Petrol tank removal.

[A7RXY]

I\'m now going to remove the tank to give it a good clean, I have read the Haynes manual on removal, any tips on this or is it as straight forward as they say...........off to football now so will not be back for awhile.  :WaveBye

[mpk490p]

not sure what it says in the manual but its a fairly easy job, there is a drain plug to make things easy, remove all the cowling, open the petrol flap undo the 2/3 screws around the filler undo the tank straps i usually lay under the tank to take the weight or you can just use a jack with some wood on it, disconnect the lines and your done

[David Nock (RIP)]

Get a couple of spare 5litre petrol cans before starting. Tesco is good.

Once you have got the tank out you probably want to access the dip tubes by removing the plate they go through. Unfortunately the screws may not be too forgiving. The sender unit plate is far worse than the dip tube plate (mine were bloody rusted solid on the sender system). Needed to be drilled out and new ones put in. Also gaskets are fairly thick and may need renewing if they break up. If you just want to get into the dip tubes and the gasket stays intact you may find it\'s all straight forward.
But have your workmate bench and small pilot drills ready if not.

[shaunwil]

Only issue I had with mine was the bolts where rusted to death !

Plus there is usually a lot of spare fuel in the tank, make sure you have enough bottles when emptying it !

Shaun

[Ian65]

Before you go to the trouble of dropping the tank, why not just put a can of clean fuel connected directly to the line in of the fuel pump. You can use an ordinary 5 litre fuel can.
If it solves your running problem, then you know its a feed problem tank side of the pump. If not, then the problem is engine side of the pump.
How confident are you of the carb rebuild? If it revs to 5000 ish but no further, could be a problem with the secondaries or the  accelerator pump.

[shaunwil]

Thats a very good point. When mine didn\'t rev past 5k it was down to a fault with the trailing pick-up on the dizzy !

Shaun

[A7RXY]

Hi Guys and thanks, just got back from Footie and we won 0-5.

 Ian it revs to 5000/5500 if you feed the pedal slowly, if you floor it it will cough and fart, when I put it on the trailer to bring it home today, it only got up half way, not having enough power to make the rest and had to be winched up. When it is on tick over, and the engine has warmed, it seems to be hunting all the time.
  I was thinking of trying running from a can via the pump as you suggested, so will try this before I remove the tank.

   Thanks to all
      Dibs

[David Nock (RIP)]

Before you go to the trouble of dropping the tank, why not just put a can of clean fuel connected directly to the line in of the fuel pump. You can use an ordinary 5 litre fuel can.
If it solves your running problem, then you know its a feed problem tank side of the pump. If not, then the problem is engine side of the pump.
How confident are you of the carb rebuild? If it revs to 5000 ish but no further, could be a problem with the secondaries or the  accelerator pump.

Wow, that is smart thinking. Obvious I suppose but I wouldn\'t have thought of it. And the return line just stays in place, spare fuel just being returned to the tank.:yes

Double check of dizzy/vacuum mechanism? This is gonna be a killing thing when you find out the problem..

[David Nock (RIP)]

Forgive me here ....I\'m trying NOT to be a smart arXe NOR to send you down a blind alley.
But hunting at idle suggests a number of things to me not linked to fuel delivery from the tank.
First up timing - distributor and electrical, Second manifolds (gaskets, cracked manifold), Third internal water leak from O rings in the intake gasket system  - common failure with age. Then vac lines, servo connections etc. Blocked air filter - too obvious?
The O ring thing usually shows as a ponding of antifreeze in the manifold hollows back of the carb, but it could be internal only.
If you\'re satisfied with all the above then back to the fuel system/carburetor.

Another source of ideas would be RX7Club.com in the states. They have a biggish 1st Gen section.

[Ian65]

It could be any number of things really but fuel and ignition are the favourites.
My moneys on fuel though.
If Dibs bypasses the tank, etc and still gets no joy then I would then check the tiny fuel filters under the fuel union bolts where the fuel lines bolt to the carb.
They are no bigger than a finger nail and sometimes get missed but are so easy to clog.
They will pick up debris that sails through the main fuel filter.
If they are clear, I\'d get it ticking over, rev it up and check the fuel levels in the front and rear fuel sight windows on the carb.
These should remain about 1/2 full. If they don\'t then I reckon it\'s a carb / fuel delivery  problem. A volume / pressure test will eliminate the fuel delivery to the carb which then leaves the carb itself.
Of course, it could always be the ignitors, dizzy, leads, etc ...
It still sounds like fuel starvation to me though.

[A7RXY]

Thanks and watch this space, I wish you guys lived nearer...............

[David Nock (RIP)]

Yeh, if we were nearer we could pop round to yours for a coffee/beer and a looksee.

I like Ian\'s approach to the sight glass on the carb - a steady fuel level in there whilst on tickover and still hunting means it\'s unlikely to be anything before the carburetor causing the hunting.
The carb mixture and idle adjust screws are set right I take it..RECALLING FROM MEMORY....set up to a fast idle speed, turn mix screw in until it starts hunting, back off mix screw a tad and reset idle speed to normal. I think that\'s it. That blessed manual might have to come out of the cupboard again so\'es I can recheck.

[A7RXY]

Right this morning I tried Ians idear, running from a can striaght to the pump, no change, so no longer going to remove the tank.
  I was running it this morning from both the tank and can and it was reving up to 6000 and then dying sometimes could catch it and keep it running other times it would conk out. Took the air filter off and two pots of the carb closest to the wing were full of fuel, and the other two were misting, thats when I felt I was getting in to deep so came on here....................help.......

  Ps when it was running when warm on tick over it seemed to be running ok, but as soon as I hit the gas pedal it wanted to die.

[David Nock (RIP)]

I think that the 2 venturis closest to the wing are the secondaries and only play a part when you press hard on the accelerator for overtaking.
The 2 nearest the wing are the primary barrels, in use for all of the rev band.
2 questions :- when you squeeze the accelerator can you see the accelerator jets squirting fuel into 2 of the barrels, I think the primaries?
And also was this the same problem before the carb rebuild, because if so isn\'t it possible that the problem\'s elsewhere?
Manual is out of the cupboard now but it\'s very complicated to try and follow the innards of the carb. I\'ll have a go though and get back ASAP.

[shaunwil]

Still don\'t think its fueling. Still think you want to check the ignitors.

http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=742083 - off car
http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=742084 - on car

Shaun