New owner
 

Hello all,

I have just taken delivery of a 93 FD3S RX7.

I am new to the world of rotarys, and even petrol cars to be honest, so was wondering if I may ask a few questions.

I did a bit of research before purchasing and had some one do a compression test for me. Came back with readings of mid 7's which the guy said was ok.

The car is stock as far as I can tell except for a dirty great stainless steel decat exhaust that sounds like thunder!

The car goes like a train and pulls up to the red line with ease. However after the 100 mile drive home I got in to stop start traffic near my home and it wouldnt idle correctly and kept stalling. It would restart no problem, but would stall again.

Is this to do with the exhaust system? There is also a strong smell of petrol when stationary. Would this also be to do with the exhaust?
Does the car just need a bit of a tune to allow for the exhaust?

The only other issue I have is the oil pressure gauge not working correctly, I am on to this through and have ordered a new sender unit, but have one question. Do I need to drain the oil to change it or can I just pop the new one in?

And finally, does anyone know anyone in the west midlands that has the experience to look after these cars?

Many thanks for your help

Daniel

Re: New owner
 

The pulsation damper needs to be changed, that's usually the issue with the stalling. I would suggest checking the fuel injectors and even the entire fuel system, cause smelling petrol would mean the engine is not burning clean.

Not sure what the units are for the compression, but a healthy engine would have above 100psi reading, anything around 85-95psi is acceptable, under 80psi would mean rebuild soon.

How long has the car been sitting after you got it? Maybe drive it a bit more to let everything in the system to flow, and then check on the compression again to see what it's sitting at.

You should drain the oil when you change the oil pressure unit. Never know what may be flowing around the system, and it's safer to just have clean fluid in the system.

Also you should do a complete fluid flush as well as a tune up just to bring it back to good running condition.

Re: New owner
 

Thanks for your advise. I think the car has been well used, the guy that had it did drifting.

In the short time ive had it ive realised I cant live with the exhaust so need to quieten it down. Other than sorting the idle issue it goes very well.

Now im starting to look in the engine bay properly, there is some work to do, there are some vacume pipes blocked off so need to look in to that.

Re: New owner
 

If the car was used for drifting then there may be several things to check.... did the guy give you a list of what has been done to the car?

For drifting purpose I'd assume the previous owner had the catalyic converter removed and a straight race pipe installed. That could be the reason why the car sounds loud, however, it also has to do with the size of the exhaust pipe and muffler opening. Turbo usually muffles out some of the exhaust sound.

Idle issue could be a lot of things, and it usually starts with the TPS and then to fuel stuff like the pulsation damper. The previous owner may have fiddled around with the TPS adjustments and it's out of place, which would possibly explain where your issue is.

Vacuum pipe blocked off could be removing emission related stuff to save weight. However, check on it with a mechanic to find out, it's hard for us to tell without pictures of the engine bay.

I'd do a transmission oil flush and differential oil flush, if the previous owner did not do one recently.

What are your plans with the car? Daily driving or some sort of racing involved?

Re: New owner
 

I have another car that I use for track days, but I want to be able to do the odd one in the RX7.

But I also want to be able to use it day to day so it needs to be reliable. I wont be drifting it myself so want to bring it back to a near standard spec.

The engine is strong, so just need to remove all the crap!