Is the Rotary Engine an Obsolete Contraption

[Bladecutter]

Originally Posted By: SkyActivG
So from what I've read so far.... The primary set backs for the Wankel Rotary are:

1. Bad mpg
2. Burns oil
3. Cannot seem to be brought to stringent emissions standards.
4. Cannot use synthetic oil

Can any of these solutions be resolved? To me oil burning isn't an issue since the Wankel is run on Dino oil and thus being cheaper to top off.

The Emissions and bad fuel economy seem to be obstacles that cannot be bypassed because of the design of the motor.


The priority for Mazda right now is to be profitable for the long term, so their focus is on selling lots of cars that consumers want to buy. Hence the recent releases of the CX-5, Mazda 6, Mazda 3, and the facelift of the CX-9. The Miata is on it's way, and will feature platform sharing with Alfa Romeo.

If Mazda is still doing really well, you might see more blurbs about a new RX platform based off of the Miata once again. The SkyActiv-R engine has been going through its internal Mazda testing, and they are ironing out all of your above concerns.

You're just going to have to wait, just like all of us.

BC.

 

[Bamaro]

GM spent 50 million to license the Wankel engine in 1970. After spending millions more on development, they realized that it would probably never be more than a niche powerplant, if that, cut their losses and dropped the idea.

 

[MinamiKotaro]

I like the idea of a Wankel engine. The reality of it, however, left me cold.

I was going to swap one into my Bug at one point. I swapped it into my dune buggy first to cut my teeth. It was 1)loud, 2)got horrendous fuel efficiency (about 1/3 of the VW engine), 3)used oil, and 4)the exhaust pipes got so hot they failed.

1) I "solved" by putting two mufflers in line, like the RX-7 donor car.
2) I couldn't do anything about.
3) I solved by installing an aftermarket piece. I can't remember what it was called but it plugged the passage that drew oil from the crankcase into the combustion chamber (for lubing the apex seals). Seal lubing was then taken care of by an auxiliary tank full of 2-stroke oil. So, it still used oil, just not from the crankcase.
4) I had to fab the exhaust out of something besides the cheapest [censored] I could find, as was previously my wont.

Even after solving three of the four main issues, I gave up on the idea of putting a Wankel into my Bug. I was not interested in having to route two mufflers and find someplace to install a tank of 2-stroke oil into my Bug's engine bay.

 

[kschachn]

I very briefly owned a 1981 RX-7, but the thing had been so poorly maintained by the previous owner that I had to get rid of it. My MIL owned a much later RX-7, and when growing up a guy down the street had a Rotary Pickup. I too always liked the idea of rotary engines and I always wished the RX-7 that I did own had been better.

I wouldn't mind having one of those Rotary Pickups either. That and a Corvair Rampside