Rotary Engines, Is synth possible? what oils do you use?

[joe4324]

I got a friend who is obsessed with all things rotary. Hes getting close to finishing a complete rebuild/restore of a Gen-1 RX-7. Since I spend so much **** time on this site I was hitting him up about what kind of oils he was going to run. He said that hes heard from other rotary users that synthetics arent good for rotarys because the way they burn off. He says that the average operating temp of a rotary is quite high. And that when pushed can become "extremely" hot. (ie, 350+ degree's F) (he also described some story about white-glowing headers lol...) He asked me to see what you guys thought and see if there was anything to learn to help out from this wonderful resource we have here. So rotary users sound off!

 

[Patman]

Here is a very recent topic on this very subject: http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000106

 

[nortones2]

Maybe of niche interest: http://www.noc.co.uk/index.html. The Norton rotary engined motorcycles. Ceramic seals seem to have been developed in the applications. Successful in the IoM. Also: http://media.mazda.ch/dossiers/Wankel/Wankel%20E.pdf gives a comprehensive list of applications and dates.

 

[Dick in Falls Church]

Neighbor has been running AMSOIL in RX-7 for about 15 years without any problem. Well, actually, a transmission bracket broke, and that never happened before he used synthetic.

 

[joe4324]

Doh! I DID do a search... I must of typed rotary in wrong!

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dick in Falls Church: Neighbor has been running AMSOIL in RX-7 for about 15 years without any problem. Well, actually, a transmission bracket broke, and that never happened before he used synthetic.

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[TooSlick]

Amsoil works just fine in the RX-7 ...in fact in the early 1980's Ron Millen was driving an Amsoil equipped, twin turbo RX-7 that put out over 600 hp on various road racing circuits. I still have a picture of the car around somewhere in my files .... Some of the first generation sylubes did produce very hard carbon deposits upon vaporizing, hence the warning from Mazda. TooSlick

 

[00 scrub]

I wonder how would Auto-RX work in a 13b? I know that they have carbon build up problems, and in the 2nd gens it prevents the opening of 2 mroe intake tracts and kills top end HP. Would Auto-RX be safe for them?

 

[revn247]

If any of you are in the Los Angeles/Orange County area during the weekend of September 27th Come on out and see what the rotary is about. For more info: www.sevenstock.org hopefully this event will answer some of your questions about one of the most exotic vehicles made. Best of all, it's FREE! Thanks!

 

[Bror Jace]

I wonder if the early rotary synthetic problems were related to the Mobil 1/PAO problems of seal hardening and/or reduced scavenging? That shouldn't really be a problem anymore. --- Bror Jace