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deanmcreynolds26

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Registered: 15th Sep 03
Location: E46 //M3
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 15:37

Right i know Nismo has one! and thats about it..
they are really nice cars and ive seen a few on jap import sites for about 5-7kish

what are they like honestly? anyone got 1st hand experience of them

are rotary engines good? easy to work on?
im not sunderstanding them at all...

please discuss and tempt me with some piccies

3CorsaMeal

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Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 15:38

is a lovely silver one for sale up the road from me atm

Member

Registered: 5th Jul 00
Location: Aberdeen City
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 16:19

the engines have a lot of mixed press...

'they need rebuilds after x miles'

stuff like that... but as with all cars, if they are looked after it'll be good.

Use google to search for 'rotary engine' or 'wankel' for some more info on the engines

They have piss poor fuel economy

Member

Registered: 5th Jul 00
Location: Aberdeen City
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 16:19

The Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine which uses a rotary piston instead of a linear movement piston. The rotary design is most commonly associated with the design of Felix Wankel's engine, although several other similar designs can all be referred to as rotary engines, which, confusingly, also refers to an unrelated aircraft engine design.

In the Wankel, the four cycles of a typical Otto Cycle are spread out in a circle. In the basic engine, a single oval "cylinder" (technically a trochoid shape) surrounds a basically triangular rotor which turns and moves within the "cylinder". The corners of the rotor press against the side of the cylinder, dividing it into three chambers. As the rotor turns, the flattish sides of the rotor get closer and farther from the side of the oval, acting similar to the "strokes" in a four stroke engine. However the engine effectively has only three strokes, and provides about 2/3rds the horsepower of a similarly displacement conventional piston engine, but because Wankel engines are much smaller otherwise, power output is much higher than an equivalent weight conventional engine.

Wankels have several major advantages over traditional designs. Most notable is that they are considerably simpler and contain far fewer moving parts; for instance, they have no valves, valve trains, etc. In addition, the rotor spins the driveshaft directly, so there is no need for connecting rods, a conventional crankshaft, balance assemblies, etc. All of this makes a Wankel engine much lighter, typically half that of a conventional engine with equivalent horsepower, and as a result the performance decrease per 'displacement unit' is more than offset by this light weight.

Considerable effort went into designing rotary engines in the 1950s and 1960s. They were particularly interesting because of their smooth, very quiet running, and their reliability resulting from their simplicity. However the seals at the corners of the triangular rotor proved to be the design's Achilles heel, and the engines tended to wear out much faster than originally predicted. Many interesting ideas have come along to attempt to fix these problems, but not enough money has been invested to truly solve them.

The main companies known for their Wankel-engined cars are NSU with their RO-80 model, Citroen with the GS Birotor, and Mazda, which makes them to this day (2003). In Britain, Norton Motorcycles developed a Wankel rotary engine for motorcycles; it was included in the Norton Commando, one of their motorcycle range. John Deere Inc, in the US, had a major research effort in rotary engines and designed a version which was capable of using a variety of fuels without changing the engine. The design was proposed as the power source for several US Marine combat vehicles in the late 1980s.

After many years of development, Mazda released their first automobiles using Wankel engines in the early 1970s. Customers generally loved them, notably the smoothness. However they had the very bad luck of being released during the middle of efforts to decrease emissions, and the standard solution, the so-called pollution pump, had dramatic negative effects on the gas mileage of these cars. During the 70s many of Mazda's cars were available with a rotary, they even sold a GM Holden Premier with a 13B rotary as a Mazda Roadpacer in Japan. Mazda later pulled the rotary from most of their designs, but continued using it in their RX-7 sportscar into the 1990s. In 2003, Mazda relaunched the rotary with the new RX-8.

Other manufacturers also looked into the rotary as a viable engine during the 70s. Mercedes Benz made several prototypes and invested in Felix Wankel's research facilities. General Motors also developed prototype Wankel rotary engines for use in the Corvette, AMC also intended to use the GM engine in the AMC Pacer but as the project was cancelled the Pacer was redesigned at the last minuet to house a conventional 6 cyl engine.

