My question is: Why aren't there more rotary cars in the world? What is the real reason why more car companies don't make them? I've never been able to find a decent answer to this question. What do you guys think?

I guess it's lack of know and dedication. No one thought it would be worthwhile to invest in a rotary. They are all concerned about commerce and want the fast money. Plus years back the rotaries weren't exactly know for being the most reliable engines..

3rd gens were overpriced, didn't sell much, and had constant engine problems, they eat oil and gas. Most consumers don't want that. Lack of knowledge also killed them.

or fuel efficient

Doesn't NSU have a patten on the Rotary Engine... Which licensing fee's need to be paid?



The Rotary isn't a drive it and forget about it motor. The lack of maintenance has killed many rotaries.



Also Rotaries don't have the advantage they once did. Take a look at the Honda S2000... Okay maybe a bad example, but it was more HP and a higher redline than any production Rotary in N/A trim.



The Renesis might change that...

the honda B16b jdm motor redlines at 9 grand, that motor came out before the S2000 motor, my .02 cents......................... piece :smirk:

don't you think the 3rd gen engine problems probably came more from the fact that people always drove them hard? They did get 60 in about 5 flat. The guy I bought my car from (89 n/a) said the car's been great to him over the last 13 years; no major problems. The engine now has 143000 miles and is doing great so far (knock on wood).

Should have put this in my last post: my theory is that the rotary is harder to make and is harder to maintain correctly (more sensitive to neglect). I guess lack of knowedge and false rumors really killed it. The only people who deserve to own RX-7s should be die-hard rotary fans anyway. I really hope the realease of the RX-8 will help bring back the rotary. If not, I'll just have to start my own car company, and every car I make would have a rotary engine.

Can i have a job??

when the rotary engine was developed it was a very bad engine. Mazda had to invrst a lot of time and money into it to make streetable. This warded off a lot of other car companies for devoloping the engine because they didnt want to spend the money.

i thought the rotary would be easier to make simply because there are less moving parts (i.e. t rotors and an eccentric shaft vs. rods, pistons, valves, lifters, cams, TIMING BELTS etc.)

as fer maintence if you maintain one like you should maintain any car then i think should shouldnt have many probs (on 3rd gens however i read that the most probs were from the crazy sequential twin turbo)

any way thats just my opinion :monkydance:

of course the piston engine had about a 60 year head start on the rotary so yes its a little behind but with this newest iteration i think the rotary will make a come back. (who knows one day i may have a rotary vette... if i build it my self

you guys should take a look at the renesis... its ported differently.. is much more fuel efficient and cleaner running. not to mention is redlines over 9g... which woud make it the highest redline of a production american car right? also it makes 250 hp.. which makes it highest in hp-L in the us also... beat that honda... and just wait till the dual ball bearing turbo comes out...

I think the S2000 has a 10K redline.



I think the 2 major things that have killed the Rotary were gas mileage and emissions.



Mazda has done a great job bringing the rotary back.



My first RX2 (damn I wished I still had it (1971 model)) with it's 12A and dual distributors was a bear to keep in tune (points) and would backfire big time when the pedal was let up after hard acceleration thanks to the thermal reactor.

nah the s2000 is def a 9000 redline... ive sat in one and the tach in the rx-8 goes to 11,000 so it probly tops at 9500 0r 10,000... also my 90 13b backfires all the time lol.. i think its due in part to my exhaust leak... it also idles at 500 some weeks and 1200 some weeks lol

A little FYI. General Motors also started a project for making rotary powered cars. I forgot, though, why they ended the project.

Fact: It was the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 that ALMOST killed the rotary. EVERY major automaker had invested a LOT of time and money in development of rotary engines and the cars they would go into. The Chevy Vega, Monza, and Corvette were all to get rotary engines. The AMC Pacer was designed from the ground up for the rotary engine. When gas prices skyrocketed after the embargo, everyone gave up on the rotary except MAZDA.

