Generation Specific > 2nd Generation Build Thread

1991 Dark Blue Convertible

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murz:
So, I figure it's about time I make a thread for my 1991 Mazda Rx-7 Dark Blue Convertible that's called "Summer". The intro will be a bit lengthy...

This past summer, I had received a call during class, going on break I checked the voicemail, unexpectantly it was about selling me a 1991 Rx-7 Convertible. I had no idea what this was about, i never called anyone about buying their car, another Rx-7 even! Of course I was more than interested in having another rotary powered sports car, a convertible too! I've never driven in a convertible before besides a miata a long time ago. I found out that my mom, who is an insurance agent, had spoken with one of her clients the day before who was trying to sell his Rx-7 that his wife wanted him to get rid of. Well, she recommended my name, and of course snuck in there that I was an Active Duty Marine as well.

Over the next few days I went to go take a look at her, she had just a few miles over 100k, and hasn't been ran in 5 years. I wasn't quite sure what I was about to get myself into, but I had all the spare time in the world, as I was in school full time without a job then. Here she is when I first saw her.

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She was completely stock! Had some rust on the fenders pretty bad as well as underbody rust as well. But overall, she wasn't too bad, the convertible top had a tear in the drivers side as well. I decided I'd go ahead and buy her, the gentleman I bought her from offered me $1,000 if I was able to get her to start. Of course, I accepted. She was near out of gas, and needed a battery. I put some gas in her, checked all the fluids, topped them off accordingly, tightened some things down, added some oil, pulled the spark plugs, replaced and threw on new spark plug wires as well. Threw on a new battery, primed the fuel system, and went to start her. She started right up, I was surprised she started. She didn't want to idle at all!! After holding down the gas for a while, she idled at a lumpy 700 RPMs.

I bought her, and THEN realized the rear brakes were seized and the brake lines were rotted out. I had to get her towed home (about 5 miles). The rear wheels would not move! So we had to slide it onto the tow truck, and then slide her off, into my drive way.
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And there she sat until I fixed the brakes and did some more replacing/refreshing up over the course of a week.

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murz:
After fixing the brakes and getting her to idle better, she became my daily driver for the summer/Fall...

Took her to the Woodward Dream cruise Michigan Rotary Club event...

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Took her out to Holland Michigan for the Michigan Rotary Club annual camping trip/cruise...

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Here she sits next to her big Sis, Silver!

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So, as I was about to switch her to storage and pull out the Daily driver Mazda Mx-3 for winter usage... The brakes failed on the Mx-3, and being the kind of guy to do everything myself (just about at least) I figured it was too cold to do the lines on the cold cement outside and would rather wait til Spring time (I also have back issues). So, it was time to buy a winter beater so I could put Summer away. Well... that didn't happen. I was stuck driving her throughout the entire winter... I did not want this, but I had to, I also landed a decent job in my field at the time too, continuing to go to school full time. I was busy!

I also never had so much fun in the snow before! You also can't really see the rust on the fender, but it's there, just covered up with near matching colored duct tape.

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murz:
So, for getting me through the Winter, and keeping my happy. I decided I'd treat her nicely, and buy her a nice and new full Racing Beat Exhaust, with the convertible downpipe of course. The original exhaust was getting quite rusty, and was leaking quite a lot anyways. One of the mufflers even fell off!

And this is where the story of the Exhaust swap from Hell begins...

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Anyways, brought her over to Groll69's place to work on her there and help him with the ball joints on his Rx-7.

Well... things went wrong...

1. The studs on the original Exhaust manifold snapped. I had to call it a day and go home and bring my spare S5 exhaust manifold with non-rusted studs.

2. Had to take off the 5th and 6th port actuators to even get to the manifold, by the way, these were frozen shut, they have never moved since I had the car.

3. Finally got the exhaust on (was quite easy besides the manifold part), and went to start her up. She started fine, but wouldn't idle... Had to come back another day.

4. Couldn't find any vacuum leaks visually. So we took off the upper intake and TB, to get a better visual. Found the vacuum leak! one of the vacuum lines was completly severed! Decided while I was at it, to replace just about all the lines with some high temp silicon lines I had laying around. Had to come back another day.

