Can somone with alot of rotary knowledge, please help me.

[integra818]

I one magazine I read that rotaries are reliable, in other magazines, they say that rotary break easily, at the track I hear the same two sides. I also hear that the have good fuel economy, but alot of rx-7 racers say the heave terrible fuel economy, can someone please set it straight? I am facinated with rotaty engines, and would like to own a 3rd gen rx-7 when I'm older. My dad baught me an integra, but I realized that I can have a way faster car if I sell the integra and buy another car, rx-7, 300zx, eclipse gsx...

[Steel]

ok, their gas milage is horrid. No matter what. Remember that. And it only gets worse with more performance mods. Naturally aspirated (non turbo) RX-7's like mine are actually pretty reliable, but they dont have too much power. 110k no engine problems yet. The problem starts when you start supercharging them. And third gen's are all twin turbo. Third gen's engine's pop easy, because people put crazy boost on stock parts. Even stock, third gens go at about 100-120k. And they aren't cheap to maintain.

Not to scare you, but i want you to know what you;re getting into before you buy one and end up hating it.

Anymore questions?

*edit* if you really want all the nitty-gritty, go to rx7club.com and look through the threads there.

[integra818]

I know how a rotory works, I've seen the animation, but I don't know how to take care of one, do you think a newbie can take care of a rotary decently, I know alot about the honda engines, quite alot, Ive built 3 so far in my garage with my dad, but I want a rotory and I'm afraid of a problem showing up and not bieng able to solve it.

[rxfanatic]

Actually rotory is easier to fix but the parts are kinda expensive... less parts than piston cars... About the breaking down... it really depends on how you take care of your engine... engines breaks down faster if you push it hard even if you have the right mods... thats why its racing...but if you have a lot to spend on cars... why not... all competetion is fun,, drifting, track...:smoker:

[integra818]

What parts of a rotory break? The onlt part of a rotory I've heard breaking is the apex seals, that's it. I would love to own a rotary, but I need to know everything first. Thanks to all the guys answering my questions

[rxfanatic]

same thing for apex seals... if you dont take good care of it... Thers a lot of reason for it to break down or burn...the most common is when you over heat and still try to run it... when you see your temp and the exhaust overheat sign lights up... immediately find a good spot to stop.... but for the rest of the car... its easy to maintain.... less parts less trouble...

[Steel]

well, the thing with the apex/side/corner/oil seals (but especially apex and corner) is that when they do break, the pieces tend to scratch up the inside of the housing, then they get thrown through the turbo turbines. Ouch. It's basically a very high maintenence car. It's not very hard work, but it's a lot of it!

[FunkLord]

yeah you need to change your oil a lot more often, and keep your cooling system in good shape. if you want your engine to last even longer, run premix. properly maintained they can last a very long time upwards of 300k. imporperly maintained, they might give out at 100. the catch is you never really know how well the previous owner maintained it. they also dont like to sit for long periods of time. redlining it every so often is important too, since it helps to get rid of carbon buildup

[VR6Turbo]

Generally the non-turbo Rotaries (First and Second gen cars) can be very reliable if maintained religiously. Oil changes every 3000 miles and such. Very many of those cars can be found with WELL over 100000 mile on them, and running fine.
When you bolt Twin-Sequential turbos onto the 13B, things radically change. Ive been told by a RX-7 only shop in my area, Rotary Performance, that the engine in the FD3S is only good for 80000 to 100000 miles(depending on how it was driven) before needing a rebuild or replacement. If you take care of the car, and dont over-boost it and blow an apex seal, they can be pretty good. A lot of times people will buy a boost controller, and crank the boost up for an easy jump in horsepower, thats not a good idea on stock apex seals. Get 3mm apex seals before turning up the boost.

[phatdex]

Change ur oil very often, since u need oil to cool the turbos and the engine burns oil (coz it is effectively a 2 stroke) u need to have new oil quite often.
Apex seals brake because they are not good with detonation. If u want to put up the boost, make sure u get a new Front Mount Intercooler and an aftermarket computer to change the fuel maps, otherwise dont touch the engine.

And main thing, LET THE ENGINE GET TO CORRECT OPERATING TEMP BEFOR EU CANE IT. This is a real big rotary killer. Most of the ones ppl hear about blowing up are the ones owned by ppl who think u can just switch it on and rev it to redline in the first 2 mins. U need to get the oil circulating very well before any type of hard driving!!!

[integra818]

I posted that first post on January 17, today it's April 3, since 1-17-03 I learned quite alot about th rotary. I even joined a rotary only forum that was very helpful as well, I read the sportcompact car article about the rotary many times and got a fountain of knoweledge from that too.
After thinking about it for a while, I DON'T a rotary, because of the constant rebuilding of broken apex seals and having the CHP constanly pestering me about the exaust noise/emissions. But MAYBE I'll build a track only first gen RX-7 with a healthy rotary in it , MAYBE

[phatdex]

As long as u warm it up and dont boost it too much without a nbew comp, they are absolutely fine. Engines last for ages, especially in NA form.
When I did blow my turbo engine it cost me $3500AUS to rebuild it, port and dowell it as well, so doesnt cost that much coz its easy to work on.

[BlackLabel6542]

Hey integra what was that RX-7 only forum that you had joined?