I was pulling the trans off of my 89 gtus today as I am replacing it with a rebuild unit, and I noticed that I can easily turn the engine over by hand turning the flywheel. On piston engines it is hard to turn an engine over using just your hands on the flywheel. Does this mean I have low compression and should check my compression? Or is this normal for our rotaries?

 

It means you should stop "doing that,..or you will need glasses!"..Bazinga!

It's normal..but if you are worried a comp check is never a bad thing to perform.It will put your mind at ease.

 

... a byproduct of fewer parts attached to the crank.

 

yup, and your only turning against compression a maximum of 2 times, with a piston engine (depending on how many cylinders) you can be fighting against more than that

alot easier to spin a circular object when the internals that are connected to the circular object also sping in a (somewhat) circle