LSx guy going rotary
09-05-10, 03:11 PM
#1
No more pistons!
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Location: Fort Worth, TX
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LSx guy going rotary
Greetings from an admin over on LS1Tech! I am sure all you conversion guys have paid that site a visit a time or 2 over the years. I having been eying these cars for several years now. Next week I will be selling my LS1 and picking one up locally. I don't plan on doing a conversion swap to it unless the inevitable happens. I am surprised that this is the first time I have decided to register over. Visited probably over 100 times just browsing through threads and galleries. I am here to stay!
09-14-10, 02:30 AM
#7
No more pistons!
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I am enjoying not bending pushrods and having rockers puke out their needle bearings so far!
I am in N. Fort Worth. I will be honest, I have boost questions out the wazoo! Forced Induction is a completely different animal. I came from max effort heads/cam motors.
I am in N. Fort Worth. I will be honest, I have boost questions out the wazoo! Forced Induction is a completely different animal. I came from max effort heads/cam motors.
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09-14-10, 12:29 PM
#8
One strange similarity you will notice between rotary and LSx owners is their affinity for an engine technology that has been mostly abandoned by other manufacturers. There are very few brand new mass production pushrod engines left, besides the limited offerings from GM and Chrysler.
Likewise, Audi/NSU and Citroen abandoned the rotary engine decades ago so only Mazda and a few tiny manufacturers remain. In both cases, the owners are fiercely loyal to engine despite a number of inherent drawbacks.
It's nice to have less engine internals to worry about isn't it? The difference is that most of the worry is concentrated on two main things: apex seals (combustion piston ring equivalent) and coolant seals (headgasket equivalent). Spun bearings rarely occur and no upgrades are really required to achieve higher but still useable revs (up to about 8500 rpm). The relatively complicated oldschool idle control systems can be frustrating though. On a modified engine you also won't get much help from the ECU to retard ignition in the event of knock.
Heads & cam = shape of engine ports on a rotary. If you understand how the ports work, you'll see that certain dimensions correspond to lift and duration of a cam. If you have a proper template and skill with a die grinder you can have aftermarket "heads and cam" almost for free. This can shift the powerband higher and really give you a kick up top, especially between 5000-8000rpm if you have a single turbo that can flow enough.
In fact, most parts on a piston engine have some analogous part on a rotary engine that will accomplish the same thing but perhaps in a simpler way. As another example--instead of head bolts to hold the head and block together, you have similar tension bolts on a rotary. Except on a rotary, you are sandwiching the whole engine together. the side housings/irons have many of the functions of the engine block and cam on a pushrod V8. The rotor housings are like the cylinder walls. Each rotor is almost equivalent to three pistons (3 combustion chambers per rotor) each with their own clearances. Side seal clearances are a lot like piston-to-wall clearances. Apex seals are made of different materials just like pistons.
Likewise, Audi/NSU and Citroen abandoned the rotary engine decades ago so only Mazda and a few tiny manufacturers remain. In both cases, the owners are fiercely loyal to engine despite a number of inherent drawbacks.
Forced Induction is a completely different animal. I came from max effort heads/cam motors.
In fact, most parts on a piston engine have some analogous part on a rotary engine that will accomplish the same thing but perhaps in a simpler way. As another example--instead of head bolts to hold the head and block together, you have similar tension bolts on a rotary. Except on a rotary, you are sandwiching the whole engine together. the side housings/irons have many of the functions of the engine block and cam on a pushrod V8. The rotor housings are like the cylinder walls. Each rotor is almost equivalent to three pistons (3 combustion chambers per rotor) each with their own clearances. Side seal clearances are a lot like piston-to-wall clearances. Apex seals are made of different materials just like pistons.
Last edited by arghx; 09-14-10 at 12:38 PM. Reason: rotary and piston comparison
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