I miss my RX-2 also. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...O_DIR#>/11.gif



Yes, the points were a bear. And getting the timing right on both distributors was always a challenge, but I learned a lot about rotaries messing with that car. But it worked well enough to instill a passion that burns to this day. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



Ah, yes! The atomic backfire. It amazes me that I never blew the muffler off that car.

that still doesn't excuse the fact that they gave up. :monkydance:

That was in the 70's I don't think they could overcome the sealing issues ala: Apex seals. Theirs was a 4 rotor model.



I'm actually glad they didn't produce it, as it may have ended the Rotary motor.



GM wasn't real good with new technologies. Remember their first aluminum block? The Vega..

that still doesn't excuse the fact that they gave up. :monkydance:[/quote]

Nope. No excuse. But rising oil prices gave them a good economic reason not to introduce an inefficient new engine design, even if it was very smooth and powerful for its size and weight. Not many people would have bought it because of the gas mileage.



In my opinion, Mazda was and is at its best when it builds cars that are different. If Ford tries to make them into another Toyota or Honda (i.e. BORING) then they are gonna have a tough time selling cars. IMHO.

well id say look at it from an economic sense. to keep many american auto workers in business with unions having their say so on part production, maintanence and all that.. is a reason i believe the rotary could not survive. my 87 rx gets the same gas mileage as any other american car on the market except 4 the hybrids. so id say its economics baby and cash flow. the capitalistic way of life!

yeah yeah.. rotaries were scrapped for awhile... but theyll be back... and hopefully it lasts for awhile... and this time it will get normal gas mileage and be alittle more reliable

that still doesn't excuse the fact that they gave up. :monkydance:[/quote]

Nope. No excuse. But rising oil prices gave them a good economic reason not to introduce an inefficient new engine design, even if it was very smooth and powerful for its size and weight. Not many people would have bought it because of the gas mileage.



In my opinion, Mazda was and is at its best when it builds cars that are different. If Ford tries to make them into another Toyota or Honda (i.e. BORING) then they are gonna have a tough time selling cars. IMHO.[/quote]

yup you're right the oil embargo of the 70's killed or pussified most american muscle cars too. i guess this is how honda managed to get into the game so well gas mileage.



as for other manufacturers making rotary power cars i think it could work if they did it right but the way things ore looking we might just get a hybrid-rotary-SUV from any car company other than mazda.



as for mazda i would love to see a rotary miata, 626, mx-6, mx-3... you know when you go to the dealer you can order a boinger or a rotary (of course i what what we'll all order)



oh well i just hope they make a renesis turbo and 3-rotor (or 4-rotor mmmmmmm) https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/BURNOUT.gif

The only thing that's hard to make from a manufacturing sense on a rotary is the rotor housings themselves. Technology makes the fabbing of them easy but you still have to spray the insides with chromium which I'm told is not all that easy to do. I wonder how many bad ones they turn out?



NSU no longer has a patent on it as they were bought up by Audi who was then bought by VW. I seriously doubt that they do anyway



Curtiss-Wright held the patent or the rights for all rotary engines sold state side. John Deer bought the rights from them (And made a tractor engine out of it) and then sold them to Pegasus Engineering or whatever they are calling themselves right now. They're currently working on heavy rotary engines and marine applications, plus diesel

heavy applications lol... dont the realize it works so much better in light street racing applications? i know everyone wants a rotary... bt who wants to say"yah i finally got one... a rotary boat.. hells yeah"

Your right the housings are hard to make and hard to coat. But the part of the engine that took the longest to get right and cost the most in research were the Apex seals. They had to got through a lot of metal mixture to find one that would hold up. Mazda is the only company to perfect it. But they made them to thin on the 3rd gens. That causes a lot of problems but most come from the rear turbo.



In the beginning Mr Wankle was charging too much for rights so companies had a hard time getting into the rotary world. Some people just should not have the good ideas (just my opinion). He saw it as a way to make tons of $$$$$$$ and so the rotary suffered.



The main reason that the rotary died out is because of early engine failure on the first RX cars (eventhough Mazda was great about the warranty). People got scared to buy a rotary. So only Mazda risked it on one car the RX7 which had a good following - people that knew that it was now reliable.



I should stop now.

I'm really intrested in the failure rates of the 20B cosmos, current (er, recent) RX-7s and how long will the Renisis run...