I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, but its 5 AM and I cant sleep until I figure it out. I've always wondered where people who open their own rotary shops get their experience. Tearing down and rebuilding their own engine? How many times can you do that to be confident enough to charge someone to rebuild theirs? Become an apprentice under an existing shop? Just understanding the engineering behind the rotary and saying "bro trust me" ?

 

welcome to the board.

it comes down to many factors and scenarios, really. however, for you to be good at it, two things MUST happen. you need to have an understanding of how it works, and you need to have the skill set to do the physical work.

an apprenticeship would be a great way to learn, but it wouldn't hurt to have some knowledge going into it. when i got into it, there was no internet, so you're at an advantage, you have knowledge, literally, at your fingertips.

 

Even most the big name shops that have been playing with rotaries since the '70s really have no idea how it all works- they just keep doing what they have been doing.

Best thing is to read and understand "The Wankel Engine" by Jan P. Norby 1971.

 

Fellow in our area who has some tuning experience with Pistons, decided to try his hand at rotaries. He has torn down and rebuild maybe three engines. He substantially used the internet. But also got some help from an older hand who had been working on his own rotary engines for a while.

Another fellow in our group had the fortune to indeed apprentice in one of the oldest rotary shops in our area. He learned from a Japanese mechanic sensei. When the shop shut down, he inherited many parts, tools and manuals. He has been an invaluable member of our group.

We also are lucky in our area to have a very experienced shop. They have rebuilt many of our engines and also build rotary racers and drag cars.

Their chief mechanic/technician is a member of our chat and is answering questions on a daily basis.

So I guess the point is, try to build up a network in your local area and see where it goes from there.

If you can get a scrap motor , practise tearing down and reassembling.

Review the Canadian Forum. It will give you a good idea of the scene.