PROJECT: 50,000 MILE 1983 RX-7

Posted by Matthew Schroeder from Rotary Performance.com

We've been entrusted to work on a first time customer's 49k mile 1983 RX-7. I have a soft spot for the FB RX-7. I've had five since I was in High School. This clean example may rival my current and best!

                           I'm a little jealous of the zinc plating!

Opening the hood was like opening a time-capsule. I believe that everything but the spark plugs was original. I feel a little better knowing that we can still get a lot of original manufacture tune up parts for these. This one came in because it lacked power at high rpm. We like to use a little modern technology to work on old cars but are mindful of making modifications in doing so.

A wide-band oxygen sensor port will be hidden under the factory heat-shield.

Watching fuel bowel levels while on the dyno revealed a fuel volume problem that was corrected with a simple filter change. From there, we had poor choke operation, a stumble off of idle, jerkiness at cruise, and it felt a little weak on the big end. Not wanting to spoil the stock appearance of the car, an o2 sensor connection was placed where it would be hidden by a heat shield. With this, I was able to see what was really going on. Idle was lean, cruise was lean, and it was way over rich wide open. Adjustments to the choke's throttle linkage, re-sizing the pilot and primary main jets, and cleaning foreign matter from emulsion tubes made the mixtures correct and the power smooth.

                     Smoothness and a few horsepower as a bonus

Performance isn't always about getting the most power from an engine -- particularly on vintage cars. No extraordinary efforts were made to extract more power from this car, but 107.8 silky smooth rwhp isn't bad for a 100% stock car. Got a special old rotary that you think could run better? Contact Us to find out what we can do for your rotary.

SAVE MONEY AND TIME ON MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS

Posted by Matthew Schroeder from Rotary Performance.com

We have had a rash of cars this week getting repairs which were more expensive than they needed to be. Customers often want to know how long they have before a costly service becomes imminent. While we understand the desire to get the most service life from parts, consideration must be given to additional damage that may be done by stretching the life of worn parts.

The most common example is a worn clutch. A customer comes in for other work and we notice that their clutch slips fairly easily. Knowing that replacing their clutch is a pretty expensive periodic maintenance, customers often try to "get by" with the problem as long as they can.

Waiting until your car's clutch make the car not drivable often creates two new expenses: a flywheel, and a towing bill. The per mile cost of delaying that clutch repair if often quite high when you add these new expenses. Over the years we have talked to many customers who were stranded by mechanical failures that we had warned them about. I cannot recall any of them being glad that they waited because the complete failure came at a more convenient time!

Everyone's got a budget and has things to do. Budgeting for things like future vehicle maintenance expenses may seem like it is tying up resources, but it will likely save you money when the time comes. I like it anytime I can reduce the cost of a repair and / or avoid financing anything.

At Rotary Performance we have been servicing the Mazda RX-7 and RX-8's for nearly 30 years. Our enthusiastic technicians share more than 50 years of rotary maintenance and repair service experience! If you have a rotary problem, we can help!

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW BARN FIND RESTORATION: A GREEK TRAGEDY

Posted by Chris Ott  from Rotary Performance.com

It's certain to raise eyebrows when tragedy is combined with restoration. Unfortunately, that is commonly the case when projects begin with a rope, a tow chain or  a buddy's truck and trailer. Let us begin with the "Greekly Tragic" proper prologue.

Enter one 1986 RX-7 Sport model. A worthy candidate stored lovingly in a garage for 15+ years. Being a Sport model, this steed possesses the simplicity and lightness of a base model combined with the brakes and wheel diameter of a GXL. Having an undented aluminum hood and straight body without corrosion, worthiness of resurrection is obvious. May we introduce the catalyst of the tragic, the innocent good meaning buddy. This individual remains nameless as his identity is not required to fully receive the gift of the lesson. His willingness to help, noble and well meaning as it may be, spells out the doom for our lovingly kempt machine. 

  

The tragedy unfolds with the arrival of said steed on a fine and wonderful day. To this point, no woes are to be found. Loading and driving went as planned. As the unloading begins, the plot thickens. Renting or borrowing trailers is commonplace. Familiarity with the equipment is not. Most trailers won't let you open the doors much, but U Haul solves this with a great feature allowing you to flip the fender down for clearing the door. Once sitting inside, close the door, hold the brakes and let others push her off the trailer. Another, less savory option would be to leave the door open and help push the car off the trailer and not be there to hit the brakes when it abruptly starts moving. Imagine the painful sounds of the machine when his door is caught on the trailers tire and has to succumb to gravity's might. The twisting of the bottom of the door pales to the sound of being caught mercilessly by the parking pole that stopped the downward motion. Like a bird with a broken wing, this poor steed has been grounded by the most innocent of them all, the good meaning buddy. 

From tragedy, there is a lesson for us all. Let pro's do what pro's do. This poor machine needed to come just a few miles and the tow bill would be about $75. What has been done is easily $1,000. Fortunately this tragedy can be solved, but what a way to begin a new start of life.