Newbie in Chi-town
Newbie in Chi-town
Just bought a stock 1981 rx7 gsl, Ive dreamed of owning a rotary since I first heard about them. Ive not touched it yet, it runs but needs maintenance, maybe you guys can give me an idea of a good place to start. Its got 140000 miles and it runs.
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Lucky
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Re: Newbie in Chi-town
Hundred and forty thou... 
Bloody awesome, that is!
Welcome along, by the way. Both the cooling and oil systems on rotaries do a lot of hard work, so if the car has a questionable service history and the last service is unclear, you could do a lot worse than change the oil and coolant. Make sure you use a coolant that's OK for aluminium components. If it's still running the Oil Metering Pump that injects oil into the carb manifold to lubricate the apex seals, then it's preferable to use mineral rather than synthetic oil as it burns cleaner. The third thing you can never have too healthy a version of on a rotary is ignition; new plugs, wires and possibly dizzy cap will transform a lot of rough running issues easy and cheaply
other than that, most servicing and maintenance is like any other older car, that's the beauty of first-gen simplicity. Most topics are covered somewhere on the forum, but always ask if you're unsure, someone here will know. I guess Chicago winters are not too gentle on cars; you might want to check for rust in the usual places (check the "what to look for when buying" thread on here)
Oh, and get some pics up, lol
Bloody awesome, that is!Welcome along, by the way. Both the cooling and oil systems on rotaries do a lot of hard work, so if the car has a questionable service history and the last service is unclear, you could do a lot worse than change the oil and coolant. Make sure you use a coolant that's OK for aluminium components. If it's still running the Oil Metering Pump that injects oil into the carb manifold to lubricate the apex seals, then it's preferable to use mineral rather than synthetic oil as it burns cleaner. The third thing you can never have too healthy a version of on a rotary is ignition; new plugs, wires and possibly dizzy cap will transform a lot of rough running issues easy and cheaply
other than that, most servicing and maintenance is like any other older car, that's the beauty of first-gen simplicity. Most topics are covered somewhere on the forum, but always ask if you're unsure, someone here will know. I guess Chicago winters are not too gentle on cars; you might want to check for rust in the usual places (check the "what to look for when buying" thread on here)
Oh, and get some pics up, lol
Re: Newbie in Chi-town
Thanks guys, ill post pics soon and post whatever I do to it, which will be a little limited to to the weather and the lack of room in my garage. 