Hi all I just recently bought my rx7. I can to this forum actually seeking advice. But first off let me introduce myself, I am a college student at UVA I love to have fun and race. Their isn't much to what makes me happy in life, just a fine running vehicle and some good friends...



Now here is my question two discuss (and I am terribly sorry if this is being posted in the wrong section) I bought a Monza Pacesetter header for my mazda and I got it installed and everything but I went to put the O2 sensor on it and it did not fit...that seems to be a big problem to me. So if their is anyone that can please give me a suggestion on how to fix this it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

any exhaust shop should have a bong (not the funny smelling kind) that will fit your o2 sensor. they will plug the old bong and weld the new one on the headers in the collector area. shouldn't cost much at all either lol. welcome to nopistons!!

Bongs are what you smoke out of, bungs are weld-on fittings for threaded parts, like the O2 sensor.



The most likely thing I can think of would be damaged threads on the headers(or the o2 sensor). Something like this will fix it.



Welcome!

lol my bad

Aww thanks you guys! I'm gonna get it over to the exhaust shop tomorrow and get that sensor fixed, I also have to bolt the header on the cat still and put the apexi mufflers on it, but hopefully it should be all good and done tomorrow. Thanks for all the help!

What kind of racing you into drag drift or grip? And its cool to see a girl that likes to drive and handle a wrench. But to replace a bung I think a shop is the way to go cause its not that expensive and they suck to cut out and replace.

I mainly do grip, and straight drag for speed (not that often though) I have always loved working on cars...putting this header on has been a real head scratcher though...seems one of my aux. valves are bad, but at least I know were they are now so I can replace it!

Welcome to nopistons!

Greetings fellow Virginian! Charlottesville is a beautiful little town. One of my favorite places.



I'm surprised to hear about the O2 sensor not fitting. Those threads are pretty standard, AFAIK. So there's a threaded hole in the header but the sensor doesn't fit? Is it close to fitting?



Maybe it can be cleaned up with a tap. If it's the wrong size a shop can replace it with the right one.



Good luck!

It is very, very close to fitting, the sensor will thread onto the bung (i'm guessing thats what it is called) at the very top and go no farther after the first rotation. But no worries, I just dropped it off at the exhaust shop and their hopefully getting it done for me while I'm in class!

yeah, it should just need tapped out then a little bit hopefully

Well their seems to be a new probably; now the car won't start! It will just turn and turn and turn but it won't catch! I am not sure if it is the anti-theft, any suggestions? My friend is a Ford master tech so is trying to help me fix it in the morning; anything would help! Anyone with similar problems?

If it's been started and run only a short time, then shut off, it may be flooded. It's a classic RX-7 problem.

I will let it sit for a day and go to start it and their is no battery power, I charge the battery, then it normally starts right up (it has a new altenator, and new battery) After the exhaust shop finished my header and such it won't start. Maybe a relay? A guy from auto zone said possibly something with the ignition or fuel pump, but any other time I really haven't had any problems with it.

RX7's are prone to flooding them, and unlike a piston engine, letting them sit wont unflood them. The easy way is to pull the EGI fuse from the fuse block on the drivers side shock tower, crank the car over for a few seconds with the accelerator floored(it wont start), then put the fuse back in and try to start it. If its flooded badly, you may need to pull the plugs and dry them off. A few squirts of oil into the chambers will help. You can do it through the lower spark plug hole but not the upper.

Is their any specific type of plugs I should be using, like a hotter type? I am also getting a large amount of raw fuel when I try to start it.

i'm assuming since you have an o2 sensor that you have the 13b. it's electronic ignition so there are a lot of things involved. the ecu controls the ignitor which tells the coils when to fire. here's the schematic, your specific ignition system is on page 30 of the pdf. that should help your mechanic understand what's going on lol

Stock plugs are fine, be sure to stick with NGK's though. Ive heard of autolite plugs breaking, and dropping the ceramic insulator into the engine, ruining the rotor and housing. You can also use standard plugs instead of the OEM surface gap plugs. NGK B9EGV and B7EGV I believe.



If you smell fuel, its definately flooded, and probably badly. Pull the EGI fuse, and pull all 4 spark plugs. Crank the engine over for a a few times with the accelerator floored. You should see gas misting up from the engine bay, or at least coming out of the spark plug holes. Repeat as much as necessary to get most of the gas out of the chambers. You dont want to burn out the starter though, so give it a rest between crankings.



If your plugs are worn(center electrode rounded off too much, shorter than normal, or any of the gaps look too large, replace the plugs. Be sure the wires are going to the proper places, if you switch the trailing leads you can damage the apex seals. The coils say T1 and T2, which is front and rear rotor, respectively.



