is that too premature / incompatible with the stock engine set up?



Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

The SE is a good car, the odds are it might need a fuel pump. but there are way too many things to check just from your short description. But remember to start a car you need, fuel, air, compression, and spark. You can check the fuel a couple ways. First the fuel intake and return lines attach right by the oil filter (pull them and see if fuel is running through the lines). Secondly, you can "jump" the fuel pump undernieth the drives side rear storage compartment (listen to it run). Or you can remove the plugs and see if puffs of gas come out. Check that you have spark (ground out the plugs and wires). Check that you have compression (pull a plug and crank it over, you should get 3 consistant compression "puffs", than do it again for the second rotor). If you have all of those, the car should start (unless the gas is really bad!).

But this should get you started.