5. Since the lower intake's actuators were frozen shut, I decided I'd replace this as well with an entire Lower-upper-TB that I had laying around that was cleaned up nicely and had functioning actuators.

6. Replacing the lower intake... OMP line had snapped right off by looking at it the wrong way. I was quite worried with this, and decided I'd think on it over night. Had to come back yet another day.

7. Brought over my spare S-5 OMP that was in fine working condition and had no snapped lines. Of course one of the lines snapped... Had to take nearly everything off of the car except just about the radiator and alternator to get to this. Had the old OMP off, and replaced the line on the good OMP and threw her back on there with the new Lower intake as well. Finished replacing most vacuum lines, and threw back on the Upper intake. Oh! Also replaced the lower injectors with freshly serviced ones I had laying around.

8. Came back yet another day to finish the installation of just about everything else. Replaced the upper injectors with fresh new ones as well ( I didn't have any extra O-rings for them at the time though... so I reused the old ones). Finally got everything back on, hooked up, wired, and plugged in. Added some pre-mix into the fuel JUST INCASE, then primed the fuel system.

9. Finally went to start her up and check for leaks. She took a bit to get started, as if the fuel pump wasn't working, de-flooded her just incase, finally got her started. She idled at 4k... never returned down below that speed. Also we noticed a lot of "smoke" coming from the "exhaust". Probably just an exhaust leak. Anyways, we realized the cruise control cable was on too tight. Took that off, and she idled perfectly!

10. Drove her home that night, figured the EXTREMELY STRONG smell of fuel was just the exhaust leak, that I was planning on fixing "one of these days". She did drive quite nice though (I took the long way home even)!

11. Drove her to class the next day and realized I smelt like a wet leaky gas tank at all times. I was getting worried now...

12. Next morning I had the day off, figured I'd look at her. At idle, very thick clouds of white "smoke" was venting throughout every way possible, I was confused now, as this was quite unusual for an exhaust leak. Well, the engine bay was covered in a clear liquid, what i thought was condensation actually turned out to be raw fuel... Yes, the upper fuel rail was somehow by-passing the injectors and spraying high pressure raw fuel everywhere! When I saw this, I immediately ran and turned the car off and hid in my room for about an hour thinking WTF! How did I not notice this? Is it safe to come outside? How am i alive? How stupid am I for not noticing this!!?

THEN THIS HAPPENED!
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Just kidding, but this image was posted on my facebook by a friend a week prior and had scared a lot of my friends and had a lot of people worried. Thank you Rotary God that this didn't happen.

13. Anyways, I had spare O-rings laying around, I quickly brought all the fans I had out of storage and had them drying the car off, as I quickly replaced the O-rings. The original O rings were torn to shreds already! Note: They look fined even being used when I put them back in. Let the car dry off for a few hours, used some water and a ton of rags and fans.

14. Tested the car a few hours later for any more leaks. None! Looks like the issue was fixed, took her for a quick spin up to Five guys and back, no fuel smell! No smoke!

15. Been driving her for a few days now, everything is great! She runs better, idles smoother (no lumps), upper RPMS actually HAVE POWER now, feels much faster, sounds wayyyy better, She's actually quieter at idle, but much louder at WOT. Also MPG seems to be significantly improved, duh!

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murz:
And here is my outlook/plans for Summer.

So, I wanted to keep this car 100% stock, but the racing beat in my opinion is not only an upgrade but reliability upkeep as well. I want to completely clean all engine bay components, and make them look brand new eventually. The rust is definitely a concern, I plan to get new fenders and have them re-painted. The convertible top looks great and works well too, no leaks, but that tear in the driver's side is a concern and looks terrible! I either need to patch it up, or just get the replacement top. A/C needs to be fixed, I'm not sure if it just needs an R12 re-charge or what, but I want to fix it.

So, that's really about it for now. The moral of the story though? Have spare parts, lots of them!

~Groll69~:
I am glad you found the issue.  Those o-rings must have detriorated really fast after you left my place with it.  That exhuast looks great.  I need to get that setup on my car eventually. 

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