Anyone use/have experience with a Wankle engine?

IaLeo · Feb 7, 2022

My son had one as left the nest for California. I guess it ran ok, I think the car was stolen after he got there....Leo

Billy Shafer · Feb 7, 2022

From what I recall. They had a bad problem with oil seals.

Janicholson · Feb 7, 2022

As a technician I have done tune-ups on Mazda's and one NSU with rotary engines. One was past prime and fowled plugs. Another was well
maintained and powerful. Another was just OK. None had good fuel economy, none had life expectancy, all were expensive to maintain. Jim

Janicholson · Feb 7, 2022

This is a short concise view.
reasons in a nut shell

cdmn · Feb 7, 2022

My boss at the time had one. Mazda RX-7, I think. He said the engine had to be replaced
every 50,000 miles, but it was worth it. I think it cost about $1500 each time.

rustred · Feb 7, 2022

evinrude had then in their quiet flite snow mobiles in the 1970's . they were a poor engine and didnt last. the ones we sold seamed to always
be back in shop , the good old horizontal 2 bangers were good in the same machine.

hurleyjd · Feb 7, 2022

Mazda also put the engine in a pickup. Probable in the seventies.

Loosehandle · Feb 7, 2022

My brother had an RX7 also, it got so
the compression was low and we had to
push start it. Soon got rid of it.

flembo · Feb 7, 2022

I had a 72 Arctic Cat Panther Snow Mobile with a 303 Wankel engine, it always ran well and had a lot of low end torque, 60 miles an hour on flat ground was tops. It had well over 3000 miles on the odometer when I traded up.

RedMF40 · Feb 7, 2022

(quoted from post at 10:09:44 02/07/22) This is a short concise view.
reasons in a nut shell

Interesting video, nice explanation. I never really knew what went on inside those Wankels.

This is my experience from long ago--seeing tv ads extolling the virtues of the smooth rotary engine. Of course youtoob had what I was looking for. Gerrit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElkuWqhL9V8

Wheat47 · Feb 7, 2022

Most interesting video. I know a guy that races a Wankel, some kind of
car he built (Sprint, maybe?). He ruined the engine last season.
Forgot to check the oil!!!
However, he's such a fanatic about the Wankel, it's a good thing he has a whole pile
of extra motors and parts.

1970-1655 · Feb 7, 2022

Mazda drag racing from Australia. Turn up the volume!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnF-ronuR8Y

Or search Rotary Drag Racing - RAW SOUNDS fullBOOST on you tube

There are many performance sites on the internet. A friend has one that is just a little modified and it is fast.

redtom · Feb 7, 2022

The performance guys love them for drifting etc. They have a cult following of sorts. The biggest issue I guess was sealing between the rotors.

Steve@Advance · Feb 7, 2022

A school mate of mine, a couple years ahead of me, built up an RX-7 Mazda (I think), Put a turbo and a 4 barrel carb on it.

I only got to drive it once, and it was a screamer! Had a bad hesitation as the carb was about 3 ft away from the engine due to all the plumbing. But once it hit the power band, it better be pointed in the right direction!

The reason I had it in the shop, it spread the differential carrier! I readjusted everything, it was quiet and never did it again.

racered57 · Feb 7, 2022

This really belongs in "Off Topic" I know, but here goes, fast forward to 16:15 and enjoy!
https://youtu.be/n8_2rWB5vRw

Goose · Feb 7, 2022

No mechanical experience with one.

Back in the mid '80's a niece had an '83 Mazda RX-7 with one. When she got a job in California she flew out there and I drove her car out and flew back. Seemed like it simply drove like any other car.

John in Mich · Feb 7, 2022

While working for GM Powertrain Hydra-Matic, I found some crated Chevrolet rotary engines in a dark corner of the
building that was originally the Ford B-24 Lib factory. I sought out property management to see if I could buy
one. Them: What do you want that for? Me: Just something to tinker with. Them: You don't know that they
are there. End of story, almost.
Several years later I saw the crates being moved to a salvage area to make room for a new transmission program. I
have no idea if any were saved.

KD Cannon · Feb 7, 2022

Wankel RE5 motorcycle, manufactured by Suzuki from 1974 to 1976.

ss55 · Feb 7, 2022

I worked in Plant 4 and in Tool Design between 1977 and 1980. In the early/mid 1970s Plant 5 Taurus had been fully tooled to manufacture rotary engines for the upcoming Chevrolet Monza. The 1974 energy crisis shifted buyer's demand to fuel economy and the VP who was the rotary's biggest supporter of that engine retired, so that engine was cancelled just before it was to be introduced. Some of the machinery from Taurus was retooled to make parts for the new THM 200 and 125 transmissions: new Britian chuckers, Saginaws, Excellos were a few that I can remember. There was a lot of new manufacturing technology being implemented there at that time: electron beam welders, friction welders, etc. I suspect the Chevrolet rotary engines were saved for posterity, along with some of the M-16 made there in the 1960s.

chuck from neb · Feb 7, 2022

Yeah friend of mine had an Mazda RX-7 I
drove few miles very Snappy motor

Duner Wi · Feb 8, 2022

Rotaries had some success in road racing.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a9120/a-farewell-to-mazdas-road-racing-rotaries-38734/

Super H Mike · Feb 8, 2022

The RX 7 was the only one I have encountered, they were hard to start in deep cold after they were worn and used a lot of oil.

tn terry t · Feb 9, 2022

(quoted from post at 13:58:21 02/07/22) Mazda also put the engine in a pickup. Probable in the seventies.

yes sir i bought a 1974 mazda with one it would tear the tire off in first and second gear But it would blow a quart of oil out the exhaust in two miles so i ripped that little fellow out and shoehorned a mild built ford 302 in that rascal. bad bad bad aftwards

This post was edited by tn terry t on 02/08/2022 at 11:04 pm.

J.Wondergem · Feb 9, 2022

A mechanic at the truck garage for the company that I drove for had one all souped up. One day he was showing off pulling the front wheels off the ground in the parking lot. That thing was loud. I looked under the hood and it was like nothing I saw before. looked sort of like a wash tub upside down.

Anyone use/have experience with a Wankle engine?

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