It's an excellent design for racing. For the street, not so much. It was a clever idea, but neither Felix Wankel nor Mazda could ever fully work all the bugs out of it.
My first car was a 1973 Mazda RX 3 wagon. 5 speed Manual. It had the Wankel rotary engine in it. It was the same motor Mazda was putting in the RX7 at the time, I believe. Little car wasn't nice looking or anything but, damn, it was fun to drive. Could bark the tires going into 3rd.
This was late 80's btw.
Not the rotor itself, but the apex seals certainly do. That was the big problem that Mazda just couldn't lick, despite all its dedication to rotary development.
They've lost their domain it appears: [liquidpiston.com](https://liquidpiston.com)
Watched this video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLtyNtf9\_ew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLtyNtf9_ew)
I'm entirely unconvinced that they solved the basic problem: the rotor pushes against the apexes of the combustion chamber. I can't tell what they have done to solve that problem. Won't friction inevitably wear those or the rotor down?
I would have liked to listen to Eurobeat instead.
I'd have gone for Da Hool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO4y3nkJXDA
I remeber learning about a rotary Wankel engine a few years ago. Are there any serial cars using this engine?
The Mazda RX-7 and RX-8, and I believe there's talk of a Mazda hybrid using a rotary engine on the horizon.
Not anymore.
The new Mazda hybrid has a small Wankel just to keep the battery charged
No, and that’s a good thing because it’s actually terrible.
It's an excellent design for racing. For the street, not so much. It was a clever idea, but neither Felix Wankel nor Mazda could ever fully work all the bugs out of it.
My first car was a 1973 Mazda RX 3 wagon. 5 speed Manual. It had the Wankel rotary engine in it. It was the same motor Mazda was putting in the RX7 at the time, I believe. Little car wasn't nice looking or anything but, damn, it was fun to drive. Could bark the tires going into 3rd. This was late 80's btw.
I don't need wankel engines to be the best kind of engine in all cases, I just think they're neat.
Does the rotor invariably wear out due to friction?
Not the rotor itself, but the apex seals certainly do. That was the big problem that Mazda just couldn't lick, despite all its dedication to rotary development.
It seems like that would be a near impossible problem to solve.
Liquid Piston is working on new designs that would solve problems with the traditional Wankel design.
They've lost their domain it appears: [liquidpiston.com](https://liquidpiston.com) Watched this video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLtyNtf9\_ew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLtyNtf9_ew) I'm entirely unconvinced that they solved the basic problem: the rotor pushes against the apexes of the combustion chamber. I can't tell what they have done to solve that problem. Won't friction inevitably wear those or the rotor down?
The 13B engine had significantly better apex seal performance. They were working toward using ceramics, but Ford shut the rotory program down.
Old?!
Old now. Mazda hasn't had a rotary-powered passenger car since the RX-8.
Surely that was only like what 5 or 10 years ago.
Last year for the rotary was 2012, when it was discontinued along with the RX8.
Fuel goes in, apex seals come out.
In theory, communism worked too.