AndyRM
XOXO
- Location
- North Shields
What's your MPG like?
Rotary engine vs piston engine
- Thread starter martint235
- Start date
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What's your MPG like?
D
Deleted member 23692
Guest
What's it like pulling off?
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
It's one of the best you're ever likely to come across.
I cant help you, but I can be the first to say ****el.
Edit:@ the swear filter doesnt like it! here's a link which answers most of your questions
I think the biggest single factor in the failure of this engine was the name!
Salad Dodger
Guru
- Location
- Kent Coast
From what I remember of road tests I have read, rotary engines are smooth and revvy, so fun to use aggressively. But when you do so, you pay for it in heavy fuel consumption. Even in "real world" driving, I believe they are expensive on fuel.....
mustang1
Guru
- Location
- London, UK
I think people just got scared of the "gotta rebuild it at 100,000 miles" mantra.
Fantastically smooth engine but I didn't care much for the lack of noise. Back in '89 when I used to drive a black convertible rx7, it was my first encounter with law enforcement. I guess they would have asked me to slow down if they had caught me.
Fantastically smooth engine but I didn't care much for the lack of noise. Back in '89 when I used to drive a black convertible rx7, it was my first encounter with law enforcement. I guess they would have asked me to slow down if they had caught me.
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
Hang on, isn't a rotary engine one with normal pistons but arranged in a circular fashion, whereas a w@nkel engine is a different proposition altogether?
Cheddar George
oober member
- Location
- Location: Location
I still hope that the rotary engine will be commercially successful one day with improvements in materials and lubrication. It's a lovely piece of engineering.
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
Yep. I was thinking of a radial engine. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
Actually there is also a rotary engine which looks just like the radial engine above - but the cylinders revolve with the propeller and the crankshaft is fixed to the plane. Example is the Bentley BR2 as fitted to Sopwith Camel. They weren't used much after WW1 as the gyroscopic forces made them dangerous to fly.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
and here's a model of one...
View: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ8GUTaXLN8#
There's a brilliant model engineering book on how to make one from scratch. I have the book, but bought it as a work of art rather than intending to make one
sidevalve
Über Member
As above there are rotary aero [whole lot spins] radial aero [cylinders stay still, prop spins] Wa---l engine [internal rotor] AND for anyone who fancies a bit of research there was the umpleby engine [not 100% sure on the spelling] a clever rotary jobby designed back in the fifties. It had everything including a strange name.
gbb
Legendary Member
- Location
- Peterborough
Reminds me of watching motorcycle racing in maybe the 80s or 90s, one of the faster classes. Nortons were running the rotary engines, Kawasaki et al were running traditional engines. IRRC, there were arguements regarding capacity, the rotary could be judged to have larger CC compared to normal bikes, but what i remember was ...watching the Nortons ABSOLUTELY leave all the competition utterly dead, the acceleration was phenomenal. Trouble was, as soon they reached any bend, the remainder caught up. I dont know whether the Norton frame was crud or perhaps the engine type dictated a high centre of gravity, rendering them unstable when cornering.
RX8s are high revving, high fuel consumption, very hard to drive anywhere economically, but, very fast and free revving. I always liked them visually, but being a tightwad....
RX8s are high revving, high fuel consumption, very hard to drive anywhere economically, but, very fast and free revving. I always liked them visually, but being a tightwad....
