1989 Mazda RX-7 GTU
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This is a project that my brother
started. It is a 1989 Mazda RX-7 GTU. He bought for $300 with a blown
engine. Other than the engine, the flat tire, and the small dent, the
car looks to be in ok condition. These are the updates my brother sent me as the
project progressed.
Upgrades: None.
Updates:
May 4, 2005
The RX7 finally arrived, I had to
get the keys made from the dealership.
The battery was as dead as a doornail. There were no bugs in it, they
seemed to disappear. So I put the battery that was from the TR6 in
there. The engine does crank (very smoothly ill add) but wont start.
When u turn the key every warning light is lit up. And I was
vacuuming it out, and the vacuum overheated and got clogged.
This car is dirty!
May 6, 2005
I got the interior all cleaned out, and some of the dirt out of the engine.
I took out the "air intake" components, and the throttle-body and
top intake manifold (which had a lot of vacuum lines attached to it).
The "air filter" looked to be in good condition.
Next i'm going jack it up and drain its fluids. I had to get
cement blocks to put under the TR6 so I can use the jacks that are
under the TR6 for the RX7.
May 7, 2005
Primary and secondary fuel rails and injectors...Talking about primary and secondary stuff: When I got the 7, the
spark-plug wires were disconnected from the plugs, they were still
connected at the coils.
May 16, 2005
I finally got the engine out. I had
to cut a exhaust-manifold to exhaust-pipe bolt cause it wasnt
loosening. There were only maybe 6 transmission to engine bolts holding
it together. Thats 2x less than the Triumph TR6 has. Less bolts to
worry about I guess.
September 29, 2005
The engine was taken to RX7World
and rebuilt. The original housings and rotors were used. All new
seals put in. Waiting on parts before the engine is put back in the
car.
October 30, 2005
The engine is rebuilt and back in
the engine bay. Ive done a little more to it than what the two pictures
show.
The LIM finally arrived so I switched the manifold, and it
works great. Ive just finished puting the wiring harness back in place,
and electrical connectors, the vacuum hoses, the fuel lines, and ive
got the middle intake manifold in place and the water pump and housing.
I had some trouble with a oil line from the metering oil pump, (i
broke it) but thats fixed now. While i was flushing the radiator
and oil cooler I took out the air conditioning. components, and there
not going back in.
November 1, 2005
All that is left to do is put the
exhaust pipe back on, put new plug wires on, put a battery in, put the
fan shroud back on, fill it up with fluids, and thats it, Start it up!
November 12, 2005
The car wouldn't start at first, but
it ended up just being a bad fuel pump. Swapped the one from the GXL,
and it started right up. Lots of blue/white smoke, but it idled
perfectly. We let it idle for about 30 minutes and checked for leaks.
There was a coolant leak near the filler neck, which was fixed with
RTV. The only problem is the oil pressure sender seems to be flaky,
because it fluctuates randomly. After several startups, and 30 min
idle periods, the oil pressure reads zero. Hopefully it's just a bad
oil pressure sender. Other than that, the car runs perfectly, the idle
is very solid. Here is a video of it starting.
3/06
The car is fully broken in and runs very well. The oil pressure problem disappeared after a few oil changes.