The Wankel's superb power-to-weight ratio makes it particularly well suited to aircraft engine use. There was intense interest in them in this role in the 1950s when the design was first becoming well known, but it was at this same time that almost the entire industry was moving to the jet engine, which many believed would be the only engine in use within a decade. The Wankel suffered from a lack of interest, and when it later became clear that the jet engine was far too expensive for all roles, the general aviation world had already shrunk so much that there was little money for new engine designs. Nevertheless, interest in them for small aircraft has continued.

Wankels have made something of a comeback in recent years. None of their advantages have been lost in comparison to other engines, and the introduction of better materials has helped the tip-seal problem. They are being found increasingly in roles where their compact size and quiet running is important, notably in drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs). More recently, these UAV-designed engines are being found increasingly in other roles, such as personal water craft and auxiliary power units (APUs) for aircraft.

Aside from being used for internal combustion engines, the basic Wankel design has also been utilized for air compressors, and superchargers for internal combustion engines, but in these cases the basic advantages of the Wankel over the four-stroke internal combustion engine are not relevant. In a design using a Wankel supercharger on a Wankel engine, the supercharger is twice the size of the engine! Perhaps the most exotic use of the Wankel design is in the seat belt pretensioner system of the Volkswagen New Beetle. In this car, when deceleration sensors sense a potential crash, small blank cartridges are triggered electrically, and the resulting pressurized gas feeds into tiny Wankel engines which rotate to take up the slack in the seat belt systems, anchoring the driver and passengers firmly in the seat before any collision.

mazdaspeed

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Registered: 8th Jan 05
Location: Darlington
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 16:26

The engine is smaller and lighter than a conventional piston engine. 270bhp standard or there abouts.

edwardb

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Registered: 14th Oct 04
Location: Suffolk
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:00

arent they twin turbo 236bhp??

Nismo

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Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:13

Crap cars dont own one.

Nah pocket rockets

heres a few pics to sway you

Rob H

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Registered: 28th Oct 00
Location: Staffordshire Drives: Astra SRi
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:23

quote:
Originally posted by Nismo

Skyline Engine?

loo_goblin

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Registered: 14th Jul 04
Location: Horsham, West Sussex
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:25

http://www.japvillage.co.uk

local company from my town do sum very nice rx7's look at the one in the sale section, mmmm

[Edited on 11-02-2005 by loo_goblin]

CORSA NUT

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Registered: 3rd Aug 01
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:26

OMG how sweet are some of them Rex's

Spesh the black ones

Nismo

Member

Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:28

quote:
Originally posted by Rob H

quote:
Originally posted by Nismo

Skyline Engine?

possibly or supra not sure.

Member

Registered: 5th Jul 00
Location: Aberdeen City
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:29

supra

2jzgte

Nismo

Member

Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:33

RX7s can be pricey just like any other jap sports car , yes thay can need rebuilds BUT just like any supra or evo if not looked after , treat tehm right and they will do you good.

stage 1 + 2 easily gets you into 300Bhp.

Sidesport

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Registered: 25th Nov 03
Location: Bath
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:38

Whats the lowest Sized Engine you can get?? And what insurance group is it?

Cheers

Rob H

Member

Registered: 28th Oct 00
Location: Staffordshire Drives: Astra SRi
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:39

quote:
Originally posted by Sidesport
Whats the lowest Sized Engine you can get?? And what insurance group is it?

Cheers

1.3, there all 1.3's. 20 i think

Nismo

Member

Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 17:46

quote:
Originally posted by Rob H

quote:
Originally posted by Sidesport
Whats the lowest Sized Engine you can get?? And what insurance group is it?

Cheers

1.3, there all 1.3's. 20 i think

Correct'amundo

SetH

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Registered: 15th Jul 01
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 19:06

OMG black one with gold rims, i have just seminated in my pants.

Pablo

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Registered: 3rd Feb 03
Location: Milton Keynes
User status: Offline

11th Feb 05 at 19:06

I wuv them