1973 Mazda RX-3 (Rotary Engine) Commercial

Reaganite Republican ^ | Reaganite Republican

[Reaganite Republican]

Remember this-

'Piston engine goes boing, boing, boing, boing boing, boing... but the Mazda goes hmmmmmmm.'

[YouTube]

If you've ever driven a car with a rotary engine like a Mazda, it really is a lot of fun, very torquey and revs like crazy, always super smooth (except most from the 70s tend to backfire)- it's a shame the couldn't make them work out in a more substantial way. Besides smoothness of operation, the motor is compact, light, and simple, with only two moving parts.

But in an example of epic bad timing, Mazda launched the Wankel-engined RX series just was the first oil crisis was about to hit... when the rotary-type engine was still going through development challenges, using substantially more fuel than a comparable piston-engined car. Alas, you could get a Honda with 50% better gas milage for less money.

Worse yet was how the apex seals at the tips of the tri-rotor(s) wore-out to quickly, it was a materials issue that was not fully solved until the 1980s by Mazda. These hard-to-resolve challenges had GM, Citroen, and others pulling the plug on their own Wankel rotary engine programs (before they hit the market) in the mid 1970s as well.

In fact, not only did R+D costs/recalls almost bankrupt Mazda by 1975, but the original developer of the Wankel engine -Germany's NSU- was itself wrecked by trials and tribulations involving the company's way-ahead-of-its-time Ro80 and it's troublesome rotary engine (partial engine rebuild required every 10K miles to replace apex seals!). 

NSU Ro80

I used to know a guy who had a cherry NSU Ro80 in California, but even he had replaced the original NSU engine with a Mazda rotary in the name of more power, dependability, and access to parts. If you look at the (front-wheel-drive) Ro80, it's pretty hard to believe the car came out in 1967, the styling is 10-15 years ahead of it's time... clean, aerodynamic, great visibility. 

By 1977 NSU had been broken by the Wankel rotary engine that was supposed to spring the Neckarsrulm motorcycle/auto maker into the Big Leagues, and the remains of the company was absorbed by Audi, which continues to be paid royalties on the Wankel design from Mazda to this day. And clearly new parent company Audi absorbed more than a little bit of the look for their own cars, starting with the first aero-look Audi 5000 in 1983.

If you ever have a chance to drive a rotary-engined automobile -Mazda, NSU, whatever- by all means give it a go... especially if you can find a stick shift,
like my college girlfriend's RX-7! I love 'em-



photos Aronline

[Calvin Locke]

... I had a plastic wankel rotary engine model ...

I gather it was see-through?

[Mark17]

Yeh I remember the Mazda rotary. Had one brand new. The engine blew up. :-)

I bought a new RX-2 in 1972. Same thing here. The engine blew up around 45,000 miles. Not good. I guess that happened to more than a few. I think it was a seal problem.

[Thorliveshere]

My ex-brother-in-law had one, and I initially thought it looked cheap, but that little sucker could fly!!

[ChildOfThe60s]

Back in 1975 I was selling my Yamaha DT360 and a guy wanted to trade me one of these for it, even. I was single and already owned a car, needed cash, so I turned him down.

[Lx]

1995 third gen, 13B twin sequential turbo. Mazda only imported 1500 of them. Great, beautiful and fast car. Too expensive for the market.

[Arlis]

Was that the last of the “hot” RX’s?

Saw ‘11 RX-8 and wimpy 212hp....no thanks......

Was that the last of the twin-sequential turbos?

[Lx]

It was for America. They still sold them in Japan under the Enfini name up to 2001 when they sold 12.

[equaviator]

How were the Wankel rotarys for working on compared to piston engines back then?

[keat]

Even considered for the Corvette back in 1973. I recall a mid-engine prototype.

[FreedomPoster]

I was the junior part time after school grease monkey at a Suzuki dealership when those came out. All I would ever get to do in those beasts was change flat tires and chains and sprockets. You know, the dirty grunt work jobs.

