Fresh build video, my first rotary. Is this smoke normal?
 

I'm 99% sure this is normal for a fresh engine build, but this being my first rotary I wanted to run it by you guys for verification. Car has idled for 1.5 hours at 1100 rpm's, I will be changing oil/filter and continuing the break in this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPu6g9WG_3I

My experience has been that a fresh-built motor runs a very clean exhaust after the first few minutes' runtime, if the carb and OMP are tuned right.

Are you pre-mixing or using the OMP?

Does the smoke smell like oil, or like gas?

Every new rebuild I've had the car will smoke until the oil rings seat. I've idled it in the driveway for 1.5 hours total and it still smoked. Your smoking is about normal assuming you're premixing 1oz 2stroke/gallon like I'd bet you are.

You need to drive it and put a load on the engine then the smoke will go away. It'll take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours of driving. Also clean your plugs and using a HOT plug heat range will help keep the plugs clean so it'll burn the oil in the combustion chamber instead of spitting it into the header where it'll sit and smolder. I use NGK 7 heat range for this.

Thanks! I just needed some reassurance. I do think I was having a problem with the oil rings being hung up so I premixed some alcohol and atf (1:1 ratio) and lubricated the chambers. So far that seems to have done the trick, along with the proper break in like you mentioned. The car Idled another 1.5 hours yesterday @ 2,000 rpm and the smoke got WAY better. :icon_tup:

The heating and cooling process really helps with smoke. You can also run it in gear on jackstands to put some load on it. But gotta drive it to get the seals to seat and gel.

Glad to hear it's better.