Just looked at a rust-free 1984 GS with 59k on the clock (no, I'm not making this up, nor have I smoked somthin' 
). I noticed a couple of things while driving:
- The steering seems to have a lot of play. I know they have some, but I didn't think my last one had that much play. For the RX7 gurus around here, how many fingers of play would you consider normal? It doesn't have power steering if that makes a difference.
- The whole front end felt 'wooly'. Then again, the tires weren't exactly spring chickens so it might need some new rubber, but again I can't remember my last 1st gen feeling this 'disconnected'
- Engine feels like Axel Foley stuffed a banana up the (OEM) exhaust. It starts easily hot and fairly easily cold, but it also has a slight shake so I'm guessing that it would need (a) an Italian tuneup or (b) one of the chambers is slightly down on compression. I'm talking slightly here, just about noticeable but as a recovering rotary perv I tend to notice these things. Any comments?
If I didn't have the 'vette in the garage or if it had been a GSL or even better, a GSL-SE, the owner would probably have a deposit in his hand right now. With it being a GS that's super original (right down to the original radio) and more or less too nice to DD, I'm not sure if I need it in my life right now.
BTW, if anybody here is interested in it then please PM me and I'm happy to talk to you what I found with the car and pass on the seller's details. This thing is too nice to be used up.
I don't think you can have one chamber down on compression as a marginal apex seal affects two chambers. I would do the tune up as these engines seem to eat up plugs anyway,and who knows the condition of the wires in that hot engine bay.
As far as play goes on the steering I wouldn't be worried of it has 1-2" of play at centre,but beyond that I would want to adjust it,or replace the box. I have a really tight steering box out of an 83 LE that I could be talked into selling if you need it.
Yeah, sorry, I meant one apex seal, not one chamber.
As to the box play, I'd hazard a guesstimate that it's around 2" or a little more. The PO was mumbling something about noticing it and thinking about having it adjusted but the problem is to find anybody around here who works on them...
I'd do a tuneup anyway but yeah, I had one that wanted new plugs and that felt different than this engine.
Mazdax605 wrote:
I don't think you can have one chamber down on compression as a marginal apex seal affects two chambers.
A stuck side seal, on the other hand, would cause one chamber to be down.
Or, as I discovered recently, two flat corner seal springs on the same side of the rotor will also cause one chamber to be lower than the other two. Left unattended, it will also lead to an inter-chamber mosh pit. 
But a stuck side seal is far more likely, especially on an engine that's sat for a while.
be worried of it has 1-2" of play at centre,but beyond that I would want to adjust it,or replace the box.
Most of the time it's just that the box has been improperly adjusted. There's a nice, shiny, candy-like adjustment above the sector shaft. That's not what needs to be adjusted. bobrx7 on the old Mazspeed forum had a great writeup on proper adjustment.
Of course, there's always:
I don't think the box has ever been adjusted on this, actually...
Low on power? 12A's should be very snappy. Easy to start indicates the engine itself should be in pretty good shape. I have seen more than one 12A roast a catalytic converter and that will most definitely bone the horsepower.
1-2" slop at the steering wheel is pretty much normal. The boxes are not hard to adjust, it's just that everything is a pain to get to. The two things most people don't realize: the little screw on top of the box should be turned OUT, not IN. Then the big nut on top of the box (where the steering shaft goes in) gets ignored because it's in a bad spot and is, well, big. A large pair of Channel Locks will turn it, though. Also check the idler arm.
It revs reasonably cleanly but it's not as perky as I think it should be. Stuffed up cat would do it, I guess.
When it comes to N/A rotaries, the lower the miles the crappier they are. Buy one with a zillion miles on it.
The front end slop is normal but replace the tie-rod ends anyways.
On the exhaust, the factory "thermal reactor" (exhaust manifold) is a giant, heavy chunk of garbage. I picked up almost 30RWHP with a change from a full factory exhaust to a RB Streetport header, a hi-flow cat, 2.5" piping, and a Summit house-brand muffler.
An '84 will not have a thermal reactor in the US. It will have a standard exhaust manifold.
Don't replace the tie rods if they aren't bad! OEM tie rods are low friction units. Aftermarket ones are usually high friction units that destroy steering feel.
Also check that idler arm!
Knurled wrote:
An '84 will not have a thermal reactor in the US. It will have a standard exhaust manifold.
Don't replace the tie rods if they aren't bad! OEM tie rods are low friction units. Aftermarket ones are usually high friction units that destroy steering feel.
Also check that idler arm!
What? My '85 definitely doesn't have a normal exhaust manifold, it's just a chunk of cast iron.
That ginormous cast iron thing is the standard exhaust manifold. Don't drop it on your toes. 
It's designed to mix the exhaust pulses to help deaden sound and in the process it strangles the motor. Hang a catalyst behind it and you might as well have a spud in the tailpipe.
Want to hear something funny? Start a rotary with that manifold in place but everything behind it missing. Sounds a lot like one of those Fisher-Price push toys. 
Or even more fun. Take it for a spin with just a set of Racing Beat headers. It won't take more than a week for your ears to stop ringing. 
Big +1 on the idler arm. 50% of the slop in my 1st gen was the idler arm. The heat from the "ginormous" chunk of cast iron melts the plastic bushing out of it. Moog makes a quality replacement without the plastic.
If it's just a chunk of cast iron, it's a normal exhaust manifold.
The thermal reactor is a huge ungainly mess, with a dual-layer downpipe (injected air flows through the outer layer from the heat exchanger) and it has its own cooling system driven by air from the air pump. They stopped using it after '80 in the US.
