I am doing a paper for my english class and have decided to write it over the rotary engine. i know how annoying these can be but my professer has asked that one of our souces of information be a questionaire and i thought this would be the best place to do one. i need about 15-20 people to fill this out if possible.


In your own opinion is the rotary engine easier for the at-home mechanic to work on than a piston engine?

Are the rotary engine easily modified for better performance?

Do you own more than one rotary powered vehicle?

If so what are they?

On a scale of one to ten how reliable is the rotary engine?

How many miles are on yours?

Do they tolerate abusive driving well?

Are parts easier to come by for these engines as opposed to piston engines?

thanx
-jason

 

--why not----

im stil confused by piston engines sometimes but it was easy to understand rotaries.....they are easy to work on because they are little and there are a relative very few parts inside and outside of the block....they are easily modified but so are most engines...rotaries are especialy nice to modify because the engine bay is pretty clean because the engine is so small...even tho there is not much horsepower in our little 12a's and 13b's the first gens are very light and if someone does all bolt on upgrades available to our cars we can get like a 50% gain in power...for 12a's that would be like 150 hp, that's pretty hard to do other cars but it is partly because of better technology with fuel injection, catalytic converters and even rotaries themselves....go to how stuff works.com to get better info bro

 

In your own opinion is the rotary engine easier for the at-home mechanic to work on than a piston engine?

Yes. Fewer parts and easy access within the RX-7 engine bay (1st gen).

Are the rotary engine easily modified for better performance?

Yes. The rotary engine responds well to modifications such as exhaust. The downside is that these are small displacement engines, so you are working the engine much harder at say 300hp than say a 5.7 liter V8.

Do you own more than one rotary powered vehicle?

Currently, not. I have owned another RX-7 in the past (2 RX-7s at the same time)

If so what are they?

On a scale of one to ten how reliable is the rotary engine?

Kept in NA form with minimal mods, I would say about 7-8. They can last a very long time with proper maintenance.

How many miles are on yours?
186,000

Do they tolerate abusive driving well?
They can handle high RPM quite well.

Are parts easier to come by for these engines as opposed to piston engines?

Mostly, no. The parts are very expensive as there are few to none aftermarket suppliers. Something like the 350 Chevy has tons of aftermarket support, so prices are less. One advantage is that many rotary parts can be reused in a rebuild. The bad is that if a part is bad (say rotor housing), it can't really be machined like a piston engine and must be replaced.

For this paper, is it a persuasive paper (rotary better than piston because..) or is it more informational (This is what a rotary engine is, how it works, and what people think)? For persuasive, it can be hard because modern piston engines can beat the rotary in nearly every way. Mostly it is due to the amount of time/money invested in the development of the piston compared to the rotary. I think for us, there is a strong passion/connection between us and our car/engine. There are not a lot of people that are obsessed with a 20+ year old car like we are.

 

Once you wrap your head around how it works the rotary can be easier to work on than it's piston counterpart, particularly the earlier models.

Porting on a rotary is much easier and can produce better gains than equivalent work on a piston engine. Rotaries also seem to benefit much more from exhaust work.

I've owned three of them, but not at the same time.

I've owned three RX-7's, an '82 GS and two '79's, one 'S' and one 'GS.'

Normally aspirated I'd say they're a 7/10. They don't tend to last quite as long as similarly powerful 4 cylinders from Honda or Toyota.

My current car has 120,000 miles.

An example of this is the Spec/Pro 7 series, where race engines can last an entire season, something that piston engined cars cannot achieve on a regular basis. So yea, I'd say that in certain applications the rotary can be more tolerant of sustained high RPM and high load usage.

No, particularly now that Mazda has started to discontinue parts for the 12A.

No problem.

 

In your own opinion is the rotary engine easier for the at-home mechanic to work on than a piston engine?

In my opinion yes, I have worked on both and enjoy the rotary more because of it's simplicity, no cams or valves to worry about

Are the rotary engine easily modified for better performance?

Yes, simply doing an exhaust can give better gains especially done with an intake and with a turbo even under low boost high power can be attained.

Do you own more than one rotary powered vehicle?

Yes, an 83 LE with a sterling carb and straight pipes and a 91 that is being built for ITS racing

On a scale of one to ten how reliable is the rotary engine?

at this point I would say a 8-9

How many miles are on yours?

the 91 is getting a fresh motor but my 83 has 225k on her and she runs great

Do they tolerate abusive driving well?

Yes, as long as you keep them cool and maintained

Are parts easier to come by for these engines as opposed to piston engines?

No, there are only a few suppliers of parts unlike piston engines where you can goto a local shop and get just about anything.

Good luck with the paper.

 

it is an information paper.


thank you for your responses

 

In your own opinion is the rotary engine easier for the at-home mechanic to work on than a piston engine? i think they are. i personally have a better understanding of the workings of a wankel than i do of a piston engine

Are the rotary engine easily modified for better performance? depends on your definition of 'easy'. simple? sometimes. non-labor intensive? depends on if you're fabricating or not. cheap? hardly ever. straightforward? moreso than a piston engine, in my opinion

Do you own more than one rotary powered vehicle? unfortunately no

If so what are they?

On a scale of one to ten how reliable is the rotary engine? my n/a 12A, 8/10. turbocharging gets you more power but a shorter engine life

How many miles are on yours? 219.5k

Do they tolerate abusive driving well? if properly maintained, yes

Are parts easier to come by for these engines as opposed to piston engines? nope. the rotary engine is a rarity when it comes to car powerplants, as such, most of the parts we can get come from specialty/exotics/classics shops, junkyards, or other owners

 

In your own opinion is the rotary engine easier for the at-home mechanic to work on than a piston engine?
-Yes definately, the other car I wrench on is a '72 240Z and having a huge iron block engine makes everything difficult

Are the rotary engine easily modified for better performance?
-Absolutely, make the ports bigger and away you go

Do you own more than one rotary powered vehicle?
-Not yet, if I had the money I would own another one though

If so what are they?

On a scale of one to ten how reliable is the rotary engine?
-I am going to say 8-9, if you have a NA rotary. My RX has so many miles on it and it still runs like a champ

How many miles are on yours?
-173,750? give or take 5

Do they tolerate abusive driving well?
-I would say yes, as much as any other car that has been built to the same quality

Are parts easier to come by for these engines as opposed to piston engines?
-No, the piston engine has a much larger following and so there are many more parts

 

In your own opinion is the rotary engine easier for the at-home mechanic to work on than a piston engine?

yes it is pretty easy even more once you get a basic knowledge of how the rotary works.

Are the rotary engine easily modified for better performance?

yes upgrading the eshuste is the good upgrade that will give you a good gain, you can always upgrade the intkae that will do the same.

Do you own more than one rotary powered vehicle?

no but i have owned 3 rx7's

If so what are they?

i have owned 2 other than what i have now an 84 GS 86 GXL and my current 84 GSL-SE

On a scale of one to ten how reliable is the rotary engine?

8/10 if maintiained to the standards, ei: change oil regularly, flush coolant system you know things like that

How many miles are on yours?

150,000

Do they tolerate abusive driving well?

of course i take mine up too 7500 rpms and i know some that are takin up to 10,000 during racing

Are parts easier to come by for these engines as opposed to piston engines?

no not always sometimes you can find the parts you need online from other owners. even at the dealership they sometimes have to order parts from Hiroshima and that can be a pain when you need that par that day, there are a few companys out there that have the parts you need online but you still have to order them.