Agent98 said:cheapest engine - any V8/AT from pick-a-part ...
302 Ford out of a grand marquis...etc....
I bet a engine/transmission for a Mazda B2000/2200 pickup would swap in cheaply and easily. Would be lowest revving and performing Rx-7 around .. but it would be cheap.
Why do these cars (stupid cheap FB that isn't 95% rust) not exist near me?
Any updates? You can use a Christmas light bulb to check the starter as well. Hook one end to the small starter wire and the other to ground. When you turn the key, the bulb should light up.
If that happens, AND the engine is able to be turned over by hand (try to do this first) then starter is bad.
They can be rebuilt. They are around 60$ for a rebuilt one on rockauto, iirc.
Dave said:Agent98 said:cheapest engine - any V8/AT from pick-a-part ...
302 Ford out of a grand marquis...etc....
I bet a engine/transmission for a Mazda B2000/2200 pickup would swap in cheaply and easily. Would be lowest revving and performing Rx-7 around .. but it would be cheap.
I think the sweet swap would be the engine out of a probe / mx6 with the b2200 trans.
As a semi famous grmer once said..... F2T all the things!
Actually - V6 mazda or ranger might not be too bad.
The stock 12A is no stump puller, I had a 1981.
Was actually thinking the V6 from a camaro or 99 and up Mustang might surprise a few people, 200 hp were there was 100hp before...
If you want to go v6, lemme know.
I currently have a 13b swapped fb, and a gm v6 swapped fc...
I have made all of the mistakes...
The v6 swap will cost you the same or more than putting in a 5.0 or sbc...only do it if you like v6 over v8 OR, need to hit a certain horsepower number for your race series...
Like wvumtnbkr has said, the engine should turn over by hand, there isn't a ton of resistance with the 12a or 13b. If you are in a position where the starter needs swapped I'm not sure which car my starter is from but in our pile of parts we found a gear reduction starter that fits the 1st gen RX7 trans to replace the one that was on my car.
For now I'd work on getting the 12a running. If later on you want more out of the car we've managed to fit a 3400 V6 under the hood of a FC RX-7, and subsequently the S4 13b and entire front subframe of the FC under the hood of my FB (if it turns out you need any front suspension components let me know, I got a bucket of spares with my car and nothing fits now that it's been swapped).
Good luck!
In reply to Dead_Sled :
I got the Jack and stands already, but I'm hitting up Harbor freight tonight for a cheap multimeter and light! Thanks for the tip:)
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
I'm getting multimeter tonight! I have tomorrow off so I'll have a bunch of updates too. The engine definitely turns by hand. Thanks again for everyone's help!
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
I think his name was 92CelicaHalfTrac, it was his comments everywhere thay made me look into F2t in the car. But alas, I have the wrong tranny!
In reply to bbaker480 :
Awesome thanks! I'll for sure keep that in mind I'm sure I'll find something as I progress.
Ok so I was able to test the starter. Large power wire has voltage, smaller has none. So bad starter? It does look like this, not sure what the two wires hanging are though could that be causing something too?
I also threw the battery out of the RX7 onto a charger, but it doesn't want to charge it seems. Is this battery toast? Left it on the charger for a couple of hours and the charger was flashing bad battery, disconnected and reconnected and it won't charge above 10.4.
Tried to get a better picture of the starter and hanging wires.
I feel like I'm posting too many times, last like 5 posts were all me. Oh well! I was poking around the engine bay trying to find something productive to do when I noticed this! Someone actually spent money on my little pile! Weber carb and a Racing beat intake
Another finding. I got the old gauge cluster plugging in, and with the battery connected the lights stay on even with the key off. Is there a fix for this?? Probably needs to fix the rats nest under the dash somehow
I also made my decision easy, the newer cluster that the P.O. tried to install doesn't connect with the harness, so that one is definitely getting sold! It's actually in really nice shape too so it's the one I wanted to sell.
Re: Bad battery
Do you have a good battery that you can borrow and a set of jumper cables?
What you might try is getting a "good battery" and hook the charger up to that and start charging. Once it starts charging (6 amp setting if you have a choice) you connect the bad battery to the good (still charging) battery via the jumpers (positive to positive, negative to negative). Let that charge for a couple hours, then take everything apart and try slow charging the dead battery. I've had mixed success with that in the past. (two successful, one unsucessful)
Schizamm said:Tried to get a better picture of the starter and hanging wires.
I may be mistaken, but red wire should be the one you're looking at for 12v with the key in the "start" position.
You said you have no 12v at the red wire with key in "start", then it's possible you have bad switch/wires and possibly a good starter
If you needed to spin the engine for some reason (ie compression test) before you diagnose the starter problems, touch both the big terminals together with a screwdriver (or similar) and the starter should crank the engine.
I think if you connect the 2 big terminals the starter motor will spin but the starter won't engage the flywheel / engine. If the big wire does have power and you then apply power to the little red wire, that is the same as the stater switch. My race car has a separate push button switch under the hood, which is connected from the battery to the small terminal like the little red wire. That way you can use the starter from under the hood. Now if you are unsure of the rest of the wiring, you might want to disconnect that little red wire before applying power to that small terminal, just incase that little red wire were to ground or short out. Normally it would be fine, with the switch on in the start position, that wire is just a dead end, open.
This might be (actually, it 100% is) over the top super obvious advice, but since you label yourself as a noob... Make sure the car is not in gear before you mess around with the starter. Cars that suddenly jump forwards can be dangerous. If on jack stands: Suddenly spinning rear wheels can be dangerous too.
The loose wires are most likely transmission wires for neutral switch, 5th gear switch, or reverse lights.
The small red wire is the one that should have voltage when the key is on start.
Good luck. We are all counting on you!
In reply to Hungary Bill :
I do have a good one, stole the one out of my daily driver. I don't have jumper cables though...
In reply to Torkel :
I appreciate the heads up! I'm not quite THAT much of a noob, but don't hesitate to leave those kinds of comments because I'm bound to not know something important like that.
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
Ok I tested it incorrectly last night then. The large, or leftern-most bolt in my picture, has 12+ volts. The red wire has about 8.3v. That's with the key on. I turned the key off, and they both still have the same voltage. I have noticed when I connect the battery, there is a distinct clunk, kind of sounds like a solenoid activating?, coming from that general area (back of the motor area).
Quick look on local c.l Seattle area. Shows 2 first gen being parted with the gauges still intact. Not sure of your location but might give it a shot. Good luck. I use that little harbor freight meter as well. Works just as good as my fluke meter.
Ok so I tried putting a screw driver across both the bolts. I could here the starter spin, but it didn't seem to engage or turn the motor.
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