I found a victory for rotary engines!

EAA Sport Aviation Mag Feb 2002 - Exploring Rotary Power.

In the magazines there is an articel about how rotary engnes have such a good power to weight ratio. This includes the price and durability of the engine.

There were a few thing that got my attention.
Ceramic Apex Seals - thier hard and smooth and has no noticabnle wear rate as said by the magazine and the maker of the seal says noboy has worn 1 out yet.

High Temp. 500F Teflon encapsulated silicon water jacket seals.

Oil scraper O-rings

These are some of the main high reliable parts used in the aircraft rotary engines these in the tme time betweeen rebuilds as well as performance.
The down side is the price for the stuff.

I have not started looking for the parts for rebuilding my rotary but i think i will spend the cash just to increase the feel and zoom in my FC3.

In the mag they also laid mention to rotaries in the Le Mans about not being able to compete because of the winning the 1991 and killing the whos who of european carmakers.

I hope with the new RX8 that Mazda gains faith with their new rotary flagship and plan to wipp some butt in some real hard core racing.

 

Ianetti offers ceramic apex seals at $160 a pop (x6 for a whole set!).
Hayes offers silicon o-rings - $100 a set of 4 still?


Le Mans committee has just OK'd the use of a 4-rotor vehicle in next months Le Man's race...&nbsp We'll see how it does against the Audi R8R's.



-Ted

 

One thing I have never understood is why Mazda never put ceramic apex seals in their engines. Even if generally most of the manufacturers profits are made through parts sales, if they proved that technology in Le Mans, why not put it into production. I think for a unique engine, their publicity through reliability would be worth more in the long run. I have never heard of any drawbacks in using ceramic apex seals, they are tolerant to heat and you can reuse them on future rebuilds. Even when they detonate they shatter, and reduce any harm to the exhaust turbine, or scoring to the rotor housing. When my engine went south last time, I came across these for a good deal and have them in my car. I will like to see what the consequences are when my engine is ripped apart for my next rebuild--knock on wood

 

Bean-counters said no...


Uh, no...most of these ceramics are silicone carbine derivatives.&nbsp When it shatters, it'll score the rotor housing and probably kill all the other seals (all other apex, side, corner, etc.)...



-Ted

 

One item I just heard concerning ceramic seals involves the process of tuning with those seals. Many of the fastest PR cars (Think the 51st. US State) actually assemble the motor using conventional seals, tune it, then rip the motor apart and install the ceramics. Apparently you have about a 50/50 chance of blowing the ceramics if you use them in the engine initially to retune. Sounds veeery expensive...
Michel