Introducing myself

[leersv]

Hello,
I have finally managed to get my mits on an imported 1992 RX7. As far as i can gather it is totally original and is even still restricted. I do not know if it has been rebuilt and it has done 118k kms.
 
I\'ve only had it for about 10 days so forgive me if some of my questions seem a bit noddy-ish.
 
History of the car is sketchy but from the MOT i had done, i can see that its only done 94km in the last 6 years and have been told it is an FD type X. It has a red leather interior and a sunroof if that helps anyone with the specific model.
 
I have managed to get it started and have changed the battery, fuel pump (original one had seized), spark plugs, flushed the fuel tank and changed the filter, oil and filter and pads all round.
 
I am now looking to see what i can do to it to make it as sweet as.
 
1) I am not in the market for silly power but are there any essential upgrades?
 
2) The speedo reads kph, is there a sticker or something i can put over the dial so that i know the uk speed or do i need to get better at mental metric to imperial conversions?
 
3) Does anyone have an electronic version of the owners manuals and a haynes manual that they wouldnt mind emailing me?
 
4) Where is the VIN plate so that i can properly identify the model etc?
 
5) I put the lights on last night and now cannot get the pop up head lights to go down? With the lights turned off i did try pushing the button repeatedly on the RHS of the dash, but to no avail. Now i dont even know what the correct position for the button is. I assume it is not mechanical as both of them are not going down, but am not sure where to look, i presume if its not the fuse then a relay or two somewhere?
 
6) On start up there is a bit of smoke and a smell of petrol, is this likely to be as a result of hte car not having been moved for a long time or is it the early sign of an imminent rebuild? After my first run in it of 20 miles or so there was no smoke visible when idling at the end.
 
7) Changing gear from first to second seems a bit notchy, again is it operator error or the early signs of a faulty gearbox / clutch on the way out? All other changes seem fine.
 
I have read about sorting the rats nest of pipes, does this apply to this model or not?
 
9) Do i need to change the AST or is it fine to leave it and sort it if it splits?
 
10) Are there any things that i absolutely must or more importantly must not do?
 
11) If it is standard i assume it will have a cat in place. Do i need to keep this as its a 1992 model or can i get rid of it and therefore find a few more horses?
 
12) I have just taxed it also, it was taxed as a 2.6. I have read that imports tend to be registered as a 1.3? I dont suppose that it is possible to change this (to be in my favour of course), or am i just unlucky?
 
I am sure that once i start rooting around as time permits i will have more questions, but in the mean time thanks in advance for any help / suggestions.

Lee

[Lisa]

Welcome to MRC and FD ownership Lee :wave

I am sure all the FD owners will be on board shortly offering you advice and answering your questions.

[samoht]

Cool!

1) If everything works, then there\'s nothing essential to do for road driving.  However for trackdays you need to do something to improve the intercooler (fitting an FMIC or V-mount setup is one common solution).

2) Best thing is to get the speedo converted to read in MPH. I think you can get a chip for ~£30 off eBay and fit it yourself, splicing it into the appropriate wire behind the dash.

4) On the front bulkhead, visible under the bonnet.  There should also be a sticker in the drivers\' door jamb.

Yes, the Series 6 (91-95) cars have the pneumatic rats\' nest, it\'s as well to replace the vacuum pipes with silicone for reliability.  However I think this is something that can be left until you have a problem - worst case, the second turbo will fail to boost and you will be down on power until you fix it.  Up to you.

9) The risk is that the original AST splits, dumps all the coolant, and the engine overheats and warps, requiring a multi-thousand-pound rebuild.  So to be safe, it\'s best to replace in advance I believe.

10) You must - check the oil level every few tanks of petrol, and top up as required, as the rotary does use oil, rate depends on how hard it\'s driven.
You must not - shut the engine down before it\'s up to temperature.  If you do need to do this though, then hold the revs at 4,000rpm while you shut off the ignition and you should be ok.  This also means you mustn\'t stall the car while it\'s cold (!)

11) If you remove the cat you will get more boost and quite likely, boost creep/spikes as the wastegate isn\'t large enough.  So you would also need to port the wastegate, fit a mappable ECU such as an Apexi (£500) and have it mapped (£500).  So best done as part of a program of tuning when you want over 300hp.

12) They\'re registered in Japan as 1.3, some people get lucky and blag the DVLA to register it as 1.3 here on this basis, more don\'t.  2.6 is the \'correct\' capacity for all 13B rotaries, as per agreement between Mazda and the government, and the DVLA have become more aware of this recently and are less likely to have the wool pulled over their eyes.  So I\'m afraid you\'re unlikely to be able to get it changed.

[clive]

Welcome to MRC Lee, there you go, you have already had some great advice from a helpful club member (thanks  samoht)

Just to add, one confusing thing a lot of new owners have is that the FD has three places to put water into under the bonnet.

When cold only check the water via the one actually up on the engine, leave the other two alone because if you put too much water in the system it will only try and get rid of the excess and sometimes will dump too much.

Hope this helps and have fun out there :Thumbsup!