Squirt a little oil into the chambers, doesnt need to be much at all, 1/4-1/2 oz each rotor, reinstall the plugs, wires, and EGI fuse. Crank normally. Should smoke for a minute, thats from the oil. The oil builds extra compression, and helps a hard to start motor fire up easier. Let it warm up, take it for a short drive, and it should be fine.

Thank you all, this is what I seem to have needed...I think we may have just been over looking the minor things in this whole situation. Thanks a bunch guys! Wish me luck!

nevermind, i couldn't get the damn thing to load

but here's a link instead http://foxed.ca/foxed/index.php?page=rx7manual

Its always better to look for the stupid/simple/cheap/easy problems than digging into unlikely electrical issues. The FC ignition system is pretty robust, and part failures outside of plugs/wires are quite rare. Not to mention the classis symptoms of one of the defining quirks of 2nd gen rotaries. Most of them on the road will flood if you crank them and shut down before the engine is warm.

I agree. Thing about a flooded RX-7 that won't start is that repeated unsuccessful attempts to start it result in it becoming even more flooded. It won't fix itself. Pull the EGI fuse, pull the plugs, and crank it over. If the engine hasn't been hard to start before, you might skip the oil. Put the fuse back, install new stock NGK plugs, and fire it up!

Anytime you take it to a shop, be prepared for this. I would always have to tell the mechanics "let it warm up to operating temperature before shutting it off."



And I'd still get that call a few hours later, "uh, your car won't start."

Bingo!

SO another new problem has come up, I drove it from the exhuast shop over to my boyfriends work place (where my mechanic is) and my mechanic was riding behind me and said it seemed the car is getting to hot. It had no power it was constantly stalling and smelled horrible. I have never had this many problems with a car! I didn't start having this problem until the morning of driving it to the shop, and it seemed to have gotten worse after I picked it up. Does anyone think it could be the fuel mixture or the oil injector? My temp. gauge is not going up at any accelerating heights or anything either.

So, the temp gauge is not going up, but the car is getting too hot? Are you saying the mechanic figured all this out merely by driving behind the car? I'm not sure that makes sense.

I am not sure with what he meant by that, I think it was because the constant stalling and acceleration problems it seemed to be having, also the large amount of fuel smell coming from the car. I don't understand what would be causing this to happen, it has never done this before.

Hmmm. That does sound a tad ominous. You might have someone knowledgeable about rotary engines do a compression check on the engine. That would let you know what kind of shape it was in. How many miles on the engine?



http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/dec98/techtips.htm

baldy i think she is saying that the mechanic was sitting behind her in the car, not driving behind lol. but still, once the car gets up to temperature i never see it move from there on my fb or fd so as long as it does warm up fine and then stay there, i wouldn't be worried about it. if it's getting too hot though, check your coolant level and make sure there are no leaks. as for the smell, to put in the headers did they have to remove your catalytic converter? if they did then that would be the fuel smell from the exhaust. as for the running issues, i'm not exactly sure lol.

Their is on 101,000 on the car. The cat is still on their, but they did say I would have to replace it within the next year. The cat isn't running hot or anything.

lol the cat is supposed to get hot

Haha well I mean like overly hot, like about to explode hot

RX7's run rich. But with good working cats, you shouldnt smell it. Without cats, even a well tuned one will smell like gas, just a rotary thing.



I doubt the mechanic could tell it was running hot from driving behind you. You would probably know if your engine was running hot, or of the temp wasnt normal.



As for the stalling, double check that all your sensors are connected, and vacuum lines are in their proper places. Its probably something that got taken off when the headers were being done, or got knocked loose when the headers were being done, and not put back.

I've never seen a legless, midget mechanic before! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.gif

Their was a vaccuum line that was unplugged, but I am not sure if that one little line would cause all of the problems I was having.

you haven't been to indiana before eh? lmao

you'd be surprised. one popped off of my FD and the engine surged like crazy at idle till i found the leak

It doesnt really feel like surging...the only thing that I am feeling when I drove the car was that everytime I came to a stop it would stall (it is an automatic) if my foot wasn't on the pedal giving it gas and revving it, and it didnt seem to want to shift...I don't know how to really explain it. When I had half the header done (it was clamped to the cat and the O2 sensor was just placed on the bung) I pulled it out of the garaged and just slammed the gas, it drove fine then, had a lot of power and such...maybe that blew the line off...but I dont see what would cause all the driving and stalling problems.