Anyone own a rotary?
 

I have an 86 rx-7, it hasn't ran in 6 years and needs a lot of work. Anyone else have a rotary?

i'm inching towards an RX-8 in the next few years. we'll see if it happens :)

in the meantime i'm trying to learn as much as i can on nopistons.com

On a funny note I heard an interview with a Mazda tech once from the race team. It went something like this:
Tech: We've never lost a piston or put a valve through a piston or broken a timing chain. Not one single engine failure.
Interviewer: Nice. What events have you won?
Tech: *silence*

hey i goto nopistons.com too! what's ur username there? i'm spman51 there

I read recently, I forget where, that the RX-7 has won Le Mans, in a certain class, several times. Any comments?

*raises hand*

A rotary engine?

Buddy of mine is an RX-7 nut, sort of. He has never owned one, but spent a few years building them for SCCA's RX-7 class. He claims to be able to do a complete engine swap in a firt-gen in under 40 minutes with the right set-up (air, lift, competent assistant).

I think they're neat, and will likely buy one if I can find a cheap one, simply as a toy. The aforementioned friend has too much spare rotary stuff sitting around for me not to try and take advantage of it.

the mazda rotary engine has actually been banned from many competitions for being TOO efficient. it won a bunch of consecutive LeMans titles if i'm not mistaken and was subsequently banned because it didn't give the others a chance.

Actually, it only one overall once, the Mazda 787B in 1991. But yes, as far as I know the rotaries have been banned. Though with the RX-8 back, perhaps we'll see a GT car in the next few years...

I presently own a 1990 RX-7. Personally I love it!

Pros:

Redlines at 8000 rpm
My personal top speed is 210 kmph. (Canadian eh?) :) That was in fourth at 7500 rpm, would have tried for more but ran out of highway.

MOT classify's it as a 4 cylinder.
Fast excelleration.
Great handling.

Cons:

Freaking expensive to fix. (bumper to bumper made in Japan)
Burns hot...sucks gas.
Not alot of mechanics won't touch a rotary motor.


All in all I think it's a great little sports car!

hey shag112, is ur's a tII?

Unfortunatly not! :(

Just a base model.

mine is a base model too

Picked up an 83 for free, as the owner was about to junk it, because he couldn't get it to start. Turned out the clutch wouldnt disengage. MINT interior, v/g body, and they (rich folks) had the entire car gone through by the Mazda dealership prior to letting it sit for about 5 years.

nice deal you got i guess!

bro owns a 90 rex, convertible. Badass car, though a little heavy without the hardtop. 8k redline owns. Plus, open up the intake and exhaust, some porting...and the increase in flow makes a nice backfire *POP* as you shift at high rpms....kinda scares the civics :D

Parts seem to be relatively cheap around here if ya know how to work on it yourself. They are a very hot engines in general, but stock has more than enough cooling. Took it up to thunderhill not too long ago....the rotaries were the only cars that didn't have cooling issues up there.

Y'all mean a

WANKEL??


(yeah, I just like saying that word :D)

yea... rotary engine = wankel ;]

Hopefully I will soon :)