How amazing are rotary engines.

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The ****el project bankrupted NSU. We used to race NSU motorbikes and for a short time had the loan of an NSU car with a prototype single rotor ****el engine, it smoked and popped on the overrun like a 2 stroke and was thirsty. Nothing really to recommend it. Shame really that NSU continued with it, the RO80 shell with one of NSU's OHC engines would have been a winner.
 
wattfield said:
Norton too: Norton Rotary

Anyone else remember the NSU Ro80?

ro802.jpg
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I was going to mention these too. Then of course there was the Norton Commander motor cycle that dominated the 400cc series many years ago.
 
Rode a norton while a while in the 90s . A bit **** but incredibly smooth with hardly any power band.
At the time, norton rotaries dominated British superbikes due to the acu's 'interesting' interpretation of capacity rules.
 
Mate of mine run a tuned gen3 rx7 for a while.... Fantastic amount of power for its size BUT fuel consumption in single figures (They have to run rich to get max life out of rotor tip seals.... AND are close to a two stroke in the way they rely on oil for lubrication hence thirst for oil)
Tip seals are usually shot at @50/60k.... But not a big job to strip and swap them (engines are of a unitary construction with a pair of end plates and as many rotors as you like.... Hence an abundance of drag raced triple rotor motors about)
Let the tip seals wear out and ignore it and you'll waste the housings though.
Tip seal mainly occurs due the the charge partially escaping into the next rotor quadrant causing burning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyN9Me1QcSY


As for deltics.... They were originally destined for use in Motor torpedo boats in the, 2nd world war.....


Not often you see 5 together and get to ride on them all......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I583A_-42b0
 
Biggest problem with the rx8 is the previous owners. They became a mainstream car bought by mainstream people who don't get anything engineering related. They end up running low on oil, thrashed from cold and using the wrong oil grade which is all bad news for a rotary.

Rotaries themselves are great if you accept that they use fuel and oil and need the seals changing periodically. I used to have an FC3S RX7 and it was awesome fun!
 
phil540uk said:
Biggest problem with the rx8 is the previous owners. They became a mainstream car bought by mainstream people who don't get anything engineering related. They end up running low on oil, thrashed from cold and using the wrong oil grade which is all bad news for a rotary.

Rotaries themselves are great if you accept that they use fuel and oil and need the seals changing periodically. I used to have an FC3S RX7 and it was awesome fun!
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I'm thinking of getting one with 70k miles and low compression for £900, then spending £2k on an engine rebuild. Kind of makes sense?!
 
Datatek said:
The ****el project bankrupted NSU. We used to race NSU motorbikes and for a short time had the loan of an NSU car with a prototype single rotor ****el engine, it smoked and popped on the overrun like a 2 stroke and was thirsty. Nothing really to recommend it. Shame really that NSU continued with it, the RO80 shell with one of NSU's OHC engines would have been a winner.
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Or a Mazda engine
 
Rotary engines have been around for donkeys years. Were used to power biplanes and triplanes in the first world war.

EDIT, hang on remembered the other rotary, the one used in cars is slightly different :D

Still amazes me how people can design things like this from scratch
 
Ha, no. Despite my dad saying it sounded like a sewing machine I loved the engine! Anyway, it would ruin the 50/50 weight distribution...



Edit: That was supposed to quote datatek!
 
james6546 said:
Ha, no. Despite my dad saying it sounded like a sewing machine I loved the engine! Anyway, it would ruin the 50/50 weight distribution...



Edit: That was supposed to quote datatek!
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A double or triple rotor ****el engine is pretty heavy, a light weight all alloy engine would have little or no effect on weight distribution. A tuned motorcycle engine could be interesting.
 
Datatek said:
A double or triple rotor ****el engine is pretty heavy, a light weight all alloy engine would have little or no effect on weight distribution. A tuned motorcycle engine could be interesting.
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I think its more the size than the weight. Which means it can be mounted really low and far back.



Though I guess a v8 rx8 would be a hell of a car :D probably same mpg too...
 
james6546 said:
I think its more the size than the weight. Which means it can be mounted really low and far back.



Though I guess a v8 rx8 would be a hell of a car :D probably same mpg too...
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IMHO it wouldnt .....

The whole thing about rotary engines is the way they deliver power (the gen3 rx7 is a twin sequential turbo motor....small turbo to spin up quickly then the larger one kicks in to deliver maximum boost with minimal lag)

They drive far more like a two stroke almost having a "powerband" than a four stroke .

Stick a big v8 in it and it would ruin it ....as above possibly a bike engine ....

BUT best of all a well sorted ported rotary (AND stick plenty of fuel up it ....just to make sure ....Swirl pot in the fuel tank and minimum of 1/2" hard ful lines from the tank forward)
 
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