My personal project...

unevolved wrote: I know why. It's a high-revving V6 making 210 hp out of 2.3L, and it's not too heavy. Converting them to RWD is a pain, but it's doable. If I was going to swap in a reciprocating engine, that would be a strong contender. I'd rather play with rotaries for a while, though. It's unfamiliar territory and I kinda like them.

Not many swaps make me shudder, but the idea of that one does.

Have you SEEN the Mazda Miller Cycle V6 in person? I have nightmares about that thing.

IF you were serious, save yourself the trouble, the money, and eat the 10hp difference and just dump a $700 high comp KLZE in it. Thank me later.

unevolved wrote: Still trying to figure out this whole carb thing, but I got it installed today. Got a lot left to hook up, but I'm getting closer.

Love the car. I used to have one exactly like that.

Do yourself a favor and lose that beehive oil cooler. The FC oil cooler is fairly easy to retrofit.

swap in a 3 row rad and a taurus fan, put decent headers on, look for paul yaw style mods on that Nikki, grab a 2 row pulley for the alt from a junkyard mitsu motor and run 2 belts to keep the water pump spinning, get a front mount oil cooler, wire the leading and trailing to fire all the time, little alt from a second gen, etc.... Man I miss those cars, I must have owned 12 over the years.

Water pump from a second gen as well.

Yeah man. The oil cooler is going to be replaced with a FMOC and accumulator down the road when funds allow.

Oh, 93CelicaGT2, I was thinking of the KL. My bad.

I had a 85 very similar to that.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/400782886/

plus a really nice 81.

1st generation Rx-7s are fabulous.

Man, that thing was gorgeous. I wish mine had good paint, I'm going to repaint it the same color. Apparently it wasn't sold in the lower half of the US in that color, so it's kinda rare down here.

MrJoshua wrote: swap in a 3 row rad and a taurus fan, put decent headers on, look for paul yaw style mods on that Nikki, grab a 2 row pulley for the alt from a junkyard mitsu motor and run 2 belts to keep the water pump spinning, get a front mount oil cooler, wire the leading and trailing to fire all the time, little alt from a second gen, etc.... Man I miss those cars, I must have owned 12 over the years.

I like to replace the fusible links with an FC fuse box too.

You guys keep throwing all these good ideas at me, eventually I'll get to most of them.

Nikki is smarter than me.

I'm having some trouble hooking everything up on the carb right, seems there's a million linkages and springs. I'm aiming for mechanical secondaries, manual choke (It's got a choke knob, fer christsake, it needs to do SOMETHING), and no emissions equipment. That means a lot of things are blocked off, but I'm still having trouble figuring out what goes where.

Accelerator pump. For the life of me, I can't figure out the right spring combination. Seems like the ones I have on the workbench will make it always "depressed" (or actuated, or whatever) at 0% throttle, so that can't be right.

Fast idle linkage. I only know what it's called thanks to the FSM, but I don't even know what it does. Do I need it? What's a good way to disable it?

Throttle return spring. Not the spring itself, but there's some kind of secondary linkage that runs parallel to it, and I can't figure out its function.

Does anyone have any pictures of these pieces on their carbs? I know a few of you still have FBs. I've been searching RX7Club, but I haven't found a good angle on anything. Sterling is great, but they don't have a lot of pictures.

1st Gen RX-7 + A008s= First Love

you sir, have inspired me.

I'm gonna go outside and start working on my SA right now...

unevolved wrote: Nikki is smarter than me. I'm having some trouble hooking everything up on the carb right, seems there's a million linkages and springs. I'm aiming for mechanical secondaries, manual choke (It's got a choke knob, fer christsake, it needs to do SOMETHING), and no emissions equipment. That means a lot of things are blocked off, but I'm still having trouble figuring out what goes where.

Most stuff on the carb that's emissions related can be removed and capped with no problems. You need ported vacuum for the distributor vacuum advance(that's the vacuum tap next to the idle mixture screw) and the rest of them can be blocked off. Ported vacuum is easy to find: there will be no vacuum at idle, but as soon as the throttle is opened you get vacuum. BTW, the best way to set a 1st gen's timing is to run the engine at around 3500 RPM and set it for 24 degrees total advance. You'll have to mark your pulley since they did not have that type mark from the factory, but that's not hard. Don't go past 24 degrees as that can lead to detonation. Detonation and pinging are not easily heard on a rotary and it WILL bust apex seals quickly. On that same subject: the eccentric shaft pulley can be installed 180 degrees out very easily! The proper orientation: the eccentric shaft keyway should be pointing up and the TDC mark aligned with the timing pointer.

unevolved wrote: Accelerator pump. For the life of me, I can't figure out the right spring combination. Seems like the ones I have on the workbench will make it always "depressed" (or actuated, or whatever) at 0% throttle, so that can't be right.

Correct, the accelerator pump should be at the top of its travel when the throttle is closed. Here's a picture of how it should be assembled: It should move instantly as soon as the throttle is opened. BTW, there is a discharge check ball and a weight (#71 in the picture) under the nozzle, if those are missing the AP will never work right, it will even backfire hard on acceleration (remarked the voice of experience ). I've done a few of those carbs and still have two laying around in my attic, if you can post a pic of how it's assembled I might be able to let you know if it's right.

unevolved wrote: Fast idle linkage. I only know what it's called thanks to the FSM, but I don't even know what it does. Do I need it? What's a good way to disable it?

