Outside observers could call this a midlife crisis car for me. But they would be wrong - I plan to make multiple crisis purchases in my life. So since this isn't a midlife crisis, I searched for similar words, I saw the phrase "fix pickle jam stew". Which seems to fit.
This story starts back in January, at a build party for the upcoming challenge entry Volvo-Miata. One thing you do at a challenge car build party is you talk about all the engines you currently have in your shop that are esoteric, and bonus points if they also aren't even yours. This will naturally lead the group conversation to rotary engines, and soon you will be in dangerous waters. Because someone might say "I've got an FD with a blown motor, and I don't know what I'm going to do with it".
Dangerous waters, indeed.
Please do not use doritos in your engine.
In for LS FD pickle jam
Here be Dragons
Omg. I would have bought that sight unseen. If you realize you don't want to take it on, I'll buy it.
Dream car for me.
Oh, glad to see this thread get started 😉
wvumtnbkr said:Omg. I would have bought that sight unseen. If you realize you don't want to take it on, I'll buy it.
Dream car for me.
I will have to admit that while I wasn't looking for a project, at all, at the time, I was struck by the comment.
The FD is, after all, the first car I started looking at on eBay when I was a kid. Before gran turismo, before tuner magazines, before fast and furious. Hell, I even first learned about the Miata because the RX7 was so cool I started branching out to other Mazdas on eBay's old lookup tool. Add in a dash of memories of the FDs I didn't buy earlier in my life, pour over the other cool car models that I waited too long for them to "just get a little cheaper" (looking at you AC 911 and NSX), and shake vigorously.
So I was interested, but next I had a bigger question for myself - could I actually commit? I definitely didn't want to be a tire kicker or waste a fellow grmer's time. This would also be a whole new level of project for me, I'm comfortable with challenge budget play cars, but this wouldn't be that. It would also mean dropping an existing project or two.
I decided to sleep on it, to see if it changed how I felt. For 2 whole weeks I couldn't shake the idea. Many of the people in my life were supporting me going for it, so I decided to ask if it was for sale.
I believe the seller did some soul searching as well, but I got a response back via email that a deal could be made. I went to look at the car, found it to be in very nice shape overall (with notable exception that the engine is very likely toast). I started work on putting plans in place for retrieving.
And the weekend finally arrived!
The RX7 is nice enough that I didn't want to smother it with road salt on an open trailer in the winter in the Midwest. So that meant renting an enclosed. But the trailer rental requires a 3/4 ton or bigger when renting their big enclosed trailers, so I also needed to find a truck. Luckily, my wife's uncle lives relatively close and is a truck guy, so he covered me there.
Between driving to pickup the truck, then trailer, then car, then home, the returning trailer, then truck, then home, I turned 8 hours of driving into probably 16. It definitely would have been cost effective to simply ship the car home, but to be quite honest I'm not sure I'd be able to trust anyone else to load it safely (yes, this is not a rational stance).
Even better than loading your own car however, is getting some friends to help you load and enjoying pizza with a bunch of fun car guys. So that's what we did.
From here
to here (I didn't plan the red, I swear):
To here:
and finally here:
We're now home safe and sound.
So hawt!
Jelly of your Jam.
Are we learning how to rebuild a rotary or shop for JDM goodness or...2JZ...K...LS...
Oh good, I can finally share these from the weekend:
No doubt grabbing those parts for me added a good deal to your 16 hour day. Thanks again for getting them. As always, it was great hanging out with fellow GRMer's.
Great car 
. Awesome seller 👍
I'm going to live vicariously through you. I've always wanted one of those!
FD's are such timelessly pretty cars.
I maintain that a rotary in nearly any condition will start and run if you spin it fast enough.
so pretty.
keep the wankel going
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:I maintain that a rotary in nearly any condition will start and run poorly if you spin it fast enough.
Fixed that for you. I have seen one that would make 6k RPM and not enough torque to propel a car.
Well, youse guys are getting ahead of me. This particular FD happens to be unmodified, and with relatively low miles to boot. So yes, absolutely priority number 1 is to fix it and drive it as is. I'm not going down the modification or engine swap path at this point.
all that sounds nice, but I'm still starting with the assumption that the engine is toast. Seller states last time he drove it (about 5 years ago) it started smoking seriously, and he feared a coolant seal failure. In a 13b, that certainly would mean complete tear down.
and Mazdas "troubleshooting guide" is a bit ominous as well:
literally the only thing on there that isn't removing the engine and tearing it completely down (if not simply replacing it) is adjusting a drive belt.
and I don't think a drive belt caused significant exhaust smoke.
Any plans to turn it at all before pulling and unstacking the doritos? If so, I've had reasonable luck hitting questionable engines with marine fogging oil repeatedly while slowly getting them to turn over a few days before attempting a full revolution.
So my number one step is to diagnose whatever is wrong with this engine.
i took this photo, which if the coolant is red, looks VERY suspicious.
fearing chambers full of coolant, I first pulled the leading plugs. They look sooty, but critically, no coolant came pouring out. I reached down and touched the red stuff that looks like it came leaking out of the spark plug hole, but it isn't wet? some Internet research says that might actually be melted potting goo used in the knock sensor directly above the spark plugs...
then, I decided to see if the engine would rotate by hand. It did (and because access sucks, I actually just turned the alternator pulley, which had no problem rotating everything simply with belt tension). I also started heading whooshes of compression, but again, critically, no coolant came out.
at this point, I think I can rule out chambers full of coolant.
Thank you for ignoring the uninitiated and for attempting to fix what's there. These cars without rotary engines just aren't the same, and I'm far from a purist in most situations. My mostly stock '93 R1 and I will be watching this thread.
In reply to Powar :
I agree, my only rotary experience was an 85 RX7 GS. With out the rotary engine, it's an MX7.
absolutely love me some FD content, i'm totally in for this ride. congrats OP!
i'll contend they're one of, if not the prettiest Japanese sports car ever made.
I remember when these were running in World Challenge or some similar series when new. I was talking to a guy on a team while they he was working on the rack of turbos. They had an extra set for each car and put new seals and hoses on them almost every session. The extra set was so they could work on cold turbos instead of waiting for the glowing ones on the car to cool down.
Could be a turbo problem or oil control ring seal on the side of the rotors.
I have no rotary experience, but I've always loved the crazy rpm's and thought the rx7 was a beautiful car. In for the ride!
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Same. Grail car of mine ever since I rode in one in '97
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