Hi All!
I recently bought an 1987 RX7 with 187,000 miles from a friend who gave me a great deal on it. It has a few dings here and there, and the seats need some repairing, but supposedly the engine has been recently rebuilt and it runs smooth and strong. I have made a few trips from So Cal to Reno ( I recently moved to Reno) and it has run flawlessly. It also got 27 mpg on one trip - which blew my mind! I was a bit hesitant about the engine because I have heard some horror stories aboutrotary engines- but I am always willing to try something new. So far I am not disappointed. I will be using this forum to get information from experienced owners on areas that I am not familiar with. I was into drag racing in my youth and have worked on all kinds of conventional 4 stroke engines - but rotary engines are totally different breed! Any information that might be helpful to an newbie RX7 owner will cetainly be appreciated.

I tackled a problem the other day that has been the only majorannoyance since I bought the car. The gas gauge works fine from full till about 1/2 tank, then it goes straight to empty. I have a strong background in electronics and I suspected thefuel sending unit "coil"had an open in it. I was grinning from ear to earwhen I discovered that I did not have to drop the entiregas tank to get to the sendingunit / fuel pump assy - as I have done numerous times onAmerican cars. Thank God someone did it right for once and provided an access coverto the top of the tank from INSIDE the car!3 cheers for MAZDA!I had the entire assy out in less than20 minutes! And I was right - 4 turns of the coil had worn clean through and had broken contact to the rest of thecoil. I was tempted to simply buy some #34 gaugecopper wire with enamel coating (it feels about 34 gauge) and simply wind the missing turns, butI was not sure ifthe orignal wire was actually a differenttype of wire (an alloy perhaps)to withstand the abusesit has to take. Anyone had this problem before? Is it common to RX7s? I have found many pre-1986's in local junk yards but the early ones do not seem to have the same access cover as mine, and I am also not sure if the coil would be the same? Are there any other Mazda cars out there that use the same coil? I am on a fixed income and do not have a lot of spare discretiionary spending money after all the bills are paid - so I am looking for the quickest low dollar fix that I can.

Any hints or suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks-
Tom

 

people talk **** about the rotary motor because they haven't ever experienced it. that car in specific, if you keep rebuilding it, it will run for a long time to come. as far as the racing aspect, the only thing i don't like about rotary is that they take a little bit to wind up, but they have a hell of a top end.as for the coil. i would try the copper first, since the pump is easily accessible, then maybe move on to a different wire. not a whole lot into electronics, but i used to turn the electric motors on my r/c cars to save money. that was just a coated copper and it withstood the abuse that i threw at it. it also didn't have gas on it all of the time.

rotary engines are a totally different breed but i think that is a good thing. i, until recently, thought that rotaries ran on magic and elves, until i finally figured them out. i hear that the next step is diesel rotary, which i didn't think was possible, but, there it is.