The fast idle mechanism keeps the engine idling when cold. It can be removed, but I wouldn't want to on a street driven car, particularly if you get temps down around freezing.

unevolved wrote: Throttle return spring. Not the spring itself, but there's some kind of secondary linkage that runs parallel to it, and I can't figure out its function.

Lots of those carbs had a rod and spring that's a secondary throttle return spring. It could be removed, but consider this: some engineer looked at all the things that could go wrong, said 'you know we really need this' and got the corporate bean counters to agree. So there must have been a real good reason. Example: lots of 1980's and 1990's Honda 4 stroke dirt bikes had both a push and a pull throttle cable. The pull cable was a positive return of the slide to the idle position. That was done due to the high vacuum 4 strokes were capable of on decel being able to lift the slide even with a return spring in place.

unevolved wrote: Does anyone have any pictures of these pieces on their carbs? I know a few of you still have FBs. I've been searching RX7Club, but I haven't found a good angle on anything. Sterling is great, but they don't have a lot of pictures.

This should get you in the ballpark. http://free-info-pages.com/rx7-carburetor-accelerating-issues.htm

BTW, I see in the pic of the installed carb that you posted that the fuel line with the little aluminum block thingy is pinched off. That's the return line to the fuel tank and the aluminum doohickey is a check valve. That needs to be connected, RX7 electric pumps don't make a lot of pressure but man they do make a lot of volume. If the float hangs up you will have an ENORMOUS amount of fuel spewing out of that return nipple (heh heh) on the carb.

Jensenman, I owe you an apology. You spent all that time typing up that reply, and I just now saw it. Sometimes I hate the notification system (or lack thereof) on this board.

That being said, I figured out the root of my issues with the throttle linkages. It didn't make sense, because it was broken. I replaced it with my other one, and everything kind of fell into place. The throttle return spring, the accelerator pump, it's all there now.

I got everything hooked up (mostly) and it breathed its first breath tonight. The vacuum lines aren't all set up right yet, but we gave her some starter fluid, and she lit right off. I've still got a ways to go before she's streetable, but it's good to know that engine is capable of combusting. I'll put up a video once I get it from my girlfriend.

Right now, my biggest pain is the wiring. I removed the rat's nest as per a DIY on RX7Club, but I can't seem to get everything hooked up right again. I've got the FSM, a Haynes manual, and the internet, but I can't get positive ID on where the wires are supposed to go. I mean, it runs, so all the important things are getting the necessary juices, but there's more to it than that. I don't want a dash full of warning lights.

Here's a video of it kind of running. Obviously she's got a long way to go, but it ran on its own fuel, and was smooth enough to lead me to believe it's not a waste of time to press forward with.

http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll35/unev0lved/RX7/?action=view&current=1433816015945_50444.mp4

thats great!!! I have zero wankel knowledge beyond the fact that they run on evil spinsauce conjured from an otherworldyly plane by wizards of the mystical black arts. I tip my hat to you sir

Yeah, I'm pretty excited. I can't WAIT to actually drive this thing.

So the previous owner(s) had decided they didn't really need to use the correct hardware for the clutch slave cylinder, and just used some SAE stuff that was kind of close. So I had to pull the transmission and helicoil the holes to fix it nice and good.

I also installed a new header, part of a full exhaust I bought for the car. The guy I bought it from wasn't the original purchaser, but he guessed it was a Pacesetter. It collects right after the header flange, and uses the OEM midpipe. The axle crossover is mandrel-bent, and the muffler is OEM-style. Any other guesses?

The more observant amongst you may notice I wrapped it in DEI's heat wrap. Damn, that stuff's expensive.

If the flange at the engine is really thin it's probably a Pacesetter.

Yeah, it's not more than about 1/4". Not the last exhaust this car's going to have on it, but for the price I got it for ($180 for the whole system) I couldn't pass it up. Especially considering I needed SOMETHING.

About the idea of a Millenia or other Mazda V6...

What about the HC body (88-91) 929S? It's already RWD, makes 190hp stock and Mazda made a 5-speed bellhousing for it that goes with the same transmission as is used in the Turbo II. I think they only brought the 5-speed 929 into the US for '88, so finding one would be very difficult. But you should be able to get the bell housing new from Mazda and piece the rest of the stuff together. I have also seen the bell housing being sold on Ebay (from Australia (5-speed 929s were much more common down there)).

It's a good idea, sure, but I've got plenty on my automotive plate right now with other projects (2011 and 2012 Challenge cars) and work.

unevolved wrote: So the previous owner(s) had decided they didn't really need to use the correct hardware for the clutch slave cylinder, and just used some SAE stuff that was kind of close. So I had to pull the transmission and helicoil the holes to fix it nice and good.

Oh, I hate that kind of stuff. Damn, hardware's probably the least expensive part of putting something back together.

OTOH, the last time I had to actually helicoil something, it was the remote oil filter on SWMBO's 93 Bravada. I'd much rather have the chance to do it on a 1st gen Rex.

I gotta get me a rotorcar some day, I've never had one.

unevolved wrote: It's a good idea, sure, but I've got plenty on my automotive plate right now with other projects (2011 and 2012 Challenge cars) and work.

Which is why you should do the easy thing and convert it over to a fuel injected flathead Ford with twin turbos.