I have a friend with a 82 Mazda RX7, that has been sitting for about 20 years. The car belonged to his dad, whom passed away from cancer. He recently lost his mother, also to cancer, last year. The car has been moved from garage to garage a few times, but hasn't been started.
The auto trans needs a rebuild or replace, and he has a new carb for it.
I've revived cars before that sat for a long time, but I've never touched a rotary.
Aside from it needing: tires, brakes, fluids, gas, carb, trans. - what do I need to know about a long term hibernation rotary?
I'd like to get the car from him later this year, revive it, and give it back
As I recall reading, you put some 2 stroke oil or ATF into the spark plug holes, roll it over a few times, put the plugs in, and if it doesn't fire up after a few tries, pull it behind a truck in 2nd gear (manual trans) until it starts. Not sure how to accomplish that with an auto unless it has a rear pump.
Wow an auto FB, I don't think I've ever seen one. Why was it sitting so long? (If you don't know I'm sure you'll fine out soon after trying to revive it)
Pull the plugs and squirt a little Marvel in and I would probably run a heavy oil premix in the fuel for extra lubrication. I ran 4 oz of ashless 2 cycle oil in my tank of both my rotaries even though they still had a functional OMP.
First, try spinning the engine with a breaker bar. If it spins, put in ATF in the spark plug holes, spin it again, and let it sit. Repeat a few times.
If it doesn't spin, put in ATF, wait, try to spin, then see above.
Be VERY careful. My 80' FA LS (brilliant black 1/1000) burned to the ground because my supposed "rebuilt Nikki" carb had a float solenoid (eff you 1980's technology!) stick open and flood which spilled fuel onto the thermal reactor and caught all kinds of ish on fire.
Back when I was still willing to waste time on those wretched things, I had good luck with Marvel Mystery Oil. Those apex seals are almost certainly stuck, so you'll need to free them up. Turn it over by hand for a while with the Marvel in it before you try starting it.
BrokenYugo wrote:
As I recall reading, you put some 2 stroke oil or ATF into the spark plug holes, roll it over a few times, put the plugs in, and if it doesn't fire up after a few tries, pull it behind a truck in 2nd gear (manual trans) until it starts. Not sure how to accomplish that with an auto unless it has a rear pump.
Not quite.
You put ATF in the engine, let it sit for 2-3 months, roll it over a few times if it can, let it sit for another 2-3 months, THEN you worry about doing the things you need to do to start it (proper fuel/spark/etc).
Knurled wrote:
BrokenYugo wrote:
As I recall reading, you put some 2 stroke oil or ATF into the spark plug holes, roll it over a few times, put the plugs in, and if it doesn't fire up after a few tries, pull it behind a truck in 2nd gear (manual trans) until it starts. Not sure how to accomplish that with an auto unless it has a rear pump.
No.
You put ATF in the engine, let it sit for 2-3 months, roll it over a few times if it can, let it sit for another 2-3 months, THEN you worry about doing the things you need to do to start it (proper fuel/spark/etc).
What I did was to make up two a adapters that screwed in to the spark plug hole that attached to a tube and a small funnel put 2-3 table spoons in and let it drain in to the motor. turn the motor over by hand 2-3x and repeat the process 2-3X. DO this every day for at least a week. 2 weeks would be better.
Then with the plugs out crank it over with the starter. You should be able to tell by the sound it makes if it is getting compression on all sides. an un even sound while spinning means that one seal is not working and you should continue treatment. IF after a week you spin it with the starter and you get good even pules then I would clean out the fuel system change the oil and use a pre mix of oil and gas on the first start up. I would even consider rigging up a remote fuel tank until you can see the condition of the tank. You can access the tank in the rear deck area. The real issue you are going to have is flooding on first start up. Be prepared to be pulling the plugs several times if it does not fire up on the 1st or 2nd try. I would also consider wiring in a kill switch to the fuel pump for the initial start up so you can control the fuel and allow you to fill fuel and clear the flooding.
