A coolant system pressure test is in order me thinks.
The issue with this car could be turbo related. Not that turbos on these are easier or cheaper than an engine...
If it was mine, I'd probably go single turbo and simplify. Not to make more power, but to make it more reliable. And, it could be put back to stock.
Mighty Car Mods is restoring an FD right now and they've shown some really cool parts that replace the old plastic bits, along with a single turbo setup
Yes, a coolant system pressure test would be helpful, but it does look like there is some type of leak externally, so it may initially find an external coolant leak. For example, there's a connection when I think hot coolant comes out of the motor and goes to the heater core. That connection looks like a combination of a metal line, plastic fitting, and rubber hose, and looked suspect of actively leaking.
honestly, with the engine turning over by hand easily and making compression sounds and not having coolant in the really wrong places, I am tempted to start doing things like flushing all the old gas and coolant and potentially seeing if it would start.
and for that, I'll need a fresh battery. Size 35 is what this calls for I think, and Costco had them for $125 with 3 year warranty (which feels like a screaming deal in batteries right now). Online they had AGMs for like $180, and I would have bought one of those, but alas they didn't carry those in the store I went to.
here's some shots of just how clean this car is, while I clean out the battery tray.
little bit of battery acid residue, but I was able to vacuum it right up and there doesn't seem to be any rust damage at all here under the battery tray.
Right now, I don't even know how much fuel is in it. So, I'll probably try hooking up the battery and powering up the car to see if I can get a fuel tank reading. Then I might work on pumping out the old fuel and then changing the fuel filter.
honestly, at only 5 years old and probably nice premium fuel, the stuff that's in there might be "ok", and in a challenge car I wouldn't bother, but in this case I think doing it right is worth it.
docwyte said:Mighty Car Mods is restoring an FD right now and they've shown some really cool parts that replace the old plastic bits, along with a single turbo setup
How did I not know this? Where is the algorithm when you need it?
Very cool build. Ive always wanted a rx7 but I have no knowledge of rotary engines. So I look forward to following your build. Thanks for sharing.
Dude, get new fluids in there a battery and try to start it. Either the motor is toast or it isnt. If its toast then you arent going to be more disappointed since you came into this with that in mind. Love the car!
Ok we're back on this case!
first thing I got a new battery and performed my first mod:
the little battery maintenance dongle.
then it was time to add some MMO to the chambers and see what happens.
I pulled the "circuit opening" (fuel pump control) relay and the main efi relay to make sure there was no fuel and no spark, and I cranked the engine for a bit to see if I got oil pressure. I did, so it was time to plug the relays back in...
woohoo!
now, I got lots of smoke probably because of the MMO, but critically, I didn't smell any hints of coolant. Which is another good sign.
i also took this photo while it was idling and I don't see any bubbles, which is really starting to point to a working seal between the combustion chambers and the cooling system. 
Fortunately, as it idled it started to get less smoky. Unfortunately, as it idled it also started to get really rough and uneven, and now it doesn't want to start and idle at all, boo.
i did go ahead and pump out all the old gas, and then I refilled 3 gallons of fresh new with some seafoam for extra lubrication for now. I did this by removing the return line at the tank and letting the fuel pump push all the fuel out. Then I ran it some more after I put the new gas back in, so theoretically the lines are flushed with fresh gas too.
while I was doing that, I saw that a bolt was missing from one of the protective undercovers.
then I noticed that it was just missing, it had been broken off. Ok, so I'll drill it out. Wait a minute... someone already started...
to be fair, I know exactly how whoever did this felt when this happened. And therefore I don't fault them for calling "this will have to be good enough for now". Haha. I did end up fixing it, but not before making it worse by breaking off the tip of a screw extractor in the hole. GRRRR! Finally just used a small carbide burr in a dremel to make a hole and then rethreaded with a tap. There's an hour or so lost but it's fixed at least.
Because I'm now diagnosing a no-start, I had my beautiful wife help me do a "unofficial" compression check.
so now where I'm at is I'd like to get the engine running well enough to either say it's good and I'm ready to fix smaller issues, or, it's truly skunked and needs to be replaced as a whole. to do that, I think my next step is checking fuel pressure. I'm thinking the engine ran ok with the mmo functioning as extra fuel in the chambers, and therefore as it burned off the injectors weren't able to keep up. So fuel pressure is next.
current "small" issues I'm aware of but not fixing immediately until I can prove the engine is fundamentally good:
I'd grab and squeeze all the oil pump lines, the ones on my FC all imploded the moment I touched them... and this car is now older than that car was at the time.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:I'd grab and squeeze all the oil pump lines, the ones on my FC all imploded the moment I touched them... and this car is now older than that car was at the time.
Good idea. Like the oil cooler lines or the oil metering pump lines? I guess both isn't a bad idea, but I think the omp lines are hard lines.
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
The oil metering pump lines- on the FC they were some sort of plastic, maybe they improved that by 1993.
After meeting you at the challenge, I can say I couldn't ask for a nicer guy to get so lucky and pick up such an awesome car. But also I'm jealous, So jealous, Berk You.
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