longevity is still an issue with many rx8s suffering with complete change of engines.
The last rx8 have been improved but I often see late examples already blowing smoke.
Rotary wear out faster due to the strain on the seals.
There are aftermarket longer lasting ceramic seals out but they wear the housings.
I still prefer them over complicated engines of today if parts where affordable but
Mazda has increased its prices through the roof for spares that many enthusiasts are
quite annoyed and jumping ship. The rotary is a great sports engine but even a late
Ls7 gets better economy in a heavier car.

Yes DD,you are correct,but my sarcasm with regards to the manufactures was that they knew they had come across a good thing with the Wankel and chose to sit on the patents/licenses to protect thier own.As for the oil crisis,lets not go there as it was and still is the biggest con in modern times controlled by the oil cartels and gleefully accepted by governments.
As a matter of interest we pay just shy of 50% of a litre to the tax collectors in OZ.How about yourselves?

That's not correct.

Quote:
Actually, one company in germany owned the basic patents, and all the big and most small manufacturers licensed them.

Mazda perfected the emission controls by 1974, and all licensees shared that. But few made vehicles after the Oil Crisis. Even NSU stopped making rotaries. Muscle car sales died in the USA along with most high-power engines until the mid-80s.

Mazda took a large risk, developed a lot of the answers but eventually went bankrupt. Ford and others bailed them out. But thanks to the big M we have these great engines in quantity. By the way, Ford sold their controlling interest in Mazda last year when Ford was bankrupt. Mazda are indpendent once again.

imagine how much that coupe would be worth

interesting pic. if you look behind the car to the pics on the wall i see a big battery pack, a big battery pack fitted to a car, maybe an elec motor, and? a gas turbine impeller??
were nissan planing the EB110(electric???)

You learn something every day,i'm a huge rotor fan and always was,but i was never aware Nissan had a crack.
I guess one of the biggest,most shamefull acts back then was when all the big manufacturers bought up most of the patents put in place by Mr.Wankel just to protect thier own investment in out dated heavy iron with a squillion moving parts.
I suspect had this not taken place back then we would all be wizzing around in highly developed fuel friendly wankels(that can be rebuilt before lunch)and the motor industry would look quite differant today with hardly a push rod insight.

What longevity and fuel economy problem? You mean 40 years ago?

The new rotaries last over 100K miles and return 23mpg -- not bad for 232 HP in a car that weighs 1350 kg/3000 pounds.


Chris, nice photo. I bought this brochure ex-japan last year but the auction broker never sent it

I want one !!!!!!!!

Nice Machine! The engine longevity, noise and fuel consumption is one
of the rotary engines only drawbacks. Yet they have many positives.

When I was in Sydney last year I saw a single rotary engine rx7
its a custom single rotor 13b which had its e shaft, counterweights
and rear bearing modded to run a single chamber.
He had it dynoed at 115hp ate with a downdraft 45 or 48mm weber and
his fuel economy was almost double the twin rotor.
With further tuning and extend porting he thinks theres another 30-40hp
this could have been a good direction for datsun at the time as the single
rotor would have been economical and more powerful than all A series.

Thought some people might be interested in this. I know there is a little more info somewhere in the tech wiki but I remember the images being small and a little hard to see (Edit: Here you go)

I'm not sure if I wished this had or hadn't developed further (Nissan Rotary).

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