My new 1984 GSL-SE

[RX-7 Chris]

I picked up a 1984 RX-7 GSL-SE over the weekend for free. It is a very clean car. The interior need a real good cleaning but is perfect otherwise. The exterior has a good size dent in the left front fender, the front bumper is shot, and the clear is gone from the hood and roof. The motor doesn't run but it turns over and looks to be in great shape. I haven't spent much time diagnosing the car. My guess is the car isn't getting fuel. It could be the ECU though. The stereo even works great. It came with a new bosch alternator, new tires (put on 2 years ago right before the car was parked), it also has a new oil cooler line from mazda in the car. It came with the FSM, haynes, Chiltons, and the owners manual. The guy said he bought the car back in 2000 from the original owner for $4000. He said he drove the hell out of it and ended up replacing the motor at one point. He can't remember when he had it done or how many miles ago. He said the a/c compressor probably needs to be replaced.

[RX-7 Chris]

[RX-7 Chris]

[RX-7 Chris]

[Directfreak]

Congrats!!

[RX-7 Chris]

Thanks.

Here is the Troubleshooting for no start out of the FSM:


I plan to start here but is there anything else I shoud look at?

I will do a compression test first.

What is a system checker 83 (49 G040 920)? Where do I get one? Is there a way to check for codes without it?

[rx4ur7]

System checker is Mazda's OBD reader of the time. I do not know if any of the new readers have the adaptor to fit that early a system.
Really do not know if you can pull the codes without it. Got mine from Mazda back then. Do not know if they are still available, Call Ray.
Not likely on an ECU, I have never had to replace one on a SA/FB. One, someone putting a stereo in the car and crossed a couple of wires.
First go through check all basics. Got compression? fuel? spark? clear exhaust? GCFSE?
-Check all grounds and condition of battery cables and main wires. - 1
-Check water temp sensor and connector, I have seen a few where the harness and insulation looks good but the wires were broken. Test for continuity to ecu. -3
-Down load FSM from one of the download sites.
-other possibles
-bad vacumn leak - 2
-vent switch solenoid pack
-BAV
-TPS
-MAS
BTW - Nice find looks like everything is there and original, it will make it a lot easier to diagnosis.

[speedjunkie]

That's my house lol. A little update since he hasn't gotten back on here...he got the car running, I believe about a week ago. He's now going through and cleaning it up and doing somewhat of a tuneup.

[RX-7 Chris]

Yup that is your house, lol. I've been driving the car all week. I have a few things I'm working out right now. Rust in the tank, vibration in the front end, and radio problems. I also have carbon stuck 6 port actuators.

I drained and washed out the tank but I'm still getting rust, I have to clean the filter every 35 miles.

I need to figure out the vibration. I had the tires balanced and an alignment done. I'm probably going to clean and repack the from barrings this weekend.

The radio is having a number of problems. I'm getting AM just fine but no FM. The cassette only works about half the time but only the right side has sound. The problem is in the radio not the antenna, joystick, equalizer, or amps. Everything worked just fine when I first got the car. My guess is I need to open it up the radio and clean everything out.

[RX-7 Chris]

[pedro a]

nice car bro

[RX-7 Chris]

Thanks.

I'm making progress on the car. The the radio is fixed and the vibration is getting better. I'm now thinking that what is left of the vibration is in the tires, I think they may have flat spots from sitting so long.

I need to have my oil cooler welded a second time to fix the oil leak. I also still need to work out the rust in the tank problem. I'm going to the salvage yard tomorrow to look at the gas tank of a car in there. I hope it is better than what I have, we shall see. I also still need to change out the front struts.

[RX-7 Chris]

If all goes as planed, the car should be back on the road this weekend. I have the oil cooler fixed and I just need to install it. The gas tank is at a radiator shop getting dipped right now. I needed to get a new pickup screen for the gas tank but it has been discontinued by mazda, I've been running a carb filter between the pickup and the pump. I guess I will have to continue doing that.

Things I still need to do:
-unstick 6 port actuators
-have injectors cleaned and pressure tested
-replace O2 sensor
-replace coolant line that goes under oil filter and coolant lines to intake
-finish replacing vacuum lines
-replace front struts (taking them off my 83)
-intalling SS brake lines from my 83 and flushing brake fluid
-replace air filter

[NoDOHC]

How do you get an awesome car like that for free? I always get old pieces of junk for free.

[RX-7 Chris]

Originally Posted by NoDOHC

How do you get an awesome car like that for free? I always get old pieces of junk for free.

It's a first time for me, lol. He contacted me at the beginning of the year asking for help to get it running again. We emailed back and forth. I asked him if he wanted me to drive up to his place (about an hour or so away) to help work on the car. I never heard from him again. A month ago I get an email asking if I wanted a car for $1. At first I thought is was a scam since I had forgotten about this guy. It turns out he was just sick of working on it and he said he would rather give it to me than send it to the crusher. I said I would take it even though I had no idea what kind of shape it was in. I figured I would just use it for parts, thinking if it is free than it is probably a piece of junk. I traded a few car parts to a friend for a truck and trailer to get the car back. We were planing to split the car parts from the car. When we got the car back, we just couldn't rip it apart. I'm very glad we didn't. I don't think I could live with it, haha. I'm put about $900 into it to make it a fairly good car and I have to put about another $300 in it to make it a really good car. Plus the $400 or so in car parts I gave the friend. All said and done the car will cost me about $1600 so it really wasn't a free car. That doesn't include stuff like a new paint job, any performance stuff, etc.