1983 RX7 on $100 a week

In reply to DaveEstey:

Yes it is but damn is it cool.

Quick question. If the headlights go up just fine, but need to be manually cranked down, is there usually a reason for this? Something easy to check and fix perhaps?

yes, there is. IIRC.... I am stretching here because I only ever raced a 1st gen without headlights...

I believe there are seperate relays for up and down.

However, it is probably dirty connectors. Clean the connectors and put some di-electric grease in them first.

Next, it is time to bust out the multi-meter and wiring diagrams.

I know next to nothing about RX7 headlights, but I would also investigate wiring contacts or limit switches if there are any.

I need to spend some quality time with the wires on this car. It's a carbed car with no ammeneties and should have about six wires, yet there are wires and unplugged plugs everywhere I look. I'll check contacts and relays and such. Thanks.

Yep. Chances are some time with a wiring diagram could net you a 10 lb savings in removed copper.

The triangles.... they haunt me. Love me some brap brap brap

This morning my wife asked me if I was going to drive the car today. As asked her if she meant the Porsche or the BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! She said I sounded like Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber making the most annoying sound in the world. She says she's going to call the car Lloyd. We'll see if it sticks.
I did take it out for a drive this morning. About 20 miles around the block and on the one twisty road that I can find and then to the parts store. It's going to be hard to be a good person in this car. Very hard. Someday I might get sick of the noise or the harsh ride or the general nastiness of the whole experience, but for now I'm in love. Absolutely in love.

Sometimes a bad little car is just what you need.

Ugh! I'm getting addicted to the potential of the spinning triangle. Besides GRM, what good forums are there for Mazda rotaries? I'm actively looking now...

Glad to see you're enjoying it.

Looking forward to seeing it in action!

Thanks for checking in Simon. You really should post about your new race car. We love to follow along on adventures like that.
Oh, and if I ever complain about previous owners in this thread you can rest assured that I'm complaining about the guys before you.

Will do!

Hahaha no worries!

Is the "headlight up" switch on the dashboard flipped up?

'83 I think has it in the center console near the bottom.

mazdeuce wrote: The previous owner had the oil injection thingy blocked off and had been pre mixing cheap two stroke oil at one ounce per gallon. The motor is alive, so it seems to work, but is there a better way?

Premix Lucas synthetic at 1.5 ounces per gallon.

I've found power gains all the way out to 2.5oz/gallon but at that point the oil smoking starts to get visible.

Drive it on the street long enough, you'll get a mental map of which gas stations sell 2-stroke oil. (Speedways almost always do. A lot of Pilots do too, but it's more expensive there, and I dunno if those are eastern seaboard only, anyway)

In reply to Knurled:

I'm pretty sure there's no buttons like that in what is left of the console. I don't think there are any stock buttons at all in the console.
If there are power gains up to 2.5 ounces per gallon then why back off to 1.5? I get the smoking thing and how that's offensive and all, but is it bad?

4Msfam wrote: Ugh! I'm getting addicted to the potential of the spinning triangle. Besides GRM, what good forums are there for Mazda rotaries? I'm actively looking now...

Nopistons.com

Rotarycarclub.com

I'll take those panasports

The Lucas oil is good stuff, but it can be a pain to find. I have best luck at O'Reillys. I should really order a case of the stuff.

mazdeuce wrote: If there are power gains up to 2.5 ounces per gallon then why back off to 1.5? I get the smoking thing and how that's offensive and all, but is it bad?

Theoretically it hurts plug life and carbon behind the seals can cause issues.

But in reality, we're talking about a quart of $10 oil every 200 or so miles. That hurts after a while...

(I'll admit. I'll run it AS LEAN AS 1:128 while on long trips just in the interests of conserving oil.)

we run 4 or 5 "glugs" of whatever motor oil we have laying around in our 5 gallon gas cans when we race.

Sometimes the car smokes, sometimes it doesn't.

Rob R.

I've been poking around the turn signal wiring for a couple of days. Some of it works, some of it doesn't. Most of the doesn't seems to be associated with the dead switch on the column. If you put a signal into the wires, the bulbs light. The easiest route seemed to be to just get a flasher and a three position switch and just ignore the column switch all together. I spent $50 on wire and connectors and a flasher and two LED signals to go up front. The rears are all in place and I got those working today which makes me really really happy. I'm 90% certain I just need to track down the proper wires in front and hook the new lights into them and I'll have turn signals all around. I think that's probably the last thing I need to pass inspection. If I have lights, brake lights, turn signals and wipers that's pretty much all I need.
I also spend $25 on the paper temporary plate so I can drive around legally. Hopefully I'll finish getting the signals working tomorrow and then I'll feel like I wasted that money.
I'm going to do budget now just because I feel like it even though I don't get another $100 until Saturday.
Old - $181 plus $100 for the new week
Spent - $75
New - $206

mazdeuce, for laffs watch "Hitler reacts to the Rotards "on you tube. Nice score enjoy the ride!

Thanks for the heads up on the non-existent headlight up/down switch. I did a bit of poking around and found it. I'll wire up a switch to it post haste.
In related wring matters. I've got a carbed car with a distributor and two coils. If I read my wiring diagram right, all I really need to do is send power to the ignition system and the whole thing takes care of itself by spinning around and around, pretty much like any other carb car since the beginning of time. This leads me to believe that I can simplify wiring a LOT. On the car running side of things I have ignition, fuel pump, and starter. Nothing else is really needed, right? On the lights side of things I have head/tail lights, turn signals, hazards, brake lights, reverse lights, and lights to the gauges. I also have wipers/washers. From an interior standpoint I have my gauges/warning lights and in theory some sort of heat to blow at the windshield to keep it from fogging. What am I missing? Can I attack these one system at a time and simplify the car down to this point?

Reverse lights? Who needs that?

Wiring to the transmission just makes it take longer to change transmissions.

An aside - the fuel pump relay is a weird one, it's an NC relay. The emissions computer actively turns the fuel pump off. Unplug the emissions computer and the fuel pump runs all the time the ignition is on.