If you do what Dean is saying, make sure you drape something over the spark plug holes so you don't spray ATF all over everything.
Agree with whats been said above but when you're confident everything spins over good and you have compression use the choke. Don't be afraid to pull the choke out all the way to get it fire up. Sometimes just a few pumps of the gas pedal will do it but I had one that would only start with full choke. It was also an automatic.
Question from the non-rotary peanut gallery: If the purpose of the ATF is to freshen/lubricate the apex seals, why go through all the gyrations of injecting it into spark plug holes. Why couldn't one dump a cup down the intake (since the carb is off) and then rotate the engine by hand every few days to slosh it all around?
(Just wondering, no offense intended for all the much more experienced and their collective wisdom.)
Brett_Murphy wrote:
If you do what Dean is saying, make sure you drape something over the spark plug holes so you don't spray ATF all over everything.
Also, when (not if) the damn thing floods and you pull the plugs to clear all the excess fuel out, make sure they or the wires are not close enough to a metal surface to ground on it. Otherwise you might get a nice fireball.
Fifteen years later and I still have rotary PTSD.
KyAllroad wrote:
Question from the non-rotary peanut gallery: If the purpose of the ATF is to freshen/lubricate the apex seals, why go through all the gyrations of injecting it into spark plug holes. Why couldn't one dump a cup down the intake (since the carb is off) and then rotate the engine by hand every few days to slosh it all around?
(Just wondering, no offense intended for all the much more experienced and their collective wisdom.)
ATF has some modicum of ability to loosen up carbon. However this takes months, not overnight.
Rotaries that sit for a while can get all bound up internally from carbon hardening. The seals all move around a lot in the rotors, especially the apex seals, and any of them can get locked into its "down" position. So you soften everything and lubricate at the same time by pickling the engine in ATF for a while.
You can do this with piston engines, too.
You need to go in through the spark plug holes because you can't pour a liquid in through the intake ports. The ports are horizontal and open up to the sides, and much of the time they are covered by the side of the rotor.
All great stuff guys, thanks. I figured the rotary might have a trick or two compared to a standard gas engine - which I've messed with several.
I will not trust the gas tank either after that long.
The car has been stored inside, but is in WI - so lots of moisture with temp changes and season changes.
Knurled wrote:
You need to go in through the spark plug holes because you can't pour a liquid in through the intake ports. The ports are horizontal and open up to the sides, and much of the time they are covered by the side of the rotor.
That said, dumping some down the intake can't HURT anything, but the spark plug holes give you direct access to a chamber. If you can dump some into the exhaust ports (taking the manifold or header off) that can't hurt either. Hitting as many rotor faces as you can is a good idea.
Just be advised that if you get it started, all of that ATF burning off is going to create a smoke screen that might take up a city block. Seriously.
In reply to Brett_Murphy:
a long time ago I used ATF down the carb to clean out motors
kills the bugs for a city block
I run ATF in the crankcase of piston engines to clear out the goo holding the rings stuck and clear carbon deposits out of other places in the oiling system. Works great in that way too, but it's not something you put in for five minutes and drain back out.
Some people think that you can just put a little ATF in a rotary and flush it out right away and that makes everything better. No, that does nothing but waste a couple bucks worth of trans fluid and kill the mosquitoes in your neighborhood (not necessarily a useless feature). ATF is a very, very slow acting way of loosening/removing carbon. If you wanted a fast acting method, pour some methylene chloride in there. Just don't breathe the fumes, or get any on your skin, and don't let it touch the coolant seals, or the oil control ring O-rings...
In reply to Knurled:
I've used ATF in the crankcase also (long time ago) to clean things up on higher mileage engines. Substitute 1 qt in the oil change, drive about 500 - 1000 miles and drain, refill with oil and new filter.
Whatever is soaked in this rotary, will take time and repeat methods and patience.
Bonus points if you ahve some one standing looking in at the motor while you crank it!!!! 
