Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

Rick · Site Admin Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22780 Location: UK

Evening all,

Has anyone here experience of rotary-engined cars? Two cars of recent times I quite like the look of, are the Mazda RX-8 and the third-generation RX-7s, but neither seems to be particularly reliable in older age. I doubt I'll ever own either, but is ownership as fraught as often appears to be the case?

RJ
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Ashley · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 1426 Location: Near Stroud, Glos

Not a car but about forty years ago I did some major repairs to a Suzuki motorbike. The styling was a bit lively, but it was very smooth, very flexible and quite fast. It handled well for the day too.

V8 Nutter · Joined: 27 Aug 2012 Posts: 601

When I worked at the engine reconditioner's, we regularly used to grind the sides of the rotors and the end plates at about 30000 miles. That is if the rotor tips hadn't failed first.

Da Tow'd · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 3:33 am Post subject:

My brother in law pulled the rotary engine out and stuck a 90hp electric motor in his Rx7

peppiB · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:20 am Post subject:

Son has had an RX8 for 13 years, bought when it was 6 months old. Great fun and powerful to drive, although you can see the petrol gauge effortlessly move towards empty as you drive.

Couple of problems with it. If the battery fails and the engine has turned, it floods and is a b***** to start again. RAC have to be called for their expertise. Apparently you cannot tow start them in this condition otherwise engine damage results, although 1 RAC man did tell me that, out of sight of the customer, main dealers did just that.

The other problem he has is doing so few miles each year, every third service/MOT the car needs new discs all round as they rust and rot very quickly, unlike the bodywork which is immaculate, despite him never washing the thing in his 13 years owning it. Dealer does that once a year at service.

Comfortable as well

Rusty · Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:46 pm Post subject:

I still have a couple of 12 A Mazda rotary's out of old RX2s. They were reasonably reliable and BLINKIN FAST but I always recon they have the size of a 4 cyl the power of a V8 and the fuel consumption of a V 12. I had a later model with a 13 B (wider chambers) and I never liked it anywhere near as much as the old "Cappellas".
Mine had to have their seals replaced but the new seals went back on the old chambers and side plates without any other machining or modification and were fine until replaced.
The ones I still have I had intended to go racing with, but I broke my arm and was forbidden to compete for 2 years and in that time the class I wanted to compete in was done away with so it never happened.

poodge · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 687

Here in new zealand,a few ro80's were repowered with a Ford V4 engine.Sacrilege!But,tbh,the ro80's engine was so underdeveloped,it was near impossible to live with.
Full credit to Mazda for persisting with it,and making the type a practical proposition.Ok,they still suck fuel at a prodigious rate,but the sound of that engine spinning up more than makes up for it.
Just as an aside,i used to have an OS model engine,all of 4.1cc,which was so smooth,you could hold the running engine in your hand.
Unfortunately,it was quite heavy,and not able to swing a very large propeller,which somewhat limited it's usability in model aeroplanes.

lowdrag · Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 1600 Location: Le Mans

A neighbour has had for some time aMazda Cosmos of which I had never heard. 7,000 miles from new and running well too. Regarding the RX8, don't they need an oil tank gauge too😋

Ray White · Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 7076 Location: Derby

RotaryBri · Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 465 Location: Warwick

I have owned my NSU Ro80 for over 9 years now and just love to drive it. It is so smooth and quiet. Not many people notice it even though it is now 40 years old. It still fits in with today's cars. The give away is the large glass area and all the brightwork around the windows.

Most Ro80s now have rotary engines, the Ford V4 lumps have been taken out as the rotary engines can now be rebuilt and with modern materials are very reliable. Mine is still the original engine and being the last of this type the oil consumption is much lower than I expected but the petrol consumption is only around 20 mpg.

Have a look at my original posting here http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6064&highlight=nsu+ro80 and also another posting by Bertie. http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10909&highlight=nsu+ro80 Where are you Bertie (Alan) as you have not been on the site for a long time?
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Keep Torqueing,

RotaryBri

1976 NSU Ro80

Ray White · Joined: 02 Dec 2014 Posts: 7076 Location: Derby

I haven't seen one of those lovely cars for many years. The one you have looks like new! Fantastic!

I for one would like to learn how the engine problems were fixed. Any pictures of the oily bits?

For a bit of background:-

http://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/nsu-ro80-history/4/

billysugga · Joined: 01 Jan 2017 Posts: 55 Location: Carlisle

Anyone ever seen a small rotary stationary engine?
I once saw one at a classic rally but never since.

Like ray says it would be nice to have the lowdown on repairing them.
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Volvo Sugga ,Volvo Trygge
I just wish one was working!

MVPeters · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 822 Location: Northern MA, USA

"Wheeler Dealers" covered the RX7 quite recently. Interesting because Ed stripped the engine to show the internal workings, how to do a compression test etc..
I believe it was Series3 Episode11 - it's on YouTube but I'm banned from watching it here in the US.
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2002 MINI Cooper 'S'

Rusty · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 12:56 pm Post subject: