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well i hear about this rx-8.. 1.3 leter engine... pullin about 200 hp.. wtf? what does the "rotary" part do to give it that much hp?
and i hear rotary engines are bad.. that true??

 
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I dunno, isnt there something in the shape of a Delta?

 
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Ask, and ye shall find.

 
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Easiest Explination

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/rotary-engine.htm

 
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Too slow!

 
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The main thing that goes in the Wankel is the apex seals. Those aren't fun to replace.

Wankels are great, but they're really touchy when it comes to boost.

 
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Ya ya....



and its not too often that you hear some one call a rotory by its original name....

 
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Only us edumucated know what the real name is. I think it's an almost perfect motor. It's small, but yet super efficient.

 
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i have always found the rotary motor design so awesome, i just wish they uped the dissplacement up to like say even just 2.0L how much power it would make N/A and they just love boost too

 
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man...that sounds pretty complicated!

anyway, I heard that maintenance on those engines are a real b%%tch

 
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In reality, its actually 2.6 liter.

 
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Mazda only makes a 2 rotor in their production cars. They did up the displacement in their Le Mans car, the 787B with a 3 rotor.... went from 13B to 20B.... and many ppl that tune rotory engines are going with 3 rotor engines. Rotory is not more efficient.... thats why it's not widely used. The RX-8 gets worst gas milleage than a G35. But the great thing about rotory is that it's light and fairly simple with less components and less vibration than a standard piston engine.

 
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Maintenance is a pain b/c not many ppl know rotory. I'm fairly sure mechs will charge too much to get anything in an RX. Kind of the same thing with mid engine cars and boxer engine cars.
Apex seals are pretty much equivalent to piston rings.... except turbo rotories run so hot that those seals break down fast.

 
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They are interesting motors. They are actually best in prop airplanes because the are most efficient at very high RPM versus a piston motor that is most efficient in the low to midrange of its RPM band. They also are not very fuel efficient for their size and have crappy torque (not a problem in the early RX-7s that were light, but RX-8s are getting hefty). People usually can get equal life out of them if they know what they are doing, but sometimes people dont pay attention (like when Mazda said to use dino oil instead of synthetic).

 
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I have had 5, coun't em... 5 RX2's in my younger days. The Rotary engine was invented by Felix Wankel in Germany. It was too far ahead of it's time back then, as the technology to make the exotic materials was just not mature. So the early engines were very short lived. The modern Wankel can run 250,000 miles without any trouble.
Problem is that most people that HAVE one, tend to glue the pedal to the floorboard.
I hade a lot of problems with that part myself. This tends to shorten that number a bit.
But I have to tell ya, those were the best cars I EVER had. Why don't I have them anymore? CALIFORNIA SMOG LAWS!!!!
To anyone that never had a rotary, go test drive one. They are SOOOOOOOO SMOOOOOOTH! Like a turbine. No shaking, EVER. Wonderful motors. And they rev forever.... Drawback? GAS, GAS, and did I mention GAS? The only other thing, really, is that if you ever overheat it, that's it. Rebuild time!

 
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yup rotarys have no low end poiwer so in order to race, people have to bounce the rev limiter in order to get a good jump. i found this to be true when some old guy was racing one at the track.. very loud

 
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I think for most people the biggest drawback of the rotary is finding a competent mechanic. When I was living in NM no one outside of the dealership would even touch it. Luckily shortly after getting it I moved to dallas, home of the famous rx7.com. These guys were GREAT only downside was having to wait 2-3 weeks to get in.

 
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umm heres something i dun think anyone here knows.. almost all manufacturers made wankels in the begining... but beacuse of enviromental issues they left them on the side... even the all mighty mercedess benz had a rotary supercar.. C111 if i recall correctly... a 3 rotor 3.0, 500 hp when the fastest race car had barely that... they sold out everymodel nefore they even made it but abandoned the idea... i guess they returned the money or sum.. heh...
granted they arent fuel efficient but they dunt have crappy torque... also to the person who said that they dunt handle turboing very well.. well if u buy some ceramic seals u can twin turbo and yer done.. theres no pistons no forged anythings... u can change the rotors but only for really high boost aps... btw mazda's hp claim is a scam thats why they have so crappy torque numbers... i think C&Driver allready challenged em in an article allready..

 
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Mazda was already called out on that one. People were dynoing the car, and they were getting anywhere between 20 and 40 hp *less* than what was advertised. Mazda admitted they fcuked up and offered to either buy back the car or to give the owner a $3000 refund.

Also, I cant remember who it was, but someone actually had a *4* rotor FD3S. It was a total race-prepped car. I think it might have been for the JGTC or something.

 
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Ahhh the Imfamous Mazda 787B. The only Japanese car to ever win LeMans.

It wasn't a JGTC car it was a Prototype car. I think they later ran it in the Group C catagory.




the 4 rotor monster that lived inside of it.


a sound clip of the beast. A must hear, one of the most wicked sounds you'll hear.
http://mrec.rotary.net.nz/media/sounds/787b_4.mp3

 
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oil leaks a lot with them, but tons of power out of one too

 
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Um. That's not the same car I've got video of. All I can remember is something about Option2. I'll see if I can find the video and I'll post it later.

 
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I have a video of a 4 rotor FD at a drag race, sounded very much like the 787B

 
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LOL.... "the 4 rotor monster that lived inside of it."..... Big things come in small packages..... Our 1.7L engines take up more room then thaty 4 rotor....


A friend of mine has an RX3 preped for CP... If it didnt have a carburetor sticking out of it, the rotory engine would just look like an extention off the Bell housing of the transmission..

 
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Yeah, tiny, isn't it? Always amazed me.

 
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don't regular four stroke motors get more evenly distributed power compared to rotaries. rotary engines get their power at higher rpm levels because it needs to spin up.

 
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I heard the RX-8 has engine issues. Mazda lowered the HP by 10 or so, before releasing the car.