I know nothing about rotaries, but I might be going to look at one. The body seems solid, but I don't know what to look for when it come to determining if the engine is any good. I'm not looking for an engine swap candidate.
I know nothing about rotaries, but I might be going to look at one. The body seems solid, but I don't know what to look for when it come to determining if the engine is any good. I'm not looking for an engine swap candidate.
If it starts. Seriously, if it's down on compression at all, that's the first thing that gets difficult. My brother and his rotary experiences taught me that.
If you do get it, then let me welcome you to the "Mazda's with vital, fragile, no longer available parts" club! That may be a bit of an exaggeration, there were LOTS of 12a's made so the engines are still out there, just limited now.
If it doesn't currently run take a really good high capacity battery with you. Install the battery to try to start the car instead of trying to jump it.
MrJoshua wrote: If it doesn't currently run take a really good high capacity battery with you. Install the battery to try to start the car instead of trying to jump it.
^This. Or a tow rope.
Lucky! When and where you looking at a rotary? Can I come? ;-)
But it's burning oil!
crxmike wrote: Lucky! When and where you looking at a rotary? Can I come? ;-)
Not sure if I even am yet. I don't even have a place to store the car for the winter.
What parts are hard to get at this point?
Woody wrote: I know nothing about rotaries, but I might be going to look at one. The body seems solid, but I don't know what to look for when it come to determining if the engine is any good. I'm not looking for an engine swap candidate.
More specifically hard hot starts are a good indicator of issues.
Woody wrote: What parts are hard to get at this point?
Rotors and housings.
Edit: OK, that's not really true, plenty of them out there, but when Mazda stopped officially supporting the engine full scale hoarding went into effect. Prices of pieces jumped to reflect this. Also the source of junkyard engines pretty much dried up. No longer can you just pop by the scrap yard and grab another motor and put it in for cheap.
In reply to mazdeuce:
You've got some mail.
For the housings, I recall reading that one could mill a little off both sides of a 13B housing and you get the benefit of a wider exhaust port, but I could be wrong. At that point though, why not just put a 13B in it instead?
RX8driver wrote: For the housings, I recall reading that one could mill a little off both sides of a 13B housing and you get the benefit of a wider exhaust port, but I could be wrong. At that point though, why not just put a 13B in it instead?
Woody wrote: I'm not looking for an engine swap candidate.
IF you did run into 12a parts supply issues, Racing Beat has a 12a to 13b engine mount adapter for about $120, there's also an intake adapter that allows you to retain the carburetor (a holley 350cfm available too).
In San Antonio a "13b" craigslist search would sometimes yield $50 engines that died and had been removed. I bought two such engines and made one good one with an Atkins rebuild kit. The added bonus being it gave me "rotary trophies" (usually with apex seal failures) to decorate my garage with 
(atkins also lists a rebuild kit for the 12a)
Good luck!
Just in case you've never done a rotary engine compression check
Woody wrote:RX8driver wrote: For the housings, I recall reading that one could mill a little off both sides of a 13B housing and you get the benefit of a wider exhaust port, but I could be wrong. At that point though, why not just put a 13B in it instead?Woody wrote: I'm not looking for an engine swap candidate.
^ ah, beat me to it
13B isn't that much of a swap, if you put the right front iron onto the motor it's a drop in replacement.
As Dave said above, easy hot starts are a decent indicator of usable compression.
If you can get it started from cold, even if you can't drive, let it run until it's up to temperature, turn it off and try to restart it a couple of minutes later.
Also, I tend to have a good look at the engine while it's idling - if it's a stock rotary, it should idle so smooth that you can almost balance a thick coin on it. If you see any sideways movement, that would be an indicator of one face (well, usually two) on a rotor being a tad low.
That's really pretty. Knowing the job you did with the dirty 911, I think you could have a good time tinkering this one back to a really beautiful classic car.
Check for smoke a little after startup. At startup it probably will smoke.
Check the coolant level before starting. Leave the cap off and start it. If it pushes water out very quickly it has an issue with the water seals.
That is indeed a very pretty 7.
It always amuses me how much crap Mazda hangs off of their engines and how far away they put the accessories.
Wheres my engine?
Oh there it is:
wvumtnbkr wrote: Check for smoke a little after startup. At startup it probably will smoke. Check the coolant level before starting. Leave the cap off and start it. If it pushes water out very quickly it has an issue with the water seals.
...Or if there is a stream of bubbles coming up.
Also, with this generation RX7, make sure that the choke is actually working properly. It's supposed to be pulled in as the engine warms up and that mechanism is often broken.
Nice looking car, and they're fun to drive.
Don't forget- with any rotary, ATF is your starting fluid. I got a clapped out series one LS SA to start numerous times by dumping atf down the carb.
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