[hecticskeptic]

I have a 1977 RX-7 5 speed. It was purchased off the floor of the Montreal Auto Show where it was introduced and thus was one of the very first in North America. Fantastic car and it has been trouble-free over the years... never winter driven but I’m finally going to have to break down and do a complete overhaul of it.

My brother bought a new rotary this year..... http://www.brp.ca/spyder/spyder/touring.html

[Wingy]

How were the Wankel rotarys for working on compared to piston engines back then?

They were easy to work on, but you had to do it much more often. Plus they got crappy mileage. This was also in the era when Honda and Toyota were really getting the piston engines right. My 2003 Honda Accord (V-6) is about to turn six figures and the only non scheduled maintenance item has been an alternator that went bad. I've changed plugs once. Still gets 30 mpg on the highway and everything (Power windows, AC, blowers etc.)still works.

Wankels were a neat idea that just didn't pan out.

[equaviator]

Cool. Was there ever a Wankel rotary engine that a motorcycle, snowmobile or ATV was designed around? If there was, I’ve never heard of it.

[taildragger]

Rotary comeback?

http://thenewswheel.com/mazda-rotary-engine-2017-rumor/

UAV Rotaries, the "Charge Cooled" concept may have finally conquered reductions in power as the Rotor Temp increases with recent patents. 2 English firms in particular....

http://www.aieuk.com/

Using the "SPARCS" system of cooling the Rotor.

http://www.rotronuav.com/

Rotron uses a Cooled Eccentric Shaft and I think a variation of "SPARCS"...

If you really need a link to the patents I can supply them later...

[freedomlover]

Easy enough to work on. Sealing the combustion chamber was a challenge. In a piston engine the only real seal needed is a circumferential seal via rings. Rotary engines require more complicated sealing, namely via an apex seal.

Not really answering your question re servicing, other than pointing out that apex seals require more of it.

[lonevoice]

I had a 1979 Mazda RX7. I bought it new on a 5-year lease. At the end of the lease term, the 5-year-old car was worth more than its original purchase price, so I bought out the lease for half of that. Sweetest car I've ever owned, and I never had a bit of trouble with it.

[redfreedom]

“The rotary motor problem was the seals. I am not technical.”

My recollection is they had ceramic seals that allowed the rotor to compress the air/fuel mixture much the same way rings allow a piston to compress the mixture. The seals would fail, the engine would have not compression, and simply never start. Very expensive to overhaul as few mechanics understood them, and the rest just wanted nothing to do with them.

I helped a guy with his Mazda Wankel, it had zero compression and the cost to rebuild it exceeded the car’s value so he gave it to me. Never did get it to run.

Evinrude/Johnson had a snowmobile line, quite good with 2 cycle engines. Then they switched to the Wankel, and that move spelled that name brand’s doom.

I think one of the biggest reasons the Wankel never got far is they could not figure out how to clean up it’s emissions.

[taildragger]

"Evinrude/Johnson had a snowmobile line, quite good with 2 cycle engines. Then they switched to the Wankel, and that move spelled that name brand’s doom."

They did some great R & D and made advances. Google scream and fly and some of the old timers on the project get into the details. The fuel crisis in the 70's killed the Rotary for them. What might have done them in was some reliability issues and then their patent infringement loss ( closed case we don't know the $'s ) with Orbital Engine in regards to their patent infringements with OE's Direct Injection Patents...

[PDGearhead]

Actually, Suzuki had a rotary motorcycle that did not sell
well. It was a relatively large bike and had a very unusual look.

Evinrude outboard company (actually OMC, the parent company)
made a rotary outboard and beat everyone by a mile in a race.
They banned the engines because they were so fast and not considered fair.

[Uversabound]

Hey, wow thanks for taking the time to explain more.

The whole thing just takes me back to my younger years.

Who would have thought beack then, when I first voted for Reagan, that we would be in the fight for the life of our Nation? Sorry, unrelated, but I am furious.

BACK TO WORK.....xo